Most TV viewers have seen the ads featuring "Peggy", a customer service rep working in a remote area of some unidentified eastern European country. Peggy, who is actually a male, avoids specific answers to callers and hangs up when the going gets tough. Who among us hasn't had a frustrating experience, hundreds more likely, in talking to someone from another country wearing a headset and often difficult to hear?
Outsourcing gained popularity as the 21st Century dawned, taking many American customer service jobs overseas where the reps received significantly lower wages. This practice saved companies that employed larges numbers of customer service employees, such credit card issuers, mega bucks in the beginning and struck executives as an effective means of capping costs. That idea helped fuel the unemployment problem that reached epic proportion after the economic meltdown of 2008 and still persists today.
Ham on Wry finds it ironic that so many politicians tout tax reductions to business and other incentives as the means of expanding jobs in this country. The businesses that sent the most positions overseas stand to reap benefits for the very problems they helped to fuel. That idea has never worked well, but it continues to rear its ugly head in hand-wringing sessions about how to solve the unemployment problem.
Florida's governor, Rick Scott, supports tax cuts for businesses, yet he has undermined the very foundation that attracts businesses to a state, the talent pool. He has cut money from education, $1.3 billion for the current school year to be exact. He then added $1 billion to next year's budget, which doesn't even make up for the decrease and touts that as an example of his generosity. On top of that, he signed a bill to create an unnecessary 12th university to the system, without bothering to ensure that it was accredited first. Phooey! Bunk! Hogwash! If this is an example of effective leadership, it defies any description of that concept touted by experts on the subject. In Scott's case, he should get out of the way, as Lee Iacoca suggested if one can't lead or follow.
Business, not government, must solve the unemployment problems we face. Return customer service jobs to America. Every sentient American will thank you for ending the frustration in dealing with people who, although friendly and well-trained, don't really understand our culture or the way it operates, just as we don't understand theirs. The cost of outsourcing overseas is rapidly rising, which takes the cost saving issue off the table. The biggest loss business has suffered in hiring reps in other countries lies in the ill will many customers now feel for casting them into a sea of frustration.
Hello out there, CEO's! Bring back our customer service jobs! Do it now. That is all!
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