Singapore vs. India: The call center battle rages on

All over the Asian media today are the results of a recent study undertaken by Singapore’s Kelly Service regarding call centre operators’ wages. The central compelling statistic was simply that call center operators in Singapore make a minimum of three times more than their counterparts in India. Media in India saw fit to mark this as a reason why the Indian market is losing ground in the call center game, while Singapore nay-sayers supposed the same. Indian media often opines that the low wages offered on The Subcontinent make for poorer quality labor, while Singaporean scribes wring hands over their relatively high costs to would-be outsourcers.

The facts in the survey show that call centers in Singapore continued to recruit employees at a faster pace than the regional average, with high wages seemingly mostly irrelevant. Kelly Services found that entry level and experienced Singapore call center operators were paid averages of US $12,668 and US $16,782 per year. The survey, called by some “the first of its kind of the booming Asian call centre industry” showed that Thai call center staff were the lowest paid, at a measly US $2,616 and US $3,051 per year for entry-level staff, and experienced staff, respectively.

The survey covered fifty-seven call centres across nine countries hiring more than 23,000 staff. Among these, eleven centers are in Singapore, nineteen in Malaysia eight in India and eight in the Philippines. Employee turnover was based on a six-month period and was calculated at 6.5 percent of total staff bulk. In Singapore, the percentage was seven percent, in India 12.5 percent, and in Malaysia 7.3 percent. Industries taking greatest advantage of Singapore call-center operators were involved in the manufacturing, financial services, hospitality and tourism industries. Elsewhere, the most demand came from banks and telecom companies. Operators in the media, telecommunications and IT sectors reported the highest levels of job satisfaction, while call center staff in banking, finance and insurance were not satisfied.

Taking the on one hand / on the other approach, Kelly Services vice president / managing director for Asia pacific Dhirendra Shantilal said, “Singapore may be losing ground in the contact centre business, compared to bigger call-centre markets such as India and Malaysia.” In contrast, though, he offered that “the study shows that Singapore is still sought after for its higher-end skill sets in selected industries.”