BPO: No pay no work
By Mahesh PV

August 13, 2008 at BPO Saffron was a momentous day.  The shop floor witnessed an unprecedented form of protest. Not one happy face among 250 agents working for Saffron at 113 Udyog Vihar, Phase 1, Gurgaon. This was the third month in a row when the company had failed to give salaries on time. And the agents had enough. They reported to work but something was wrong on the Shop floor and their Team Leaders could feel it. Everyone had decided that that the delayed salaries could not be ignored.
 
So they all revolted together. For 2 hours, approximately between 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm, they all decided to log off in protest, en masse. They demanded that someone senior, at the level of a Vice President or more come and talk to them with some explanations. What they did not expect was a silent response from the management. The management was huddled on one side of the office trying to figure out a response, and the agents were huddled in groups all across the building trying to figure out what the management was unto. Neither budged, so no one acted. Work remained suspended almost till the end of the shift at night. Meanwhile Team Leaders managed to convince a few agents to log on for the last half-hour of the shift.
 
From rumors of the company (HQ in UK) closing down to the client vanishing, everything did the rounds. Agents discussed every scenario they could imagine. The management did not react leading to a bizarre cold war situation. Many are believed to have decided in favor of changing employers. What has left the Agents really miffed is the callous response from the management. They all expected someone to come forward and talk to them and resolve issues in a mature fashion. Many of the employees live away from their homes and 1st of every month its time to pay bills. With salaries delayed it becomes tough for them. Besides many of them send money home to support their families. So families have to suffer in silence too.

BPO News tried calling senior management but received no response.  No one was willing to give the management perspective to the media

(By arrangement with BPO News)