A few days back there were fears of a slowdown in the BPO business. Recession, Barack Obama effect and quite a few other things were the reason behind this. There was an all-round lull and rumor-mongers were out there on the streets saying that the BPO-boom is over.
And there happens these two deals and these rumor-mongers are back into their shells. All these talks about recession and the BPO slowdown are over now. The largest BPO in India, Genpact bagged a five year contract from, The Hyatt Corporation chain, covering its North American hotels for its accounting transactions.
Harmit Singh, CFO, Global Hyatt Corporation said: ‘‘We have a contract with Genpact for handling the accounting transaction services for some of our North American portfolio, which would be expanded moving forward.’’ From an initial nine hotels, Genpact’s Hyderabad unit will cover another six hotels next year and then 10 hotels by March 2010. The Hyatt group has 118 properties in North America

Also at the same time, another major BPO in India, Infosys, was awarded a five-year, multi-million dollar contract for information technology work by the British drug maker, AstraZeneca. Under the agreement, Infosys will deliver application maintenance services to AstraZeneca’s global operations in areas including manufacturing, supply chain, finance, and human resources

There need not be a conclusion to this post because any reader would now be confident of the fact that "BPOs are here to stay and make it big".

The key to success in any organization is working together as a team. It is same with a BPO as well. But what does it mean to work in a team?
The geese has a certain way of flying. When they fly they form a particular formation. There is a definite reason why they do that. Understanding this concept teaches us what “Team work” is all about.

Fact 1: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Lesson we can learn : People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

Fact 2: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.
Lesson we can learn: If we have as much sense as a goose, we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.

Fact 3: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into formation and another goose flies to the point position.
Lesson we can learn: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each others skills, capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.

Fact 4: The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Lesson we can learn: We need to make sure our honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement, the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one’s heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek.

Fact 5: When a goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.
Lesson we can learn: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

~Based on the work by Milton Olson

What can we learn from this?

• We need to assist one another.
• It is our duty to take turn to lead.
• Learn the importance of encouraging one another in the right direction.
• It is necessary to stand by one another in difficult times.

Photograph courtesy Toivo Lagerweij

One of my team members came to me a couple of days back with a query. He wanted a suggestion from me. His sister was working in a company who was reeling under the economic crisis and was going through a cost-cutting spree. There were cost reduction initiatives everywhere. Incentives that were offered earlier were no more being given. Salary appraisals were also being put on hold. Recognitions were not coming, just because recognition involved costs. No employee was happy with just a pat on his back. It had to be accompanied with some kind of reward which meant monetary considerations. Giving the kind of situation that the organization was going through, employees were bound to be unhappy. Add to this the lack of communication from the organization’s leaders to its employee, and the matters were worse.
Now this employee was looking for a change very desperately. She had spent close to 3 years in the organization and was in for a promotion when all this happened. So growth was what she was looking for. She got an opportunity with another company which was into the financial domain and there were news in the leading dailies that they were cutting jobs and that the financial situation was bad. The organization was offering a good enough package to this employee and a position jump as well.
She was caught in a dilemma now. Should she opt for the change or, not?
There are quite a few employees caught in this dilemma. They are scared of the financial situation and at the same time are so dissatisfied that they desperately want to change. So what is the correct decision at this point in time.
The decision would depend upon a comparative evaluation. One should keep in mind that there is always a risk at changing a job during tough financial conditions. Any organization that goes on an employee reduction initiative would first look to lay-off the ones who have just been hired. They would certainly not want to let go off their seasoned employees unless they are absolute non-contributors and non-performers. So the risk remains. But at the same time, if your organization is a sinking ship and if you have a better opportunity it is always better to grab it and jump out of the sinking ship. So consider the following and then take a call.

• Which organization is financially strong – your current organization or, the prospective one? – If both are non-comparisons, then evaluate the following.
• Has your organization in the past offered growth and appreciable pay-hikes?
• Has your organization taken care of its employees in the past?
• Is there a definite communication from your senior leader’s to the employees.
• Are you okay to be without a job in the worst case scenario for about a couple of months?
• Even if your organization is taking extreme steps of cost-reduction right now, how strong is it financially? Is it cash-rich? Does it have enough liquidity reserves?

The last point would be a difficult to gather information, but with internet and Google, you should be able to do so. Answer all of the above questions and you would be able to find an answer.

Photograph courtesy Rose Ann

People working in BPOs have recently started to discuss another fear factor. It is the Barack Obama effect. What would happen now?

The Barack Obama effect is another syndrome that is very fast catching the BPO population. You might find people in groups, standing at a canteen or, in the cafeteria discussing what would happen to the BPOs, now that Obama has been elected the President of the US. His policies were clearly against outsourcing and that would mean loss of jobs in the BPOs again. As such companies were now handing over the pink-slip toits employees and there were huge retrenchment happening.

The problem with most of the people working in BPOs is the fact that they tend to speak on subjects that they don’t really research about and know much about. Gradually these casual talks take the form of a rumour and tend to hurt everybody from the employees to the employer. Having said that, I would certainly want to discuss on the subject in question so that at least a few of us understand what the actual story is.

It is true that Obama has said something about outsourcing. What precisely is it that he has said? In one of his speeches he happened to say that "he would bring back jobs to America – jobs that are being offshored to countries like India, by withdrawing subsidies that companies outsourcing such jobs normally receives". It is indeed true that he wants to cut down on the jobs that are bing outsourced. But is it possible for one president to decide one fine morning that he would stop ‘Globalization’. Of course, not. Globalization is a phenomenon on which many a country, even the ones like that of America thrives and survives. Cost effectiveness, economies of scale and quite a few things are all what globalization has leveraged. So withdrawing a subsidy to a company that outsources business is a very small part of the benefit that such a company derives from outsourcing. In addition to these subsidies, there are multiple other advantages that these companies get by outsourcing their businesses. Will they be willing to sacrifice all of that? They have to be given quite a bit of compensation in order to do that. Is it possible for Barack Obama to do that? The answer would be a big "NO".

Finance minister Chidambaram was the best to sum it up. Chidambaram, who said he was speaking as an individual and not for the Indian government, maintained that the Indian software and information technology-enabled services industry should not be worried over Obama’s policies.’A comment here or a comment there on outsourcing should not bother us,’ he said when asked to comment on the promises by Obama during his campaign to look into the issue of Americans purportedly losing jobs to countries like India.’Once he is in office, he will realise that this is an inter-connected world and countries have to work together.’

So, just chill guys. There is no threat to the outsourcing industry. There could be a slight decrease in the growth, but the outsourcing industry is here to stay.

What is a written test? Ask this question and there would be a hundred different response to it. More often than not, a written test at any interview is one or, the other form of a Psychometric test.

Now what is a Psychometric test?
The term ‘psychometric’ comes from two Greek words and, literally translated, means ‘measurement of the mind’. The term ‘measurement’, as used here, does not mean that mental abilities or, qualities can be measured in the same way as physical quantities. Instead it infers that psychometrics involves a ‘scientific’ approach to the assessment of these abilities and qualities.

Psychometric tests cover areas ranging from intelligence, aptitude, values, emotions, motivation, personality, etc.
They have been created for three main reasons:

• It is easier to get information from candidates through tests rather than through interviews/ counselling.
• The information from these tests is more scientifically consistent than the information from an interview/ counselling session.
• It is harder to get away with lying on a test than in an interview/ counselling session.

There are a lot of people who refute the claims made by these psychometric tests, but the fact still remains that these tests have helped and are still helping recruiters in understanding the above discussed basic qualities of the candidates.

Things to keep in mind -

• Psychometric tests generally have no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers.
• Your answer to any question should be the first response that comes to your mind.
• Be honest with your answers and give answers that you feel describes you the best.

Tips to do well in Psychometric tests:

Though the tips mentioned below seem to be understood, they can prove worthy while appearing for a Psychometric test.

• Ensure that you don’t go for the test on an empty stomach. Research shows that skipping meals reduces intellectual performance.
• Stay calm; anxiety can affect your performance adversely.
• Psychometric tests normally need no prior preparation. In case you have an idea of the type of test to expect, for example, numerical ability, then you might practice a few sums before you appear for the actual test.
• Try to maintain both speed and accuracy, especially for timed tests.
• You will almost certainly be taken through a practice or instruction stage before the test begins. This will give you the chance to try one or two practice items, before the actual test.
• Listen carefully to the instructions given by the test administrator.
• Get the most out of the examples or practice session. Do not hesitate to ask questions.
• If you need a little more time for practice, ask for it.

Be as natural as possible and answer truly. Psychometric tests (especially the personality tests) have an in-built mechanism of detecting false responses. This is done by means of differently worded statements, which measure candidates on the same feature. So a false response from you would mean the end of the interview for you.
Psychometric tests are a useful aide in interviews. So do not look at it as an obstacle, rather treat it as a positive towards understanding your personality.