Stress Management a Bpo Perspective

A THESIS

ON

“STRESS MANAGEMENT: A BPO PERSPECTIVE’’

By: Archita Bhattacharyya

2006-08

Under the Guidance of:

Mr. Asif Iqbal Choudhury,InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to acknowledge my profound gratitude to all those who assisted in the completion

of this dissertation.

Of the many people, who have been tremendously helpful in its completion, I am

extremely thankful to Mr. Vidur Puri, Mr. Mukesh Kumar & Mr. Nakul Tuteja, who

provided me invaluable experiential information and guidance throughout the project. I

would also want to take the opportunity of thanking Mr. Asif Iqbal Choudhury, for being

very helpful and co-operative as guide throughout the project.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of writing this paper is to address, the Human Issues in Call-Centers. I am of

the opinion that this paper will be use to HR-Heads of Various Call-centers, CEO's and

Center-Heads and also Team Leaders and Project Managers. BPO/Call Centers has given

many gifts to People of India, few of them are: High Stress Level, Number of other

Illnesses, Broken Marriages Etc.

Carrying out transactions over the telephone has a long history, beginning with operator

services and later, reservations lines, particularly for airlines. But in the last 15 to 20

years, the introduction of information technologies and telecommunications advances

have expanded the types of work it is possible to undertake, while reducing costs.

Concurrently, ideas of 'service' and service relationships continue to be redefined as

technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, rendering the public more receptive to

mediated service interactions.

For many employed in the call center sector, "the daily experience is of repetitive,

intensive and stressful work, based upon Taylorist principles, which frequently results in

employee "burnout". An Expert, more vividly, characterizes the work as "repetitive brain

strain". These descriptions are hardly surprising, in a way, given that call centers are

established by organizations to "create an environment in which work can be

standardized to create relatively uniform and repetitious activities so as to achieve

economies of scale and consistent quality of customer service". This means, in other

words, that workplaces are organized in ways that weaken employee autonomy and

enhance the potential for management control, and "a loss of control is generally

understood to be an important indicator of work-related stress".

2

There is almost universal consensus that call center work is stressful. Even in studies that

report the observation that some staff actually enjoys their work, mention of stress is still

the norm, and a significant portion of the call center literature is devoted to detailing the

sources of stress in call center work.

It is desirable to employ professional HR Professionals with knowledge of Human

Psychology in BPO units/call centers. The services offered by professionals may not be

felt in the initial stages. Companies like Tata, L&T, MICO and few others have employed

professionals in their factories. The professionals can do wonders in BPO sectors as well.

People are the backbone of BPO industry and it is certain that professional HR or Human

Psychologist can make inroad in this emerging industry and facilitate the growth of

Industry in an immense way.

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INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION What Stress Is What complicates Problems of Definition The current consensus Types of Stress Survival Stress Internally generated stress Environmental, Nutritional & Job Stress Lifestyle and job stress Optimum Stress Levels Short Term Stress Long Term Stress

LITERATURE REVIEW The Beginning of an Industry History Understanding- "Call Center" Understanding Call Center Industry as An Industry Human Issues in the Call Center Industry BPO in India

THE INDIAN SCENARIO BPO Industry Stress Factors Long Working Hours Workload Repetitive Nature of Work Insufficient Holidays Pressure to Perform on Metrics Health Issues Travel Time Call Volume/Number of Calls Overtime.

METHODOLOGY Objective of the Study Research Design Limitation

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FINDINGS KEY STRESSORS Being on phone constantly- Quality/Quantity conflict Intensity Targets. OTHER HEALTH ISSUES Sleeping Disorders Digestive System Related Disorders Depression Severe Stomach Related Problems Eyesight Problems Few possible sources of stress What are the pros & cons of outsourcing How many jobs from US are moving offshore

ORGANIZATIONS INITIATIVE InterGlobe Enterprises Limited IBM Daksh and EXL Services GENPACT

ANALYSIS Attrition as a stress factor THE CATCH 22 SITUATION Impact of employee stress Measuring the business cost Preventing/managing stress HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS

RECOMMENDATION

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEXURE

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INTRODUCTION

What Stress Is

There have been many different definitions of what stress is, whether used by

psychologists, medics, management consultants or others. There seems to have been

something approaching open warfare between competing definitions: Views have been

passionately held and aggressively defended.

What complicates

This is that intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have

all experienced. A definition should therefore be obvious…except that it is not.

Problems of Definition

One problem with a single definition is that stress is made up of many things: It is a

family of related experiences, pathways, responses and outcomes caused by a range of

different events or circumstances. Different people experience different aspects and

identify with different definitions.

Hans Selye (one of the founding fathers of stress research) identified another part of this

problem when he saw that different types of definition operate in different areas of

knowledge. To a lawyer or a linguist, words have very precise, definite and fixed

meanings. In other fields, ideas and definitions continue evolving as research and

knowledge expands.

Selye’s view in 1956 was that “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on

how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while

that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.” Selye believed that the

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biochemical effects of stress would be experienced irrespective of whether the situation

was positive or negative.

Since then, ideas have moved on. In particular, the harmful biochemical and longterm

effects of stress have rarely been observed in positive situations.

The current consensus

Now, the most commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S

Lazarus) is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives

that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to

mobilize.

People feel little stress when they have the time, experience and resources to manage a

situation. They feel great stress when they think they can't handle the demands put upon

them. Stress is therefore a negative experience. And it is not an inevitable consequence of

an event: It depends a lot on people's perceptions of a situation and their real ability to

cope with it.

Types of Stress

Most people realize that aspects of their work and lifestyle can cause stress. While this is

true, it is also important to note that it can be caused by your environment and by the

food and drink you consume. The strategies that you should use to counter stress depend

on the causes of that stress.

There are several major sources of stress:

„X Survival stress

Internally generated stress

Environmental and job stress

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Fatigue and overwork

Survival Stress

Where you are in a physically or emotionally threatening situation, your body adapts to

help you react more effectively to meet the threat. This is controlled mainly by release of

adrenaline. The changes are quite powerful and useful in a “fight or flight” situation. The

main ones are:

Adrenaline mobilizes sugars, giving the body access to more strength, energy and

stamina. This helps an individual to fight harder or run faster.

It reduces the blood supply to the skin and short-term inessential organs. This

minimizes bleeding if an individual gets hurt, and ensures that energy is not wasted

on processes that are not immediately useful.

One may experience nausea or diarrhea: this eliminates excess weight that might

otherwise slow individual down.

Where speed and physical strength are important this adrenaline stress will be helpful and

beneficial, as fear can help one to survive or perform better. However, when calm

thought or precise motor skills are important, it is best to control and, ideally, eliminate

these adrenaline responses.

Internally generated stress

Internally generated stress is stress that one cause for oneself. This can come from

anxious worrying about events beyond one’s control, from a tense, hurried approach to

life, or from relationship problems caused by our own behavior. It can also come from an

addiction to and enjoyment of stress.

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Stress can cause the levels of a chemical called noradrenalin to rise in and between nerve

cells. This gives a feeling of confidence and elation that some people like. They can

subconsciously defer work until the last minute to cause a “deadline high”, or can create

stressful environment at work that feeds their enjoyment of a situation. The downside of

this is that they may leave jobs so late that they fail when an unexpected crisis occurs.

They may also cause unnecessary stress for other colleagues who are already under a

high level of stress.

Other aspects of personality can cause stress. Examples are perfectionism, where

extremely or impossibly high standards can cause stress; and excessive selfeffacement,

where constant attention to the needs of others can lead to dissatisfaction.

A major cause of internally generated stress in many people is anxiety.

Environmental, Nutritional & Job Stress

Our environment may be a significant source of stress. This can come from:

Crowding and invasion of personal space

Insufficient working and living space

Noise

Dirty or untidy conditions

Pollution

A badly organized or run down environment

Working environments are rarely perfect, however often you can improve your

environment quite cheaply.

Lifestyle and job stress

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Many of the stresses you experience may come from your job or from your lifestyle.

These may include:

Too much or too little work

Time pressures and deadlines

Responsibility for people, budgets or equipment

Frustration and boredom with current role

Lack of clear plans and goals

Demands from clients

Disruptions to plans

Frustration at having to overcome unnecessary obstacles

Financial or relationship problems etc

Optimum Stress Levels

The level of stress under which one operates is important. If one is not under enough

stress, then he may find that his performance suffers because he is bored and

unmotivated. If he is under too much stress, then his results suffer as stress related

problems interfere with his performance.

It is important that for us to recognize that we are responsible for our own stress, and very

often, it is a product of the way that we think. We need to learn to monitor our stress

levels, and adjust them up if we need to be more alert, or down if one is feeling too tense.

By managing our stress effectively, we can significantly improve the quality of our life.

Short Term Stress

The following figure shows the relationship between stress and the quality of

performance when one is in such situations that impose short term stress:

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When an individual’s stress level is too low, one find that one’s performance is low

because one becomes bored, lacks concentration and motivation. When the stress level is

too high, the performance can suffer from all the symptoms of excessive short-term

stress. In the middle, at a moderate level of stress, there is a zone of best performance. If

one can keep oneself within this zone, then he will be sufficiently aroused to perform

well while not being over-stressed and unhappy. The above graph, and its zone of

optimum performance, will be represented by are different shapes for different people.

Some people may operate most effectively at a level of stress that would leave other

people either bored or in pieces. It is possible that someone who functions superbly at a

low level might experience difficulties at a high level.

Alternatively, someone who performs only moderately at low level might perform

exceptionally under extreme pressure. The best way of finding your optimum level of

stress is to keep a stress diary for a number of weeks.

Long Term Stress

The problem of long term, sustained stress are more associated with fatigue, morale and

health than with short term adrenaline management. The following figure shows the way

in which performance can suffer when an individual is under excessive long term stress-

The graph shows stages that you may go through in response to sustained levels of

excessive stress:

During the first phase, you will face challenges with plenty of energy. Your response

will probably be positive and effective.

After a period of time, you may begin to feel seriously tired. You may start to feel

anxious, frustrated and upset. The quality of your work may begin to suffer.

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As high stress continues, you may begin to feel a sense of failure and may be ill more

frequently. You may also begin to feel exploited by your organization.

At this stage, you may start to distance yourself from your employer, perhaps starting to

look for a new job.

If high levels of stress continue without relief, you may ultimately experience

depression, burnout, nervous breakdown, or some other form of serious stress related

illness.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The Beginning of an Industry

History

Carrying out transactions over the telephone has a long history, beginning with operator

services and later, reservations lines, particularly for airlines. But in the last 15 to 20

years, the introduction of information technologies and telecommunications advances

have expanded the types of work it is possible to undertake, while reducing costs.

Concurrently, ideas of 'service' and service relationships continue to be redefined as

technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, rendering the public more receptive to

mediated service interactions.

There are a variety of factors, which have led to the increase of telephone services,

suggest Richardson and Marshall, including the transformation of telephony by "the

development of digital exchanges, intelligent telephone networks and their integration

with computer data bases"; falling telephony costs and the introduction of toll-free

numbers; the high degree of penetration and familiarity of telephone technology; and the

ability to communicate complex information by phone in real time. In addition to

technological progress and social advantages, another likely reason for the burgeoning of

the call center industry in the early 1990s was a significant period of retrenchment in a

number of business sectors, including a drive towards reducing costs and cutting staff-

both of which can be accomplished by centralizing services, reducing branch offices

close to the customer, and taking advantage of lower cost real estate and labor costs in

locations outside main business centers. Call centers, of course, permit all of these

activities.

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The US was in the forefront of the call center movement, yet Nadji Tehrani, editor of the

first trade publication devoted to the telemarketing and call center industries, writes that

when Telemarketing Magazine was launched in 1982 in the United States, there were

"only a handful" of companies conducting market research or handling customer service

by phone. He describes the rapidity of technological development during the ensuing

years: "We have seen the use of 3 x 5 cards and rotary dial phones, evolve to push-button

telephones to integrated contact management software and automated dialing to Web-

enabled call centers".

Outsourcing centers that specialize in providing call center services for other companies

are also expanding. Although most call centers in the UK are currently nationally

oriented, there is a move towards pan-European call centers in areas such as hotels,

travel, and computing.

Still, despite its rapid rate of growth, the call center industry is relatively new. The "vast

majority" of call centers in the UK have "existed for less than ten years" claims Cameron,

while Michel notes that in Germany, 25% of call centers in the country were established

before 1991, and 41% during what he terms the "call center boom" after 1995. A boom is

perhaps an accurate term. One estimate suggests a rate of growth between 20%-25% a

year in Canada, while a 1996 Datamonitor report gave a figure of 40% for call center

market growth in Europe, a number anticipated to hold until the turn of the century.

Similarly, as mentioned above, academic interest in call centers is also quite recent, with

the bulk of reported research beginning in the late 1990s and beginning to accumulate in

the last two years.

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Understanding- "Call Center"

As a first step, it is useful to establish a definition of a call center. This is not a

completely straightforward task, as there are considerable variations between types of call

centers, which are spread across several sectors of the economy, and which perform

different functions for different organizations, both within and across sectors. The

broadest definition in the call center literature is that provided by Norling, who states "a

call center is any communications platform from which firms deliver services to

customers via remote, real-time contact". Callaghan and Thompson apply a similarly

inclusive definition, stating that call centers may be "broadly defined as workplaces that

integrate telephone and computer technologies". While these definitions usefully

highlight the centrality of communication technology integration in the call center field, it

leaves the boundaries of the industry somewhat ambiguous.

Taylor and Bain narrow the definition by specifying the types of technologies used:

"we define a call center as a dedicated operation in which computer-utilising employees

receive inbound-or make outbound-telephone calls, with those calls processed and

controlled either by an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) or predictive dialing system.

The call center is thus characterized by the integration of telephone and VDU

technologies."

Other authors narrow their definitions by focusing on the types of services which these

integrated technologies are designed to provide. For example, in an early definition,

Richardson states "telephone call centers are specialist technology intensive offices that

are established by organizations in order to deliver services to customers over the

telephone, replacing or complementing face-to-face interaction with the public".

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Similarly, Kinnie, Purcell and Hutchinson provide a tripartite definition incorporating

technology, technological control, and tasks:

Call Centers can be defined in the following way-

Employees are engaged in specialist operation which integrate telecommunications

and information systems technologies

Their work is controlled by automatic systems which virtually simultaneously

distribute work, control the pace of that work and monitor their performance;

They are in direct contact with the customer through dealing with in-bound calls,

making out-bound calls or a combination of the two.

Buchanan and Koch-Schulte go one step further and include in their description the

organizational rationale for establishing call centers.

Call centers are a relatively recent phenomenon made possible by the dissemination of

telecommunications and information technologies. The technology enables telephone

service representatives to deal quickly and remotely with customer needs by connecting

the representative to the customer's account information on his/her computer as the call is

relayed to the headset. As call centers can be centralized in locations far from the

customers of a business, they allow firms to cut costs by reducing the number of local

service outlets.

Borrowing from this accumulation, therefore, a call center can be defined as a specialized

office where agents remotely provide information, deliver services, and/or conduct sales,

using some combination of integrated telephone and information technologies, typically

with an aim to enhancing customer service while reducing organizational costs.

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Understanding Call Center Industry as An Industry

There has been some dispute amongst researchers as to whether it is appropriate to refer

to such a thing as the "call center industry". As Bain and Taylor point out, "despite

similarities in the integration of computer and telephone technologies, centers differ in

relation to a number of important variables-size, industrial sector and market, complexity

and length of call cycle time, nature of operations (inbound, outbound or combined), the

nature and effectiveness of representative institutions including trade unions, and

management styles and priorities". To this list of variables, Callaghan and Thompson

would add the "degree of product complexity and variability and the depth of knowledge

required to deal with the service interaction". Bain and Taylor argue that it is more

appropriate to use the term "sector", as call Centers are found across a wide range of

industries and may be similar primarily in terms of their core technologies. They do note,

however, that there is a professional literature and a collective identity that is maintained

and developed through conferences and forums.

Belt, Richardson and Webster (2000) agree that call centers are not an 'industry' as the

term is generally defined, but rather represent certain ways of delivering various services

using the telephone and computer technologies across traditional industry boundaries.

However, these authors provide three strong reasons defending the practice of referring to

call centers as an industry.

First, the call center community often defines itself as an industry, with numerous

national and international call center conferences and workshops taking place each year,

industry journals and call center forums organized at local levels. Second, the labor force

requirements of call centers are often the same across sectors. This means that many,

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though not all, call centers share a common labor pool. Third, the organizational

templates and technologies used tend to be very similar, regardless of the sector.

To this one might add the remarkable similarities that international researchers have

found between technologies used, work practices and key issues including monitoring,

control, training, and labor demographics for workers in countries as diverse as Germany,

Japan, Australia, Greece, Canada, the US, the UK and the Netherlands.

Human Issues in the Call Center Industry

For many employed in the call center sector, "the daily experience is of repetitive,

intensive and stressful work, based upon Taylorist principles, which frequently results in

employee "burnout". Brown, more vividly, characterizes the work as "repetitive brain

strain". These descriptions are hardly surprising, in a way, given that call centers are

established by organizations to "create an environment in which work can be

standardized to create relatively uniform and repetitious activities so as to achieve

economies of scale and consistent quality of customer service". This means, in other

words, that workplaces are organized in ways that weaken employee autonomy and

enhance the potential for management control, and "a loss of control is generally

understood to be an important indicator of work-related stress".

There is almost universal consensus that call center work is stressful. Even in studies that

report the observation that some staff actually enjoys their work, mention of stress is still

the norm, and a significant portion of the call center literature is devoted to detailing the

sources of stress in call center work.

BPO in India

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BPO [Business Process Outsourcing] has been the latest mantra in India today. As the

current sources of revenue face slower growth, software companies are trying new ways

to increase their revenues. BPO is top on their list today. IT services companies are

making a quick entry into the BPO space on the strength of their existing set of clients.

We hope to address all issues related to BPO in India on this portal.

Actually, setting up a call center is capital intensive. An ordinary BPO center that takes

care of pure back office operation [e.g. payroll, data entry] will not be as expensive as a

call center.

The philosophy behind BPO is specific, do what you do best and leave everything else to

business process outsourcers. Companies are moving their non-core business processes to

outsource providers. BPO saves precious management time and resources and allows

focus while building upon core competencies. The list of functions being outsourced is

getting longer by the day. Call centres apart, functions outsourced span purchasing and

disbursement, order entry, billing and collection, human resources administration, cash

and investment management, tax compliance, internal audit, pay roll...the list gets longer

everyday. In view of the accounting scandals in 2002 [Enron, WorldCom, Xerox etc],

more and more companies are keen on keeping their investors happy. Hence, it is

important for them to increase their profits. BPO is one way of increasing their profits.

If done well, BPO results in increasing shareholder value.

Typically, a customer calls the call center [usually a toll-free number]. After pressing

numerous numbers [1 for English, 2 for Spanish, 3 for bank balance!] the operator will

answer your query by accesing the database. Call centres address sales support,

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airline/hotel reservations, technical queries, bank accounts, client services, receivables,

tele marketing, market research.

If a bank shifts work of a 1000 people from US to India it can save about $18 million a

year due to lower costs in India. According to Mckinsey, giant US pharma firms can

reduce the cost of developing a new drug, currently estimated at between $600 million

and $900 million by as much as $200 million if development work is outsourced to India.

Benefits derived from BPO can be summarized as follows:

1. Productivity Improvements

2. Access to expertise

3. Operational cost control

4. Cost savings

5. Improved accountability

6. Improved HR

7. Opportunity to focus on core business

Outsourcing is not new - it has been a popular management tool for decade. One can

safely say outsourcing has evolved :-

1960's - time-sharing

1970's - parts of IT operations

1980's - entire IT operations

1990's - alliances/tie-ups

2000's - IT-enabled services

India has one of the largest pool of low-cost English speaking scientific and technical

talent. This makes India one of the obvious choice to outsource to. Dell, Sun

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Microsystems, LG, Ford, GE, Oracle all have announced plans to scale up their

operations in India. Others like American Express, IBM and British Airways are

leveraging the cost advantage India has to offer while setting up call centres. Several

foreign airline and banks have too set up business process operations in India. Indian

revenues from BPO are estimated to have grown 107 per cent to $ 583 million and this

particular area employs 35,000 people in the year ending March 31, 2004.

Many European and US companies have realized that they should focus on their main

business and outsource their Human Resource Department, accounting department etc. It

is here exactly India fits in! Today US corporations have embraced BPO wholeheartedly.

Managed Care Companies, which is more popularly known as Healthcare payers, are

increasingly outsourcing business processes due to changing and challenging business

environment and technological and legislative changes. There is a good opportunity for

Indian BPO vendors in this space. BPO vendors will need to have good domain

knowledge, process know-how and competence with technological solutions to cater to

these Manage Care Companies.

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THE INDIAN SCENARIO

BPO Industry Stress Factors

Long Working Hours

Long working hours is the greatest cause of stress for Indian call center agents, just ahead

of work timing. 39.4% of the respondents surveyed endorsed the fact. Along with salary,

both these factors, no doubt, account for the high rate of attrition in the industry. Long

hours, in itself, is a combination of work load, call volume and travel time.

Since most BPO players are still primarily voice-based, the workload is tremendous; add

to it the increasing call volume, as more and more outsourcing continues to happen

despite threats of backlash, plus the time involved in traveling between home and office.

Any average agent works for 11-12 hours per day-the number goes up to 14 in case of

companies that encourage overtime.

Work Timing

The second biggest cause of stress for BPO employees is unique to the Indian industry.

Many in the industry, in fact, feel that this is the root cause for most of the malaises

afflicting Indian call centers. It is indeed an irony that the raison d'être for the success of

the industry is also turning out to be its Achilles Heel. But, since, no doubt, the

geographical time difference with the US and the UK gives Indian industry one of its

biggest advantages, a possible solution to the problem is unlikely to be found in the near

future. Even the endorsement from 38.6% of the respondents seems to be somewhat

tempered by the fact that many of the respondents were either senior non-call floor

people, or those in the day shift. While pure-play call centers like Transworks and EXL

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Services were most severely afflicted, barring eFunds and iSeva to some extent, no one in

the survey seems to have tackled the issue with any measure of success.

Workload

Some would argue that even IT services employees are burdened with tremendous

workload, so why are BPO employees complaining? The real story lies elsewhere. True,

even IT services employees work for long and odd hours, but these are interspersed with

smoke breaks, coffee breaks or plain chatting with colleagues.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in call centers, where sometimes agents do not even get

toilet breaks. Sounds draconian? But that is the business driven reality for the Indian call

center industry. Absolute freshers get a little respite, since the first few months on the job

involves a lot of training time. Like on several other factors, eFunds is in the least

affected category, either they are close to devising a mechanism to take care of the most

common stresses, or the attrition rate is so high that most of these factors are not

accounted for.

Repetitive Nature of Work

No surprises here-it is a commonly accepted fact that the monotony of the same kind of

work in call centers can indeed be very stressful. 37.1% of the respondents reiterate the

same in the survey. The male freshers seem to the group particularly affected. Again,

solutions are not readily available, though measures like hiring retired personnel or

housewives might be of some succor, since these groups with more experience tend to get

frustrated the least. Some others have also devised innovative measures, like periodic job

rotation, though not much can be expected out of these in a pure call center environment.

That explains why, even in eFunds, the company least affected with this affliction, more

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than 14% complained about the stress caused by the repetitive nature of the job. It is a bit

surprising to see Motif'son the most affected list, especially given that it is located in a

smaller town like Ahmedabad. Received wisdom, that small town employees in places

with limited scope do not easily get tired even of repetitive jobs, stands questioned.

Insufficient Holidays

While this was not amongst the top 10 causes of stress in last year's survey, this year

more than 36% of the respondents complained about it. Not too surprising, considering

that most of these employees have to work on all Indian calendar holidays. True, they

enjoy holidays like July 4th and Thanksgiving, but that is scant solace for working 12-14

hour shifts even during the festive seasons. Of all the companies surveyed, only eFunds

seems to have escaped the brunt of this problem.

To add to the woes, many companies dangle the bait of additional incentives for working

on holidays-it is initially attractive to the freshers, but as the attraction weans, more

heartburn happens.

Pressure to Perform on Metrics

This is particularly galling for the first timers-working in an environment where every

single action needs to conform to a performance measuring metrics. This looks unlikely

to go away soon, since most call centers are keen on different standards certifications. It's

no fad, but, instead, an absolute business necessity for most companies to follow these

quantifiable business metrics to attract customers.

However, not many are keen to look at the effect this has on their employees. More than

36% point to it as one of their major grouses-the only silver lining here is that, with

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experience, the stress level goes down, and more importantly, working on such

quantifiable performance parameters helps these people later in their careers.

Companies like Sykes and Transworks, which have been going for a number of

certifications this year, seem to be the most affected.

Health Issues

Last year, when 23% pointed to health hazards as a cause of stress, we compared the call

center industry with coal miners. This time the number has gone up to 34.5%- maybe it's

time to classify call centers as an extremely hazardous job. We have also detailed the call

center related ailments separately. Not surprisingly, people in senior managerial positions

with five plus years of experience are less affected with these illnesses. That's perhaps

because they maintain a more regular work schedule and timing. Companies like 24/7

and ICICI OneSource, which have grown spectacularly in a short frame of time last year,

seem to be most seriously affected.

Travel Time

Most call centers are located on the outskirts of cities, and therefore most employees

spend a long time traveling to and from their offices. Again, this is unique to the Indian

industry and cannot be easily wished away. Most Indian call centers require large

manpower influxes in order to scale up and grow, and to support such huge workforces,

they need lots of real estate. And exorbitant land prices inside cities necessitate their

movement to the outskirts. Therefore, it is not surprising that companies like Motif,

located in a smaller city like Ahmedabad, are least affected by this factor.

Call Volume/Number of Calls

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While the overall workload is quite high, call volume in itself is proving to be a major

cause for stress, afflicting 26.8% of our respondents. In most call centers, there is hardly

any respite between two calls-not only is this disconcerting, but in the case of one abusive

call immediately following another, it can be psychologically disturbing too. In addition,

most agents accept these calls under an assumed identity: constantly maintaining a false

image amidst an influx of calls afflicts all agents – both experienced ones as well as first

timers.

Overtime

Though most companies encourage overtime with incentives, for most of the respondents

(25%), this is one stress they inflict upon themselves. Especially the first timers, who,

with the goal of making more money, willingly do overtimes, but once they are into it,

the stress factor starts showing up. Overtime, in concert with long working hours and

travel time, is turning out to be a potent combination, causing call center-related stresses.

Not surprisingly, companies like eFunds, which have high capacity utilization, seem to be

not at all affected by the overtime issue, according to our survey.

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METHODOLOGY

A key feature of a good research lies in the analyses, in other words, besides collecting

relevant data, what is done after that is also an important determinant and a key factor to

a good research. According to Fitzpatrick (1998), in order to contribute to understand a

complexity, researchers have to choose from a range of possible methodologies and cast

aside entrenched theoretical & ideological positions.

Objective of the Study

The objective of study is to understand the initiative or measures taken by the BPO’s to

manage stress. The study will also help the companies to exercise new ideas to manage

stress.

Research Design

The research had to be accomplished by using both the primary and secondary research

tools.

The primary research would include preparing questionnaire and interviewing the top

officials in HR. Conducting Focused Group Discussion. The questionnaire is made in

such way that the interview takes place in discussion mode.

The secondary research would include analysis from newspapers, journals, research

papers in this field and reports by companies, case studies published in the B-School

Journals.

Once the data was compiled, it was analyzed, after which the recommendations were

given, followed by conclusion.

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Limitation

The information provided by the company based on which analysis is made was strictly

confidential. So while analyzing I can not use the name of the company or official.

Sample size taken by me is very small and limited to only Delhi and NCR.

Company’s senior officers are not open up to give right information just because of

Confidentiality. Officials are not accepting the fact that their employees are stressed.

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FINDINGS

KEY STRESSORS

Being on phone constantly-

The primary source of stress reported is inherent to the nature of the job: spending all day

on the phone dealing with people one after another, day after day, is difficult. Doing it

under constant pressure to keep call volumes up, with no time between calls to "recover

from an awkward call or from 'customer rejection'" is even more difficult. And doing it

with "very little authority or autonomy to rectify problems" that arise is perhaps the most

difficult of all. Many studies report agents as wanting to 'just get off the phones'.

Quality/Quantity conflict

Typically, organizational rhetoric in inbound call centers is concerned with 'customer

care', or 'keeping customers happy' (providing quality service), yet these goals are

juxtaposed with an ongoing pressure to keep call times down and call volumes up. Call

centers are rooted in contradictory tensions and structural paradoxes, and confront a

number of trade-offs on that basis. These set a context for attitudes towards the

organization and can impose conflicting role requirements on agents. A core example is

that of the pressure for quantity versus the aspiration for quality, the guiding logic of

which is the conundrum of trying to get closer to the customer while routinising,

centralizing, reducing costs and prescribing standards.

The dichotomy is not completely straightforward, it is important to note. Part of

providing quality service from a management perspective is making sure customers do

not wait too long for their calls to be answered, even though the push to keep queue

waiting times short is typically categorized as part of the pressure towards quantity.

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Efforts to attain what is perceived to be the desired balance between the quantity and the

quality of calls presents a perennial challenge. The practice of ongoing work practice

modification and target revision as management swings from one side to another of the

quality/quantity debate is a major source of stress for call center agents. The practice of

putting a 'drive' on particular targets for improvement (for example, the collection of

renewal dates, the up-selling or cross-selling of products, the quality of data input, or the

intensity of sales push) and continual reprioritisation means that the 'goalposts' are

constantly shifting. Virtually all of the call center authors who write about work

conditions mention the difficulty of dealing with these competing goals.

Intensity

The third central stressor in call center work is its intensity. There is widespread

consensus that call centers are a new, and particularly effective, manifestation of the

increasingly capital intensive 'industrialization' of service sector work, and work

performed in them is highly intensive and routine. The pace of work is determined by the

combination of technologies that deliver calls to the headset and account details to the

screen, and workers often have no control over this process.

Call centers are information handling organizations. As currently characterized, the job of

the agent is to be the voice of the organization, interfacing with the client or customer.

The organization rehearses the things it wants said and feeds them through the agent. The

agent is largely constructed as a mouthpiece rather than as a brain.

When this feeling of being a cog in a machine which never stops as it grinds on, repeating

the same actions over and over again, is combined with "the cumulative emotional

demands presented by the interpersonal nature of the work", stress is inevitable.

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Targets

There is a fourth feature of some call center work that may engender stress: performance

targets. There are various types of targets, which may vary between inbound and

outbound centers. Inbound centers typically have targets for call duration, 'wrap time',

and daily call volume. Outbound centers often also have sales or 'completion' targets,

which are closely monitored and upon which pay may be partially based. In addition, in

some sectors, inbound call centers are attempting to introduce the practice of cross

selling, where agents attempt to sell additional products to the customers who call in for

another purpose. In these centers, sales targets similar to those in outbound centers are

often in place.

Particularly in the financial services industry in the UK, targets are a significant source of

stress for workers as more and more importance is placed upon meeting them in an

increasingly competitive business environment. Sales targets, in particular, are difficult to

accept, or meet, for staff who often consider themselves as service personnel, particularly

when they are set centrally and implemented locally: "Cross-selling is seen by

employees, not as an opportunity to engage in creative work, but as an additional and

acute source of pressure". This is especially the case when sales targets are parachuted in

on top of service targets set originally when there was no pressure to produce sales.

Even in centers that claim not to prioritize targets, researchers have found that staff often

feels significant pressure. Targets simply intensify the stress produced by the quantity/

quality debate

OTHER HEALTH ISSUES

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The result of intense, stressful work may be an effect on workers' health. There are often

high rates of absenteeism and sick leave reported in the literature, although there is

relatively little exploration of these issues, particularly when compared to turnover.

Most often reported health issues by most authors include the following-

Voice loss

Hearing problems

Tension

Sleeplessness

Headaches

Eye strain

More detailed descriptions of the causes and effects of these ailments can be found in

industry and trades union reports. For example, the Trades Union Council (TUC) in its

brochure targeted at call center workers, cites the main illnesses to which call center staff

are prone: "back strain and RSI, stress, eyestrain, and voice and hearing loss".

Also in the UK, regulators have been proactive in their examination of the industry, with

the Health and Safety Executive issuing a bulletin on call center regulations, health risks

and best practices in December 2001. They looked specifically at health issues including

stress, noise levels, musculoskeletal disorders (such as back problems) and voice loss,

and also at display screen issues, working environments, requirements for work stations,

daily work routines, training, organizational working practices and shifts.

Sleeping Disorders

No prizes for guessing the most severe ailment afflicting people working in Indian call

centers. Since this is a unique Indian problem, again, no solution appears in sight.

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Obviously this affects first timers more severely, as they take time to acclimatize their

biological clocks, but even experienced people or managers are not able to completely

escape from it. Some call centers are looking at devising innovative mechanisms like

flexible shifts with sleeping arrangements in the office premises as possible solutions.

Digestive System Related Disorders

Working long and odd hours without any sleep, and eating food supplied by external

caterers everyday, has led to 41.9% of the respondents suffering from digestive problems.

Especially for the large number of girls working in the industry, the problem is even more

severe. Many call centers are now taking additional care to ensure their caterers supply

hygienic food; besides stipulating strict conditions to maintain the quality of the food

they serve.

Depression

Not surprising, since, as the industry matures, the initial glitz and glamour wears away

and the real problems come to the fore. Not only are there several health related issues,

but, on top of that, the gradual realization that there is limited scope in developing a

career owing to fewer growth opportunities is increasing the frustration levels. Coupled

with growing mental fatigue and increasingly punishing physical environments,

depression is the obvious end result. Some call centers have now devised different stress

management programs mainly to counter depression.

Severe Stomach Related Problems

Continuing digestive problems lead to severe stomach disorders like gastroenteritis. Even

doctors in major cities agree-in recent times many of the patients with various stomach

ailments are from call centers.

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Eyesight Problems

Globally call center industry employees are considered a high-risk group for eyerelated

problems. While the quality of monitors might impact these disorders, sitting continually

without adequate breaks seems to be the truer reason. The number of people affected

seems to be on the rise-last year only 19% complained; this year it has gone up to 23%.

At some point of time, this problem might also afflict the IT services industry, but for the

call center industry, no remedy seems to be in sight.

Few possible sources of stress

What are the pros & cons of outsourcing?

Third Party Service Providers (TPSPs)

Usually TPSP already has expertise and experience with other clients in similar

business lines.

Very competitive pricing / flexibility to assess various TPSPs

No infrastructural / capital investment.

Payback period very less (usually between 6 months to a year).

Captive centres

Build expertise from scratch by redeploying resources. Latter option more expensive.

Unit costs higher.

High capital investment.

Payback usually between 3 and 5 years.

Committed to bringing in economies of scale, hence the need to establish a

sufficiently large centre.

Stress

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Organizational Family Peer Group

Flexibility to source multiple TPSPs.

Flexibility to scale up and down business relationship.

Can exit from one relationship and move to another .

Retains decision-making, therefore relationship with TPSP is clear (fee-based,

quality-based); no staff backlash.

As TPSP works towards a profit there is more business commitment.

Customised solutions ensure data security and safety.

Committed resources reduces such flexibility, else training costs could shoot through

the roof.

No exit possible without incurring high costs.

May or may not retain decision-making.

Possibility of backlash from senior management personnel.

Captive units are usually cost centres.

Long-term strategy looks for establishing centres to first move work as-is, and save

costs first.

How many jobs from US are moving offshore?

Sl.No Number of U.S. Jobs Moving Offshore

Job Category 2000 2005 2010 2015

1 Management 0 37,477 117,835 88,281

2 Business 10,787 61,252 161,722 48,028

3 Computer 27,171 108,991 276,954 72,632

4 Architecture 3,498 32,302 83,237 84,347

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5 Life Sciences 0 3,677 14,478 36,770

6 Legal 1,793 14,220 34,673 74,642

7 Art, Design 818 5,576 13,846 29,639

8 Sales 4,619 29,064 97,321 26,564

9 Office 53,987 295,034 791,034 1,659,310

Total 102,674 587,592 1,591,101 3,320,213

What would the cost savings for US companies typically be, if they operated in

India?

Data monitor, a leading UK-based business information company, research indicates that

67-72% of costs to call centers operating in the US/UK is directly linked to man power

costs. India, on the other hand spends only 33-40% of costs on man power.

This includes training, benefits and other incentives for labor.

McKinsey & Co. predicts global market for IT-enabled services to be over $140

billion by 2008.

These $142 Billion can be broken up and shown as below:

Customer Interaction Services 33.0

Finance & Accounting Services 15.0

Translation, Transcription & Localization 2.0

Engineering & Design 1.2

HR Services 5.0

Data Search, Integration & Management 44.0

Remote Education 18.0

Networking Consulting & Management 15.0

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Website Services 5.0

Market Research 3.0

Total 141.2

ORGANIZATIONS INITIATIVE

Keeping in view the three organizations taken into consideration for the purpose of the

study I would now enumerate what are the few things that these organizations are doing

to minimize or counter the problem of stress among its workforce.

InterGlobe Enterprises Limited

In order to acknowledge the hard work by their employees Interglobe has very

competitive Rewards and Recognition in place to appreciate that “extra” effort and

giving a boost to its employees.

Employee of the Month/ Year- in recognition and appreciation of the outstanding

performance by an employee or a team in various departments.

Bonus based on organizational profit – the management shared liberally a part of the

profits with the employees. Even in the trying times of 9/11 employees were given

bonus whereas even the major players in the travel & tourism industry went for huge

salary cuts.

Reward and Recognition for high performers through our well defined and structured

Performance Management Process. The reward and appreciation many times is in the

form of nominations to specific trainings and programs.

Employee Photographs in in-house magazine- The employees who complete 10 years

of service in the organisation, their photographs are printed in our inhouse magazine,

IG Times.

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Employee Engagement Initiatives

Employee Suggestion Scheme: All employees can make a valuable contribution to the

Company in terms of ideas, comments and suggestions. These suggestions are suitably

reviewed under the existing systems and policies, encourages the employees to come out

openly with suggestions.

IG Times (in-house magazine): It is our quarterly newsletter, which covers all important

events as well as news from our different business units. All employees are encouraged to

contribute to the same. It highlights all team activities, outstanding performances, etc.

Let’s Talk’: Under this section of our quarterly newsletter, the Management answers to

the queries and questions raised by the employees.

Open House: The Open House sessions are regular features in our organization, wherein

the Managing Directors is present to answer any queries raised by the employees. The

employees have the liberty to raise any query and ask any questions, and the Managing

Director also shares information with the employees during these open house sessions.

Regular Get-togethers: Get-togethers are organized on a regular basis and there is two-

way information sharing.

Leadership Team Meets: The Leadership Team (LT), consisting of Presidents & CEOs

and the Department/Function Heads of all divisions of InterGlobe, meets at least once in

a month to discuss and take decisions on critical and strategic issues, especially

employees related issues. The LT also reviews all employees policies and welfare on a

regular basis and all decisions are taken jointly and collectively by the Leadership Team.

InterAction (InterGlobe’s Annual Family Day): InterAction is the annual day of

InterGlobe, wherein all employees along with their family members are invited to have

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fun and celebration. It is a full day event, which is filled with lot of games and fun

activities for employees and the family members.

Annual Bash/Parties for Business Units: Various Business Units organizes their own

separate Annual Bash and Parties, wherein a few guests are also invited from other

Business Units of InterGlobe, including the support function employees to appreciate

their support and assistance.

Potluck: Potluck is an innovative way of bringing together employees, where everybody

brings in various dishes of their choice and shares with the teammates.

There is something about food, which brings people together. It builds the team spirit and

enthusiasm amongst teammates. It is all about bonding amongst the members of various

departments, where everybody gets to interact with their team members irrespective of

their designations or levels. It’s a concept which allows the participants as well as the

guests to interact in an informal fashion. The occasion could be anything – birthday,

promotion or a festival.

The company undertakes corporate social responsibility in a big way in which employees

are encouraged to take part. A few of such programmes are as follows –

The Terry Fox Run: The Foundation organizes the Terry Fox Run, international

fund that benefits cancer research facilities in India. InterGlobe has been involved

with the Terry Fox Run for two years – with enthusiastic collections from employees

being matched in equal measure by the company.

Youth Reach: Youth reach is an NGO that wants to create a channel for young

people to give back to the larger community. One of the projects undertaken by

Youth reach, a coffee table book titled “If I were rain”, a visual and testimonial

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exploration of the lives of ‘less fortunate children’ along with the photographs. Inter

Globe bought the photographs from Youth reach for use on their New Year cards.

Sahara Rehabilitation Work: Inter Globe provided financial support to Sahara – an

NGO established in 1978, registered as a society in 1985, which helps in

rehabilitation of persons dependent on drugs or alcohol. It also provides care and

support for persons infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Illumination of the ‘Charminar’ in Hyderabad: Galileo India Pvt. Ltd., a division

of InterGlobe, contributed towards the lighting of the ‘Charminar’. ‘Charminar’, the

famous 16th century square monument with four minarets, in Hyderabad.

De-stressing the employees

Landmark Forum– Realize your true potential: We organized workshops for our

employees at our own premises aimed at helping the employees to 39 realize their

true potential. Landmark Forum aims to help people transform their lives by teaching

them specific communication and life skills along with some heavy philosophical

training.

Stress Management through Vipassana Meditation - With the help of ‘The Art of

Living Foundation’ Stress Management sessions were organized at the office

premises of InterGlobe. The Art of Living Foundation is an international non-profit

educational and humanitarian organization. The Foundation is dedicated to creating

peace from the level of the individual and fostering human values within the global

community. Their programs eliminate stress, create a sense of belonging, restore

human values, and encourage people from all backgrounds, religions, and cultural

traditions to come together in celebration and service.

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In-house Counselors: Ms. Shakuntala David InterGlobe is one such company which

recognizes the importance and effect that stress can have on the employees although

they might not come out opening about the fact that their employees need distressing

activities.

IBM Daksh and EXL Services

IBM Daksh and EXL Services has also taken a lot of initiative with respect to handling

stress. Stress today has become a part of every individual’s and organization’s life…The

order of the day is such that very few of us can possibly ignore the same. BPO’s like IBM

and EXL have introduced yoga to counter/ minimize the stress factor in their respective

organizations because eliminating the same altogether is not a possibility.

These organizations have certified yoga instructors coming in and training people in yoga

and meditation.

Dance classes are also in place which is one of the very good ways to distress oneself and

probably turn stress into something constructive, a philosophy I support and would even

want to preach.

Fun at work is also something which is very much prevalent. This constitutes the

following-

Gymnasium

Barista coffee shop

Pool table

Simulating games

Reading room/ library

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All these and more also provide their employees to take a break from the irate callers. In

employee engagement scene these companies have a cultural club, the members are

engaged in rock and roll music etc…this kind of activities also ensures development of

team work.

GENPACT

Genpact for example conducts town halls in big hotels in Delhi and team parties in the

most popular hangout places in Gurgaon and Delhi.

They also have a gymnasium where employees can avail the certified trainer by paying a

minimal cost for the same.

In their effort to minimize stress the company also has an arm which works with various

NGOs and employees are encouraged to be a part of the same. There are in house

magazines, which is another way to ensure that stress is reduced and energy is utilized

effectively. Of late they have also started martial arts classes after office an hour which is

a very good stress buster.

Team dinners and pot luck are also part of the de-stressing initiatives. Another initiative

which is a part of this organization is the off-sites that every team conducts. Every

process has a process budget within which the off-site has to happen. This is very popular

among the employees. Most often than not the young crowd looks forward to such off-

sites outside Delhi during any long weekend. Most common off-site locations are

Rishikesh, Nainital, Bhimtal, Shivouri, Mussourie etc. Not only does these act as good

stress busters but also help in team building efforts, for example white water rafting and

trekking are very popular outdoor activities for the employees during off-site visits.

Genpact for example has recognized that its employees want to add more value to

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themselves and hence the organization has tied up with various B-schools to provide

education to its young workforce. To name a few of such schools- Narsee Monjee

(Mumbai), IMT Ghaziabad, XLRI, IIM (B) etc…So its employees have the option of

increasing their education by being a part of the various programmes that the

organization conducts. Thus this organization tries to prevent disillusionment with its

workforce which is rather rampant among the workers of this industry.

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ANALYSIS

Attrition as a stress factor

BPOs in India are expected to employ around one million people by 2008, but the

challenger is to find quality human resources given the current attrition rate of around 35-

40%. Currently it is about 35% in non-voice and 45% in voice call centers.

However what the number don't show is that more than 60% of those who leave a

particular BPO do not leave for a competitor, but leave the industry as a whole. Here lies

the danger for this sector and the challenge for HR consultants.

Agents want to become team leaders. Team leaders want to become supervisors.

Supervisors wants the job of the CEO. But the problem arises when the career

development path is not defined clearly. Most youngsters do not take this as a serious

career option and because of the lack of growth coupled with disillusionment the stress

factor only keeps on increasing in an individual’s life.

At an attrition rate of 40%, the cost of attrition in the industry is 1.5 times the annual

salary.

Some of the reasons could be:

Many see this space to be an Internet sweatshop where all that the employees are

required to do is just mechanically input numbers into excel sheets or, worse still,

answer phone calls in the same tone and repeat the same lines at least 100 times a

day/night.

People who join a BPO usually do so to make a 'quick' buck. They are bound to quit

because sooner or later they will find something more attractive in terms of the job

profile and/or pay.

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The industry has concentrated on hiring young, dynamic and these are looking for

more than just a job.

Talent in this space is generally overlooked, which leaves the deserving few

disgruntled with top management and hence fosters attrition.

THE CATCH 22 SITUATION

Outsourcing tech jobs to India is not only causing turmoil for workers in the US and

Europe, but for Indians as well. Young English speaking Indians, who work in call

centers in India, are exposed to a host of health problems. Because of the time difference

between India and the US, the work for call center employees in India starts late in the

evening and goes on till dawn. Such odd hours bring in a host of health problems

including digestive diseases, hair loss, back pain and stress. Some girls develop menstrual

problems. Orthopedic problems and sharp increase in nicotine consumption are common

features. The strains of assuming foreign accents not to mention personalities for long

periods causes everything from sore throats to personality disorders. Though call centers

in India claim that they try to make life better for the workers by improving the overall

work environment, all said and done, there is no alternative to a good night's sleep.

Employees in call centers in India find it difficult to maintain a positive attitude towards

life, because everything seems dark and gloomy when one works ungodly hours. Not

surprisingly, the attrition rate is high

Joined For

in call centers in India, as 30-40% of the workers quit in a year. But they are quickly

replaced, as there are enough English speaking youngsters in India available for jobs that

pay $160-$300 per month.

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Long hours of work, permanent night shifts, incredibly high work targets, loss of identity-

these are the dark clouds hovering over the call center industry in India. Many of these

youngsters between 18 and 21 years are seeking counseling for work-related stress,

irregular sleeping hours, unhealthy food habits and chronic fatigue.

Although most such cases do not require treatment or medication, they need guidance on

physical and mental coordination to cope with a job that requires hyper-alert efficiency.

Today, most top executives acknowledge that a steady attrition rate is an inevitable aspect

of the call center industry. The reasons for this could be boredom with the job, seeking

better prospects or a change, or even the failure of the call center to effectively train

employees to stay at the job. Some call centers in India have started looking for

counselors to refer employees with problems. No call center in India actually retains

psychologists or counselors, perhaps wary of even admitting to work related stresses and

problems. When a fun loving city graduate joins a call center in India, in addition to

commendable command over the English language, the employer sees a lot of enthusiasm

and positive attitude in him or her while hiring. However, the new call

Leaving For

center employee's zeal dies in the first few weeks. Despair and disillusion set in and the

final outcome is that he or she quits the job. Little do these call center employees realize

while they are being hired that, instead of fun, what lies ahead of them is much hard work

and long, stressful days. The unrelieved monotony of their jobs and the repeated

rejections from sometimes abusive clients ensures that their cup of woes brimmeth all

night long.

Impact of employee stress

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The negative impact of employee stress on business is now an acknowledged factor.

Studies in America have proved that the annual cost of employee stress in terms of loss to

productivity is more than a staggering $300 billion. Unmanaged stress has a debilitating

impact on the organisation, the consequences vary from loss of individual productivity to

increased absenteeism to rise in employee attrition. Team morale and productivity is also

adversely affected. But is it possible to create a stress-free workplace? Probably not, it is

indeed an integral part of our personal and professional life, but the solution lies in

creating an environment that reduces its impact.

The fact that employee stress is a subjective matter cannot be overlooked. What might

appear as a stressful situation for one might be taken as a normal work routine by

another. Monisha Advani, CEO, EmmayHR agrees that most organisations tend not to act

at all or appropriately to prevent situations of unmanaged stress. “The unfortunate

perception lies in assigning responsibility for stress. Is it the employee’s personal look

out or is it the employer’s? Where does one draw the line? The definition of workplace

stress can be easily misconstrued, as it varies from case to case.” Advani points out that

drawing up policies to address workplace stress in a direct form can expose an

organisation to red herring claims from employees. Hence, the tentativeness from

employers to own up to the responsibility or demonstrate documented proactivity to

control workplace stress.

Consequences of unmanaged stress

Stressful working conditions have a direct negative impact on the mental and physical

well-being of the workforce. A disgruntled workforce obviously under-performs and

under-delivers, leading to an impact on the bottomline. In a more precautionary sense,

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unmanaged stress can be very infectious in large-sized organisations with workforces that

are inhabited together. As a nation, we have spent the last two decades trying to eradicate

cohesion of employees in a formal context (unions, associations) from the workplace.

Unfortunately, such scenarios are completely fuelled by intangible conditions like

unmanaged stress. In addition, a company can easily suffer external image damage from

being perceived as a hotbed of a stressful work environment, limiting its talent

acquisition strategies, among other things.

Stress undermines an employee’s ability to think clearly, to work well with others and to

perform his or her best. Seth Appel, Director, Talent Transformation Group, OfficeTiger,

focusses on the obvious consequences: poor decision-making, absenteeism, burn-out,

attrition, unnecessary and wasteful inter-personal conflict.

Measuring the business cost

Calculating the business cost of employee stress has led to many studies being conducted

globally. Eileen Sweeney, Senior Vice-president, Global HR, Lionbridge Technologies,

lists the key indicators:

Absenteeism

Health costs

Attrition

Lowered productivity and increased costs.

The one way to measure the cost of stress is to make a measured judgement based on

employee exit interviews and on the percentage of attrition due to stress. When the cost to

recruit, train and develop a new employee is accounted for, an oranization can arrive at a

general cost that it is incurring due to stress. Unfortunately, it is difficult to measure the

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other less tangible by-products of stress. Managers who engage in needless bickering

instead of working together, employees who return home and spend their free time

worrying about work and return the following day tired instead of energised. Also the

team members who are too anxious to speak openly at a meeting and therefore deprive

the company of their good ideas. All of these are unwanted and wasteful by-products of

stress that are hard to quantify.

It can also be measured in terms of productivity gains or losses and the consequent

revenues. “A correlation can be seen in the roles vis-a-vis stress, specially in the IT and

BPO sectors where in typical measurements like line of code/day or average call handling

time, number of calls taken, etc. have a direct bearing on the stress levels of employees,”

says Madan Padaki, Co-founder and Director, Business Development, MeriTrac Services.

Preventing/managing stress

It is believed that one should work at preventing stress than managing it. Interestingly,

most experts seem divided over the issue. Aiming to ‘prevent employee stress’ is not a

realistic goal, asserts experts, adding that it is also, arguably, not even a desired goal. The

reason is - Modern psychology often makes the mistake trying to create a stress- and

worry-free world. This is a very misguided aim as stress and worry play very important

functions in our day-to-day lives. Worry is a way our brain forces us to focus on

important problems. A healthy dose of stress gets us out of our chairs and into action. The

challenge is not stress, but the debilitating doses of stress that are more destructive than

constructive. In other words, a little bit of stress can be a good thing.

The pressures to perform at peak levels consistently is a set expectation from every

employee, as a result stress cannot be avoided. The need of the hour is to help employees

49

manage stress effectively and more importantly, create a corporate ambience that does

not perpetrate any other internal strain in the organization. It is possible to create such an

ambience which infuses a healthy, positive energy in the workplace and puts everyone in

a ‘can-do’ mood.

Most experts agree that a preventive approach is needed, particularly since formal

remedial policies to manage existing stress can lead to an acknowledgement on the part

of an employer, which in all likelihood, may be exploited by employees. Ways to ensure

this is to control extended working hours, improve the quality of workplace benefits such

as meals, recreation, break-out areas, etc. Also punctuately engage employee families and

sphere of external influencers through company events wherein they become more aware

and therefore, more supportive and encouraging of an employee’s pressure,

responsibilities and rewards. Acknowledging that prevention is better than cure, experts

point out that companies need to consistently focus on taking measures to reduce stress.

One key aspect of stress reduction is ensuring that employees and managers are provided

with the skills and tools needed to perform their roles successfully. Emphasis on skills

such as time management, effective listening, handling the difficult discussion, putting

the customer first and situational leadership equips employees with the confidence to

maintain a positive work environment and to reduce anxiety in new and unfamiliar

situations.

Complete freedom from stress can never be a reality, whether in personal or professional

life. Perhaps a priest in a temple can aim for a stress-free workplace, but in the business

sector stress is part of day’s work. An essential part of business always involves

destroying current systems, connections, understandings, products and so on and re-

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creating them into something new. By definition, there is going to be some stress in this

process. Again as a manager pushes a team to better the standards of performance,

incorporate new technology and bring up innovative ideas, this process will inevitably

cause stress. The goal is to find ways to manage this stress in a positive and constructive

manner.

While a stress-free workplace remains a Utopian situation, organisations can only make

efforts to reduce its impact. Stress is inevitable... call it the bane of any life form.

Acknowledging that it exists, is half the battle won. Attacking it, improves chances of the

rest of the war to be won! And finally, preventing it means never being at war in the first

place.

“IT IS THE MIND THAT MAKES THE BODY”- SOJOURNER TRUTH HOW

TO DEAL WITH STRESS

Recognize stress:

Stress symptoms include mental, social, and physical manifestations. These include

exhaustion, loss of/increased appetite, headaches, crying, sleeplessness, and oversleeping.

Escape through alcohol, drugs, or other compulsive behavior are often indications.

Feelings of alarm, frustration, or apathy may accompany stress.

StressManagement is the ability to maintain control when situations, people, and events

make excessive demands.

A few ways to do this are as follows-

Look around

See if there really is something you can change or control in the situation

Remove yourself from the stressful situation

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Give yourself a break if only for a few moments daily

Don't sweat the small stuff

Try to prioritize a few truly important things and let the rest slide

Selectively change the way you react, but not too much at one time. Focus on one

troublesome thing and manage your reactions to it/him/her

Avoid extreme reactions; Why hate when a little dislike will do? Why generate

anxiety when you can be nervous? Why rage when anger will do the job? Why be

depressed when you can just be sad?

Get enough sleep

Lack of rest just aggravates stress

Avoid self-medication or escape

Alcohol and drugs can mask stress. They don't help deal with the problems

Learn how to best relax yourself

Meditation and breathing exercises have been proven to be very effective in controlling

stress. Practice clearing your mind of disturbing thoughts.

Set realistic goals for yourself

Reduce the number of events going on in your life and you may reduce the circuit

overload

Don't overwhelm yourself

by fretting about your entire workload. Handle each task as it comes, or selectively deal

with matters in some priority

Change the way you see things

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Learn to recognize stress for what it is. Increase your body's feedback and make stress

self-regulating

Do something for others

to help get your mind off your self

Work off stress

with physical activity, whether it's jogging, tennis, gardening

Develop a thick skin

The bottom line of stress management is "I upset myself"

Try to "use" stress

If you can't fight what's bothering you and you can't flee from it, flow with it and try to

use it in a productive way

Try to be positive

Give yourself messages as to how well you can cope rather than how horrible everything

is going to be. "Stress can actually help memory, provided it is short-term and not too

severe. Stress causes more glucose to be delivered to the brain, which makes more energy

available to neurons. This, in turn, enhances memory formation and retrieval. On the

other hand, if stress is prolonged, it can impede the glucose delivery and disrupt

memory." Most importantly is stress is putting an individual in an unmanageable state or

is interfering with work and personal life seeking professional help is a must.

Stress is something which is becoming increasingly common among today’s youth if we

look at the BPO crowd. Most of them join such companies with lots of dreams of making

it big but soon reality strikes where in they become increasingly disillusioned with what

they are doing and why. A healthy salary of ten thousand rupees in the hands of a 18year

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old is a lot of money and serves their purpose of having fun but the effect of the unearthly

hours are clear by the above figures.

Besides working under the kind of call pressure that they do these youngsters have loads

of other pressures coming from their family and their peer group as well. In most cases

when the respondents in the focused group was asked about their parents reactions to

their kind of job , most had only one thing to say …they are not happy.

Indian parents till date would rather have their children study further rather than take calls

of irate Americans at unearthly hours.

All these respondents being in the 18 to 25 years age group agreed that BPOs’ offer them

fast money and they do not mind working such long and weird hours. This basic clash

between the youngsters and their parents is the reason for major family discord.

Youngsters are very vulnerable to bad habits and smoking, drinking, drugs just have

become a part of their lives. These are not my personal views but something that was

vouched by all these 20 people who took part in the group discussion.

To these youngsters marriage as an institution does not hold such high values as it did for

their parents. Extra marital affairs and pre marital sex are rampant because of the kind of

hours these people keep. To them everything is acceptable. During the course of my

study I came to know a shocking truth in Gurgaon. Gurgaon is one of earliest places

which came into the view because of the BPO industry which flourished here in the late

1990s and continues to thrive till today. What is shocking is this piece of news that most

of the societies in one part of this city has made is a rule that would not allow BPO

people who are not married to stay within their premises. Ofcourse it goes without saying

that for some people the entire crowd is being penalized. Most of Gurgaon’s BPO crowd

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who reside in these areas are coming under a lot of mental stress now that there is

growing uncertainty about their places of residence. This is another emerging factor of

stress among one section of the BPO crowd.

I believe increasingly these youngsters are losing their identity and because of this

identity crisis that they are facing there’s a huge factor of stress is playing in their lives

which comes alive in terms of doing things like smoking, drinking etc. The other thing

that came alive incourse of my study was that these people are looking for acceptance…

or they want to be accepted in a particular group of people and often do what it takes to

be associated with “this wanted group”. This is something I would call Peer Group

Pressure. There’s a constant conflict going on in the minds as to what is right and what is

not and what should be done and what not.

This also causes a huge amount of stress in their lives. The work environment one is

working in also plays a huge role in creating stress in the lives of these people. Family

pressure repeatedly telling them to do something far more constructive is also something

a lot of them cannot take. The initial promise of the organization and the promise of the

career fades and very soon the reality sets in. And I saw it through my study that for this

reason more and more youth are quitting and getting back to further education.

RECOMMENDATION

But all said and done I believe and I realized that stress is not always something negative.

It can be something positive and constructive as well. Since the BPOs mostly have

relatively younger age group of employees, their energy and ideas can be put to better use

by identifying their competencies and matching the same with the business goal.

For example I would recommend something like

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Organizations can organize something like “Young Leader” wherein a team of two or

three people would work on a project and let the management decide the best idea

and recognize new talent. I believe interactionwith the leadership would do well

because most of the employees working in BPOs in India are in an age group when

they are highly impressionable and what better way to create that impression than

seeking a mentor beyond the immediate supervisor. The whole idea is to let the young

minds think.

It is a fact that in India BPOs are not taken as serious career options and that is one of

the reason why young people joining it leave it all the more soon. The most important

thing therefore is for the industry to promote the same as a viable career option.

NASSCOM, the governing body for the industry is off late making an attempt

towards that direction. Such efforts should be done on a larger scale so as to promote

the industry further. The key to this I believe is to create awareness among the general

public because in India even now family/ parents are actively involved in taking

decisions in respect of their children. So, it is important for them to have this

awareness. Most of the stress which these youngsters face is on account of the

pressure they face at home with respect to their jobs at the BPOs and it is this stress

which culminates into bigger dimensions and leads to disillusionment among the

young.

The BPO industry as a whole should come together and address the stress problem by

conducting seminars and workshops for their employees.

All organizations should have a Counselling Desk wherein an in-house counselor

counsels the employees on their career needs, problems in adjustment which may

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arise on account of the fact that most of the employees who work in the BPOs leave

their home towns and come to various cities to work. This may act as an effective

way to curb emotional stress.

Redefining the career paths and making the employees aware of the same. Trainings

should be conducted which would enhance their skill sets beyond taking calls and

develop their competencies to match the same against organizational goals.

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CONCLUSION

Stress adds flavor, challenge and opportunity to life. Without stress, life would be dull

and unexciting. However, too much stress can seriously affect one’s physical and mental

well-being. Recurrent physical and psychological stress can diminish selfesteem,

decrease interpersonal and academic effectiveness and create a cycle of selfblame and

self-doubt. It is important for one’s health that one should find the optimal level of stress

that one can learn to manage effectively.

Stress is unique and personal to each of us. What is relaxing to one person may be

stressful to another. One person may find "taking it easy" at the beach relaxing while

another may find it boring. The key to stress reduction is identifying strategies that fit one

as an individual.

Signs of Stress

The best way to cope with unhealthy stress is to recognize when one’s stress levels are

building. While we often think of stress as the result of external events, the events

themselves are not necessarily stressful. It is the way in which each individual interprets

and reacts to an event that produces stress. People vary significantly in the type of events

they experience as stressful and the way that they respond to these events. Public

speaking is a good example: while some people see it as routine, others experience it as

highly stressful.

Stress Signals

Stress "signals" fall into four categories: thoughts, feelings, behavior and physical

symptoms. When one is under stress one may experience-

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Feelings

Anxiety, irritability, fear, moodiness, embarassment

Thoughts

Self-criticism, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, forgetfulness or mental

disorganization, preoccupation with the future, repetitive thoughts, fear of failure.

Behavioral

Stuttering or other speech difficulties, crying, acting impulsively, nervous laughter,

"snapping": at friends, teeth grinding or jaw clenching, increased smoking, alcohol or

other drug use, being prone to more accidents, increased or decreased appetite.

Physical

Tight muscles, cold or sweaty hands, headaches, back or neck problems, sleep

disturbances, stomach distress, more colds and infections, fatigue, rapid breathing or

pounding heart, trembling, dry mouth.

When one becomes consciously aware of the above factors stress becomes more

manageable. For example if one experiences frequent neck problems or sleep

disturbances along with fatigue it is only obvious that stress is at work. So, the best way

to handle or counter stress is to become aware of stress ourselves and take actions for the

same which can be by going to a doctor or taking a day or two off from work etc. How

we decide to counter stress is completely our initiative. One option of course is to think

that “all is wrong” and feel depressed while the other far more viable option would be to

go for some exercise and workouts or learn music or dance etc and channelize that energy

more constructively. I would recommend the second option.

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Further more I feel organizations would do well to accept the fact that their employees

are stressed rather than try to undermine the same. While conducting this research I had

the chance of interacting with quite a few HR managers who refused to acknowledge the

fact that their employees are really stressed. This denial by organizations only adds to the

problem all the more. Rather than denying that stress is existent if not rampant among its

workforce accepting it and working towards it to reduce its impact on the employees as

well as the business is more advisable. How that can happen would depend from one

company to another. Half the battle is won if there is this acceptance and of course

employees need to be educated about leading a more balanced life and also be made

aware that stress is not something which is only externally created or needs an external

stimulus. We as individuals also play a major role in creating stress and at an individual

level we should be ready to accept the same. Going around stress would require the full

fledged cooperation of both the organization as well as the employees. The need of the

hour is to work together towards it rather than playing the blame game.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

US Department of labour and forrester, Journal.

All stressed up: St Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch

Hewitt Qaurterly: Journal Published on new HR practices

Managing Stress: An article of Nasscom

Case study published in Mc Kinsey Quarterly on Stress Management in India.

Stress relief article published by TCS (Tata Consultancy Services)

Website:

InterGlobe Enterprise website

EXL Website

IBM Daksh Website

GENPACT

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ANNEXURE

Stress Management

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR DISCUSSION

Company Name:

Respondent’s Name:

Designation:

Your identity and answers are confidential and will only be used for the purpose of a

scholarly thesis on Stress Management. Your responses will not be submitted with the

report.

Q1. Is the environment safe, clean, and easy on the eye?

Q2. Is it well laid out, with the things you need easy to find and get to?

Q3. Is it as quiet as it needs to be?

Q4. Is there a 'quiet room' for thinking / relaxation?

Q5. Can individuals take a break every hour and a half or so (more frequently if doing

intense keyboard and screen work, or hard physical labour)?

Q7. Are working hours reasonable (no more than 8 hours a day, except in cases of dire

need)?

Q8. Do your work force know what is expected from them?

Q9. Does the job allow your employees to do what they are best at?

Q10. Do you know when your employees are doing a good job?

Q11. Are your employees recognised as an individual?

Q12. Do you feel your job is important?

Q13. Are your employees learning and growing?

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