Influx of foreign talent in domestic call center

Influx of Foreign Talent in Domestic Call Center

Suitably saturated with domestic talent, call center units across India have relief in the form of a government directive. The Ministry of Labor has relaxed the ceiling on hiring of foreign nationals in the Indian BPO firms. The rule that was in place stated that Indian answering service firms could hire foreigners adding up to only 1% of the total workforce and the maximum number were to be 20. Many call center services units couldn’t import foreign talent to work in their centers because of this ceiling. Now that will change. The government has taken off this ceiling. Companies can hire more foreign talent now. However, that is not the only factor here.

The Labor department is more than aware of the influx of foreign nationals to work in the Indian shores. There are the Chinese who work as chefs and masons as well. The new call center rule states that only highly qualified IT and ITES professionals can be hired. The minimum salary for the hired answering service professionals cannot be less than $25,000 per annum. This will stop the business outsourcing firm from hiring professionals at the lower rungs of the industry. The Labor ministry wants only highly skilled personnel to cross over the Atlantic and work in India. Additionally, the person hired has to declare that he will work in an IT or ITES organization, a software technology park or a special economic zone where they make multiple products.    

This is good news for the call center industry of India. The firms there had to send across BPO employees to countries like USA and UK for training and specialized skills programs. The primary reason was that they could not import the answering service experts from these countries and have them work in India. The ceiling was a bother for many expansion plans. When you have a thriving inbound call center and outbound call center department, you look around for someone to head these departments. You are most likely to look for someone who is familiar with the culture and communication of the clients. That is where a foreign import can be extremely valuable.

BPO services like lead generation and telemarketing service needs updates regularly. The third world countries need trainers from the first world ones to polish their skills. The foreign imports can be really beneficial for call center units because they are more aware of the global scenario and completely in the loop. There can be no doubt in the fact that call center services breathed a sigh of relief when this move was announced. A mover and shaker in the business outsourcing world there commented, «This will remove most of the hurdles that the IT/ITES segment had faced with the earlier rules. I hope that the liberalized criteria get broad-based to cover other priority sectors such as infrastructure, energy, aviation, telecom, etc.» Investors will certainly be looking at this move with a lot of interest. They will look for ways to get more talented people into the domestic BPO circuit and reap richer benefits.

Jet lag exposed, and remedied

Jet Lag Exposed, and Remedied?

According to Wikipedia, Jet lag, also jetlag or jet-lag, is a physiological condition which is a consequence of alterations to the circadian rhythm. Such alterations result from shift work, daylight saving time, altered day length, or as the name implies, transmeridian travel as on a jet plane. They are known as desynchronosis, dysrhythmia, dyschrony, jet lag, or jet syndrome. The condition is generally believed to be the result of disruption of the «light/dark» cycle that entrains the body`s circadian rhythm. It can be exacerbated by environmental factors.

In the September Issue of Shape magazine, researcher Russel J. Reiter, suggests that eating a handful of dried tart cherries, every night of the trip, half an hour before sleep, could provide a good nights rest. He opines that melatonin presented in the dried tart cherries helps the body to regulate the sleep cycle.

Diego Golombek and colleagues at Quilmes National University in Argentina claim that viagra can counter the effects of jet lag in hamsters. Although, not too many people are ready to pop this pill for jet lag that is most notibly used for erectile disfunction.

Alina Larson of Positive Thinking reports one should get plenty of rest because adequate sleep reduces the effects of jet lag, another stress on the immune system.

Professor of psychiatry Norman E. Rosenthal suggests taking melatonin a half hour before bedtime while traveling. Director of the Sleep Center in Edinburgh, Scotland Chris Idzikowsi comments on the importance of the exposure to light to the body`s internal clock. Ronald D. Novak, a circadian rhythm expert at Case Western University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, recommends eating protein for breakfast and carbohydrates for dinner.

These are just a few of the many remedies for Jet Lag. However they all have one thing in common, get plenty of rest.

By: Michael C. Podlesny

Immigration policy and skilled labor

Immigration Policy And Skilled Labor

The recent debate over immigration policy commonly depicts immigrants as undocumented, uneducated people who flood our borders without inspection.

Although many immigrants who enter this country are unskilled laborers who provide essential services in many sectors of our economy, of equal importance to the immigration debate are the highly educated foreign professionals whose skills play a vital role in the enrichment of our economy.

The U.S. economy has shifted significantly over the past 50 years. We are no longer the blue collar nation that we once were. The transformation from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy has created a growing demand for skilled technical workers. This demand has been accompanied by a decline in the number of native-born students seeking degrees in the fields of science, engineering and technology.

Our prestigious graduate institutions currently train more foreign nationals than U.S. citizens in these fields. To alleviate labor shortages, U.S. businesses must be able to recruit and hire additional foreign-born professionals.

We must retain the educated professionals whom we have trained internally in order to benefit from the unique skills that they possess. By sending the best and the brightest workers back to their respective countries, we only create competition for ourselves, thereby diminishing America’s economic clout.

In order to increase the number of highly skilled professionals in this country, it is necessary to reform the employment-based immigration system and provide a sufficient amount of avenues through which U.S. businesses can legally employ specialized workers. We must increase the number of specialized worker visas awarded.

H-1B visas, or temporary skilled worker visas, are currently capped at only 65,000 annually. Yet, this «cap» is reached in a couple of months, and U.S. businesses are barred from hiring foreign-born professionals for the remainder of the fiscal year.

At the same time, we must increase recruitment and training of U.S. students. H-1B visas accelerate this process; a hefty portion of the processing fees for the H-1B visas are directed to the education and training of U.S. students in science and technology.

It is important that skilled workers are not overlooked in the current debate regarding comprehensive immigration reform. Raising the H-1B visa cap is vital to maintaining our leadership in the world market. By retaining foreign nationals, we may ensure that U.S. businesses have the most highly qualified workers in their fields, helping America maintain its edge in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Deborah Notkin is president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.  — NU

How to choose the best accounting firm

How to Choose the Best Accounting Firm

Accounting is one of the most important functions for a profitable business. This is one of the most tedious and time consuming job and demands high accuracy and precision. All organizations and business houses have a specialized accounting department to maintain their accounts books. But sometimes due to unavailability of trained accountants or in times of a doomed economy people prefer accounting outsourcing or hiring an accounting firm to manage their accounts.

There are many accounting firms present that cover all the important accounting areas like budget, taxation, accounting charts, data entry, inventory, finance management, bookkeeping, data security and archiving, payroll records and management, journal records and more. Therefore the big obvious question is how to choose the best accounting firm for your business.

While choosing the accounting firm for your business choose the one that best suits your business requirements. As it is all businesses are different and so are the needs. It is not necessary that an accounting firm that was a big hit with a type of business will be successful for you too. Therefore it is very important to choose the accounting firm that deals with your type of business.

As it is said size thus matters, which also holds true in selecting the accounting firm. It is important that the accounting firm you choose is able to cope with your business and give you best possible service. To simplify this point, if you are a huge multi national organization a small regional accountancy firm will never give you the expected results and similarly if you have a small business with small turnover an international accountancy will probably not be able to give you the results.

Other important factor to consider is that the accounting firm you choose should be able to serve you as your business grows. It is always not possible to hire different accounting firms as your business grows and hence this is crucial. For this select a firm that has clients larger than you.

Also study the accounting firm well before hiring and check the record of accomplishment for the firm. Don’t take any hasty decision as it ruin your business prospects completely. Conduct good market research and compare the reviews posted by previous customers. This will give you an insight into the factual information about the outsourcing firm and its efficiency in performing accounting work.

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How logistic and transportation companies can differentiate themselves and improve profitability

How Logistic And Transportation Companies Can Differentiate Themselves And Improve Profitability

In today’s competitive environment, Logistic Companies can no longer simply rely on door-to-door delivery and warehousing services in order to rise above the competition.  Today, the more successful logistic and transportation organizations are differentiating themselves by offering services following the delivery, such as in-home and in-store product assembly and display set-up.  And not only are these services adding value to the offerings these companies already provide, but they are also adding revenue to the bottom-line as they are able to build these charges, along with an added percentage, into their overall cost structure. 

The benefits of a partnership between a 3rd party logistics (3PL) or transportation organization and a provider of assembly and set-up services may be obvious, but the question then becomes how do you select such a company?  The answer to this question is not so clear.  Specific questions you need to ask include:

1.  Does the company provide services nationally and in Canada? 

2.  Does the company employ all it’s workers as W-2 employees?  This will result in a more committed and dedicated worker than utilizing independent contractors for employees.

3.  Does the company have staying power?  Have they been in business for 25 years or more, or are they simply a “Johnny-come-lately”?

4.  Does the company have existing relationships with major retailers and other organizations?  This also demonstrates stability and experience.

5.  Does the company employ numerous field managers located throughout the country?  This becomes important for accountability as well as local contacts. 

6.  Does the company employ individuals who have been extensively trained and have had complete background checks?

7.  Does the company provide detailed reporting of the services they provide, along with having digital photograph capability?

So there you have it.  In summary, today’s most successful logistic organizations are differentiating themselves by offering services following the delivery, such as in-home and in-store product assembly and display set-up.  Not only are these services adding value to the offerings these companies already provide, but they are also adding revenue to the bottom-line.  Don’t be left behind in today’s competitive logistic environment. Look for a company with whom you can partner with confidence.

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