They have changed the way youngsters earn, giving them the flying start that only (and probably) an IIT graduate could dream of. They have changed their eating and sleeping patterns. Now, the industry sources and psychiatrists fear Call Centres are changing the way the young BPO executives view commitment in relationships.
"People are shying off from making a commitment towards long-term relationships and acceptability of short-term arrangements has increased by large. In fact it would not be an exaggeration to say that both men and women are equally inclined to go into a relationship without making any commitment," says Rajiv Kotnala, Manager in a leading BPO.
While Animesh Upadhyaya, a BPO executive, believes commitment is a subjective issue and varies from person to person he agrees that cases of relationships taking a back seat are on a rise. He blames odd work hours for this chaos in personal life.
"You can take an example as simple as making a commitment to meet someone on a particular day. You make a promise but in- between your shift changes. You are left with no choice but to call it off. Such situations arise often." he says.
"The problem worsens if you are staying with your family," he continues, "on work days your family hardly gets to see you , so obviously they want to spend time with you on your off days. You get stuck between your work and social obligations, with hardly anytime to carry on with a relationship."
{{/usCountry}}"The problem worsens if you are staying with your family," he continues, "on work days your family hardly gets to see you , so obviously they want to spend time with you on your off days. You get stuck between your work and social obligations, with hardly anytime to carry on with a relationship."
{{/usCountry}}Karishma Pandit, another Call Centre executive elaborates, "to give you an idea of what the emerging scenario is I can very safely say that many a times a relationship is only as long-lasting as a particular shift. Your partner changes with your roster."
Dr Jitendra Nagpal, Psychiatrist at VIMHANS explains, "most of the Call Centre agents are in an age group of 18-25, youngsters who want to make fast bucks. They do not want to attach any relationship tags at this age but since work environment is so cohesive they cannot resist the cupid arrow as well."
Although those involved in short-term relationships argue that there is nothing wrong in having 'walk-out-when-its-comfortable' arrangement, as both the partners enter the relationship knowing the terms and conditions, the psychoanalysts refuse to buy such an argument.
"It is unhealthy to break a relationship abruptly even if both the partners pre-decide to 'walk-out-when-its-comfortable' because after the relationship is called off one person might come out of it while the other hasn't severed the bond yet," says Dr Sameer Parikh, Psychiatrist at Max Healthcare.
Psychiatrists believe the tendency to not-to make long-term commitments stems from bio-chemical hormonal changes that occur in body of an individual due to erratic sleep-awake pattern.