#BIG TECH ITS CALLCENTER WORKERS INSTALL FULL#
#BIG TECH ITS CALLCENTER WORKERS INSTALL SOFTWARE#
#BIG TECH ITS CALLCENTER WORKERS INSTALL TV#

and Dell, and has McDonald’s, Starbucks and bars where happy hour starts at 6 a.m. His office is in a new development known as Eastwood City, east of Manila that, locals said, used to be fields a few years ago.

#BIG TECH ITS CALLCENTER WORKERS INSTALL FULL#

He spoke on the condition that his full name and the name of his employer were not revealed because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. Nevertheless, the financial benefits of outsourcing remain strong enough that the call center business is growing at 25 to 30 percent a year here in the Philippines, compared to 10 to 15 percent in India, according to Salil Dani, research director at the Everest Group, a firm that tracks the market.Īmerican outsourcing or back-end companies like I.B.M., Accenture and Convergys along with Indian firms like Aegis, Infosys and Tech Mahindra have thousands of employees working from gleaming glass towers and even inside malls, which executives say young workers prefer so they can be close to shops and restaurants. Entry-level American call center agents earn about $20,000 a year, about five times as much as similar agents in the Philippines and six times as much as Indian agents.

Some American companies like Delta Airlines have said they moved call centers back to the United States to appease angry customers who wanted better English. This year, for instance, US Airways stopped outsourcing customer service to Manila and hired 400 agents in Arizona, California and North Carolina as part of an agreement with the Communications Workers of America union. But it is unlikely to satisfy critics who say outsourcing is sending too many jobs abroad as millions of Americans struggle to find work. Mango Man: With 300 types of mangos to his horticultural credit, Kaleem Ullah Khan is quick to tell anyone in India and beyond about the infinite potential of the fruit and its tree.Īnalysts said call centers in the Philippines appeared to have helped American businesses respond to complaints from consumers who said they could not understand Indian agents.New Delhi Schools: The Aam Aadmi Party, which rose to power in India’s capital on the promise to improve basic services, is overhauling the city’s education system, which serves as a lifeline for millions of families looking to break the cycle of poverty.A Widening Definition: India’s Supreme Court issued a ruling according to which family benefits must be extended to same-sex parents, single parents and blended families.Keeping the Milk Flowing: Indian scientists are getting creative in an effort to help the country’s dairy producers, and animals, adapt in a hotter world.English is an official language in both countries. In India, by contrast, public schools introduce British English in the third grade, only the urban elite eat American fast food, cricket is the national pastime and “Friends” is a teaching aid for Indian call center trainers.

#BIG TECH ITS CALLCENTER WORKERS INSTALL TV#

and watch the TV show “Friends” long before they enter a call center. It helps that Filipinos learn American English in the first grade, eat hamburgers, follow the N.B.A. Indians, for example, might say, “I will revert on the same,” rather than, “I will follow up on that.” Filipino call center agents typically earn more than their Indian counterparts ($300 a month, rather than $250, at the entry level), but executives say they are worth the extra cost because American customers find them easier to understand than they do Indian agents, who speak British-style English and use unfamiliar idioms.

#BIG TECH ITS CALLCENTER WORKERS INSTALL SOFTWARE#

India remains the biggest destination by far for software outsourcing, for instance.Įxecutives say the growth was not motivated by wage considerations. But executives say they are now increasingly identifying places best suited for specific tasks. In the early days, the industry focused simply on finding and setting up shop in countries with large English-speaking populations and low labor costs, which mostly led them to India. The growing preference for the Philippines reflects in part the maturation of the outsourcing business and in part a preference for American English.

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