A STUDY ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AMONG EMPLOYEES OF BPO

SECTOR IN NCR REGION

Amita Gupta Lecturer,
Advance Institute of Management

Priyanka Chaudhary Lecturer,

Advance Institute of Management

The focus of this paper concerns a study of the quality of work life for the employees of
BPO sector .The purpose of my paper is to gain an insight into current working life
policies and practices of employees in BPO industry in NCR region. The research design
chosen is descriptive in nature. The sample size taken to conduct the research is 60
workers. For this study, the sampling technique chosen is convenient sampling.
Questionnaire was used for primary data collection. Secondary data was collected from
earlier research work, various published journals, magazines, websites and online articles.
QWL provides for the balanced relationship among work, non- work and family aspects
of life. This paper is based on the information given by the Employees and through
questionnaire filled by the employees.
INTRODUCTION
Quality of Work Life (QWL) has become one of the most important issues these days in
every organisation. Employees are the force that is behind every successful organisation.
No organisation can become successful with technology only because for the use of
technology also, organisations need to have strong work force. Quality of Work Life was
the term actually introduced in the late 1960s. From that period till now the term is
gaining more and more importance everywhere, at every work place. Initially quality of
work life was focusing on the effects of employment on the general well being and the
health of the workers. But now its focus has been changed. Every organisation need to
give good environment to their workers including all financial and non financial
incentives so that they can retain their employees for the longer period and for the
achievement of the organisation goals. The quality of work life approach considers
people as an asset to the organization rather than as costs. It believes that people perform
better when they are allowed to participate in managing their work and make decisions.
This approach motivates people by satisfying not only their economic needs but also their

social and psychological ones.To satisfy the new generation workforce, organizations
need to concentrate on job designs and organization of work. The factors that influence
and decide the Quality of work life are: 1.Attitude 2. Environment 3. Opportunities 4.
Nature of Job 5. People 6. Stress Level 7. Career Prospects 8. Challenges 9. Growth and
Development 10. Risk Involved and Reward. At the end we can say that a happy and
healthy employee will give better turnover, make good decisions and positively
contribute to the organizational goal.
Review Of Literature
Hackman and Oldham (1976) drew attention to what they described as psychological
growth needs as relevant to the consideration of Quality of working life. Several such
needs were identified; Skill variety, Task Identity, Task significance, Autonomy and
Feedback. They suggested that such needs have to be addressed if employees are to
experience high quality of working life.
Mirvis and Lawler (1984) suggested that Quality of working life was associated with
satisfaction with wages, hours and working conditions, describing the basic elements of
a good quality of work life as; safe work environment, equitable wages, equal
employment opportunities and opportunities for advancement.
Baba and Jamal (1991) listed what they described as typical indicators of quality of
working life, including: job satisfaction, job involvement, work role ambiguity, work role
conflict, work role overload, job stress, organizational commitment and turn-over
intentions. Baba and Jamal also explored routinisation of job content, suggesting that this
facet should be investigated as part of the concept of quality of working life.
Taylor (1979) more pragmatically identified the essential components of Quality of
working life as; basic extrinsic job factors of wages, hours and working conditions, and
the intrinsic job notions of the nature of the work itself. He suggested that relevant
Quality of working life concepts may vary according to organization and employee
group.

Bertrand and Scott (1992) in their study Designing Quality into Work Life

found that

improvements in the quality of work life are achieved not only through external or
structural modifications, but more importantly through improved relations between
supervisors and subordinates.
Glasier (1976) thinks that quality of work life implies job security, good working
conditions, adequate and fair compensation, more even than equal employment
opportunity all together
OVERVIEW OF BPO SECTOR
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a broad term referring to outsourcing in all fields.
A BPO differentiates itself by either putting in new technology or applying existing
technology in a new way to improve a process.
As of 2012, around 2.8 million people work in outsourcing sector. Annual revenues are
around $11 billion,] around 1% of GDP. Around 2.5 million people graduate in India
every year. Wages are rising by 10-15 percent as a result of skill shortage.
The industry has been growing rapidly. It grew at a rate of 38% over 2005. For the FY06
financial year the projections is of US$7.2 billion worth of services provided by this
industry. The base in terms of headcount being roughly 400,000 people directly
employed in this Industry. The global BPO Industry is estimated to be worth 120-150
billion dollars, of this the offshore BPO is estimated to be some US$11.4 billion. India
thus has some 5-6% share of the total Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the
offshore component. The U.S $7.2 billion also represents some 20% of the IT and BPO
Industry which is in total expected to have revenues worth US$36 billion for 2006. The
headcount at 400,000 is some 40% of the approximate one million workers estimated to
be directly employed in the IT and BPO Sector.
The related Industry dependent on this are Catering, BPO training and recruitment,
transport vendors, (home pick up and drops for night shifts being the norm in the
industry). Security agencies, Facilities management companies.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the delegation of one or

more IT-intensive business processes to an external provider that in turn owns,
administers and manages the selected process based on defined and measurable
performance criteria. BPO is one of the fastest growing segments of the Information
Technology Enabled Services (ITES) industry.
Few of the motivation factors as to why BPO is gaining ground are:

Factor Cost Advantage

Economy of Scale

Business Risk Mitigation

Superior Competency

Utilization Improvement

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The Objective of my study is to have an insight into the Quality of Work Life in
BPO industry

To analyze the measures adopted by the organization to improve the quality of

work life among employees.

To suggest suitable measures to improve the quality of work life among

employees.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The respondents were selected by using convenient sampling technique. A thorough
review of literature was conducted before selecting the topic of the study . The research
design chosen is descriptive in nature .Questionnaire was used for primary data
collection. Secondary data was collected from earlier research work, various published
journals, magazines, websites and online articles.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

SIMPLE PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS
CLASSIFICATION BASED ON DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

TABLE 1
S.
N

DEMOGRAPHIC
FACTORS

NUMBER
OF
RESPONDE
NT

%
PERCENTA
GE

Below 20

13.34

20-30

25

41.66

30-40

21

35

40-50

10

50 above

TOTAL

60

100

Male

43

71.67

Female

17

28.33

TOTAL

60

100

Less than 2 year

22

36.67

2-4 years

18

30

4-6 years

13

21.66

6-8 years

11.67

8-above

TOTAL

60

100

28

46.67

1.

AGE

2.
GENDER

3.

WORK
EXPERIENCE

4.
EDUCATIONAL
QUALIFICATION
Ungraduate

Graduate

23

38.33

Post graduate

15

TOTAL

60

100

Married

22

36.67

Unmarried

38

63.33

TOTAL

60

100

5.
MARITAL STATUS

FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING QUALITY OF

WORK LIFE
TABLE 2
S.I

Study

The safety and 1 Strongly

health
Agree
conditions
where I work
are good

factors Agreeable
level
opinion

No. of
of Respondents

Percentage
[%]

8.33

2 Agree

11

18.33

3 Disagree

26

43.33

4Strongly
Disagree

18

30

TOTAL

60

100

I am proud to 1 Strongly
be working for Agree
my employer

2 Agree

10

3 Disagree

31

51.67

4Strongly
Disagree

23

38.33

TOTAL

60

100

2 Agree

13.33

3 Disagree

16

26.66

4Strongly
Disagree

33

55

TOTAL

60

100

6.67

2 Agree

10

3 Disagree

29

48.33

4Strongly
Disagree

19

31.67

TOTAL

60

100

10

16.67

2 Agree

15

25

3 Disagree

22

36.67

4Strongly
Disagree

13

21.67

Conditions on 1 Strongly
my job allow Agree
me to be about
as productive as
I could be

The chances for 1 Strongly

promotion are Agree
good

My
fringe 1 Strongly
benefits
are Agree
good

TOTAL
6

60

100

32

53.33

2 Agree

18

30

3 Disagree

10

4Strongly
Disagree

6.67

TOTAL

60

100

2 Agree

11.67

3 Disagree

27

45

4Strongly
Disagree

23

38.33

TOTAL

60

100

26

43.33

2 Agree

24

40

3 Disagree

10

16.67

4Strongly
Disagree

00

TOTAL

60

100

3.33

Do you find 1 Strongly

your
work Agree
stressful?

The
job 1 Strongly
security is good Agree

How often have 1 Strongly

you had trouble Agree
going to sleep
or
staying
asleep?

I am given a lot 1 Strongly

of freedom to Agree
decide how to
do my own
work

10

2 Agree

13.33

3 Disagree

38

63.33

4Strongly
Disagree

12

20

TOTAL

60

100

00

2 Agree

0.16

3 Disagree

25

41.67

4Strongly
Disagree

34

56.67

TOTAL

60

100

Are
you 1 Strongly
satisfied with Agree
your job?

CONCLUSION
The study found that there is a dissatisfaction among the employees regarding the Quality
of Work life in BPO sector. The factors determining the dissatisfaction with the quality of
work life in the organization were Lack of Income & Fair Compensation, Safe &
healthy working conditions, Opportunities to use & develop human capacity, Opportunity
for career growth. All these factors are responsible for the dissatisfaction among the
employees of BPO.

SUGGESTIONS
If these factors are taken care properly than the quality of work life can be improved in
BPO sector.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Buchanan, D. A., & Boddy, D. (1982), Advanced technology and the quality of Work
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Havolovic, S.J. (1991), Quality of Work Life and Human Resource Outcomes Industrial
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Indumathy,r. & kamalraj,s. (2012), A study on quality of work life among workers with
special reference to textile industry in tirupur district a textile hub, Vol. 2
Gupta, meenakshi, & sharma, parul. (2011), Factor credentials boosting quality of work
life of bsnl employees in jammu region, Vol 2