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7 reasons why BPOs rocks............................
Posted Date: 10 Mar 2008 Resource Type: Articles/Knowledge Sharing Category: General
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Posted By: jalaj Member Level: Diamond
Rating:  Points: 5
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7 reasons why BPOs rock.................
Love it or hate it, but you can't ignore it. :
Such is the BPO and call centre wave that has hit India from all sides. Much has been written about how hectic a career it is; how rotating shifts play havoc with your health. And how irate callers dump on you.
But little has been written about the benefits that call centre employees enjoy, but people in mainstream jobs don't.
Here's unearthing some of the offbeat positives of working in a call centre.
1)Educational Courses :
This is by far the biggest advantage of working for a call centre. Education doesn't stop as soon as you sign the appointment letter. Most call centres and BPO companies have affiliations with educational institutes to offer part-time management and even technical courses to employees.
In some cases, they offer massive discounts on course fees and in others even foot the entire bill for your education. And if you think that the institutions are of the never-heard-of-college-of-management category, think again. These institutes are reputed ones, who charge hefty fees for their management programmes.
2)Health and diet plans :
We not talking about medical health benefits here.
These health plans help you stay fit on a day-to-day basis.
While most call centres have well-equipped gymnasiums, certain others go a step ahead and offer you customised diet plans charted by trained dieticians.
Market survey
e-Serve boasts of a whole new diet plan programme called the Energiser, aimed at boosting the energy levels through correct food patterns. e-Serve's deputy HR manager Rohit Gulati tells us more about the plan.
"We have both domestic and international operations. Our customer service executives have to interact with people other countries like United Kingdom and Australia. This results in shifts and of course a call centre job is sedentary one. So correct nutrition is very important keeping energy levels up. We have dieticians who analyse the body type and physical makeup of an employee and then give a proper diet plan that he or she should follow, " says Rohit.
The plan mentions both the kinds of foods that should be consumed and the exercises that should be done. The company also has a subsidised canteen that offers light healthy foods as well.
e-Serve is one of the few that have customised diet plans.
But most of the call centres have canteens with a wide variety of foods.
Rajni Khanna, senior HR executive, WNS says, "We have a Café Coffee Day outlet and an ice cream parlour in our premises in addition to a subsidised cafeteria that serves multi-cuisine meals."
Some even offer free meals, especially for night shifts.
3)Life, accident and medical insurance :
Unless an irate customer comes to settle a complaint with you for a service malfunction, there's nothing life threatening about this job.
Yet BPO companies offer accident, life and medical insurance for their employees, religiously paying the premium every year.
Some of them even cover the dependents of the employees in their insurance plan. Market survey
WNS' Khanna says, "Our company provides life insurance of Rs 2, 00, 000, accident insurance of Rs 4, 00, 000 and medical insurance of Rs 1, 50, 000 to employees."
These benefits are offered by almost all big BPO companies including the likes of J P Morgan Chase, SITEL, Daksh, e-Serve, ICICIOneSource, and Accenture among several others.
The amounts offered vary from company to company and from one level of hierarchy to the other.
4) Retention bonus :
Almost every other company offers festival bonuses.
But how many offer you a bonus just because you stuck around long enough?
Call centres do.
Considering the speed with which call centre executives move around, the perk is no surprise.
Market survey
"We offer our employees retention bonus if they complete a period of more than a year in employment with us, " says Fredrick Rozario from the HR department of Daksh.
He also tells us that if an employee doesn't avail the leaves that are allotted to him or her in a month, he or she can redeem them against money.
However, e-Serve's Gulati stresses that retention bonus, though available, is offered to select employees only. "However, depending on the employee's performance, we offer them regular performance bonuses," he says.
Generally, the retention bonus is a lump sum amount given after a year's service.
Post that, every six months a retention bonus is offered to those who stick on.
5) Stress Management :
Most call centres boast of fully equipped gymnasiums.
And some, to minimise the stress faced by employees, hold yoga and stress management classes by experts of alternative therapy.
Market survey
In WNS, yoga instructors have batches for giving individual attention to those who want to fight the ravages of day-to-day stress.
Some of the offices of e-Serve have gyms too.
Where they don't, there are discounted memberships to clubs in the vicinity. ICICIOneSource and Daksh, however, are two companies that have no provisions for a gym yet.
Taking the health wave forward, some call centres like WNS offer their employees a medical centre that is open round the clock, free check-ups and medication.
Nurses and doctors are available round the clock to take care of any emergencies.
6) Accommodation:
In metros, accommodation is always a problem.
Though mainstream companies do provide accommodation to their employees, they restrict the benefit to top level employees.
Not so with call centres!
Many of them house outstation employees for one to two weeks in their guesthouses till they find suitable accommodation.
Others offer permanent accommodation on a sharing basis.
Market survey
Gulati tells us about e-Serve's policy.
"We take a few employees and give them a large apartment to stay in. The rent and the deposit are taken care of by the company," says Gulati.
The amount deducted from the salary for house rent is minimal.
7) And a host of other benefits…
Other softer benefits are also up for grabs for call centre executives.
"In addition to free credit cards from ICICI Bank, we keep getting offers from other companies. The latest offer right is from telecom provider Orange. If we take up a connection, we get 1000 minutes of talk-time free ,"says 24-year-old Nilesh* who works with ICICIOneSource.
Contest and monthly employee rewards are also part of the BPO culture. Most of the times, 'employee of the month' awards are cash awards.
In addition, certain funds are allocated to centres for fun activities like picnics, personality contests and parties.
The cost of commuting between work and home is saved because call centres offer pick up and drop service from your doorstep.
The bottomline: Working on regularly rotating shifts is no piece of cake. But the benefits above, in addition to a vibrant team and relaxed and informal work culture, can make the experience a sweet one! * Name changed to protect identity
Never take some one for granted,Hold every person Close to your Heart because you might wake up one day and realise that you have lost a diamond while you were too busy collecting stones."
Remember this always in life.
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