While the business of offshoring and outsourcing services from developed to developing nations is generating high-quality jobs vis-à-vis the local values, the International Labor Organization (ILO) is of the view that much was still to be done by the ITeS (information technology enabled services) industry to realize completely respectable employments. In fact, a book released by the ILO presents the first-ever exhaustive study of the working conditions in the BPO industry citing specific instances in the four globally most favored outsourcing destinations – India, Brazil, the Philippines and Argentina.
The book released by ILO is titled ‘Offshoring and Working Conditions in Remote Work’ actually scrutinizes jobs executed in remote places, its repercussion on the overall employment market and specifically the employees. It also studies the probable effects of job and working conditions in countries or destinations where the business process outsourcing industry is on the rise.
Quoting senior researcher associated with the ILO’s “Conditions of Work and Employment Program” Jon Messenger, who is also the co-editor of the research along with Naj Ghosheh, a news website says that though that much has printed regarding this trend as well as its repercussions for the economic development and employment, there is inadequate information regarding the state of affairs of employment in the business process industry. It may be noted here that the BPO sector – roughly categorized as ‘voice’ services, including call or contract centers, and ‘back-office’ services comprising data processing and management, finance and accounting and human resource development – is a fast developing industry presently worth approximately $90 billion.
In fact, the ILO has come across an assorted representation of the employment conditions in the above mentioned four countries studied by Jon Messenger and Naj Ghosheh. A report published in another business website quotes messenger as saying that while the positive thing is that unlike earlier conjectures; jobs executed in remote locations were of an acceptable quality vis-à-vis the local standards. For instance, salaries of the employees engaged in the Indian business process outsourcing sector are almost two times the normal wages in other sectors of the country’s economy. Even in the Philippines, professionals in this sector earn 53 per cent more compared to employees of similar age in other sectors.
Nevertheless, the story of BPO employees and the working conditions in this industry in Brazil is entirely different. According to Messenger, the business process outsourcing jobs in Brazil do not appear to be much different or better than other employments in the country possibly owing to the fact that the industry in Brazil is at variance with the remaining sectors keeping in view the fact that it is mainly concentrated on the domestic market.
Simultaneously, the book notes that night work is widespread in the BPO industry as it helps to provide clients in different time zones in actual time and the job is usually demanding for the employees. The industry also has an elevated level of staff turnover percentage and in some firms it may even be as high as 100 per cent every year. It also notes that compared to the ‘voice’ services, the positions in the ‘back office’ services are of superior quality as far as the wages and the working conditions. In fact, the employees engaged in external markets too seem to have superior quality jobs compared to those concentrated on the domestic market primarily because superior skills are needed in international positions, the study found.
In the end, the ILO book presents numerous proposals regarding the local government policies as well as the practices of the firms that would help to enhance the standard of jobs in the business process outsourcing industry while augmenting production. The proposals that correspond to the ILO Night Work Convention include better initiatives to safeguard the health and safety of the employees working in night shifts.