There is fear in the air. The financial meltdown has created a scary environment and everybody is running helter-skelter and are trying to save their investments.
There is uncertainity also in the air and in the corporates. Employees are feeling insecure about their jobs and corporate are laying off people in heaps just because they have lost major businesses.
But what does this financial meltdown have in store for the BPOs and its employees? I would not want to sound too positive here and act as if there is nothing. Rather I would be very candid and direct in my language. That has already scared you, right? I know.
Yes, it is true that the financial meltdown will have its impact on the BPO industry. The otherwise steap growth that we have been witnessing throughout will witness a slight slowdown. This is but obviously because of the reduction in the amount of business coming into the outsourcing industry. A few BPOs who have been running processes for specific segments in the financial sector, would be the worst hit. These BPOs would have lost a few of their businesses and would hence be looking to layoff its employees or, redeploy them to other processes.
BPOs that are not financially sound will also be impacted to a great extent because of the cash crunch that the financial meltdown has put them into.
So employees in these kind of BPOs have to be extremely cautious and should watch out for signs. Know your company in detail and understand if they are financially strong. You can look out for options in better and financially sound organizations, though the fact remains that there are very few companies that are hiring right now. But under no circumstance should you panic.
Employees working in financially strong and huge brand names, this will also include all captive businesses, need not panic. Understand the fact that your organizations are capable of withstanding such meltdowns and can take care of their employees and businesses. So stay tight in your positions. A big advice during this tough time is "don’t look out for changes". Companies would hire you today and you might vene be lured with the good salary package, but…you would not know the financial situation of the company. What if tomorrow, they close down and you are rendered jobless? So employees working in captive BPOs, and brand names, stay tight in your positions.
Like all tough times, these trying times would also move and the growth of the BPO industry would be back to normal.
BPOs have always been character assasinated. It is in the news for all the wrong reasons, rather BPOs are made the reason for all the wrong news.
When I joined the BPOs, I was told that one cannot work in a call center without smoking. You have to smoke to cope up with the stress you encounter in a BPO. But its has been 8 years now and I have never smoked. Is it that the BPO is the one who brought the smnoking culture? I do no think it is, but a lot of people have their own reasons to believe that it is.
So how would the smoking ban impact the BPOs? I do not think it would make much of a difference. For that matter, no-smoking in any company would not make much of a difference, because the ones who still feel the urge to smoke would go out and smoke and the ones who can avoid will avoid it. But can smokers quit smoking all of a sudden. No, not really.
So will the smoking ban be effective. I have my reason to believe that it is not. I am of the opinion that if the government is so committed towards prevention of smoking, why don’t they stop the production of cigarrettes.
What is your opinion? Post a comment and lets start a discussion.
