Yes, there is a clamor in the Americas against business process offshoring, particularly because many believe that the jobs that Americans should be holding are gradually being exported to the low-labor cost countries in Asia and Eastern Europe. Techdirt reports on an initiative in the US Senate that would require offshored contact center representatives to disclose that they are outside of US soil.

The Senate Commerce Committee is considering a bill that would require foreign call center workers to disclose that they are in a different country. It’s not clear why this is necessary or what such a rule would accomplish. Outsourcing call centers isn’t illegal, and it shouldn’t be the position of the government to try to shame companies that do it. Most likely, the bill’s supporters will claim that consumers have a “right to know”, though no such right exists. While some have complained about language problems with the foreign staff, this problem will take care of itself, as companies won’t keep using call centers that mess up transactions.

So if this pushes through, then does this mean less intensive trainings on accent neutralization and geograpy are required? I mean, contact center agents are trained to practically pretend they’re Americans (or Brits, Spanish, or whatever), in terms of accent and knowledge in geography and culture. If they were asked required to disclose their actual location, then most of this would be rendered moot!

At any rate, one would tend to wonder whether moves like these are aimed at discouraging companies from offshoring contact centers and other business processes–or a “transparent protectionist scheme,” indeed, as Techdirt opines.

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