THE drift of call centre jobs to India and other overseas locations may be slowing, according to a report published by the Call Centre Association.
The survey questioned CCA members representing 80 UK call centres on business growth in the past year, and whether they believed the industry, which employs around 500,000 in this country, was in decline.
Of those who responded, 65% had seen grow
th in their business during the past year, against 29% who had seen a decline in business.
Of those who reported a decline in business, none attributed it to jobs going overseas to cheaper locations.
Instead, the introduction of better technology and contracts being reduced in the economic downturn were cited as the primary causes.
The Communication Workers Union warned last week that 200,000 call centre jobs would be ‘exported’ to India over the next five to 10 years, to take advantage of wages which are around a fifth of those paid in Britain.
But according to the CCA survey, almost half of those questioned predicted that staffing levels would remain around the same over the next 12 months.
Confidence in the future also remained upbeat, with 72% of members believing the UK call centre industry is not in "significant decline". Only 11% said the industry was in contraction.
Around 45,000 people are employed in Scotland’s call centre industry, which has been a vital source of employment since the decline of traditional manufacturing north of the Border.
Last week, Glasgow telecoms group Thus became the latest company to announce that it was considering partnerships in India.
Research commissioned by Thus found that it is only a matter of time before the standard of Indian outsourcers is comparable or better than its Western counterparts.
One survey respondent said: "I believe that the call centre industry is expanding from purely call handling to cover all aspects of customer contact."
However, another said: "There are no incentives for companies to remain UK-based. I think we will continue to see an increase of companies moving out to Asia."
Anne Marie Forsyth, chief executive of the CCA, said: "There is a general awareness that customer service is the driver. If we compete on cost we will not win, but if we look at value then the UK is in a strong position."
