You read these posts and realise this is what companies in the west want to feed by outsourcing. They want to hire shops in the developing world that exploit and harm people because of course someone who is forced to overwork will be cheaper than one who has a smidgen of leverage. Part of the "cheaper labour" is cost of living in other countries, sure, but a lot of it is this sort of thing.

Yes, spot on.

Low cost of living leading to lower salary is one thing, but the cake is being able to exploit and overwork.

In India, almost everyone overworks. No exceptions. Even in most government positions. It is just what people are willing to go through.

No, it’s not "culture". Everyone hates it, but don't want to go hungry.

Another thing is, MNCs, both in tech and non-tech fields at least offers you a working space with AC and decoration. That's a big draw for many, if not most. As India is developing, many people are first generation white-collar job holders. They, and their parents are just happy that they don't have to do manual labor in the sun, or be subject to poor treatment by bosses in more traditional sectors. Such people will be unhappy, sad, and still accept the toil and pressure and overwork.

> In India, almost everyone overworks. No exceptions.

No offense, but the output of that "work" is generally crap. "Check the Box and March in Circles" legalism with zero thought about impact, output, or usability.

Which is why most BPO & outsourcing programs are a total shitshow.

I'd rather have 6 - 8 hours of engaged time directed towards specific outcomes, guided by effective impact measurements, than 100 hours of timecard punches.

I don't think it is possible to do any really high quality work when you are overworked.

Working under muse on a project as a technical founder is different. But for everyone else, which is basically ~100% of the workforce with a rounding error, overwork is harmful for good work. But this is how most of India works. Every sector is like this.

And, tbh, only the lowest of lowest quality of Indian students work in BPOs, nobody does it if they have other opportunities. That is why it is shit.

Trade is good, because comparative advantages give us economic surplus, but we need compensatory tariffs for labor practices, just as for GHG emissions.

In short, yes. I hope the comment didn't come off as too protectionist. I'm not against collaboration or trade in general, but the "savings" companies think they reap from outsourcing to countries with much worse labour practices needs to be remedied somehow. It's a form of externality.

Then there's the whole principal-agent problem and whatever is the equivalent of that for "corporation" (or team) as an entity vs. "corporation" (or team) as people at its helm. Outsourcing could look good financially, but be disastrous long-term because of quality and reliability issues; some decision makers benefit from the short-term outcomes, but many care about long-term too - but then, corporation as an entity sees "shit but profitable" as a long-term gain, so its own incentives are structurally misaligned with that of humans that make it. Etc.

It did not come off as protectionist (at least for me).