I would say that one of the biggest revolutions in the lives of Indian youth in the 21st century would be the call centers. If you don’t believe me, walk into a call center and you would be able to identify the greens from the veterans even if you have never worked in the industry before.
I am not talking about only lifestyle, dressing sense, language but also the demographics and mindset. It’s like a different world. Firstly the entire industry revolves around young graduates who are looking forward to make a quick buck by working 2-3 years in midnight shifts. Attrition is so high that most employees don’t bother even to put personal artifacts on their cubicles, and company policy (official or unofficial) prevents the rest from doing it.
Although ITES/KPO/BPO/call center etc. still constitutes a miniscule percentage of the Indian workforce, but in a way it is keeping India united. They provide an excellent opportunity for a college graduate to earn some decent wages and absorbing a large percentage of excess workforces that the country has. Lessons from Egypt/Libya teaches us that unemployment (esp. in educated class) and lack of socio-economic mobility is the precursor for a mass-revolution, civil unrest and anarchy. Hence Call-centers are uniquely placed to fill in as a stop gap arrangement before the country is able to fix its problems.
Unfortunately most companies have stopped using the word “CALL CENTER” and in their search for euphemism have migrated to words like BPO (business process outsourcing), KPO (Knowledge process outsourcing), voice processionals etc. Luckily as long as there is ample supply of English speaking cheep labor, the industry will continue to thrive and revolutionize Indian youth.
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