Thoughts on Cambio

When I first heard the so-called “Call Center Song” from Cambio, I thought it was another stupid radio ad from Nescafe, or historically speaking, Maxwell Coffee. If you haven’t heard it yet, here’s the lyrics:

Now let’s get one thing straight
I don’t really want to work this way
But I get paid for my American accent
I have money to pay the rent

This is only temporary
I’m not really in a hurry
I’ll party all morning
Work all night
Meet my honey in the broad daylight

Now let’s get one thing clear
I don’t really want to be here
But they pay me for my perfect diction
I have money for my addiction

I’ll be at the call center
Until something better
Comes along my way
It’s been a long, long day

The future is alright
The future is so bright

Now, I bet those American expats, their Pinoy counterparts, especially the HR guys, are just fuming in their seats right now. This song is downright mean and nasty, but let’s face the truth. This is the truth.

One of the many unique things about the call center slash BPO industry (aside from the fact that it is earning so much money unlike most) is that the marketing bit these companies are doing here will never contribute directly to revenues. In fact, it directly contributes to more expense: salaries. We all know, what they say that call centers pay higher (what they don’t know is how stiff they are with taxes and so your take-home pay ends up much less than expected), and so you can just imagine that the more effective they are in getting more people, the higher their Salaries Expenses would be come the end of fiscal year.

We also know that there’s this HR phenomenon called the Call Center Turnover Rate, wherein the employment duration of most call center agents are so short that counting one’s tenure in manner of days would not be an exaggeration in the future. This makes me ponder on the thought why this is happening. A lot of things comes to mind such as the ghastly schedule, the pressure (yeah, there are!), too much caffeine, or even that little bit of inkling some call centers have everytime they say “hello”.

IS THERE SOMETHING BETTER ELSE I COULD DO?

People may hate me for this, but yeah, I personally don’t see any career in call centers, unless, of course, you end up in top management. But with the thousands and thousands of new call center people, the chances are pretty slim. You can bet your beanie that by the time you’re on your 5th year, you might still be just any other agent. This is the same logic as just another factory worker, or just another rank-and-file employee. Call centerites, please don’t take it personally.

However, this song from Cambio might just become an eye-opener for HR hotshots of these call centers. Rather than fooling ourselves, or at least, the potential workforce that there is life in call centers, why not adjust and adapt to the truth and offer these guys a break. A segue from the usual your-future-is-bright-here approach might come in handy. As the song goes, a lot of people in call centers are just waiting for something better. If that’s the case, why not offer something short-term employment for people who’s not really bound to stay put. You might end up saving money on a lot of things which you may legally strip-off because of the fact that you do know that your new hire has an expiration date. You wouldn’t have to spend on team building activities, a new ID, all those stuff. You can just cut to the chase and just get what you paid for.

Here are some ideas:

Call Center 30 - Just want to pay some short-term bills? Work for us for 30 days and get paid P12,000 - no questions asked!

Hour Agent - Transcribe customer complaints and get paid by the hour, no fractions accepted!

Of course, these are all just rough ideas and still need to undergo refining. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up as the unavoidable future of call centers.