The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in India has witnessed a remarkable growth in the last couple of years. From about 23,000 workforce in its ranks and a revenue generation of $10 mn in 1998, the industry witnessed a stupendous growth with revenues touching $11.5 bn and the number of employees growing to a whopping 4,00,000 by the end of 2005. As more and more companies in the West outsource their processes, India's share in the global outsourcing pie is set to increase. There seems no point of return for this ever-growing industry. The Nasscom-McKinsey Report 2005 predicted that the outsourcing market has the potential to accelerate and grow to somewhere between $120 bn and $150 bn, by the year 2010. India is said to get a major share of this business.
While everything seems rosy for the Indian outsourcing industry, employee unionism, which until recently was an unheard of phenomenon in the outsourcing industry, is now fast catching up. As the industry comes to terms with it, the debate on whether this industry needs the unions in the first place and what would be its role, if it intensifies.
The BPO industry is a fast growing sector of Indian economy. A large number of people are employed in this field; many more are indirectly engaged in allied and support activities around this industry. An industry that boasts of best HR practices and policies, BPO industry is truly one of the best looked after industries in India, providing employees with a world-class working environment, security and safety measures, travel arrangements to and from the workplace and meal provisions.
The companies too are playing their part. It is a fact that most IT and BPO companies do represent best practices in people management, not only in India, but also globally. Maintaining these high standards call for huge and timely investments. An enormous amount of time and money is spent on hiring, training and inducting employees. A recent employee satisfaction survey asked employees how they felt and were being treated in this sector. It is significant to note here that in almost all the surveys of most preferred employees, more than 5 out of the top 10 companies were from the ITES industry. But having said that, not all companies are equal in their HR practices and, therefore, not every company wins the best employer award.
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