BPO honeymoon can be shortlived, warns HR expert

The sweet success that India is experiencing in the field of BPO may soon turn sour unless India pays serious heed to human resource imperatives that are surfacing.

This is the warning sounded by Dr John Sullivan, professor of management, San Francisco State University, who was in Bangalore to participate in a conference.

For BPO to remain an ongoing success story in India, attention has to be paid to costs. "Bangalore is no longer seen as a cheap option. Firms have their eyes on Eastern Europe and the Philippines, among other countries," says Sullivan.

It is only a matter of time before the rising costs outweigh the net gains from offshoring. Thus India has to get out of the situation in which its BPO offering is a pure cost play.

To do this it BPO operations have to go up the value chain but here lies a dilemma. "With BPOs, especially call centres, giving its employees absolutely no incentive to innovate, frustration can set in. Job satisfaction will be missing. No amount of money can make up for this."

So what is the solution? "Those taking up jobs in call centres and such others will have to increase their knowledge and keep learning. Otherwise, it can be dangerous at the individual level," says the HR expert.

Right now the mood in Indian call centres is different, say Indian analysts. Young people from middle class backgrounds are more busy enjoying their new earnings than worrying about their skill levels in the future.

As costs go up and firms need more skilled people to handle more value-added functions, the competition will grow.

"Branding in HR will become the norm and firms will have to use their HR practices to attract the best talent. For this firms will have to market their HR through formal means. Otherwise, it will not be easy to compete for talent. They also have to market HR to keep employees."

One positive aspect may be the lack of unionisation and job security among BPO employees, add the analysts. Says Sullivan: "Job security can make an individual complacent and not try to increase his/her knowledge and skills. The person will hence not have any incentive to improve, learn and innovate."

The ultimate competitive capability of an economy is its ability to innovate. Says Sullivan, "For an economy to continue growing and not stagnate, innovation is the key. That has been the US's strength. If you cannot innovate then the economy will stagnate."

He also cited the example of Japan. "Initially reverse engineering worked and helped bring them out of the effects of World War II and made them rich. But, that strategy stopped working the moment they reached a stage when innovation was the only thing that could keep them on a steady growth path."