Spaces of labour process: A case study of call centres in Kolkata, India

Of the many recent developments in the sphere of economic globalization, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) stands out to be one of the most important. Call centres epitomize the new service-based economy in the globalizing world and form an integral part of the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) sector. Particularly, in the less developed countries, call centres represent an important aspect of the landscape of economic globalization. At present India is the foremost location of outsourced call centre work from the advanced world. The call centre sector (within the broader Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled services) in India is viewed as one of the promising solutions to its development problems. There is, therefore, a relentless promotion of the call centre sector by the industry's supporters, which is being backed up by the Indian government and the media. Even though some exciting images are presented describing call centres, the rate of attrition (labour turnover rate) is markedly high in this sector. To understand the reason for this, it is important to explore the spaces of labour process, i.e. the workplace, where capital and labour directly interact. My research examines the nature of labour process in call centres, including the politics on the shop floor, taking Kolkata (India) as my study area. My study suggests that the call centre labour process is characterized by long and odd working hours, deskilling, and emotional labour. This results in spaces of alienation, which is further exacerbated by the stringent labour control system. The shop floor, however, is a contested one. Workers resort to various forms of coping and resistance practices. The study sheds light on interesting dynamics of capital-labour relation in the spaces of production in the call centre sector.