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Chapter 4. Results and findings
a. Results
The interviews and questionnaires conducted in terms of the current study have revealed the fact that the job satisfaction does have impact on the staff turnover. At the same time, the study has revealed the fact that the job satisfaction is not the only factor that determines the staff turnover. Instead, the job satisfaction is rather one of the factors that may lead to the staff turnover, in case if the job satisfaction is low, and prevent the staff turnover if the job satisfaction is high. At this point, it is possible to refer to the results of the interviews.
The first question was as follows: Q1. What is your experience of working in your call centre?
This question was posed to define the experience of employees, managers and trainers which allows to judge about their professional knowledge and defines the extent to which their opinion is reliable because newcomers cannot have an extensive experience and they do not know all details of functioning of a call centre in India. Nevertheless, newcomers are also important they can make independent judgments regardless of the organisational influence. In this regard, the subjects have different experience. Two employees have been working in a call centre for four and six months, one manager has been working for nine months, one employee worked for two years, and one employee worked for over four years. Two managers worked about two years and three trainers worked from one year to three years. In such a way, the range of professionals involved in the interviews and questionnaires is wide and, therefore, they can provide different views on the work in a call centre based in India and on the job satisfaction and staff turnover.
The second question was as follows: Q2. How would you characterize relationships between employees?
This question aimed at the revelation of the atmosphere in the workplace environment and interpersonal relationships between people working in call centres based in India. Basically, the responses varied consistently. In general, four respondents proved that they have good relationships between employees, whereas five argued that they have substantial problems in their workplace because they were not satisfied with their position and attitude to them from the part of the company. Finally, one employee was about to quit his job because he felt “frustrated” and could not “bear that work anymore”.
The third question was as follows: Q3. What factors influence your mood and performance in your workplace?
This question aimed at the identification of factors which influence employees’ performance directly in their workplace. In such a way, the interview revealed the major causes of the job dissatisfaction or satisfaction respectively to their mood and psychological state. In this regard, respondents argued that stressors increased their job dissatisfaction because they felt anxious and were in a bad mood to the extent that they could not perform their regular functions and duties.
The fourth question was as follows: Q4. Do you think your workplace needs any improvements?
This question aims at the revelation of possible reasons for dissatisfaction of employees with their position in the call centre. In addition, the question reveals the vision of employees to improve their workplace environment and conditions of work to increase their job satisfaction. On answering this question, the majority of respondents agreed that their workplace needed improvements, especially in regard to the improvement of the attitude of managers to employees and interpersonal relationships between people working in call centres. In addition, respondents pointed out that their workplace turns them into a sort of machines for they have to perform routine job day after day.
The question five was as follows: Q5. What factors prevent you from your best performance?
This question was posed to identify factors and ways to improve the job satisfaction of employees. At the same time, indirectly, this question revealed reasons for dissatisfaction of employees with their job in call centres. Basically, respondent repeated answers similar to the previous question that proves that their answers were sincere and, therefore, they are reliable. Some respondents answered that the lack of career opportunities prevents them from the successful performance.
The question six was as follows: Q6. Do you believe you can perform better in your workplace?
Basically, the majority of respondents answered positively to this question. This means that they feel dissatisfied in a way with their job because they cannot realize their full potential. At any rate, such answers prove that professionals working in call centres can perform better but call centres do not provide them with an opportunity to realize their professional potential.
The seventh question was as follows: Q7. Are you satisfied with your salary?
The majority of respondents answered positively to this question. Only one manager and one trainer gave negative answers to this question. This question was supposed to reveal whether people working in call centres based in India are satisfied with their financial position and material rewords they receive in call centres. The answers to this question proved that the majority of respondents working in call centres based in India are satisfied with their salary and their material position. buy research paper
The eighth question was as follows: Q8. Do you believe you match your workplace?
This question aimed at the revelation of the self-perception of employees in their workplace. In such a way, the question helped to reveal whether employees feel comfortable in their workplace and whether the job in the call centre based in India meets their inclinations and needs. The majority of respondents seven out of ten answered positively, while three respondents gave negative answers. Remarkably, the three respondents were males and they did not think that the work in call centre matches them.
The ninth question was as follows: Q9. Do you count for a long-lasting career in your call centre?
Five out of ten respondents answered positively and they stood on the ground that they could make a successful career in call centres based in India. At the same time, five other respondents, three employees, one manager, and one trainer, argued that they have little career opportunities and they have no great prospects in call centres. At any rate, they could count only for positions they held at the moment of the interviews.
The tenth question was as follows: Q10. Does your call centre conducts socially responsible policies?
This question aimed at the identification of policies conducted by call centres based in India and the extent to which they can protect their employees and develop social programs to increase the job satisfaction of employees. However, only three respondents gave positive answers, whereas seven respondents denied the fact that their call centres conduct policies of social responsibility.
The eleventh question was as follows: Q11. Why would you change the job?
This question was posed to define reasons why employees change their job. In other words, the question aimed at the revelation of reasons for the staff turnover initiated by employees. Respondents gave different answers to this question but it is possible to point out that the main reasons for employees quitting their job in call centres was the lack of positive interpersonal relationships, routine job, psychological pressure, tense relationships with managers, the lack of career growth opportunities. In such a way, employees implied that their dissatisfaction with their job, conditions of work, organisational culture and career prospects are the main reasons for changing their job. To put it in simple words, employees were ready to change job if they were dissatisfied with their job. Hence, the job dissatisfaction can provoke the staff turnover.
The twelfth question was as follows: Q12. What are main reasons for firing employees in your call centre?
This question had the similar goal as the previous one but it aimed at managers and call centres’ policies in relation to employees with a low job satisfaction. However, managers responded that companies do not practice firing employees dissatisfied with their job. Instead, they named such factors as the poor performance of employees, their inability to perform their professional functions, the low qualification of employees and others.
The questionnaires were prepared for employees and managers and trainers. Therefore, two questionnaires were distributed online. The analysis of the questionnaires reveals the following results.
The questionnaire developed for employees had the first question as follows: Q1. How long have you been working in your call centre
a. Less than a year
b. 1-3 years
c. Over 3 years
Two employees worked less than a year, one employee worked 1-3 years, and one employee worked over three years. This question backed up the interview question but it allowed to distinguish three major groups of employees with different experience depending on the time they worked in call centres based in India.
The second question was as follows: Q2. Your relationships with your colleagues and managers are:
a. Good
b. Bad
c. Neutral
Half of respondents chose ‘a’, one respondent chose ‘b’ and one – ‘c’.
The third question was as follows: Q3. Is your salary:
a. Higher than average salary in India
b. Average
c. Lower than average salary in India
Three out of four employees chose ‘a’, while only one employee chose ‘b’ and none chose ‘c’ that means that the salary in call centres based in India is high compared to the average salary in the country.
The fourth question was as follows: Q4. Are you content with your job:
a. Yes
b. No
c. Yes but need some improvements/changes
One employee chose ‘a’, one employee chose ‘b’ and two employees chose ‘c’. Therefore, only one employee was really dissatisfied with his job.
The fifth question was as follows: Q5.Do you need substantial improvements in your workplace environment:
a. Yes
b. No
Three out of four employees chose ‘a’ and only one employee chose ‘b’ that means that the workplace environment is not absolutely comfortable for employees working in call centres based in India.
The sixth question was as follows: Q6. Does your company conduct socially responsible policies:
a. My call centre has a good compensation plan
b. My call centre has a good compensation and retirement plan
c. My call centre has a good compensation and retirement plan and covers my health insurance
d. My call centre has a good compensation and retirement plan and covers my health insurance and health insurance of my family
e. My call centre fails to conduct socially responsible policies
Basically three respondents out of four chose ‘e’, while only one respondent chose ‘a’. Therefore, call centres based in India fail to conduct socially responsible policies that may provoke the job dissatisfaction of employees.
The seventh question was as follows: Q7. Do you get enough training:
a. Yes
b. No
Two employees chose ‘a’, while two other employees chose ‘b’ that means that the latter two employees fail to get sufficient training.
The eighth question was as follows: Q8. How long have you being trained in your call centre:
a. About a week
b. About a month
c. About half a year
One employee chose ‘a’, one employee chose ‘b’ and two employees chose ‘c’.
The ninth question was as follows: Q9. Can you get promotion in your call centre:
a. Yes
b. No
c. Hardly
One employee chose ‘a’, one employee chose ‘b’ and two employees chose ‘c’.
The tenth question was as follows: Q10. Would you change the job if you are not content with your job:
a. Yes
b. No
Three out of four employees chose ‘a’, while only one employee chose ‘b’ that means that the job dissatisfaction is a good reason for employees working in call centres based in India to change their job.
The second questionnaire was developed for managers and trainers:
The first question was as follows: Q1. How long have you been working in your call centre:
d. Less than a year
e. 1-3 years
f. More than 3 years
One manager worked for less than a year, while two managers and three employees worked from one year to three years.
The second question was as follows: Q2. Do you consider your performance:
d. Good
e. Bad
f. Mediocre
Four out of six respondents chose ‘a’ and two chose ‘c’, while none chose ‘b’, although such outcomes may be quite subjective, taking into consideration the fact that this question implied self-assessment of managers and trainers.
The third question was as follows: Q3. Do you consider your organisation’s performance is:
d. Good
e. Poor
f. Average compared to other companies in the industry
Four respondents chose ‘c’, one chose ‘a’ and one chose ‘b’. In such a way, the self assessment of managers and trainers turns out to be much better compared to their assessment of the call centres they work in.
The fourth question was as follows: Q4. How would you characterize your relationships with employees:
d. Good
e. Bad
f. Neutral
Three respondents chose ‘a’, two respondents chose ‘c’ and one respondent chose ‘b’. Remarkably, the views of managers and trainers are quite different from views of employees, who believe that their relationships with managers are far from perfect.
The fifth question was as follows: Q5. How would you characterize your relationships with your colleagues:
d. Good
e. Bad
f. Neutral
Four out of six respondents chose ‘a’, and two chose ‘c’, while none chose ‘b’. In such a way, managers and trainers are inclined to characterize their relationships with colleagues as positive.
The sixth question was as follows: Q6. Dou you believe your employees are satisfied with their job:
c. Yes
d. No
In fact, three respondents chose ‘a’ and three respondents chose ‘b’. Therefore, managers feel the dissatisfaction of their employees with their job, although some managers believe that the job environment is normal and employees are satisfied with their job in call centres based in India.
The seventh question was as follows: Q7. Are you satisfied with your job:
c. Yes
d. No
Four respondents chose ‘a’ option and two chose ‘b’ option.
The eighth question was as follows: Q8. Would you quit your job if you are not satisfied with it:
c. Yes
d. No
Five out of six respondents confirmed that they are ready to quit their job if they are not satisfied with it and only one agreed to carry on working.
The ninth question was as follows: Q9. What is your personnel turnover:
d. Less than 5% per year
e. 5-10% per year
f. Over 10% per year
Two respondents chose ‘a’, three respondents chose ‘b’ and one respondent chose ‘c’.
The tenth question was as follows: Q10. Do you consider the poor job satisfaction is the reason for firing of an employee:
c. Yes
d. No
One respondent chose option ‘a’, while the rest five respondents chose ‘b’.
b. Findings
Taking into consideration the results of the research, it is possible to reveal basic trends which reveal the correlation between the job satisfaction and the staff turnover in call centres located in India. The emergence of call centres in India contributed to the fast development of the call centre industry. Employees have started this industry because call centres offered its employees a relatively high salary. At any rate, the salary of employees working in call centres located in India is higher compared to the average salary in India. As a result, employees are attracted by the high salary and start working in call centres located in India. In this regard, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that employees feel satisfied with the material rewards they receive in call centres located in India. Therefore, the material motivation of employees turns out to be effective enough and contributes to employees’ job satisfaction. Consequently, the lack of financial rewards cannot be the reason for the poor job satisfaction and, naturally, it cannot provoke the high staff turnover, at least from the part of employees.
At the same time, many researchers (Wahba & Bridwell, 1976) point out that what really makes India an attractive BPO hub is the local labour force which is professional and well-qualified enough to provide call centres services of the high quality and the low costs of the local labour force. In other words, companies outsourcing any services, including call centre services in India can count for a relatively high quality of services at a relatively low price.
In addition, India is close to the English-speaking world in regard to culture and especially language (Leidner, 1999). The high language competence is one of the essential conditions that attract companies operating internationally to India and Indian companies as subjects to outsourcing. Obviously, companies operating internationally need to have no communication problems with the target company that outsource a set of services. In this regard, Indian employees normally have a good language competence and they can use English fluently that eliminates language barriers between a company ordering outsourcing services and a company providing outsourcing services.
Furthermore, India attempts to integrate in the international economic community and develops close economic relationships with other countries of the world. In terms of its economic cooperation, India expands its business activities and offers a variety of services to its business partners. Indian companies offer services which may be of the high quality and meet needs and interests of companies operating internationally or located in other regions of the world. The local government conducts loyal fiscal policies in relation to foreign investors that encourages them to develop close economic cooperation with Indian companies and, thus, to outsource services using Indian companies and local labour force. In such a way, India becomes an attractive BPO hub for multinational corporations, companies operating internationally as well as other companies located in different parts of the world.
Finally, India has strong cultural links to the English-speaking world because this country is the former colony of Great Britain and British influence is strong in India, especially in terms of culture. At the same time, the country is located in Asia and, therefore, has close cultural links with Asian countries. In such a way, India turns out to be a bridge between Western civilization and Oriental civilization or Western culture and Oriental culture. The latter is particularly important in the contemporary globalized business environment, when companies need to develop effective cooperation and company-customer relationships, regardless of their cultural background. In such a situation, India and Indian employees turn out to be in an advantageous position because they are well-acquainted with both Western and Oriental cultures and, therefore, they will be able to work effectively with any company or customer, regardless of their origin or current location. Thus, India becomes almost a perfect place for the development of outsourcing, which, apparently, stimulates the accelerated economic development of the country.
At this point, the question of the language competence is one of the most important issues because many companies operating in the US, for instance, need call centre employees be able to use the American accent and understand current American issue to communicate effectively with American consumers. Call centres in India offer their clients the opportunity to have employees that meet linguistic requirements. At the same time, the costs of the labour force in India are much lower compared to the costs of the labour force in the US. As a result, outsourcing call centre services and using call centres located in India is a perfect alternative for American as well as other companies located in North America or Europe, instead of local call centres because they can receive call centre services of the high quality at lower costs, while the competence of employees, including linguistic competence, in call centres located in India is high enough (Adam, 2002).
In such a situation, the growing attention of investors and foreign companies, especially multinational corporations to call centres located in India is quite natural. Some specialists (Pal & Buzzanelli, 2008) point out that the number of call centres in India grows rapidly and the annual growth is substantial. To put it more precisely, the call centre industry is well situated within India’s global leadership with its offshore information technology and business process outsourcing industries increasing at an annual rate greater than 25% and generating export revenues of $60 billion by 2010 (Pal & Buzzanelli, 2008). In such a way, the call centre industry in India grows rapidly and companies located in the US and other countries of the world attempt to use the advantages of call centres based in India.
At the same time, some specialists point out that Indian call centres represent a new form of organisational process that embodies complex spaces at the intersections of globalization, telecommunications and the intensifying of transnational and trans-local dynamics (Pal & Buzzanelli, 2008). In actuality, this means that call centres based in India are products of globalization, in a way. What is meant here is the fact that the emergence of globalization, the increased need in call centre services and attempts of companies to save costs by means of employing cheaper labour force encouraged outsourcing of call centre services that led to the emergence of call centres in India, where the costs of the labour force are low, while the quality of services meets the requirements of clients.
In addition, many specialists (Pal & Buzzanelli, 2008) lay emphasis on the fact that human resource comprise an important asset of call centres based in India. The experiences of employees do not involve transnational migration beyond national boundaries, yet they embody multiple geographical spaces. In other words, call centres represent new structures, where organizational capabilities are increasingly developed through intensely social and communicative processes, which may not be tied to physical resources or locations (Pal & Buzzanelli, 2008). In such a way, to use call centre services companies outsourcing these services do not need to transfer employees anywhere. They just order services from a call centre located in India and the latter provides its clients with professional that meet requirements of clients and that are capable to perform their job well and at the high professional level.