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Dead-end jobs in Delhi

Some Indian employees in the so-called business process outsourcing field see their work as a dead-end job, in contrast to how the work has been portrayed.

Ed Frauenheim Former Staff Writer, News
Ed Frauenheim covers employment trends, specializing in outsourcing, training and pay issues.
Ed Frauenheim

Another aspect of the offshoring argument is unraveling, according to a report today on silicon.com.

The case has been made that employees in Bangalore and Delhi are likely to handle customer service calls or process invoices better than their counterparts in Boston or Detroit, because the jobs in India represent an upwardly mobile career track. Highly educated, talented Indians will be drawn to the jobs, the logic goes, to be part of the exciting business process outsourcing industry.

It turns out, though, that the Indians actually working the phones and computers see their jobs as less promising, according to the story. More than 50 percent of BPO worker respondents to a survey by consulting firm Hill & Associates said the main reason for leaving a position was that it is a dead end job. Such dissatisfaction contributes to an attrition rate in Indian call centers that is as high as 40 percent, according to the story.

In recent months, offshoring has come to look less attractive than it may have a few years ago. For example, police in India have uncovered a terrorist plot targeting the country's booming information technology economy. And it has become clear that not all offshore arrangements work out well, despite the prospects of lower labor costs. In fact, Decision Design, a small U.S.-based software developer, is growing quickly in part by mopping up offshoring messes.