Well, I don't see this as a value add to humanity. As Customer: now I waste time with a chatbot that's clearly not scripted to being able to answer my questions As rep: reps have to field more...
“We don’t see AI as taking jobs away, [...] We see it as easier tasks being moved into self-serve,” allowing Kumar and his colleagues to focus on “more complex tasks.” [...] Many are not convinced. [...] “AI is going to crush entry-level white-collar hiring [...]
Well, I don't see this as a value add to humanity.
As Customer: now I waste time with a chatbot that's clearly not scripted to being able to answer my questions
As rep: reps have to field more complex tasks at 100% their capacity, instead of having them relax between tougher calls. Before ultimately doing away with the humans entirely.
Industry experts say “re-skilling” must emphasize not just AI training but also human connection — helping workers get better at building trust, communicating clearly and showing empathy.
I don't see it being possible. You keep telling a work force that they're cogs, they're replaceable, they need to be more hungry, more lean, Always Be Closing and third place you're fired, to deliver ever increasing higher results. And then you want them to fake enthusiasm and fake care and build trust when we both know that every deal they deliver to customers, every reasonable refund granted, every second they waste hearing the human out, will hurt the agent's metrics. I'm so angry I could spit in my own helmet over this type of hypocrisy.
As an aside, I wish this topic was discussed a little more. There can be a huge difference in a workday that consists of solving 10 simple problems and one complex problem. Versus a workday of...
reps have to field more complex tasks at 100% their capacity, instead of having them relax between tougher calls
As an aside, I wish this topic was discussed a little more. There can be a huge difference in a workday that consists of solving 10 simple problems and one complex problem. Versus a workday of solving three complex problems. Even if I enjoy solving the complex problems, it becomes overwhelming when they come one after another. Especially when they overlap and require input or actions from other people, and I have three partially solved problems that I'm juggling and context-switching between.
But I find there isn't really a place to have a nuanced conversation about my workload in most corporate environments. I can say I have too much on my plate, but I can't say I have the wrong mix of tasks on my plate. I guess because it's not seen as realistic or worthwhile to pick and choose tasks in a corporate environment. But I think there could be value in trying to match appropriate tasks to appropriate people.
With now a nearly 100% aggravated customer rate from the start of each call as they all had to slog through X amount of time with an AI/voice flowchart hybrid cheerfully trying to solve the...
Even if I enjoy solving the complex problems, it becomes overwhelming when they come one after another
With now a nearly 100% aggravated customer rate from the start of each call as they all had to slog through X amount of time with an AI/voice flowchart hybrid cheerfully trying to solve the problem they don't have.
They're (the 1%) are enjoying this, right? It's like having caged tigers be starved, then aggrevated with sticks and small annoyances, and then watching us tear each other apart for sport? And...
They're (the 1%) are enjoying this, right? It's like having caged tigers be starved, then aggrevated with sticks and small annoyances, and then watching us tear each other apart for sport? And then selling our bones and skin, to pay for more cages, right?
It can feel that way, certainly. My view is that it is more likely a parallel to Hanlon's Razor - never ascribe to malice that which can be ascribed to uncaring indifference. Might it make more...
It can feel that way, certainly.
My view is that it is more likely a parallel to Hanlon's Razor - never ascribe to malice that which can be ascribed to uncaring indifference.
Might it make more profit? I'm not worried about anything else, only the profit. Install the system.
In 2023, Kumar’s employer, the Paris-based outsourcing giant Teleperformance, rolled out an accent-altering software at his office in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi. In real time, the AI smooths out Kumar’s accent — and those of at least 42,000 other Indian call center agents — making their speech more understandable to American clients on the other end of the line.
...
Sharath Narayana, co-founder of Sanas, the Palo Alto, California-based start-up that built the tool, said AI has actually helped create thousands of new jobs in India, which was overtaken by the Philippines as the world’s largest hub for call centers more than a decade ago, due in part to accent concerns.
...
When callers hear, “this call may be monitored,” that now usually refers to an AI system, not a human. Teleperformance says such systems now review all calls for compliance and tone — tasks that workers could previously perform for only a small fraction of calls.
...
The stakes for India couldn’t be higher. It is the world’s largest destination for offshoring, which has remained among the few drivers of job creation at a time of deepening unemployment. An estimated 3 million Indians provide customer support, software development, accounting, marketing and other back-office operations for the likes of Verizon, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Walmart, HSBC and Shell.
...
Already, chatbots, or “virtual agents,” are handling basic tasks like password resets or balance updates. AI systems are writing code, translating emails, onboarding patients, and analyzing applications for credit cards, mortgages and insurance.
The human jobs are changing, too. AI “co-pilots” are providing call center agents with instant answers and suggested scripts. At some companies, bots have started handling the calls.
...
The tremors are also being felt at Indian universities, which produce more than a million engineering graduates each year. Placement rates are falling at leading IT firms; salaries have stagnated.
...
While AI may be phasing out certain jobs, its defenders say it is also creating different kinds of opportunities. Teleperformance, along with hundreds of other companies, has hired thousands of data annotators in India — many of them women in small towns and rural areas — to label training images and videos for AI systems. Prompt engineers, data scientists, AI trainers and speech scientists are all newly in demand.
...
At some firms, those who previously worked in quality assurance have transitioned to performance coaching, said Narayana, whose previous firm, Observe.ai, also built QA software. Still, he admits, 10 to 20 percent of workers he observed “could not upskill at all” and were probably let go.
Even the most hopeful admit that workers who can’t adapt will fall behind. “It’s like the industrial revolution,” said Prithvijit Roy, Accenture’s former lead for its Global AI Hub. “Some will suffer.”
Teleperformance is genuinely one of the worst companies I've worked for and I am not even remotely surprised they've jumped on the AI bandwagon. I worked there as a customer service rep for nearly...
Teleperformance is genuinely one of the worst companies I've worked for and I am not even remotely surprised they've jumped on the AI bandwagon.
I worked there as a customer service rep for nearly three years before being let go for performance reasons. During that time, I had learned of multiple fraud scandals (ranging between staff being caught adding reward club points or small value eVouchers to their own accounts, to managers grossly misstating their timesheets, going into an aux code and fucking off to the pub, to one team leader funnelling five figures in customer refunds to their own bank account before auditors caught on.) The only thing TP was remotely shit-hot with was their data security policies, and it was the kind of place where if you even had an electronic device with you on the floor, you'd face an immediate disciplinary meeting.
"Transforming passion into excellence" used to be their company slogan, but I actually think "transforming passion into exploitation" would have been more accurate. Progression was based purely on a system of nepotism.
I, too, worked for Teleperformance. They bought out the call center I was working at and made it even worse! You aren't alone in your experience, I saw so much unethical stuff happening, and...
I, too, worked for Teleperformance. They bought out the call center I was working at and made it even worse! You aren't alone in your experience, I saw so much unethical stuff happening, and definitely managers going to the pub on company time! I did not however, have the experience that they had data security policies on any of the floors I worked on. They did, however, have the most exploitable time off mechanic I ever experienced. Somehow if you worked an extra hour Monday through Thursday, you could call off Friday and still get paid, so those four extra hours became overtime... you just couldn't get in trouble for anything or you wouldn't be able to reset your "points" fast enough and you'd get... well, I got fired for having too many points.
I'm British, so maybe it's a difference in employment laws and regulations. I'm surprised to hear that TP wasn't like that for you. A previous employer cut hundreds of finance staff and outsourced...
I'm British, so maybe it's a difference in employment laws and regulations. I'm surprised to hear that TP wasn't like that for you.
A previous employer cut hundreds of finance staff and outsourced much of the function to Genpact (a competing BPO firm) and according to all the colleagues I knew that actually visited their offices in India, they run an incredibly tight ship that made my experience at TP look tame by comparison.
My best friend was unfairly dismissed from TP two years prior to me working there, and he took them to an employment tribunal (on disability discrimination grounds) and won. I should've seen that as a red flag, but hey, I was desperate for work back when I went for the role, as I had spent eighteen months unemployed and unable to get work after graduating from uni.
Somehow if you worked an extra hour Monday through Thursday, you could call off Friday and still get paid, so those four extra hours became overtime... you just couldn't get in trouble for anything or you wouldn't be able to reset your "points" fast enough and you'd get... well, I got fired for having too many points.
My "got fired" story is a bit more long-winded.
For context: I worked across a struggling campaign with a perpetual email backlog which overtime couldn't clear. So we hired a contingency team of temp workers in another office to cherry-pick the easy emails whilst our main team was stuck with handling the more complex queries, working with incredibly slow/unreliable CRM systems and with the same targets expected of us.
These temps were a joke, and their work genuinely put our client into disrepute. One of the worst emails I flagged to our QA team (yes, somebody deadass sent this to a customer) started with "I understand you didn't want a cut & paste template but I feel this one really explains the current situation we're in", followed by the same ten-paragraph macro which the customer had received from three other agents, before ending with the line "Thank you again for taking the time to contact us, and I hope that our service improves to become a little less rubbish."
Client ups quality monitoring standards to ridiculous levels due to the fallout of what this contingency team did. I get seven critical fails in a row, six of which I appealed because they were BS, I get targeted and placed on a PIP, fail, dragged through disciplinary then ceremoniously fired and escorted out of the building by security. Part of me feels like I should never have fought the process and simply resigned to save face, the other half wanted to drag them through the coals. I could have taken them to an employment tribunal but I was already suffering from severe stress-induced insomnia at that point and I didn't want to jump through an absurd number of hoops to fight for a minimum wage job.
I 100% believe I was targeted and bullied out by management.
Oh, I'm American, so you know, no employment protections and even fewer data protections! Teleperformance here, at least where I lived when I worked there, is a revolving door of desperation. They...
Oh, I'm American, so you know, no employment protections and even fewer data protections!
Teleperformance here, at least where I lived when I worked there, is a revolving door of desperation. They pay slightly above market rate but will fire you immediately if you are late in the first (iirc) 3 weeks. If you are desperate for work and/or bad at being a functioning member of society (hello, young me!), a couple weeks of pay is acceptable. Then you just wait the rehire period (a few weeks as I recall) and get hired back on, for another "as long as you'll last" period. So if you make it a little while, you basically run the company and commit whatever fraud you want. Meanwhile, most of the customer service staff is actively bad at their job. Your description of the temps is about the level of actual employees at the location I was at.
Yeah... still surprised because I thought you at least had to have standards as a multinational firm. A trainer I used to work with did travel to South Africa for a few days to train workers on...
Yeah... still surprised because I thought you at least had to have standards as a multinational firm.
A trainer I used to work with did travel to South Africa for a few days to train workers on one of TP's major (UK phone network) campaigns. He learned and saw some shit while he was there.
For instance, if a customer service rep wraps up an inbound call right before 8PM because "the phone lines are about to close", that's a lie. It's because TP operate company-run buses across Cape Town that operate sporadically and they don't want to miss the 8:05 one and have to wait ages for the next one or to get a cab home. Many of their workers live in ridiculously poor and dangerous townships, and some had even been robbed at gunpoint right outside their own homes during their commute.
On the final day hours before he was meant to take a flight home, the office went into full lockdown due to a police/gang shootout going on outside.
I'm as worried as anyone about having to talk to customer service bots on the phone for the rest of my life, BUT I have to say that using an AI to screen every call for quality assurance is a...
I'm as worried as anyone about having to talk to customer service bots on the phone for the rest of my life, BUT I have to say that using an AI to screen every call for quality assurance is a genuinely smart application of the technology. Usually you get a team lead listening to a random sampling of calls and relying on the panopticon effect to keep everyone within the rules. There were simply too many calls for anything more.
As someone that did phone support for a couple of years, this will be awful. Everyone makes a mistake or lets a particularly vile caller get under there skin once in a while, especially when...
While AI may be phasing out certain jobs, its defenders say it is also creating different kinds of opportunities. Teleperformance, along with hundreds of other companies, has hired thousands of data annotators in India — many of them women in small towns and rural areas — to label training images and videos for AI systems.
As someone that did phone support for a couple of years, this will be awful. Everyone makes a mistake or lets a particularly vile caller get under there skin once in a while, especially when handling thousands of calls a year. The fact that you are guaranteed to have a permanent mark on you because you had a "bad tone" according to AI makes those jobs even more soul crushing.
I also did not dislike the accent smoothing out software, if it works as stated in the article. Especially if it can go both ways so agents don't have to deal with my thick North American accent...
I also did not dislike the accent smoothing out software, if it works as stated in the article. Especially if it can go both ways so agents don't have to deal with my thick North American accent either.
Well, I don't see this as a value add to humanity.
As Customer: now I waste time with a chatbot that's clearly not scripted to being able to answer my questions
As rep: reps have to field more complex tasks at 100% their capacity, instead of having them relax between tougher calls. Before ultimately doing away with the humans entirely.
I don't see it being possible. You keep telling a work force that they're cogs, they're replaceable, they need to be more hungry, more lean, Always Be Closing and third place you're fired, to deliver ever increasing higher results. And then you want them to fake enthusiasm and fake care and build trust when we both know that every deal they deliver to customers, every reasonable refund granted, every second they waste hearing the human out, will hurt the agent's metrics. I'm so angry I could spit in my own helmet over this type of hypocrisy.
As an aside, I wish this topic was discussed a little more. There can be a huge difference in a workday that consists of solving 10 simple problems and one complex problem. Versus a workday of solving three complex problems. Even if I enjoy solving the complex problems, it becomes overwhelming when they come one after another. Especially when they overlap and require input or actions from other people, and I have three partially solved problems that I'm juggling and context-switching between.
But I find there isn't really a place to have a nuanced conversation about my workload in most corporate environments. I can say I have too much on my plate, but I can't say I have the wrong mix of tasks on my plate. I guess because it's not seen as realistic or worthwhile to pick and choose tasks in a corporate environment. But I think there could be value in trying to match appropriate tasks to appropriate people.
With now a nearly 100% aggravated customer rate from the start of each call as they all had to slog through X amount of time with an AI/voice flowchart hybrid cheerfully trying to solve the problem they don't have.
They're (the 1%) are enjoying this, right? It's like having caged tigers be starved, then aggrevated with sticks and small annoyances, and then watching us tear each other apart for sport? And then selling our bones and skin, to pay for more cages, right?
It can feel that way, certainly.
My view is that it is more likely a parallel to Hanlon's Razor - never ascribe to malice that which can be ascribed to uncaring indifference.
Might it make more profit? I'm not worried about anything else, only the profit. Install the system.
Strangely comforting (laugh cries)
From the article:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Teleperformance is genuinely one of the worst companies I've worked for and I am not even remotely surprised they've jumped on the AI bandwagon.
I worked there as a customer service rep for nearly three years before being let go for performance reasons. During that time, I had learned of multiple fraud scandals (ranging between staff being caught adding reward club points or small value eVouchers to their own accounts, to managers grossly misstating their timesheets, going into an aux code and fucking off to the pub, to one team leader funnelling five figures in customer refunds to their own bank account before auditors caught on.) The only thing TP was remotely shit-hot with was their data security policies, and it was the kind of place where if you even had an electronic device with you on the floor, you'd face an immediate disciplinary meeting.
"Transforming passion into excellence" used to be their company slogan, but I actually think "transforming passion into exploitation" would have been more accurate. Progression was based purely on a system of nepotism.
I, too, worked for Teleperformance. They bought out the call center I was working at and made it even worse! You aren't alone in your experience, I saw so much unethical stuff happening, and definitely managers going to the pub on company time! I did not however, have the experience that they had data security policies on any of the floors I worked on. They did, however, have the most exploitable time off mechanic I ever experienced. Somehow if you worked an extra hour Monday through Thursday, you could call off Friday and still get paid, so those four extra hours became overtime... you just couldn't get in trouble for anything or you wouldn't be able to reset your "points" fast enough and you'd get... well, I got fired for having too many points.
I'm British, so maybe it's a difference in employment laws and regulations. I'm surprised to hear that TP wasn't like that for you.
A previous employer cut hundreds of finance staff and outsourced much of the function to Genpact (a competing BPO firm) and according to all the colleagues I knew that actually visited their offices in India, they run an incredibly tight ship that made my experience at TP look tame by comparison.
My best friend was unfairly dismissed from TP two years prior to me working there, and he took them to an employment tribunal (on disability discrimination grounds) and won. I should've seen that as a red flag, but hey, I was desperate for work back when I went for the role, as I had spent eighteen months unemployed and unable to get work after graduating from uni.
My "got fired" story is a bit more long-winded.
For context: I worked across a struggling campaign with a perpetual email backlog which overtime couldn't clear. So we hired a contingency team of temp workers in another office to cherry-pick the easy emails whilst our main team was stuck with handling the more complex queries, working with incredibly slow/unreliable CRM systems and with the same targets expected of us.
These temps were a joke, and their work genuinely put our client into disrepute. One of the worst emails I flagged to our QA team (yes, somebody deadass sent this to a customer) started with "I understand you didn't want a cut & paste template but I feel this one really explains the current situation we're in", followed by the same ten-paragraph macro which the customer had received from three other agents, before ending with the line "Thank you again for taking the time to contact us, and I hope that our service improves to become a little less rubbish."
Client ups quality monitoring standards to ridiculous levels due to the fallout of what this contingency team did. I get seven critical fails in a row, six of which I appealed because they were BS, I get targeted and placed on a PIP, fail, dragged through disciplinary then ceremoniously fired and escorted out of the building by security. Part of me feels like I should never have fought the process and simply resigned to save face, the other half wanted to drag them through the coals. I could have taken them to an employment tribunal but I was already suffering from severe stress-induced insomnia at that point and I didn't want to jump through an absurd number of hoops to fight for a minimum wage job.
I 100% believe I was targeted and bullied out by management.
Oh, I'm American, so you know, no employment protections and even fewer data protections!
Teleperformance here, at least where I lived when I worked there, is a revolving door of desperation. They pay slightly above market rate but will fire you immediately if you are late in the first (iirc) 3 weeks. If you are desperate for work and/or bad at being a functioning member of society (hello, young me!), a couple weeks of pay is acceptable. Then you just wait the rehire period (a few weeks as I recall) and get hired back on, for another "as long as you'll last" period. So if you make it a little while, you basically run the company and commit whatever fraud you want. Meanwhile, most of the customer service staff is actively bad at their job. Your description of the temps is about the level of actual employees at the location I was at.
Yeah... still surprised because I thought you at least had to have standards as a multinational firm.
A trainer I used to work with did travel to South Africa for a few days to train workers on one of TP's major (UK phone network) campaigns. He learned and saw some shit while he was there.
For instance, if a customer service rep wraps up an inbound call right before 8PM because "the phone lines are about to close", that's a lie. It's because TP operate company-run buses across Cape Town that operate sporadically and they don't want to miss the 8:05 one and have to wait ages for the next one or to get a cab home. Many of their workers live in ridiculously poor and dangerous townships, and some had even been robbed at gunpoint right outside their own homes during their commute.
On the final day hours before he was meant to take a flight home, the office went into full lockdown due to a police/gang shootout going on outside.
I'm as worried as anyone about having to talk to customer service bots on the phone for the rest of my life, BUT I have to say that using an AI to screen every call for quality assurance is a genuinely smart application of the technology. Usually you get a team lead listening to a random sampling of calls and relying on the panopticon effect to keep everyone within the rules. There were simply too many calls for anything more.
As someone that did phone support for a couple of years, this will be awful. Everyone makes a mistake or lets a particularly vile caller get under there skin once in a while, especially when handling thousands of calls a year. The fact that you are guaranteed to have a permanent mark on you because you had a "bad tone" according to AI makes those jobs even more soul crushing.
I also did not dislike the accent smoothing out software, if it works as stated in the article. Especially if it can go both ways so agents don't have to deal with my thick North American accent either.
Archive link