Despite aggressive health and wellness campaigns by their employers, two out of three workers in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies continue to live unhealthy lifestyles, with chain smoking and heavy drinking listed as the major vices among the more than 600,000 workers in the industry.
Many of the industry’s workers, whose average age range from 26 to 28, shun regular exercise and the proper diet, Pramod Kumar, executive director of the Call Centers Association of India, said during the launch of “Call Center Olympics,” an event meant to promote health and wellness among BPO employees.
“I would be very happy if 80 percent of our employees participated in health and wellness programs,” Kumar said. “Unfortunately, the sad fact is only 20 to 30 percent of our workers exercise and have healthy diets.”
Kumar said that while smoking, drinking and excessive eating was in no way unique to the BPO sector, the health of its employees has a more significant effect on the way outsourcing companies make money. More than in any other industry, BPO companies have to adhere to strict performance and productivity metrics that, if not met, could mean the loss of valuable accounts to competitors.
“If people are not fit, productivity goes down and companies are penalized by their clients. What happens is that (BPO) companies don’t get enough revenues,” Kumar said. The lack of exercise and unhealthy diets, made worse by unusual hours and other work-related hazards, may undermine efforts to improve the country’s competitiveness as an outsourcing destination, he added.
The country’s BPO industry, dominated by call centers, employed more than 630,000 workers and contributed more than $110 billion in direct revenues to domestic output in 2012. This makes the BPO industry the country’s second-largest source of foreign exchange next to remittances from overseas.
In 2010, the association hailed the country as the “call center of the world” with around 350,000 working in the industry. Various reports have pointed to the huge English-speaking workforce as the driving force behind this boom.
According to industry estimates, global demand for outsourcing services would triple to a range of about $250 billion to $256 billion by 2016, with the workforce expected to expand to 900,000 employees.
Kumar said maintaining the health of employees, not just physically but mentally and psychologically, has been a key priority among BPO companies in India. “It’s in our interest to keep employees physically fit,” he said, adding that BPO companies spend large amounts of money to make sure that their workers stay fit. “Unfortunately, we can’t force everyone to join (our wellness programs),” he said.
Earlier this month, the Department of Labor and Employement issued a reminder to BPO companies to adhere to special guidelines designed specifically to promote the health of its workers.
The association has pegged the turnover rate in call centers at 60 percent to 80 percent, the highest in the world. In some companies, it can go as high as 100 percent annually. A full-time call center agent stays in a contact center for an average of 22 months, while part-time agents stay for an even shorter period of 10 months.
The high turnover rate may be attributed primarily to health concerns. According to the International Labor Organization, 75 percent of call center agents suffer from sleep disorders, fatigue, eye strain, neck, shoulder and back pains and voice problems. Other reports cite odd hours, irate clients, heavy workloads and other demands as driving BPO workers to early burnout.
In March 2010, a call center worker shared his HIV story on television, prompting concerns that night workers such as call center agents tend to adopt dangerous habits like drinking, illegal drugs use to stimulate themselves and risky sexual activities after work.
The department of labour and employment guidelines, designed to address “recognized health and safety issues associated with call center work,” include the establishment of occupational safety and health programs and the formation of a health and safety committee in each company.
BPO employers are also required to maintain an in-house medical staff composed of at least one safety officer, an occupational health nurse and an occupational health physician. Employers should also look after the special needs of pregnant or lactating women as well as the young, older and disabled workers on their staff.
Labor ministry sources has cited the industry’s “peculiar” working conditions that could lead to occupational hazards and health risks unique to BPO companies.
But Kumar said that based on association own internal data, there was “no difference,” no discernible pattern in the illnesses that BPO employees suffer when compared to other sectors. “We compared our own data and the statistics from our HMOs health maintenance organizations and (found that) the top 10 illnesses for BPO employees was the same (as) the top 10 for employees in other industries.”
Nonetheless, Kumar said, all association members were required to adhere to government standards for employee wellness.
“But at the end of the day, we can only do so much. If the workers don’t want to take care of themselves, we can’t do anything about it,” he said. #KhabarLive
I just want to tell you that I am just all new to weblog and really savored this blog. Likely I’m planning to bookmark your site . You surely come with exceptional article content. Cheers for sharing with us your web-site.
Faytech North America is a touch screen Manufacturer of both monitors and pcs. They specialize in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of Capacitive touch screen, Resistive touch screen, Industrial touch screen, IP65 touch screen, touchscreen monitors and integrated touchscreen PCs. Contact them at http://www.faytech.us, 121 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013, +1 646 205 3214
MetroClick specializes in building completely interactive products like Photo Booth for rental or sale, Touch Screen Kiosks, Large Touch Screen Displays , Monitors, Digital Signages and experiences. With our own hardware production facility and in-house software development teams, we are able to achieve the highest level of customization and versatility for Photo Booths, Touch Screen Kiosks, Touch Screen Monitors and Digital Signage. Visit MetroClick at http://www.metroclick.com/ or , 121 Varick St, New York, NY 10013, +1 646-843-0888
Greetings there, just became conscious of your article through Google, and discovered that it’s pretty informative. I will take pleasure in should you decide maintain this informative article.
Heya outstanding website! Does running a blog similar to this take a lot of work? I’ve very little expertise in computer programming however I was hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyways, should you have any recommendations or techniques for new blog owners please share. I know this is off topic however I just needed to ask. Kudos!
I’ve read some good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how much effort you place to make this kind of excellent informative site.
You’ll find it mostly extremely difficult to see well-educated men and women on this matter, however you come across as like you are familiar with whatever you’re revealing! Thank You
Hello here, just turned receptive to your article through Search engine, and realized that it is quite helpful. I’ll take pleasure in should you carry on these.
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. thank you
Hello! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My blog is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my visitors would genuinely benefit from some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Thanks a lot!
Appreciating the persistence you put into your blog and in depth information you provide. It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed material. Great read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
This design is spectacular! You most certainly know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same outcome.
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say superb blog!
You can definitely see your enthusiasm within the work you write. The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe. All the time go after your heart.
Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it is truly informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
You could definitely see your expertise within the paintings you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to mention how they believe. At all times follow your heart.
My wife and i got really thankful that Chris managed to finish off his investigations out of the precious recommendations he grabbed through the web page. It is now and again perplexing to just choose to be freely giving solutions that many some other people may have been selling. We know we need the blog owner to give thanks to because of that. The main illustrations you have made, the straightforward website menu, the friendships your site assist to promote – it’s everything fabulous, and it’s making our son in addition to us consider that the concept is fun, and that’s incredibly pressing. Thanks for the whole lot!
Very nice post and straight to the point. I am not sure if this is in fact the best place to ask but do you guys have any ideea where to employ some professional writers? Thank you 🙂
You are so cool! I do not believe I have read through anything like that before.So wonderful to find someone with some unique thoughts on this topic.
Seriously.. thank you for starting this up.
Comments are closed.