BPO Express:

Fast Track or Slow Coach?

I was speaking to a group of about 300 youngsters who had recently joined a BPO
company and after my presentation invited them to ask questions. I was taken aback at
the quality of questions I received from my young audience. This was not a bunch of wet-
behind-the-ears, commercially-naïve, and starry-eyed kids. They were well informed,
ambitious, curious and bright people. A number of questions have since stayed with me
and caused me to think hard about the business process outsourcing or BPO industry. One
of the questions was whether I thought there was a long-term career in BPO and would
the industry provide growth opportunities to match peoples’ aspirations?

1. A career or a job?

The BPO industry today stands accused of many things but providing brilliant career
opportunities is hardly one of them. In some quarters, there is the image of the BPO
employee as a party loving, accent neutralized spendthrift without a care for tomorrow. Is
that the reality? Does a BPO job really give too much money too early to someone too
young to appreciate its value? Are we talking of an irresponsible youngster who will
move employers at the drop of a hat? Is it all a stepping stone to something else or is
there something for people in the long run?

These are important questions and if we are to build an industry that will outlast all of us,
there can only be one answer. Personally, everything that I have learnt about BPO in the
past two years has led me to believe that it would be an enormous mistake to think of
BPO as a short-term career option.

2. The demand side

Look at the facts and cold, hard numbers. The BPO industry is about 240,000 people
strong today. The industry is growing at around 50% per annum. If we believe that this
growth rate will continue for the next four years (a crucial assumption), this industry will
double every two years — ie by ’08, it will employ a million people.

With a million employees, at least 30% will have to be supervisors and managers. This
means that the industry will demand 300,000 supervisors and managers. This is 30%
more than the entire industry today. Put differently, this means that every single
individual in the BPO industry today can become a supervisor within four years and the
industry will still need more people.

3. The supply side

The obvious question is where all these supervisors and managers will come from? I
believe that, in part, the supply will come from a number of related industries and
professions which will lose people to BPO. The prime candidates for this are financial
services, accounting and customer-facing service sectors (hotels, restaurants, airlines and
the like). But by far the largest managerial supply will come from within the industry
itself, which will begin to promote people rapidly through its ranks. Despite all this, the
industry will still be short of people at the managerial level, because a lot managerial
abilities mature with time — something we do not have. Very much like the need to
create 15 year old Scotch whisky in four years.

One fallout of this desperate need for managerial talent will be that the HR focus of BPO
companies will shift from recruitment to identifying good performers and moving them
up the ranks more rapidly than normal. Customer demand for constant and consistent
quality will act as an indirect quality control mechanism against promotion of poor
performers.

4. The BPO employee

What does this mean for BPO employees? It means that this is actually a great time to get
in this industry. Performance standards will be demanding, but if you can meet them the
opportunities are limitless.

Here are a few words of advice: This is war and in war, career advancement is generally
quite rapid. Similarly, if you are good at what you do and are willing to put in disciplined
effort, you have opportunities that you will not find anywhere else in the economy. But
you need to be very deliberate and strategic about your career. It means that hopping jobs
for a little more money is not going to help. It means that putting your head down and
acquiring re-usable skills is the order of the day. It means that you can still have fun but
you can have so much more if you work to a larger game plan.

5. The BPO employer

What does this mean for the BPO employer? That we need to take strong and visible
steps to make BPO a serious career rather than a frivolous pastime. We have to worry
about employee stress but not convert our companies into carnivals either. We can moan
about attrition levels till the cows come home but unless we believe in our hearts that
BPO is a serious career choice and act accordingly neither will our employees. We hire
some of the brightest people out of the Indian graduate pool — why do we not expect
them to sense our collective mindset? Employees’ primary need is not to go to company
parties, their need is to see a career. They want the company to invest in upgrading their
skills and making them better professionals.

6. An open door

This argument, while passionate, is hardly recruitment rhetoric. It is logical and fact
based. How much cognizance we take of this is up to us. The industry would benefit
enormously if the people in it saw this. The people in BPO would benefit enormously if
the industry saw this too. They say that mindsets are the hardest to change. Unfortunately,
that is true.

By Akshaya Bhargava, MD & CEO of Progeon