Case: The quiet pay incentive as India embraced Western jobs

   When outsourcing began in earnest in the United States in the mid-to-late 1980s, a significant sector that went overseas were call centers going to India. This should not be surprising given that the rupee traded against the dollar between 42 and 48 to 1 as far back as that time; and still tends to. Just to put that in perspective, at the turn of the millennium you could have your garments laundered for three pennies each, USD. This is already impossibly inexpensive in the West; but then add to that your garments also came back starched, pressed and folded, and they had been washed by hand against a rock in the river.
   Couple the financial incentive with the fact that India still holds on to the distinction of being the largest English-speaking country on the planet, is the world's largest democracy and that its population is highly literate. Moving jobs to India made significant financial sense.
   In the intervening years, India has worked very hard to attract higher skilled employment opportunities. What is also true is that several other considerations saw movement against this backdrop. One such movement saw the cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore established as centers for such imported work. Fallout from foreign employment also contributed to auxiliary businesses that sprung up in these cities to address the flood of the new young populations coming in from the countryside. A new and fresh western nightlife became the frame within which these young lifestyles found their expression.
   We understand the difference between wages and compensation. There is such a thing as nonmonetary pay (the free coffee in the employee lounge), indirect pay (benefits), incentive pay (based on goals met), stock options, profit (or gain) sharing and bonuses. In what is arguably the most spiritual country on the planet, with a representation of every religion that man has ever conceived and shrines (seemingly) everywhere you turn, it is not surprising to notice that the Indian people have a pronounced inclination towards storytelling. Can you see how the buildup and excitement of the employment centers of Hyderabad and Bangalore may have made their way into the countryside? Surely, people would have been attracted simply for the jobs, let alone better jobs. Nevertheless, to find such an attractive draw certainly supported the movement to attract higher skilled or professional employment opportunities as well.
   Nonmonetary pay frequently included/s more sophisticated and fun employment atmospheres, flexible hours and employee recognition programs.
   Now in the twenty hundreds things have settled in. The new couture, the latest cell phones and the nightclubs have changed only as has fashion. The call centers may still be there, but so too, now x-rays are e-mailed, reviewed and diagnosed by highly trained doctors for a fraction of the cost. These cities have become centers, more than anything else, of all things technical; IT, software, etc.
   Of what is now established, we see included all the compensation schemes we would ordinarily see in the West. Some positions offer everything, most at least afford you tea in the employee lounge. The latest information on Indian IT shows that the greatest differential in pay has to do with years of experience. The movement is over. What had been a movement is now established.

e-Digg. (2010). Standard Salary Structure

Pay Structure in India

Corporate Pay Structure [table]. Retrieved from http://www.e-digg.com/top-articles/pay-structure-in-india.html

PayScale, Inc.. (2010). Salary Survey for Country: India (web page [faq’s, charts, salary links]). Retrieved from PayScale, Inc.: http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Country=India/Salary

Questions:
1. If you were living some distance from an urban center in rural India in the 1990s would the opportunity of employment have been enough to move you to such a city?
2. If you had lived a somewhat greater distance, would the perceived sophistication of the company being Western been motivating enough?
3. Assuming you were in your 20s during this time, would the after work lifestyle have inspired you to move?