Recession in Britain 'at an end' - BBC

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

The million who lost their jobs did.

More than that.

The next couple of sets of figures & they will be out of the woodwork.

bendix

dfh wrote: »

What we really need is to bring back the jobs that were outsourced to the far east.Particularly the call centre jobs.It will boost the local economy and it will be good to talk to someone you can understand.

Oh brilliant. And how are we going to do that? Make Doris and Jim in Birmingham accept the same salaries as Sanjay and Dipla earn in a Bombay slum?

Brilliant thinking. Why don't we ban women from working too - that way there would be no unemployment.

bendix

kabayiri wrote: »

As always, there is an element of truth to this. But it isnt black and white as you know.

Some of these 'jobs' have been relocated to cheaper locations in the world. Even some of our biggest high street banks have used the recession as an opportunity to shed costs.

Now if someone has trained for many years as a technical engineer / software specialist etc, and finds their work relocated offshore I have every sympathy with them. Yes, they need to reskill / move on etc, but it takes time.

Just because your area, the legal profession, hasnt seen this phenomena of recent times happen, doesnt diminish the effects for others.

Those jobs have relocated for all the right reasons. It is beholden upon companies to minimise costs and maximise profits at all times.

FYI, this has impacted the legal profession too. My old firm had a 400 person outsourcing centre employing typists, designers, IT people and other support staff in Manila. Many other firms are currently outsourcing basic legal work to firms in India because they can do it for 10% of the cost of a London lawyer, and it's something we are looking at doing also.

And quite right too.

dfh

bendix wrote: »

Oh brilliant. And how are we going to do that? Make Doris and Jim in Birmingham accept the same salaries as Sanjay and Dipla earn in a Bombay slum?

Brilliant thinking. Why don't we ban women from working too - that way there would be no unemployment.

Pay British workers decent salaries.Call centres functioned very well before they were transferred overseas.

dfh

Try talking to an Indian Call Centre and see if you can understand anything they say.And that is supposed to be customer services.I moved my Banking to First direct on the basis that they only use Uk Call Centres.Many people now insist on Uk Call centres.e should all vote with our feet and only deal with companies that have Uk call centres.That way they will realise that trying to save a few bob by going overseas will cost them more in terms of lost customers.

lostinrates

dfh wrote: »

....That way they will realise that trying to save a few bob by going overseas will cost them more in terms of lost customers.

In defence of Bendix, he works in an International, not national arena. The outrage of the man on the street will impact les on the man in the street is just not going to impact in quite the same way.

signed, lir, who no bocotts Cadbury's for the mov from Bristol to poland and occasionally dribbles for a nibble G &B Maya Gold bar and whose thrice or so a year purchase of chocolate makes an insignificant impact.

hundredk

dfh wrote: »

Pay British workers decent salaries.Call centres functioned very well before they were transferred overseas.

I'm afraid Bedix is right.

With advances in technology it is easy to divert calls to India, employ staff on probably a fifth of the UK wage, give them a script and they'll do 90% of what the UK staff could. So whilst they may have functioned very well in the UK, this is irrelevant.

As for the 10% loss in service, it's just an economic trade off. Sure there are set up and call divert costs and some customers will complain and receive nominal reimbersments but this is far outweighed with the savings in wages. Nostalgia doesn't play a part. In the same way staff in London get a London weighting for cost of living, so do staff in India. I don't imagine staff in India would be bound by EU directive eithers so whilst some companies may have their own policies on working hours, others may let Sanjay and Dipla work all day and all night for a few Rupees if it suits the business.

I don't like calling (eg) Virgin Media call centres any more than the next person but I understand and accept the reason why they do this.

lostinrates

hundredk wrote: »

I don't imagine staff in India would be bound by EU directive eithers so whilst some companies may have their own policies on working hours, others may let Sanjay and Dipla work all day and all night for a few Rupees if it suits the business.
s.

Neither are most staff in corporate law firms bound by EU work hour directives.

dfh

hundredk wrote: »

I'm afraid Bedix is right.

With advances in technology it is easy to divert calls to India, employ staff on probably a fifth of the UK wage, give them a script and they'll do 90% of what the UK staff could. So whilst they may have functioned very well in the UK, this is irrelevant.

As for the 10% loss in service, it's just an economic trade off. Sure there are set up and call divert costs and some customers will complain and receive nominal reimbersments but this is far outweighed with the savings in wages. Nostalgia doesn't play a part. In the same way staff in London get a London weighting for cost of living, so do staff in India. I don't imagine staff in India would be bound by EU directive eithers so whilst some companies may have their own policies on working hours, others may let Sanjay and Dipla work all day and all night for a few Rupees if it suits the business.

I don't like calling (eg) Virgin Media call centres any more than the next person but I understand and accept the reason why they do this.

Companies like Direct line and Churchill are running UK only call centres and they continue to be profitable.If the Indian call centres are indeed so good they why do we have hundreds of threads on here complaining about the service? Why do we have so many threads asking which companies run UK only call centres?

dfh

The best thing about a public forum is that people have the right to put forward opposing views without getting personal.I continue to believe that we are better off having our call centres in our own country and will continue to argue my point without being insulting or personal.