The Hindu Business Line : Helping BPO staff bridge the cultural divide

WITH the growth of business process outsourcing, employees in India are dealing with international clients rather than local ones. How has this affected human resource development in India? Have firms had to change the manner in which employees are trained?

Manpower recruitment agencies and those in business process outsourcing companies say that challenges on these issues exist, especially when it comes to communication between employees in India and their international clients.

One problem area is authority. Indian employees struggle to say "no" to their clients, and often end up accepting unachievable targets, and are unable to meet them.

"When you're dealing with an international client, once you agree to a deadline or responsibility, you have to deliver," says Mr E. Balaji, Executive Director — Staffing Solutions group, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd. "Culturally, we find it difficult to say we can't do something. So, often we just agree to their demands and are unable to deliver."

Apart from being unable to say "no", employees also run into difficulties in the negotiation process. Mr Satyam Kumar, Assistant Vice-President, Evalueserve, says: "We consider it rude to ask questions, because we are brought up to respect our elders, and people whom we perceive to be knowledgeable. It is important to train employees to be able to question their clients — and in every employee's training period there is a moment of truth when he or she realises that the clients being dealt with are equals and not superiors."

To hasten the process of the "moment of realisation", departments and firms often have to resort to behaviour modification exercises to help them understand the differences in the cultures.

The other problem seems to be that of discipline. Indians are brought up to think that it is all right to be anywhere between five and 30 minutes late for a meeting "Given the average Indian's lethargic nature to respond or to make decisions, non-adherence to deadlines is accepted and taken for granted," says Mr Krishna Ram, Project Director, Scope e-Knowledge Center Pvt Ltd. This could be a problem because international clients consider it rude when you are late for a meeting.

Mr Satyam Kumar says, "Indians do have this chalta hai (anything goes) attitude. We at Evalueserve deal with it by having strict deadlines within the organisation, and putting emphasis on completing projects on time even if they are non-core, just to inculcate the habit. The respect for time has to be driven into people."

So how do HR departments deal with this problem? What are the training costs, or what has the lack of training cost individual firms?

"We usually budget 6 to 10 per cent of the total salary cost, for training," says Mr Mihir Kittur, Chief Operating Officer, Ugam Solutions. "But, then, some costs are not necessarily accounted for — like training on the job, or training from the clients."Mr Balaji says, "The costs are of two kinds — monetary and time-bound. Certain companies set aside 5 per cent of their earning before interest and tax (EBIT) for people development purposes, while other companies account for their cost in terms of man-days. Anything above five man-days of training is a good beginning."

Mr Satyam Kumar says, "There is no tangible cost as such, but we make huge savings in terms of time in the long run. Even employees with three years experience can increase their productivity by 10 to 15 per cent. But I don't think we have lost any clients as a result of non-adherence to deadlines or the ability to say `no'. For, the clients too understand what they are dealing with when they work with us."

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