Good morning!  We hope that you are getting ready to enjoy a nice pleasant summer's weekend.  Take some time to be nice to yourself and when you have a few moments, please read this week's editorial which has been written by a very knowledgeable special needs business consultant.  We feel that this topic is important enough for you to read about as it can very well affect you or a close friend or family member if it has not done so already.

Have a great weekend.

The business desk team

 

How call centers in India are affecting special needs workers in North America

By Donna J Jodhan

 

For the past few years we have seen where more and more companies have been relocating their call centers to India.  It started off as a small group of elite or blue chip companies doing it, but nowadays it appears that even the medium sized ones are doing it and they are no longer hiding the fact that they're doing it in order to reduce their overhead costs.

 

While I generally do not have a problem with anyone wanting to reduce their overhead costs, even those big bad corporations, I do take issue with the fact that by relocating call centers to India, many jobs have been lost right here in North America and surprise of all surprises!  The job losses have been highest among our special needs labor force.  Statistics continue to show that the unemployment rate among our special needs labor force has hovered at around 80% and above for at least the last 20 years and in Canada statistics show that over 70% of disabled persons live below the poverty line. 

 

Up till when the trend to relocate call centers to India started, many persons with special needs were able to find employment at call centers.  They were jobs that were opened to them for a variety of reasons and many of them depended on income from these types of jobs to keep themselves afloat but more importantly to keep themselves from slipping below the poverty line.  Now, this picture has changed and in an economy where it is so difficult for anyone to find gainful employment, companies have unwittingly made it even more difficult for special needs persons to find gainful employment.

 

If mainstream employment seekers are finding it difficult to find jobs then think what it is like for special needs employment seekers.  The spectrum of job opportunities for persons with special needs is already so narrow and when a major source of employment is taken out from under their feet and sent abroad then what?

 

There is yet another dark side and it's this.  Special needs jobs seekers are not the only ones who have been greatly affected by this trend.  Those retirees seeking to supplement their incomes have also been affected.  Those who do not have the right type of skills to seek higher-paying jobs have also been affected by this and those who have been depending on part-time employment to help them make ends meet have also been affected. 

 

Added to this are the following factors:  In a land where English is the primary language, consumers have to put up with customer service reps whose first language is not English and accordingly it is often difficult to communicate with them.  The companies who have relocated their call centers abroad seem to have forgotten how to train their call takers when it comes to product knowledge and phone manners and they have also seem to have forgotten how to treat their loyal customers.

 

I urge all of those companies who have relocated their call centers to India to re-think your strategy.  Charity begins at home and surely you large companies who have done this could find it in your corporate hearts to see the goodness in returning your call centers to North America.  I have no doubt that you have managed to reduce your overhead costs but in so doing you have also managed to inflict damage on yourselves; your corporate image.  In addition, you have managed to create great dissatisfaction among your North American customers.  Complaints against your call center personnel in India are increasing with each day and if you don't address this problem sooner than later then you may very well find yourselves being forced to change your strategy.

 

Donna J Jodhan is the president of Sterling Creations and you can learn more about this dynamic woman and leader by visiting www.sterlingcreations.ca.  Donna is herself blind and a woman of mixed race who has never let any road blocks stand in her way.