Outsourcing to India: the Other Side

Silicon.com has published an article on August 25^th, 2009 on how Indian outsourcing workers are being stressed to their limits.

Though it has been hailed as the key to India’s economic growth, the inside story of its the outsourcing industry is one of sheer drudgery, with punishing deadlines, long night shifts, irate customers a thousand miles away a the sheer, mind-numbing tedium of writing code.

With young employees in the outsourcing industry already suffering from acute physical stress due to over-work and lack of adequate sleep, matters are being compounded because of the recession and anxieties about losing ones job. This is on top of occupational illnesses like obesity, migraines and depression which fracture relationships and significantly increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Young, enthusiastic, just-out-of-college students struggle to keep apace with the frenetic work culture. Initial job euphoria is high, with non-stop partying and reckless spending during weekends. Bingeing on junk food and alcohol is the norm of the day. Peer pressure adds to the situation until youngsters end up totally stressed and unable to work.

Industry sources say that they end up losing a large portion of their employees solely due to stress. People on night shifts are the main casualties.

With healthcare being not being given due importance, the industry could be facing a severe crisis. Counseling centers say that they are seeing a lot more youngsters in the age group of 19-30 years who are unable to take the stress. The centers tell them to ease up and start managing job stress easily so they are able to take care of their relationships better.

Though some of the bigger companies are trying their best to provide facilities like an in-house gym, medical insurance, better work options, doctors, nutritionists and healthy food, their efforts are ignored by many of the younger employees. They are unable to get out of the groove.

Only time will tell whether there is a solution to this  perplexing sociological problem.