IT-enabled services workers get the holiday blues

Anand Krishnamoorthy in Chennai

With the western world in a festive mood and work taking a back seat, Indian information technology workers who service overseas clients last week enjoyed a paid holiday. One technology firm in Bangalore reportedly downed its shutters till New Year as very little work gets done during this period. However, not all technology workers are fortunate enough to take it easy during this period.

However, for the information technology-enabled workers, the poor cousins of the hi-tech pros, it is another story. For them, the festive season is among the busiest season of the year. “None of us can take a vacation during this period and long hours are the order of the day,” says an employee of a Chennai-based contact centre whose firm services Fortune 500 customers.

Christmas and New Year period sees a peaking of consumer sales in the US. New gadgets are bought for which support has to be provided, loans are availed and have to be processed. “The year-end has seen the high profile launch of the Xbox, a gaming device from Microsoft and zero interest scheme for the purchase of cars by the major auto manufacturers in the US,” says an industry consultant. A lot of the loan processing for automobiles was done in India keeping the staff here extremely busy, he adds.

The particularly active segments of the IT enabled services include consumer support for devices such as personal digital assistants, computers, personal finance support providers for loan processing, credit card purchase approvals, etc. Firms providing support to stock trading outfits in terms of providing financial ratios and other data can take it easy during this period.

Not everyone is willing to shed a tear for IT-enabled service workers. “Typically, the service industry employees facilitate the activities of others. The facilities maintenance sections of technology companies work around the clock. The hotel industry works overtime and you are trying to put out a story for your paper which brings out an edition on New Year’s day,” says an industry insider.