Burnley is cheaper than Bombay
It has been announced today that New Call Telecom who compete with Sky and BT to provide low-cost telephone services, broadband and cheaper international calls are to move their call centre based in Bombay back to the UK. Which is great news in itself, yet it is even better news the fact that it is moving to the local area in Burnley.
Over the years a number of companies have moved call centres to third world countries in order to cut costs of labour and overheads. The number of closures in the UK had a massive effect on the low employment in many towns and cities all over the country. Stats show National Rail Enquiries cut 200 jobs, Barclaycard 600 jobs, Prudential 850 jobs and Yell 341 jobs to name a few.
Burnley has suffered major job losses in the past with a number of manufacturing companies either moving or going in to receivership. This has left the town and surrounding areas with high unemployment and house prices falling through the floor.
New Call explained that the costs in Bombay were an absolute parity with the prices they paid in Burnley. Due to low house prices and minimum wages it made sense to use British staff that will cut costs in the average amount of time spent dealing with enquiries. Added to this the use of foreign call centres have proved unpopular with many customers.
However if the town attracts many new employers and starts to reap the benefits by becoming more prosperous and house prices rise bringing the demand for wage increases let’s hope that companies are not as quick to leave. Looks like this could have been the start to bigger and better things for the UK http://t.co/Ok3DtzD via @Telegraph |
