Call Centre Jobs

[Dan]

I have been banking with HSBC for about 15 years and am disgusted that they are moving 4,000 British call centre jobs to India.

Firstly, can I just make it very clear that my feelings and comments are nothing to do with India or Indian people.

If something is not done about this then people in Britain will continue to lose their jobs. It is possible that I.T support jobs will also go in the future.

I am going to be closing my account with HSBC in protest to this. if enough people follow then it will show British companies that we do not want our call centres to be moved to other countries.

Lloyds bank are also doing the same along with Tesco, BT and Norwich Union. I have also heard that National Rail Enquiries will be doing the same. Can you imagine phoning someone up in India to ask for the time of the next train from Richmond to London Waterloo - I think not!

If anyone cares enough about this then go to http://www.ourjobstoindia.co.uk/

If you click on the follow this link above the pink elephant it will take you to a petition, not many people have signed it yet though.

 

[JessopSmythe]

Some of the 118 numbers are based overseas. It's a right pain in the proverbial having to spell out the address every time you want a number in Wales.

 

[Heather]

Well, I now have to admit that I worked on 192 Directory Enquiries many years ago.
We had a fantastic service which I have seen go to the dogs gradually and yes, this is the last straw.
The service is pathetic. I don't understand how BT can do this to a service they used to be proud of.
I also bank with HSBC and agree with everything you say Dan. How they can do this with so many people in this country out of work I will never know.
I'll certainly be rethinking my banking from now on.

 

[Pythagoras]

What would happen if everybody in India decided to boycott firms whose bosses (ie where all the money goes) were from Western countries? Britain has some unemployment but at least people here who are unemployed can get the dole, don't think unemployed people in India or a lot of other countries are so fortunate.

 

[PeterBale]

My daughter worked for a while at a call centre for one of the leading UK banks. Initially, they relocated the work that her section had been doing, leaving her with a much more tedious job. Then, a few weeks short of the anniversary of her starting in the job, they laid off all that intake, explaining they would be recruiting again in a few weeks, and they were welcome to reapply- starting on basic pay again, naturally :!:

Fortunately, she has now found alternative employment that she enjoys much more, but some of the employment practices seem definitely dodgy, even if they stay just the right(?) side of the law. It is unfortunate, of course, that one of the off-shoots of the same technological advances that enable us to link instantly with banders around the world is that such relocation of work is possible, and with everything being profit-driven companies are going to seek cheaper options all the time.

 

[andyp]

For me one of the most disgusting trends of recent years is that jobs are lost because the company is "not making enough profit". Now fair enough, if your company is losing money, it's at risk of closure, so losing jobs may be the only way to avoid insolvency. But "not enough profit"? It should be made illegal to have compulsory redundancies unless you're making a loss. It's disgusting that people's lives are ruined so that some greedy financial institution (which is what most "shareholders" are) can make "more profit".

 

[Pythagoras]

For me one of the most disgusting trends of recent years is that jobs are lost because the company is "not making enough profit". Now fair enough, if your company is losing money, it's at risk of closure, so losing jobs may be the only way to avoid insolvency. But "not enough profit"? It should be made illegal to have compulsory redundancies unless you're making a loss. It's disgusting that people's lives are ruined so that some greedy financial institution (which is what most "shareholders" are) can make "more profit".

How would this work? You would never get investment in companies in Britain if you had labour laws like that. Everybody would just go abroad in the first place.

 

[Mike Saville]

My company (which is very large) has just moved it's hotel/travel reservations center to the Phillipines - and it's a major pain in the backside. You want to book a hotel in Warwick, the first task is to crack the language barrier, then you have to try and explain where the UK is then explain that Warwick is in the UK not the US and that we pay by pounds stirling not dollars . . . . . :x :x :x

 

[Dan]

What would happen if everybody in India decided to boycott firms whose bosses (ie where all the money goes) were from Western countries? Britain has some unemployment but at least people here who are unemployed can get the dole, don't think unemployed people in India or a lot of other countries are so fortunate.

I can see what you are saying about India and the fact that they have no welfare state and can sympathise. But unfortunately that is not my problem, I am more concerned about the loss of jobs here. Look at the potential problems that the UK could face as a result of this.

Here are a couple of points taken from the website mentioned above:

* In all, over 200,000 office-based jobs throughout the UK are at risk in just about every sector, but especially in call centres, banking and communications.

* However, while call centres have undergone a massive expansion in recent years, a recent report by Mitial Research predicts a sharp decline - partly as a result of competition from low wage rivals such as India. The report says a third of Britain's larger call centres will close by 2005, triggering about 90,000 job losses.

* There are currently 6,000 call centres in the UK employing almost half-a-million people (1.7% of the entire working population). The number of centres has surged in recent years, creating much-needed (though generally poorly-paid work) in areas where manufacturing jobs have been lost.

If moving services abroad proves successful for companies such as BT and HSBC the surely other businesses will follow. Imagine 1.7% of the working population losing their jobs. And it will not stop there. I.T jobs are also at risk from this. Think also of the areas where call centre work has replaced the manufacturing jobs lost over the years. The loss of this industry will cause massive problems in these areas. Also certain groups will be effected more - such as the working mother and students from school/college trying to get an 'in' to working in offices.

Sorry, must get off my high horse on this now!!! Just feel strongly about the loss of our jobs and wondered what all the other tMPers thought!

Moan over :shock:

 

[BigHorn]

This short-sighted thinking is all to prevalent. Companies now have Human Resources departments rather than Personnel Departments. Everything rotten about big business relations with their workers is summed up in this title. The workers are just resources, the same as a computer, a machine tool or a roll of loo paper.
The ultimate conclusion to this process is that there will be so few jobs in Britain that no one here will be able to afford the products and services these companies are providing. Rather than making more profit they will end up being put out of business. Or perhaps they can start selling them in India where there will be more people in work. Then because our wage rates will be so low they will start transferring jobs back here. :?

 

[Pythagoras]

What would happen if everybody in India decided to boycott firms whose bosses (ie where all the money goes) were from Western countries? Britain has some unemployment but at least people here who are unemployed can get the dole, don't think unemployed people in India or a lot of other countries are so fortunate.

I can see what you are saying about India and the fact that they have no welfare state and can sympathise. But unfortunately that is not my problem, I am more concerned about the loss of jobs here. Look at the potential problems that the UK could face as a result of this.

Here are a couple of points taken from the website mentioned above:

* In all, over 200,000 office-based jobs throughout the UK are at risk in just about every sector, but especially in call centres, banking and communications.

* However, while call centres have undergone a massive expansion in recent years, a recent report by Mitial Research predicts a sharp decline - partly as a result of competition from low wage rivals such as India. The report says a third of Britain's larger call centres will close by 2005, triggering about 90,000 job losses.

* There are currently 6,000 call centres in the UK employing almost half-a-million people (1.7% of the entire working population). The number of centres has surged in recent years, creating much-needed (though generally poorly-paid work) in areas where manufacturing jobs have been lost.

If moving services abroad proves successful for companies such as BT and HSBC the surely other businesses will follow. Imagine 1.7% of the working population losing their jobs. And it will not stop there. I.T jobs are also at risk from this. Think also of the areas where call centre work has replaced the manufacturing jobs lost over the years. The loss of this industry will cause massive problems in these areas. Also certain groups will be effected more - such as the working mother and students from school/college trying to get an 'in' to working in offices.

Sorry, must get off my high horse on this now!!! Just feel strongly about the loss of our jobs and wondered what all the other tMPers thought!

Moan over :shock:

I can see your point but do you buy cheaper goods made in low wage countries, or just British made goods which are more expensive but support British workers.

 

[ploughboy]

I work in a hotel, and barclay's run some service's from India, They send there employees over to britain to get a taste of the culture and to train, They seem to stay about a month, and then go back!!
Just imagine how much money they must be making once the employees start to be able to afford to send them in hotels for months on end!!!!

Anyway, I've gotta go to work at the offorementioned hotel!!!!!