Indian call centres employees in low esteem

Melbourne, Mar 20: All does not seem to be going well with the Indian call centres employees as they have been repeatedly abused by the Australians.

According to James Organ, director of Australian research organisation allcentres.net, ''Lots of poor innocent Indian workers at the call centres were abused regularly by Australians.'' Quite a few companies regretted outsourcing to India because of the damage it has done to their products' reputation, he added.

Mr Organ was speaking at a business conference in Queensland today.

''It is a cultural thing. The moment an Australian suspects the call is coming from India they can get uptight,'' he added.

According to the Global South Research Group survey, employees in call centres in India are abused and that include racial taunts.

''Racial abuse by foreign customers is a job hazard that most employees have to deal with'', a report on the survey said.

Queensland Consumers' Association spokeswoman Cherie Dalley however, felt Australians were reacting to phone calls because they were at "ridiculous" times.

''Australians are tired of having their privacy interrupted by people trying to sell them things they didn't want in the first place,'' she said.

Mr Organ's group estimates Indian call centres account for 50 million calls to Australian homes each year, that is about one-fifth of the total telemarketing calls made.

UNI