Call centres are blamed for a rise in loose living among India's affluent new elite

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | October 8, 2006 | Amrit Dhillon

[MadIvan]

Why does it take so long to get through to an Indian call centre? Because everyone is too busy chatting up their colleagues – and more – if the Catholic Church is to be believed.

The Church is so concerned by evidence that call centres are becoming dens of iniquity that it is offering week-long retreats and counselling, in the hope of turning staff away from a life of sin.

With employees who are young, usually single, and on starting salaries much higher than those of doctors or lawyers, India's booming call centre industry has been responsible for a social revolution.

"Women come to work with condoms in their handbags," said Alkesh Dua, a call centre worker in Noida, just outside New Delhi. "Everyone is doing it. You're together all night in this cool, hip atmosphere and you end up getting intimate."

Employers have tried to compensate for the monotonous nature of the work itself by creating an informal, American-style college campus atmosphere, where there is plenty of après-shift drinking and partying. Since many staff work night shifts, after which normal socialising is impossible, office friendships - with accompanying sexual liaisons - have blossomed.

In the southern city of Bangalore, a call centre hub, the rising number of abortions – up 50 per cent in two years – is blamed on the licentious lifestyles of the call centre workers. So entrenched is their reputation for dating, drinking and partying that many middle class parents are now reluctant to let their daughters take up such jobs.

The Church hopes to reverse the trend with the launch, in Bangalore, of a series of retreats and counselling sessions, before attempting to tackle the new promiscuity among the country's 1.3 million call centre and outsourcing workers throughout the country.

"We don't want to do moral policing, but we want to advise young people that being 'modern' doesn't mean losing their family traditions or moral values," said Bangalore's Archbishop, Bernard Moras.

In New Delhi, Dominic Emmanuel, the spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, said that the youth wing in every archdiocese would be mobilised to help. "We are responsible for these young people," he said. "We have to show them we care by giving them guidance and showing them the dangers of adultery and casual sex."

India's call centre industry, which has been growing by 60 per cent a year, is also under scrutiny over claims that criminal networks in India are trading British consumers' bank account details for huge profits.

The country's National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) admits it is concerned about its professional reputation. But conservatives, who revile call centres as decadent outposts of western culture, are just as concerned about the threat to India's moral reputation.

Long into the night, the clubs and bars in Gurgaon, a Delhi suburb full of call centres, pulsate with staff unwinding after long, stressful shifts dealing with fractious British and American customers.

During the day, workers fill the shopping malls for a dose of instant gratification unknown to their traditionally abstemious parents, for whom saving was a religion. After working in US-style environments and speaking to Americans for hours each day, some are aping the American behaviour they see on cable television.

Call centre staff have been caught by hidden cameras having sex in cubicles. Couplings have also been observed on the staircase, in the gym and carparks during breaks.

In a society where dating is frowned upon and where, in some quarters, a woman wearing a sleeveless top is considered a Jezebel, such uninhibited conduct is bewildering for middle-class India.

Ashok Rau, the chief executive of the Freedom Foundation, an Aids counselling centre in Bangalore, said financial independence had freed call centre workers from their parents' control.

In a survey of call centre staff last year, it found that 38 per cent of men and women believed that pre-marital sex was permissible and 25 per cent regularly indulged in casual sex.

"A call centre office that was visited as part of the survey reported that its drains had been found choked with condoms," said Mr Rau.

The companies involved object vehemently to suggestions that their call centres are dens of vice and adultery.

"It is unfair to single out call centres. This new behaviour can be found all over India and is the result of the economic boom and the opportunities it offers," said Vrinda Wavalkar, a spokesman for the outsourcing company, ICICI OneSource, in Bombay.

[MadIvan]

I think the Church is taking this too far; but it is worth mentioning that prosperity does have a price.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[kinoxi]

Ping to self to read later.

[Savage Beast]

"After working in US-style environments and speaking to Americans for hours each day, some are aping the American behaviour they see on cable television."

Yet another reason to revile the ubiquitous licentiousness of the "entertainment business", which bears no resemblance to my happy, wholesome, and extremely successful life.

I must say that the people in India and elsewhere whom I have had dealings with by telephone have been very helpful and courteous. More than once, I have contacted a superior, preferably by letter, in order to compliment the employee.

During the past week, I spent a long time on the phone with a very nice and very helpful--and very knowledgeable--woman who was in Central America, who walked me through some tedious computer problems. Afterwards, I asked to speak to her supervisor to tell him how helpful she had been. He said he would be sure "management" got the message.

[JohnnyZ]

Call girls are pretty much the same everywhere, not much hope of keeping THEIR legs together!

[Polybius]

With employees who are young, usually single, and on starting salaries much higher than those of doctors or lawyers, India's booming call centre industry has been responsible for a social revolution. "Women come to work with condoms in their handbags,"

It's terrible, I tell ya.

When I called Dell Tech Support, they transferred me a call center in India and the woman asked me what I was wearing. ;-)

[MadIvan]

When I called Dell Tech Support, they transferred me a call center in India and the woman asked me what I was wearing. ;-)

Now that, sir, is the funniest line I've heard in a while.

Regards, Ivan

[SW6906]

It's Clinton's fault. ;o)

[Brit_Guy]

"In a survey of call centre staff last year, it found that 38 per cent of men and women believed that pre-marital sex was permissible and 25 per cent regularly indulged in casual sex. "

Hardly a complete moral collapse! Seriously, preuming the study was confined to the 18-30 age group that work in call centres and singles - compared with the figures I suspect your would get from Europe and the US those figures probably still look puritan.

[Larry Lucido]

"Call Center Girls Gone Wild"

[MadIvan]

I have difficulty understanding the people working in some of those call centres. So, presumably if they were talking dirty, I was blissfully unaware of it.

Regards, Ivan

[Larry Lucido]

Rodney, is that you?? :-)

[4rcane]

now its american's fault for indians being rich and irresponsible

[sibb1213]

I don't care what they do on their own time, I just want them to speak English when I call with a problem and need help!!!!

[Mad Dawg]

It's preaching to the choir, I know, but hidden in this story is something the libs don't get in their insistence on achieving perfeciton yesterday -- or, at least, their use of that standard when it comes to judging Republican plans.

My conjeccture is: Out-sourcing spreads prosperity. It may take a while, but the difference between what Indian people charge for giving you and long and incorrect answers and what US citizens do for ditto will grow less over time, ceteris paribus.

It's worrying to say this, but when one considers that a labor costs are a huge part of what makes Japan able to deliver more car for the buck, one has to wonder if American auto worker unions priced themselves out of the market. Glen Beck may complain about the loss of a middle class, but this story is about the international spread of the middle class.

Of course, the media wouldn't want to admit that there was anything good about out-sourcing, so they'll only cloak the good news in a lament about declining morals.

---

Ask me about my Bumper Sticker ....

[MadIvan]

I'm not opposed to outsourcing. It does, however, require careful management to ensure quality of service is maintained. I know that finding talented people in India is just as difficult as it is anywhere else, despite the large number of graduates the country produces.

Regards, Ivan

[The Great RJ]

...aping the American behaviour they see on cable television...

If they are imitating the raunch and mind rot they see on cable channels like MTV, their jobs will soon be outsourced elsewhere as they will become as ignorant as Paris Hilton or Jessica Simpson.

[RoadTest]

True it is that American culture can be a nudge toward immorality, nevertheless from what I see of Indian art and sculpture, pornography is an old tradition there, and sex goes right along with salacious picturings.

[roaddog727]

Bootie Call!

[CAWats]

The Catholic Church should rid itself of pedophiles before policing the call centers.

[strider44]

Wow! Young people that work in close proximity like to drink and party and have sex! Who would have thought! This is terrible!!!

[grey_whiskers]

The Catholic church to unfurl
programs for Indian "call" girl
Call centers outsourced
and that somehow forced
them to give Kama Sutra a whirl !

[Don Carlos]

"One moment, Sair, while I place you on hold. Please be patient for five minutes while I research your difficulty."

Ahhh, now I understand.

[Mad Dawg]

The Catholic Church should rid itself of pedophiles before policing the call centers.

Similarly Free Republic and the United States government should make sure there are no pedophiles involved in any way before voicing an opinion on the matter. If there are any who commit spousal abuse in Congress, Congress ought not to pass any laws relating to domestic matters. Anybody who commits errors in logic should just shut up.

Mind you, I don't remember reading anything about policing. They did voice an opinion and try to provide fora in which that opinion and its effect on the lives of its members could influence behavior.

And of course, there is no conclusive evidence that what is more properly called ephebephilia than pedophilia is more prevalent in the Catholic Church than any other, but, hey, they still should keep their opinions to themselves. I totally agree.

Not.

[Brett66]

In a survey of call centre staff last year, it found that 38 per cent of men and women believed that pre-marital sex was permissible and 25 per cent regularly indulged in casual sex.

Sounds fairly benign to me, I doubt the numbers would be that low if you surveyed Americans.

[csvset]

Phone Sex?

[Mad Dawg]

Amen -- with the following proviso: I'm not sure "maintained" is the word I would use. I have gotten service in the US, chiefly from Dell, which was not only ferociously awful but which cost me serious time and money. In fairness, (but why should I be fair?) my experience of service calls has been better over time. These days it only takes about ten minutes to get them to start working on answering the question I'm actually asking, rather than the one they'd prefer to work on.

[madprof98]

After working in US-style environments and speaking to Americans for hours each day, some are aping the American behaviour they see on cable television.

Yet another example of why so many people outside this country hate our so-called "culture."

[1rudeboy]

Just following the script. [chuckle]

[cgk]

This is giving the term "call girl" a whole new meaning!

[ashamedtobefromparkridge]

Call centers are just party central!

Dealing with idiots who have the mistaken belief that the customers are always right even when asking to break laws or let them go against what they signed.

I burnt out of customer service because of the callers.

[RichardW]

I have trouble enough hearing and understanding people who speak perfect English but trying to listen to someone in India read off their menu of instructions while trying to configure a router or modem is pure hell on earth. I now know why they are in such a hurry. They have more important things on their mind. Oh, the joy of youth!!

[little jeremiah]

It's not necessarily money per se, it's the social based on the rejection of spiritually based moral absolutes that is endemic in the west, now coming to India.

[paulat]

Gee...I used to think they were asking for help when they kept putting me on hold....

[paulat]

Oops! You beat me to it! ;)

[headsonpikes]

LOL!!!

[grey_whiskers]

It's not necessarily money per se, it's the social based on the rejection of spiritually based moral absolutes that is endemic in the west, now coming to India.

Well stated indeed!

[Watery Tart]

[Constantine XIII]

Wow. You just broke my WTF meter. :p

The world is a curious place.

[durasell]

Oh no, and more sin on the way...


India may gain 10 million jobs from outsourcing
BLOOMBERG NEWS
10/07/2006

New Delhi — India may be able to create more than 10 million new jobs in five years from the global outsourcing business, the country's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday.

India accounts for about half the $40 billion in work that is sent overseas mainly by U.S. and European companies each year, providing jobs to 1.3 million people, according to India's National Association of Software and Service Companies.

Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp. and local software companies such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. are hiring more in India to manage back-office operations and develop software programs for U.S. companies.

Singh forecast that by 2010, Indian companies could get half the $110 billion of business that will be off-shored. That will create more than 10 million jobs and boost growth in the country's $775 billion economy by one percentage point each year, he said.