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A Critical Study on Work-life Balance of BPO Employees in India

Smita R. Chavan
smita_r_chavan@yahoo.co.in
Sinhgad Institute of Management, Pune
Balkrushna Potdar
balkrushna.potdar@yahoo.com
Sinhgad Business School, Pune

1. Introduction
This paper analyses the impact of the outsourcing industry on the society and the individuals in India. Both
positive and negative impacts have been analyzed. We focused on the following few major aspects during this
study:
Health issues
Societal issues
Personal issues, and
Benefits offered, and strategies for work and work ethics.

Based on a field survey, views of few employees and employers of this industry have been captured and
analyzed. Various health issues that came to light are stress, sleeplessness, and headache, fatigue, sense of
exhaustion and lack of concentration, etc.
It was also found that a number of factors like hindrance in personal life, physically tiring nature of work,
better salary, lack of growth opportunity, in conducive policies and procedures could be some of the reasons for
employees to leave the industry/company. Majority of employees complained of headache and digestive
disorders. Almost everyone stressed on having provision for power naps of 10-15 minutes.
Employees accepted that they enjoy various facilities and benefits provided by the company like Provident
Fund, Gratuity, Personal Accidental Insurance; Company leased accommodation, Recreational (like Cafeteria)
and other facilities (like ATM, Gym etc), Corporate credit card, Educational Benefits, Performance based
incentives, Regular get together and other cultural programs, Employee Referral Schemes and Maternity leave,
etc.
Employees also accepted that their spending has increased and much of the money is spent in lifestyle
products, recreational activities and to support the family. Employees dismissed the aspect of increased
professionalism being unique to the BPO industry and said professionalism is pervasive in all sectors.

2. Impact of the BPO Industry
Organizations do not work in isolation; they function within the main system of society. Businesses take place
by taking the inputs from society in the form of people, capital, resources and gives goods and services as
output. These outputs influence the life of people and provide the means of improving the lifestyle. We cannot
ignore the effect that the society is largely impacted by businesses of various size and operations.
Business process outsourcing is the long term contracting out of non-core business activities to the experts
who perform the activities with less cost and more efficiency. Todays business spans the entire globe by their
overseas operations and thus they leave a visible change in the societies of various geographies.
Like the industrial revolution of the 17
th
century, the BPO revolution has also brought about a variety of
changes in the lives of the people. Business process outsourcing is a strategic choice of the companies when
implemented creates numerous advantages such as:
Reduction in costs
Efficiency in processes
Focus on core businesses
Relationship with global customers
Increased share holder value.

A company that outsources is working virtually 24 hrs and catering efficiently to its customers anytime in any
part of the world. To enable them working 24 hrs countries like India, Philippines, China etc. diligently work
during the nights and ensure better service.
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Some of the major cities in India where outsourced activities are undertaken are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi,
Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune and Jaipur.

Social Impact of the BPO Industry
The first step towards understanding the social impact is to understand why India is the most preferred location
for business process outsourcing and how the outsourcing industry has changed India to enable it to sustain the
position of the most preferred offshore center.
Advantage India
The products and services are usually significantly cheaper in India compared to US or Europe. While
the manpower in India is definitely cheap compared to US or any other developed nation, but
manufacturing or service costs are not necessarily very cheap.
In India a company typically spends about US $400-$1000 per month on a skilled employee
depending on the skill level. This is definitely cheaper compared to same level employee in a
developed country.
Advantage of Outsourcing to India
Cheaper manpower.
Cheaper office space (Typically, one sq. foot costs less than $1 per month)
Highly skilled workforce (For example, Bangalore is said to have more number of IT
engineers than Silicon Valley). On the other hand, the infrastructure and fuel expenses are
relatively more in India.
Disadvantages
Higher fuel and electricity costs.
Higher telecom and Internet access charges.
Public Infrastructure not up to the mark when compared to developed nations, and the
companies need to make their own arrangements (such as back-up power generator etc.)

When one tries to study the impact of BPO industry, both individual and societal concerns unfolds. The next
section summarizes the impact on society and the individuals.

Positive Impact on the Society
Advantages that the Indian societies have gained by the outsourcing industry are:
Secondary/Indirect Employment
Each direct employment in BPO is capable of generating 4-5 times indirect employment
opportunity through ancillary industries. Major growth of ancillary industry is seen in the case of
real estate, transportation, security, facilities employees creating jobs in the social infrastructure to
support BPO employees and their families.
Boom in Retail Industry
The outsourcing boom has added to more n in the major cities and more jobs have been created.
Since the industry pays handsome salaries to the youth, and spending power has increased which
has resulted in good business in the retail segments of clothing and related accessories. What has
resulted from this is bigger malls, better cars on roads, swanky restaurants, and more brands.
Better Infrastructure
With the global companies setting up their offshore offices in India to meet the expectations of
their clients, providing better infrastructure and support from the government has become
essential. Hence the metro cities are evolving in terms of infrastructure facilities, which benefit the
societies living the city. Better road and cleaner environment than before has led to healthier
environment.
Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is witnessing more business and growth since long stay guests have
become a common scene in most of the hotels in major cities. A number of overseas visitors stay
in hotels while they are here in India for business.
Apart from this when there are contingencies; the employees do not get back to their homes.
Instead they stay at hotels and go for work the next day from the hotels. Hence it is seen that this
leads to increased business for the hotel industry.
Individual Level Benefit
At the individual level, it is observed that fresh graduates are able to find better employment after
the advent of outsourcing industry. Prior to BPO, young graduates were not offered many jobs
because of lack of work experience. Today the educated youth are offered training and based on
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their excellence they are paid handsomely. This has a flip side; since more money can be earned
through this employment there is a tendency among the youth to turn as spendthrift. The
spending pattern has witnessed an increasing trend and many other sectors like the retail and real
estate benefit out of this trend.
Some of the advantages that can be brought out are:
Employment to graduates.
Better standard of Life.
Enhanced skill of educated youth.
Increased professionalism

There are certain perceived and real threats of BPO on the lives of the Indian educated youth. Some of the
cited negative aspects of this industry are:
Deskilling or underutilization of human resources.
Increased level of stress than any other industry.
Cultural shifts.
Increased health problems.

Deskilling or Underutilization of Human Resources
Since the industry pays more when compared to other industries, young graduates are lured to this
employment. In many occasions we see that engineers, graduates of other discipline like commerce,
arts and science are not willing to take up higher studies and continue with BPO for better pay reasons.
It also dawns on many graduates that they need to visualize a career path for them and if BPO will
create stagnation then they need to quit and take up higher studies. On the other hand, many college
students are positive of growth in the same industry. We see many science graduates starting their
career in a medical transcription company, but after putting a few months of experience they have
realized that they are working for pay and realizing their potentials.
Increased Stress
It is a fact that the life of many employees in this industry is more stressful than others working in other
industries. Though the working conditions are good and satisfactory, working in night shifts creates
increased health problems.
The following are a few facts presented by the industry survey of year 2004 by Dataquest.
Long working hours in BPO is a combination of workload, call volume and travel time.
Any average agent puts in 11-12 hours of work per day and at times it reaches 14 hours in
case of companies that encourage overtime.
Operational heads regularly work 17-18 hours per day besides staying back for customer
conference calls.
Stress due to Work Timing
The geographical time difference with the US and the UK gives Indian
industry one of the biggest advantages to remain a dominant player in the
BPO. Hence the employees have to work in nights for long. This creates
stress and causes a drastic change in the activities of body.
Stress due to Repetitive Nature of Work
Monotony is another important reason for stress. Possible solutions can be
hiring retired personnel or housewives, since these groups with more
experience tend to get frustrated the least. Since other innovative measures
can be periodic job rotation.
Stress due to Workload
It is argued that even IT services employees have tremendous workload, so
why it is that only the BPO employees complain. Though IT services
employees work for long and odd hours, the long working hours are
interspersed with smoke breaks, coffee breaks or chat with colleagues.
Unfortunately, this is not the case in call centers, a fresher gets a little
respite, since the first few months on the job involves a lot of training time.
Stress due to Insufficient Holidays
Most of the employees have to work on Indian holidays. While some
companies do celebrate Indian holidays there are a number of small and big
call centers, which do not observe Indian holidays.
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Stress due to Pressure to Perform on Metrics
Every single action in a call center needs to conform to a performance
metric. This is because most call centers are keen on different standard
certifications. It is more of business necessity for most companies to follow
these quantifiable business metrics to attract customers. With experience,
the stress level goes down, and more importantly, working on such
quantifiable performance parameters helps the employees in their future
careers.
Stress due to Travel Time
Most call centers are located on the outskirts of cities, and therefore most
employees spend a long time traveling to and from their offices. Again, this
is a unique problem of the Indian industry. Most call centers require large
manpower in order to scale up and grow, and to support such huge
workforces; they need lot of space. And exorbitant land prices in cities
necessitate their movement to the outskirts.
Stress due to Call Volumes
While the overall workload is quite high, call volume itself is proving to be
a major cause of stress. In most call centers, there is hardly any respite
between two calls.
Stress Caused due to Overtime
Though most companies encourage overtime with incentives, this can be a
major reason for stress. Initially, freshers who are willing overtime for
making more money feel stressed once they are into it and performing.
Overtime, along with long working hours and travel time, is turning out to
be a potent combination, causing call center related stresses.

Health Problems
The consequences of stressful work are health related problems, which eventually leads to quitting of job or
quitting the industry. We witness high attrition rates of around 30-40% in this industry.
Some of the health issues are:
Tension
Sleeplessness
Headaches
Eye-strain
Repetitive strain injury (RSI)
Voice loss, hearing problems and burn-out.

Sleeping Disorders
One major severe ailment afflicting people working in Indian call centers is the sleeping disorder. Not
only the freshers, even the experienced managers are unable to escape it. Some call centers are looking
at devising innovative mechanisms like flexible shifts with sleeping arrangements in the office
premises.
Digestive System Related Problems
Working long hours and odd hours without any sleep, ad eating food supplied by external caterers
every day, has led to employees suffering from digestive disorders. Especially for the large number of
girls working in the industry, the problem is even more severe. Many call centers are now taking
additional care to ensure their caterers supply hygienic food; besides stipulating strict conditions to
maintain the quality of the food they serve.
Depression
The gradual realization that there are limited scopes in developing a career owing to fewer growth
opportunities is increasing the frustration levels in the BPO industry. Coupled with growing mental
fatigue and increasingly punishing physical environments, depression is the obvious end result. Some
call centers have now devised different stress management programs mainly to counter depression.
Eyesight Problems
Globally call center employees are considered a high risk group for eye related problems. While the
quality of monitors might impact these disorders, sitting continually without adequate breaks seems to
be the truerer reason. While this is already a problem in the IT industry, which some companies have
overcome by use of anti-glare monitors.
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Hearing Ailments
A call center job invokes taking calls throughout the shift, sitting with headphones. While quality of
headphones does make a difference, it would not be appropriate to say that good quality of headphones
can solve this problem; it is more to do with giving rest between calls.

Cultural Shifts
Though on one side we learn to become as professional as western world executives some other disturbing
issues are arising. One such serious issue is the personal habits that have undergone a considerable change.
The personal habits, discipline and behavioral issues and detachment with family have been discussed below.
Personal Habits
The young executives tend to develop certain bad habits such as alcohol, smoking etc. It is not
uncommon to find women smoking and drinking alcohol in the BPO setup which is definitely a
social stigma in the Indian societies. There are increased concerns about the habits of the
employees among the parents, who are not finding it easy to talk to them about their habits, which
in no way are welcomed by the Indian families.
Solving such issues lies majorly in the hands of the employees and their employers. Employees
can be made to attend counseling sessions of professional counselors. Conducting group
counseling, workshops, educative film shows, in order to create awareness on effects of bad habits.
Such actions will enable individuals to realize the importance of good habits and they could seek
one-to-one counseling sessions.
Discipline and Behavioral Issues
Call centers provide excellent working environment, free food and transportation. There is always
a situation where individual or group of youngsters tend to commit mistakes and abuse the
freedom. The most common behavior cited is misuse of food, behave erratically in vans, and
smoke in public places, misuse of telephones and other resources of the company. The supervisors
themselves reel under the pressure of performance and achieving targets. Hence do not give their
time for finding solutions. The professional counselor can play a major role in educating the
youngsters on discipline; provide advice to erring executives.
Unacceptable behaviors cause disturbance to others and affects the overall productivity.
Continuous education and counseling will help to mitigate such problems and it is possible to
change the behavior by adopting a positive approach.
Detachment from the Family
Since the daytime is spent in sleep and recreational activities with friends. The employees are
hardly able to give time for their families. Problems become more pronounced when they get
married. Additional responsibilities of running a family demands more time and hence eventually
people quit the industry. Most of the employees work on Indian holidays too, which causes
frustration. Some employees even feel the need for inclusion in the family and the society. Hence
it is important for family members to render support for their young sons and daughters and to help
them with the stress that they are undergoing.

3. Review of Literature
The papers say Employees are required to `manufacture' relationships... Quite often, aspects such as moods of
the agents (employees), facial expressions and words are subject to monitoring. The agents are even found
forced to either express some feelings, which they do not feel or suppress certain feelings, which they genuinely
want to share. In both the cases, the employees find the job depressing and leading to emotional dissonance".
Emotional exhaustion adds to the physical and mental strain of the workers, leading to higher levels of stress
and burnout under the electronically monitored work and tightly bureaucratised work regime.
Outsourcing decisions are not, technically, irreversible. But in practical terms the organizational disruption
and financial costs of bringing services back in house (back sourcing) mean that few organizations revert,
even when quite dissatisfied with an arrangement. Instead, organizations typically seek to move to another
outsourcing arrangement, that is sometimes less attractive than the original in-house delivery. Preliminary
evidence from studies of business process outsourcing (BPO) experiences, like those into IT outsourcings
success, suggests that only a minority of organizations report their BPO arrangements as satisfactory, implying
that many are caught in this cant go back bind. In this paper the authors examine two organizations
contemplating the adoption of BPO, and consider their expectations and experiences in light of existing
empirical literature. The paper concludes with a set of principles to assist organizations to avoid BPO failure.
The people who work in these call centres indeed, in any company in India do so out of choice, not
coercion. They make that choice on the basis of the options available to them, options which are now far wider
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than they were a decade ago. When this writer was in college in the early 1990s, it was next to impossible for a
young graduate to get a job on the basis of his degree alone.
Today, a working knowledge of English suffices. In the socialist decades after independence a middle-class
man could save up enough to buy a house and a car only when he was in his 30s, or even 40s. Today, young
people in their 20s can do so. Many of them use their time in the BPO industry to better their lives substantially.
Some support families, others save up to go abroad for further education. Some simply make money, a goal
apparently anathema to grizzled socialists.

4. Research Design
Research Statement
A Critical Study on Work-life Balance of BPO Employees in India.

Objectives
To gain familiarity about various social, emotional and physical problems faced by BPO employees.
To study the impact of inadequate sleep on the health of employees working in the BPO sector.
To find out various strategies adopted by companies to help their employees to maintain good work-life
balance.
To find out various present stressful practices.

Hypotheses
H(1): Employees working in day shifts are more productive than those working in night shifts.
H(2): Employees working in night shifts are facing more physical and emotional problems than those
of day shifts.
H(3): Night shift BPO employees have poor work-life balance.

Research Design
We have categorized this research as of type descriptive because the study includes surveys and fact finding
studies of various kinds. The major purpose of this research is description of the state of affairs or problems as
they exists and are faced at present by BPO employees. We have no control over the variables; we have only
reported what has happened or what is actually happening.

Sampling Design
Universe Type: Finite
Sampling Design Type: Simple random probability sampling
Sampling Unit: Pune and Mumbai suburban region
Sampling Frame/Source List: Please see appendix B
Selected Sample:
Table 4.1 Selected Companies
IBM
Infosys
Ventura
Convergys
Epitome
Emphasis
AB Connect
Aditya Minacs
Access Dataline Pvt,
Mumbai
Persistent
JVL Group Solution,
Mumbai
ADP
WNS
Ahmis
Reliance
Three
EDS
Aaragon BPO
Tata Motors
TCS
Godrej
Lawkim
Sample Size: 259 Employees of various ITES/BPO companies (Only those respondents will be
considered who have already served for more than 6 months in BPO industry).



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Parameters of Interest:
Table 4.2 Parameters of Interest / Variable List
Gender
Age
Organization
Shift schedule of work
Amount of sleep per day
Facility of rest room
Provision of power nap
Feeling of stress
Reason for joining this industry
Did not get a better job
Not much educational
qualification required
Good work environments
Good benefits
Attractive life style
Other reasons
Industries bad repo in society
Problem in personal life
Period for which you see yourself
working in this industry
More productive in which shift
Ample_growth_opportunity
Benefits in the company
Provident fund
Gratuity
Personal accidental insurance
Company leased
accommodation
Recreational facilities
Corporate credit cards
Educational benefits
Performance based incentive
Regular get together and
cultural activities
Employee referral scheme
Maternity leave
Reasons of problems
Inadequate sleep
Infrequent timing of meals
Not enough drinking water
Consumption of junk food
Lack of regular exercise
Other problems..
Persistent problems
Cold
Muscular and cardio vascular
problems
Headache
Lack of concentration
Restless sleep
Short temper and feeling of
irritation
Sense of exhaustion
Lack of appetite
Others
Possible reasons for leaving the industry
No growth opportunity lack of
promotion
For higher salary
For higher education
Policies and procedures are not
conducive
Hindrance in personal life
Physically straining job
Uneasy relationships with peers
and managers



Data Collection
Primary Data
Questionnaires: (Both by collecting responses personally and also my mailing questionnaires
to distant respondents).
Personal Interview
Secondary Data
Internet, books on related issues, NASSCOM reports and research reports of various researchers in
relevance to our study.

Data Analysis and Statistial Technique Method
We have used SPSS as statistical software for the analysis and interpretation of data. We have employed various
statistical tools like cross tabulation (nominal form data), frequency distribution curves, pie charts, bar graphs
for analysis and representation of data. We have also employed the methods of correlation and regression as a
tool to find the relationship between two variables, especially helpful tools were Karl Pearsons coefficient of
correlation and Charles Spearmans coefficient of rank correlation. We have also done reliability analysis of
alpha type modeling to verify whether the collected data is reliable or not.

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5. Analysis and Interpretations
Analysis of Health Issues
Health Issues with Respect to Age Group
Table 4.1 Age Groupv vs Various Health Problems
Age Group
15-20 20-25 25-30 Above 30
Count Count Count Count
Cold
no 21 121 51 2
yes 17 27 19 1
Muscular and Cardio
Vascular Problems
no 34 117 53 2
yes 4 31 17 1
Digestive Disorders
no 25 80 33 2
yes 13 68 37 1
Headache
no 5 74 22 2
yes 33 74 48 1
Lack of Concentration
no 30 107 57 3
yes 8 41 13 0
Restless Sleep
no 26 114 55 2
yes 12 34 15 1
Lack of Appetite
no 33 123 68 3
yes 1 25 2 0
Short Temper and Feeling
of Irritation
no 30 107 45 1
yes 8 41 25 2
A Complete Sense of
Exhaustion
no 38 93 51 3
yes 0 55 19 0
Any Other Problem
No 38 148 68 3
Yes 0 0 2 0


Graph 4.1 Health Problems vs Age Group
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Interpretation
As can very well be seen from table 4.1 and from graphs 4.1, among the major health problems , majority,
156/259 ~60.2%, of population complained about headache ,followed by digestive disorders 119/259 ~45.9%,
which stood second in the list of complaints. Employees were also found complaining about short temper and
feeling of irritation (29.3%), complete sense of exhaution (28.6%), cold (24.7 %), restless sleep (23.9%), lack of
concentration (23.9%), muscular and cardiovascular disorders (20.5 %) and lack of apetite (10.8 %).
Almost all problems were found to be in maximum existence in the age-group 20-25 yrs as this being the
group of maximum strength.
We also studied categorically the problems on the basis of their age in which majority of population falled
under the age group of 20-25 yrs (148/259), followed by 25-30 yrs (70/259), 15-20 yrs (38/259) and above 30
yrs (3/259) group.
Within the given agegroups, Muscular and cardio-vuscular disorders were found most prominent in the age
group 25-30yrs (24.28% of the population in this age group), followed by 20-25 yrs (20.94% of the population
in this age group), and least in 15-20yrs (10.52%).
Headache being the biggest monster was found to have the maximum slaves in 15-20 yrs (86% of the
population in this age group) with lesser grip on 25-30yrs (68% of the population in this age group) and least on
20-25yrs (50% of the population in this age group) agegroup people.


Graph 4.2 Level of Stress vs Age

Interpretation
In the age group 20-25 yrs people are suffering from maximum level of stress, followed by 15-20 yrs age group.
Even the complainants of occasional stress are maximum in the age group 20-25yrs.

6. Findings and Suggestions
The information collected for the purpose of this research led to some important findings in addition to helping
testing of hypothesis through the analysis carried out. The replies to questionnaire have, after careful analysis,
also led to some suggestion and recommendations. These findings, suggestions and recommendations are
presented as follows:
Main Findings
Majority ~60.2%, of population complained about headache, followed by digestive disorders
~45.9%,.
Employees were also found complaining about short temper and feeling of irritation (29.3%),
complete sense of exhaution (28.6%), cold (24.7%), restless sleep (23.9%), lack of
concentration (23.9%), muscular and cardiovascular disorders (20.5 %) and lack of apetite
(10.8 %).
Almost all problems were found to be in maximum existence in the age-group 20-25 yrs as
this being the group of maximum strength.
15-20 yr agegroup suffer most from headache, 25-30 yr agegroup suffer most from digestive
disorder.
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25-30 yr age group is found to behave erratically the most, feel irritated and to suffer from
short temper. 37% of people in age group 25-30 yrs are found to have a complete sense of
exhaustion.
There is positive correlation between age group and short temper and feeling of irritation with
Karl-Pearsons coefficient coming out to be 0.126 at 0.05 level of significance.
Age group and stress level are highly correlated with Karl-Pearsons coefficient to be 0.315 on
positive side with only 0.01 level of significance.
70.37% of female and 55.6% male are suffering from headache as a everyday problem.
Male suffer more from digestive disorders and short temper than females.
Female are found to suffer more than males in terms of feeling of exhaustion and cold.
Men are more prone to muscular and cardio-vascular disorders and to lack of concentration.
Lack of concentration and restless sleep are positively corelated with gender. 0.144 and 0.125
as Pearsons index of corelation (all these are at .05 level of significance) respectively
Short temper and feeling of irritation are found to be hightly corelated to gender with positive
coefficient of correlation as 0.179 at 0.01 level of significance.
Those who sleep for less than 4 hrs a day are found to suffer from muscular and cardio-
vascular problems, digestive disorders like acidity and indigestion, regular headache. To add
insult to injury is the fact that they are also not spared by the problems of restless sleep
(100%) which in turn leads to a complete sense of exhaustion (100 %)
(at least in our study)
.
For those who sleep for 5-6hrs a day are found to suffer most by the common problems like
Headache (63.88%) and digestive disorders (45.37 %). Astonishingly, to our amusement, they
are somehow found to be more susceptible to cold than population in any other age group
category.
6-7 hrs of sleeping is found to build the least affected category. Within the category, headache
(51.80%) and digestive disorders (54.21%) are found to be the concerning issues but other
problems like sense of exhaustion , muscular and cardio-vascular disorders , lack of
concentration, restless sleep, short temper, cold and loss of appetite are found only in small
traces.
Stress is found at its maximum level in the people who sleep for 4-5 hrs daily (38.7%) while
occasional stress is frequent in the group sleeping for only 5-6 hrs (71%) followed by group of
6-7 hrs (66.66%) and 4-5 hrs (59.67%) sleep group.
Amount of sleep and cardiovascular problems are found to correlate positively with
coefficient 0.152 at 0.05 level of significance.
Restless sleep, short temper and feeling of irritation, sense of exhaustion, and level of stress-
all are found to correlate heavily with amount of sleep having coefficients of correlation as
0.293,0.164,0.292 and0.304 respectively at 0.01 level of significance.
86.84% of population in the age group of 15-20 said that they joined the industry because they
didnt get any better job.
Attractive lifestyle has been the reason for 34.46% of 20-25yrs age-group people to join, while
33.33% of above 30yrs and 30% in 25-30 yrs population also joined for same reason.
68 % of the whole population accepted that they joined this industry as they are unable to find
any other better job.
25.92% of female and 11.23% males said that, because the industry didnt demands for much
educational qualification, they preferred to join the industry.
Female give more importance to attractive lifestyle and good work environment, men give
more stress on the benefits offered by the company to before deciding to join.
The employees, at least in our study, are found clearly rejecting the opinion that Industry has
bad reputation in the society. 197/259 i.e.; nearly 76.1% of total population is found to
strongly disagree to the above point.
Females are found to suffer lesser in maintaining worklife and personal life balance than men.
When we compared the results for those who want to work for more than 4 year, a tremendous
monotonically decreasing function is observed between their increasing age group and
decreasing percentage, starting from about 21.05% in age group 15-20 to 5.71% in 25-30 and
null in above 30. An indication that its hard to keep going with increasing age in this
industry.
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With shift schedule of work its found that more percentage of population want to quit this job
in next 1-2 years who work in night shifts (67.19%) and constantly changing shifts (48.71%)
than those who work in day shift ( 38.29%).
Those who sleep for just 4-5 hrs are found expressing their opinion as they will quit in 1-2
years while those who sleep for 6-7 hrs are found targeting for at least 2-4 years.
Female have more complaints than male for having lack of growth opportunity.
Male can leave the company with more percentage than females for higher salary.
Suggestions
Even though the BPO sector provides support to so many other sectors and so many other
industries, the society still isnt accepting the industry with all its glory. Some advertisements
and social awareness campaigns are necessary to clear the dogma in publics opinion to help
the industry and its employees to grow in full strength which has the capacity to eradicate
large amount of unemployment in our country.
Indian Government need to look into the matter of outsourcing being constrained by other
countries like USA and to try to normalize the problem which can open new doors for this
industry, before making promises to the presidents of other countries on providing
employment and investment in their country.
There is a need for more explicit, detailed, fully structured and relevant regulations, guidance
specific to this industry.
Health risk assessments both pre-employment and periodic for employees should be
conducted.
Length and frequency of breaks should be adequate.
Full time counselors are needed to strike a balance between physical and mental rhythm to
synchronize body clock.

7. Future Scope
The research study can be made more exhaustive by studying the various types of health problems categorically
and for providing the remedial solutions. The future study may comprise a larger universe in which instead of
concentrating of one or two cities, more no of cities and even more number of countries may be included. A
comparative study between the various benefits offered and policies adopted by various companies can also be
made.
The future has a lot in his bosom to offer, its just the human effort that is needed to ripe the fruits.

8. Bibliography
Research Articles
1. ILO (2001) World Employment Report, 2001; ILO, Geneva.
2. Mattingly, D. J. "Indian Call Centers: The Outsourcing of 'Good Jobs' for Women".
3. Centre for Global Justice, 2005 Conference Mattingly, D. J. "Indian Call Centers: The Outsourcing
of 'Good J obs' for Women", Centre for Global Justice, 2005 Conference Papers.
4. NASSCOM Directory of Indian IT Enabled Services 2002, NASSCOM, New Delhi.
5. NASSCOM Indian ITES-BPO Industry Fact Sheet, ASSCOM, New Delhi, 2004.
6. Ramesh, B. P. "Labour in Business Process Outsourcing: A Case Study of Call Centre Agents", NLI
Research Studies Series No.51, V. V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida, 2004.
7. Singh, P. and A Pandey (2005) 'Women in Call Centers', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.40, No.7,
pp. 684-688.

Internet Websites
1. The Hindu Business Line: Tuesday, 1
st
November 2005.
2. www.mindtree.com
3. www.bpoindia.com
4. www.worklife.com
5. www.neoit.com
6. www.nasscom.org
7. www.dataquest.com
8. www.bpoindia.org
9. www.blonnet.com
10. www.newstodaynet.com
International Conference on Technology and Business Management March 28-30, 2011
977

Books
1. BPOs processes and Challenges Edited by Harsh Bhargava, Deepak Kumar (ICFAI University Press).
2. BPO Digest Edited by Deepak Shikarpur.
3. Research Methodology- Methods by, C.R. Kothari and Techniques.