It has been found that people who work the night shift at a BPO or call center experience health issues in the long run. Cardiovascular problems, obesity, type 2 diabetes are common. Damage to the worker’s social life are also common as agents work long hours under severe stress and at the wrong time of their 24 hour cycle.
Some people doing this grueling work prefer to work rather than make friends. It is also common for people to make friends on the job with others who have the same inhuman lifestyle. Inappropriate relationships between managers and customer service representatives are common. At call centers lesbian relationships are common, and a high percentage of the staff are normally transgender at least in the Philippines. Rampant parties, loose sexual behavior and drinking are also common. I read that at Accenture, one worker reported that you get ostracized if you don’t come to their work gatherings / parties.
It seems that once you become a night shift BPO worker, you enter the realm of a dual society. A society apart from main society. A new society where drinking, fried chicken, stress, partying, and sleeping around are normal. This is the case in Delhi as well as Manila which are places very far from each other with different religions, languages and cultures — yet, the same exact maladies happen! So, if you join the ranks of a night BPO worker, prepare to have a lot of new friends who share your plight and lose your family and old friends. My only question is — is there a way around this insanity and — is it worth it?