Every day, on my way to work, when I see these huge, luring BPO hoardings with bright young faces smiling at you with a phone to their ears, I cant help but wonder that why would BPOs be portrayed as a youth centric job! Is it because the late working hours? Or is it because a certain brand image of being the 'in thing' has been built by BPO companies?
By 'youth' I don't just mean young by age, I am referring here to the indomitable spirit of a young person, the will power, the fierce determination of the young-at-age to achieve their goals, their aims in life. Youth, as per the Webster dictionary, is
a: the period between childhood and maturity
b: the early period of existence, growth, or development
Looking at both the meaning we realise that this is by far the most critical period of one's life.
It is the time when opinions are formed, a thought process is formed and the person is evolving to become a responsible and important part of the society.
Now, by far I don't understand that how can a work culture like that of a BPO be associated with this process. I might be sounding cynical, but the truth lies in the fact that BPOs have always been known for their obscenely late working hours, making a substantial amount of money in a short time and an extremely stressful work environment.
I accept that not all BPO jobs fit this category but most of them do. The easy money and the hype about the 'youth-centric' work culture often draw college students towards jobs in BPOs. All they are looking for is a quick buck to take care of the 'upar ka kharcha' but this often ends up becoming the a part of their necessary expenditure. The more the dependence on this extra money increases, the more that person is drawn into taking it up as a full time proffession.
Often at the cost of dropping out of college or compromising on the academics.
Here I see unbounded talent being wasted in answering calls in a fake accent. It makes them lose their identity and all the extra money drives them into a completely frivolous lifestyle.
The work stress drives them into depression and in turn leads to addictions of all sorts. And here begins the vicious cycle. Their addictions don't allow them to leave their jobs and the job in turn drives them into getting more addicted.
This might come across as a cynical view of the BPO work culture but this is what I have seen in front of me everyday. I agree that they have also been a boon for the people who could not geta job elsewhere because of lack of education. But at the same time there has been a large chunk of people who have got into this profession for all the wrong reasons.
Criticising the BPOs for this reason or criticising the youth is not the solution. The only solution is to have a strong moral sense driven into the youth right from an early age so as to turn them into socially and morally responsible citizens. Then for such a person the job or the stress will never affect the inherent character of that person.
