Greetings,
I have been in the BPO industry for the past 6 years, and a question arises in my mind every day and night: why is there no union like SITU to support the staff when they are actually in need? We come to work on our main festivals and national holidays; however, what we receive is not fixed. Every BPO organization has different rules and compensation policies (incentives, cash, or kind). Why are we not following the same rule here? The main metrics of BPO organizations are staffed time, absenteeism, attrition, etc. If that is standardized across all BPOs, why is there a disparity in compensating employees? According to the analysis, the BPO industry is the highest taxpayer to the government. If that is the case, we need to be more focused and flexible in terms of employee satisfaction.
Looking forward to your kind response.
Regards, AB
From India, Moradabad
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2I have been in the BPO industry for the past 6 years, and a question arises in my mind every day and night: why is there no union like SITU to support the staff when they are actually in need? We come to work on our main festivals and national holidays; however, what we receive is not fixed. Every BPO organization has different rules and compensation policies (incentives, cash, or kind). Why are we not following the same rule here? The main metrics of BPO organizations are staffed time, absenteeism, attrition, etc. If that is standardized across all BPOs, why is there a disparity in compensating employees? According to the analysis, the BPO industry is the highest taxpayer to the government. If that is the case, we need to be more focused and flexible in terms of employee satisfaction.
Looking forward to your kind response.
Regards, AB
From India, Moradabad
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Hello,
After reading your post, I am a little confused as to why you want to know this, but nonetheless, I have elaborated on the point.
Firstly, what is the need for a union? Why do you need a union to represent yourself or your working staff?
A union is mainly found in manufacturing industries with factories and/or manufacturing or related units. Unions are largely associated with labor.
(I hope you would know that there is a huge difference between employees and labor. The former is white-collared, and the latter is blue-collared. I assume you might know the difference.)
Laborers are usually unlearned individuals who do not know their basic rights.
They need a person to represent them so that someone can understand and negotiate the best deals for all of them.
For the working-class employees, we have our own benefits against the kind of stress we handle. So, I don't think we need any union.
Yet, if there are issues, we can always go to the HR department and try to share our concerns.
What we are getting is not fixed... What does this mean?
About working on festivals and national holidays -
Well, that is one problem when you work in an MNC and a BPO. You should have known this before you joined the BPO.
A BPO or an MNC is a firm that works for foreign clients (usually UK and US clients).
Though we, Indians, have lots of festivals and have offs for many things, they have limited festivals.
You are in the service industry and are supposed to handle foreign clients. If on your festive day they need you, you should be obliged to help them.
Additionally, I am sure your firm would have a leave policy, but HR cannot approve leaves for everyone. The decision is based on your work profile, your past leave and attendance history, the reason for the leaves, etc.
If you see, people working in Indian firms in the service industry (like waiters and hospitality staff in hotels, doctors, workers at petrol pumps, shopping mall staff) also work all through the week and on festive days. We want to enjoy our weekdays and Sundays with family and go out shopping or for a movie, but seldom do we think that they too have a family. What would happen if they also closed their services on festive periods? Just think about that once, and you may get your answer.
Every firm, irrespective of the sector it belongs to, will have its way of compensation. As far as rules are concerned, there would only be rules for statutory minimum things to be followed. We cannot fix a compensation policy for every organization to follow. Every individual is different, and so is every organization.
Some people like to have meal vouchers, while some prefer cash instead.
Some people like to have Lifestyle vouchers as rewards, while some would prefer cash.
Another thing, many institutes are converting and introducing gift vouchers against cash for rewarding, as that would be tax-free and would bring certain benefits to the employer as well.
I didn't understand how you linked the metrics of absenteeism and attrition to compensation.
I didn't understand what paying more tax has to do with flexibility and employee satisfaction.
What do you mean by employee satisfaction?
An employee can never be 100% satisfied by any employer. In fact, suppose I am your employer. If I pay you handsomely the price you quote, still tomorrow you would feel I am not being generous to you in terms of salary. Refer to "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" if you think I am wrong.
Another thing, employee satisfaction involves lots of things and not just money. If I pay you to just sit in my office, one fine day you would be dissatisfied with your role. So money is not all that matters.
I hope I have cleared most of your doubts (or at least I tried to).
From India, Mumbai
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After reading your post, I am a little confused as to why you want to know this, but nonetheless, I have elaborated on the point.
Firstly, what is the need for a union? Why do you need a union to represent yourself or your working staff?
A union is mainly found in manufacturing industries with factories and/or manufacturing or related units. Unions are largely associated with labor.
(I hope you would know that there is a huge difference between employees and labor. The former is white-collared, and the latter is blue-collared. I assume you might know the difference.)
Laborers are usually unlearned individuals who do not know their basic rights.
They need a person to represent them so that someone can understand and negotiate the best deals for all of them.
For the working-class employees, we have our own benefits against the kind of stress we handle. So, I don't think we need any union.
Yet, if there are issues, we can always go to the HR department and try to share our concerns.
What we are getting is not fixed... What does this mean?
About working on festivals and national holidays -
Well, that is one problem when you work in an MNC and a BPO. You should have known this before you joined the BPO.
A BPO or an MNC is a firm that works for foreign clients (usually UK and US clients).
Though we, Indians, have lots of festivals and have offs for many things, they have limited festivals.
You are in the service industry and are supposed to handle foreign clients. If on your festive day they need you, you should be obliged to help them.
Additionally, I am sure your firm would have a leave policy, but HR cannot approve leaves for everyone. The decision is based on your work profile, your past leave and attendance history, the reason for the leaves, etc.
If you see, people working in Indian firms in the service industry (like waiters and hospitality staff in hotels, doctors, workers at petrol pumps, shopping mall staff) also work all through the week and on festive days. We want to enjoy our weekdays and Sundays with family and go out shopping or for a movie, but seldom do we think that they too have a family. What would happen if they also closed their services on festive periods? Just think about that once, and you may get your answer.
Every firm, irrespective of the sector it belongs to, will have its way of compensation. As far as rules are concerned, there would only be rules for statutory minimum things to be followed. We cannot fix a compensation policy for every organization to follow. Every individual is different, and so is every organization.
Some people like to have meal vouchers, while some prefer cash instead.
Some people like to have Lifestyle vouchers as rewards, while some would prefer cash.
Another thing, many institutes are converting and introducing gift vouchers against cash for rewarding, as that would be tax-free and would bring certain benefits to the employer as well.
I didn't understand how you linked the metrics of absenteeism and attrition to compensation.
I didn't understand what paying more tax has to do with flexibility and employee satisfaction.
What do you mean by employee satisfaction?
An employee can never be 100% satisfied by any employer. In fact, suppose I am your employer. If I pay you handsomely the price you quote, still tomorrow you would feel I am not being generous to you in terms of salary. Refer to "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" if you think I am wrong.
Another thing, employee satisfaction involves lots of things and not just money. If I pay you to just sit in my office, one fine day you would be dissatisfied with your role. So money is not all that matters.
I hope I have cleared most of your doubts (or at least I tried to).
From India, Mumbai
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Effective employee retention strategies-BPO. doc
Employee's Compensation Act-2009.pdf