Improving productivity doesn't wipe out jobs, it creates them
[Johannesburg, 22 March 2011] -
Like other sectors, the South African BPO industry can help create the jobs the country urgently needs, but only if it corrects its misunderstanding of what productivity actually is and overcomes its misguided fear that 'productivity drives' only lead to job losses and longer working hours, argues Patrick Coleman, CEO of Customer Service Engineering (CSE).The government has declared 2011 a 'year of job creation'. It's a laudable goal and one that recognises a chief failing of ours in recent years. Yet, for South Africa to create jobs, the country needs to be a great deal more competitive – and one of the key ingredients of competitiveness is productivity.For instance, it's no idle boast to suggest that South Africa could easily create 250 000 jobs in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, many of them servicing overseas customers, within a couple of years if the country gets its productivity right. After all, India can create that many BPO jobs in a month. Poor productivity doesn't just affect the local BPO and customer service industry, of course. It's a widespread challenge, but the sector lags behind as much as any other in this regard.
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