Singapore call centres pay thrice more as wages than desi firms

KUALA LUMPUR: Call centre operators in Singapore command at least three times more in wages than their counterparts in India, a news report said on Monday.

A survey by a recruitment firm in Singapore showed that call centres in the island republic were recruiting employees at a faster pace than the regional average, and high wages did not seem to pose a deterrence.

The recruitment firm Kelly services found that entry level and experienced Singapore call centre operators were on an average paid $12668  and $16782 per annum, 'The Straits Times' said.

 The survey, considered to be the first of its kind of the booming Asian call centre industry showed that call centre staff in Thailand were the lowest paid, at $2,616 a year for entry-level staff, and $3,051  a year for
experienced staff, (with a two year working experience).

 The survey covered 57 call centres across nine countries hiring more than 23,000 staff. Among these, 11 centres are found in Singapore, 19 in Malaysia and eight each in India and the Philippines.
  

It also found that in Asia, percentage of new recruits - those hired in the last six months - was 6.5 per cent of total staff strength.

In Singapore, the percentage was higher at 7 per cent, but still lower than India (12.5 per cent) and Malaysia (7.3 per cent), the paper said.

Industries most keen on hiring Singapore call-centre operators were involved in manufacturing, financial services, hospitality and tourism, as well as those in IT and outsourcing, the paper quoted the survey as saying.

Those in other Asian countries tend to see the most demand from banks and telecoms companies, among others.     

"In the current dynamic market environment, the conventional wisdom is that Singapore may be losing ground in the contact centre business, compared to bigger call-centre markets such as India and Malaysia," Kelly Services' vice-president and managing director for Asia Pacific, Dhirendra Shantilal, said.

 "However, the study shows that Singapore is still sought after for its higher-end skill sets in selected industries," he said.

Operators in the media, telecommunications and IT sectors reported the highest level of job satisfaction, while call centre staff in banking, finance and insurance were not satisfied.