Exclusive: BPO sacks sleepy Agents
By Juan Dela Cruz

Stream Global Services agents from their Sirius Radio account have been up in arms about some colleagues’ sleepy work practices for a very long time and it looks like justice is finally being served to them. A handful of call center agents who deliberately log-out of their phones, sleep a few hours and still get paid have been caught red handed and axed on the spot.

In the past few months, disgruntled Stream Global call center agents in the Philippines have been complaining about their co-employees dishonest work practice of logging out of their phones and sleeping in the quiet room for up to 5 hours while on duty. By some unique circumstances, these agents have been doing this for a long time and have not been caught hence many more have come to join them in their “evil” deed. One of my sources says that these dishonest agents’ modus operandi was to find the most unnoticeable spots and corners on the call center operations floor, log-in for a few hours and then log-out for the rest of their shift. The Stream-Sirius account system apparently doesn’t count the number of hours logged in and active to bill its client. Hence these “special sleepy” agents have gotten away with this malpractice for a long time.

Just last week, 5 of these “privileged” call center agents were caught logged out of the phone system and sleeping inside Stream’s quiet room provided for those who prefer some shut eye instead of eating during breaks. Justice was swift and they were immediately handed their walking papers. However, these “log-out rangers” as they have been humorously called have not all been caught yet and some do far worse than just sleep on the job. Their co-agents report they have also been slyly logging out and drinking liquor outside the company premises in nearby bars.

A massive investigation had been launched by Stream in Philippines to find out the rest of the members of these log-out rangers and as many as 50 were found to have some discrepancies in their attendance logs. In an apparent attempt to hide this matter from their client, Stream Global decided to whisk away these suspected agents to other clients’ accounts for fear of losing the Sirius account all together. As a result, a big void in the workforce has been left out by those removed from this account and the “honest” agents left have now been forced into mandatory overtime on their rest days to fill in the void. Some of the agents left in Sirius feel their client has somehow caught wind of these developments and are going bananas over the large exodus of their agents in Stream. However, it seems that as the Stream Global Services management in the Philippines has done a good “patch job” on the matter and to the real truth behind these developments inside the call center operations floor, the client Sirius Radio in the U.S. may never know.

(If you have similar or related Stream Global Services stories in the Philippines, please email me at 1delacruise at gmail dot com)

(Techgoss had published the following story on Jan 5, 2010)

Stream Global Services: Too many well paid Agents?
By Juan Dela Cruz

A few months after taking over call center operations of the well-known Etelecare Global Solutions, Stream Global Services is still figuring out their way around a complicated situation they have gotten themselves in. Particularly, what do with original Etelecare employees that are getting paid like managers?

In the most widely publicized outsourcing company take over of 2009, Stream Global “merged’ with Etelecare Global Solutions via a stock-for-stock agreement while the former became the surviving entity as it controls 57.5 of company stake. Now that it controls the direction of several Etelecare offices in the Philippines including its employees, they have been itching to cut operational costs particularly the “excess baggage’ Etelecare had been carrying through the years which are their senior agents.

My sources inside Stream HR tells me Etelecare had maintained over a hundred senior agents with the level of TSR2 and TSR3 over the years and dozens of employees who have admirably reached the TSR4 and TSR5 level. A tech support representative (TSR) number level represents a sort of salary grade a tech has reached by a combination of tenure and merit earned inside Etelecare. A TSR2 is earning at least 21,000 pesos a month which is the same in Indian Rupees. A TSR3 can earn between 24,500 to 27,000. A TSR4 earns over 30,000 and the highest level of TSR5 agent level nets over 35,000 monthly. A regular tech support rep in the Philippines earns between 18,000-20,000 pesos. These Etelecare TSR salaries are way beyond industry standards in the country and definite pressing issue to be addressed as per management.

The same Stream HR source tells me that they are now in the process of “streamlining” their ranks by offering 2 choices to these employees who are somewhat considered “excess baggage.” The first choice for those who have ranks between TSR2 to TSR5 is to give up their regular statuses, sign a new probationary contract with a significantly lower salary PLUS a cash package of 60,000 pesos. The second choice is to pack their bags, get laid-off, and receive their separation pay depending on their tenure PLUS 120,000 pesos.

My other sources inside Stream Global who came from Etelecare aren’t too happy about this development. They are already getting at least 21K monthly. However, they say that the hardest hit by this company directive would be those who are already TSRs 4-5 because it seems they face a lose-lose situation. Should they accept a new contract with lower salary, they are set to lose almost half of their salary and only with a paltry sum as consolation. Opting to leave isn’t much to be liked either because the cash offer of 120,000 pesos isn’t too desirable as they are already receiving at least 30K monthly. Some figure and realize they could earn that 120,000 cash offer in as little as 4 months.

Nevertheless, each has a different take on this new development. My contacts in Stream say they will be taking this offer as soon as it is made to them. However, they also say that they have friends who are in a really bad spot because of this Stream company initiative

(Email me news and tips at 1delacruise at gmail dot com)