British authorities move to save call centre jobs

Monday, 10 November 2003, 20:30 IST
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LONDON: As outsourcing of call centre jobs to India enters popular British imagination as the "Great Indian Takeaway", authorities here are allocating funds to safeguard and improve the remaining jobs in Britain. Advantage West Midlands, a regional development agency, has launched a 300,000 pounds project to safeguard the 55,000 call centre jobs in the region. Currently, an estimated 586,000 people throughout Britain work in call centres -- more than those in steel, car and coal industries combined -- and it is predicted that by 2008 one in 30 people in the workforce will work in a call centre. In the West Midlands, there are 294 call centres across Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Birmingham and Solihull, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and the Black Country. But, because of low operating costs in countries such as South Africa and India, a series of high-profile relocations have been announced, prompting Advantage West Midlands to join together with key partners to carry out research into how the sector can be strengthened and developed. By working with a selection of call centres in different markets across the West Midlands, consultants KPMG will be presenting their findings and recommendations on how call centres can tackle the challenges they face in the coming years. Issues such as the training and retention of staff at the region's 294 call centres, along with maximising profitability and performance, will be focused on in the report which will be published in June next year. Research already carried out shows the West Midlands has particular problems in recruiting and retaining staff. This is primarily due to a shortage of skills and the negative perception of the career opportunities offered by call centres. Advantage West Midlands chief executive John Edwards said it is an area of employment that needs to be safeguarded. He told the local media: "In recent years, call centres have become an increasingly important part of the U.K. economy and it is essential this sector is given the support it needs. "Although around 55,000 people are employed in call centres in the West Midlands, as a percentage of the working population, fewer people are employed in the region than the national average. "Everybody is aware of the high-profile losses of call centres and jobs to other countries and Advantage West Midlands is committed to making sure this does not continue and, just as importantly, to ensuring the jobs that remain are better ones. "Call centres are here to stay - it's vital that Advantage West Midlands and our partners do everything we can to make sure the full benefits for employers, employees and the wider economy are maximized". Elsewhere in Britain, resentment is growing at the shipping of call centre jobs to India. Walter Todd of Inverclyde in Scotland wrote to the editor of a local Scottish paper: "I read again that more companies are moving their call centres and manufacturing abroad to places like India, the latest being HSBC and the TSB, at the cost of thousands of British jobs. "I had a call from BT (British Telecom) two weeks ago and could not understand the guy that phoned me. Perhaps if we all stopped buying the products and using the services of these companies they would soon re-open the call centres and factories in this country. "Why should we pay for the wages of people thousands of miles away", he asked, echoing a sentiment being expressed by many.
Source: IANS
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