India’s BPO units discovered
the power of graying hair –
and are recruiting more.
IF YOU ARE ON THE GREYER
SIDE OF 35… OR 40… OR
older… and are serious about
switching professions – or
even thinking of entering the workforce
for the first time – then
don’t let age hold you back.
A new career path has just opened
up. In call centers.
The good news is that you would
be welcomed. Kosha Wagh, 39, mother
of two teenage sons, made the transition
from teaching to working the telephones
for a living, and is much the happier
for it. “I have no problems
gelling with the young crowd and
with young guys teaching me the
ropes,” confesses Wagh, who
works at EXL Service. A Noida-based
call centre that pioneered the recruiting
of older people in an industry crawling
with twenty-something.
‘Age No Bar’ said the
ad in the newspaper. Sabina Hill,
38, took it at its word, and joined
EXL. “I’m 38, a divorcee
and have a married daughter,”
she says, by way of introduction.
Hill, who also has a 16-year-old
son, joined the company to earn
a living. Period. And believe it
or not, she actually counts a mother-daughter-son
trio as her colleagues.
Greying Garrulously
The interesting part is that BPO
units are actually beginning to
prefer tufts of grey rather than
black hair under their call-response
headsets. Older folk are in demand.
“The attrition rate in call
centres is absurdly high,”
reasons Rajarshi Sengupta, Executive
Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PWC), “So these companies
are trying out new things to see
if normalcy can be restored to the
proceedings.”
Job hoppers pose a big headache
to recruiters. They play havoc with
manpower planning. For all the industry’s
retention efforts, the call centre
average rate of attrition remains
alarmingly high at about 40 per
cent every year. With expansion
taken into account that means having
to train more than half the staff
from scratch every 12 months. For
people above 35, however, the attrition
rate barely touches 8-10 per cent.
Granted, this figure is not calculated
for a large enough base to be significant,
but there are intuitive reasons
to expect older people to stay put
for longer.
“These older people know the
hardship involved in getting a new
job, so they are a lot more stable,”
says Navanit, COO of the Mumbai-based
call centre Epicenter. “They
don’t hop, skip and jump for
that extra grand in pay,”
adds a team leader at a call centre.
“Basically, different BPO
firms are trying to experiment with
different models, whether it’s
hiring older people or part-timers,”
says Prakash Gurbaxani, CEO of Transworks,
which employs more than 2,200 people
at its centeres in Mumbai and Bangalore.
But the pioneer puts a slightly
different spin on its efforts. “We
decided on the ‘age no bar’
policy to expand the talent pool,”
says Deepak Dhawan, Vice President,
HR, EXL Service. “The job
is all about competencies, and not
about age,” he adds. The skillsets
of older recruits include maturity,
empathy and the ability to smoothen
ruffled feathers.
Chaos And Chemistry
But what about workplace
chemistry? Are older employees comfortable
working with, and reporting to,
colleagues half their age? Wagh
recalls her embarrassment at being
called ‘aunty’. “My
name is Kosha,” She shot back,
“and I would appreciate you
calling me by my name.” Nonetheless,
Wagh has since emerged as the agony
aunt of the team, and find herself
advising her younger colleagues
on “guy problems”.
Hill’s experience was slightly
different: her team-mates helped
her gain confidence. “When
I joined after three months of rigorous
training,” she says, “my
team leader looked apprehensive,
but today there’s relief on
his face.” And the team leader’s
account? “According to the
feedback I had received,”
he says, “she was shy and
kept to herself. Since the team
is like an extended family, it’s
important for members to get along.”
Hill now enjoys working with a crew
of average age 22.
Dhawan concedes cases of older folk
taking unkindly to being pulled
up by younger team leaders, but
adds, “Indians understand
and know how to deal with their
elders, and this translates into
equilibrium in the workplace.”
What about efficiency? “In
terms of performance, there is no
latitude given for age,” says
Dhawan, “just a natural regard
for their seniority.” Says
Navanit, “They may take some
time to actually become productive,
but once they get there, they are
much more stable and can handle
pressure and stress much better.
They also have a stabilizing effect
on youngsters.” Wagh “could
hear her brains creaking”
during training, but is comfortable
now.
So, Would you like to sign on? “Most
of our older employees are people
who’ve taken VRS from PSU
banks or oil companies,”says
Navanit, “We also have housewives
applying for jobs.” The money’s
quite good, too, and salaries can
double in three years for star performers.
Of course, the fun of it could be
reason enough.
