What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in a BPO?

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a subset of Outsourcing which involves contracting some of the Business processes like operations or other responsibilities to a third party service provider. Basically, this outsourcing is providing many jobs to fresh graduates and has become a booming industry.

Here are some of the advantages of working in a BPO

Salaries

BPOs in the country of India gives good starting salaries with periodical raises yearly. The average income of a person working in a BPO in India can range anywhere between 15,000 rupees to 30,000 rupees or in some cases it may be even higher. This amount of income is higher than individuals who work in other traditional professions like Government jobs, teachers, clerks, and armed forces.

Qualification

All the companies require you to be fluent in English. Bilingual (people who speak multiple languages) individuals who are fluent in Spanish, German and French have a great advantage over others.

Comfort

Most of the BPOs even provide you with a convenient bus service from various pick-up locations in the city. This is very comfortable for both men and women. All the BPOs provide training for how to deal with customers and the best part is, you are paid even when they train you. The training usually lasts for a few weeks and often followed by a supervised practical experience. Most BPOs also provide free snacks and Meals to their employees.

Now let us discuss some disadvantages of working for a BPO

Odd Working Hours

Most of the BPOs in India support overseas operations and the majority of professionals have night shifts and some times they work round the clock. Very few BPOs provide day shifts, who support the domestic Indian customers or those who provide offshore support.

Family Life

This is somewhat linked with odd working hours. In the evening when everybody wants to spend their time with family members, the employees of BPO will be working. That creates an imbalance if the spouse works in General shift. Your life as a BPO employee can become lonely and frustrating at times.

Health Issues

Heart disease, sleep disorders, eyesight problems, and depression are a few problems that people working for BPO’s suffer from due to the untimely schedule. People also tend to gain weight as most of the time they are sitting in their small cubicle.

Health issues in the Indian BPO industry are turning into a major issue. Even though you work only for 5 days a week, for the rest of the two days it is not easy to swap your sleep cycle the other way around.