Job woes over pending US call center law

Worries spread among call center operators and agents after three US lawmakers filed separate bills touted as the "Call Center and Consumers Protection Bill" which seeks to disqualify companies that have call centers overseas for grants and guaranteed loans from the federal government. The bill also requires call center operators to identify their location and that callers will also be allowed to choose an operator who is based in the US.

While still pending in US Congress, many fear of losing their jobs once President Obama signs the bill into law. If you remember, outsourcing was one of the emotionally-debated issues during the US presidential campaign and Obama happens to be a strong supporter of reclaiming the call centers after their mass exodus during the Bush administration (a zealous advocate of outsourcing).

But is there really a cause for alarm? No. But as we all know, luck always favors those who are prepared. I take the bill as a blessing in disguise that should put us always on our on-guard should things get any worse. So at this point, both government and industry should have at least something to work on, visualizing worse case scenarios to be able to formulate some contingencies. If we have disaster recovery protocols in fortuitous times, it's equally worth considering making disaster recovery plans in the event of fallouts on certain industries.

But let us assume that the bill is enacted into law. What is there to expect? Will there be layoffs or anything like that? I believe it is unlikely to happen. No reasonable call center company would ever want to waste their investments abroad or dodge their existing contracts because of such law.       

First off, the bill seeks to remove certain privileges of call center businesses. Many call centers in the US are getting tax breaks, grants and loan concessions from the federal government. From the point of reason (which is by the way, point well taken), it is not fair to use American taxpayers' money to extend these privileges to call center companies that have already moved their operations elsewhere. But is it going to prod the call centers to return to the US? Not at all.

Call centers already enjoy tax holidays in countries that host them. In the Philippines for example, our investment laws have ample tax perks to companies that put up businesses in the country including income tax holidays not to mention local tax privileges. As for grants, no reasonable call center would ever go back to the US just to avail of these federal grants. Grants are only useful to start ups and ailing businesses. To access federal grants also entail costs and time. Thus, the net amount a call center gets from such privilege is not really much compared to the savings it gets from its operations if they put their call center in India or in the Philippines.

Federal loans may be cheap, but it does not at all dampen call centers from getting loans from private banks so I don't think this is so much of an issue for any call center to reconsider returning.

Since the bill requires call center operators to identify their location, will it really matter to a caller in need of help if they know that they are talking to a Filipino or an Indian agent? It may have mattered before, but times have changed. Everybody knows that the moment you pick up your phone to ask for help on your credit card or laptop, it is not someone from the company that talks to you. It's from a call center. In fact, to order a burger from your favorite fastfood are now taken cared of by a call center company. Customers call for help or want something not for anything else. It no longer matters if the other end has a peculiar accent. What counts is how fast the problem is resolved or an order is processed.

Above all, Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) will always be there for as long as free trade is the rule of the game of any free and open economy. Outsourcing is a business strategy originated, and for so long a time, embraced by the American economy and no sensible businessman would ever depart from such a good idea for the love of America alone.

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