I am a network engineer in the US.
I support an infastructure that requires connectivity to Russia & India for certain job roles we outsource.

What I cannot fathom is why US companies are outsourcing call center operations for customer service, directory assistance, and technical support to India, and why they wouldnt use resources much closer to home by building and using facilities in the Bahamas?

Can anyone answer this question?

Why wouldn't I want to build an operations center providing well paying jobs new technology to a country that seems like a huge untapped resource?

Everybody speaks English and I have to train whomever I employ anyway,
and it appears to me that there is a need for jobs and technology that would be better appreciated than it is here in the US and abroad.

What prevents me from doing this?

It seems like a win win for the people, the government, and me!

For one thing, I should think that labour costs in India are much cheaper that they are here.

The Bahamas has child labour laws ... and the cost of living here is far too high for the wages they receive in India for outsourcing software, etc.

I don't think there are children writing code, or working in call center operations, these are skilled positions.

The wages aren't much less than US wages for these positions in India, the main benefits are that employers in the US are not required to pay the Social Security and Employment taxes which an additional 20-30% of base salaries to offshore labor.

Are such taxes imposed by the Bahamian government on employers?

Do Bahamian workers in this industry make more than thier US counterparts in these types of employment?

We can make the same or more, especially when we are selling our software in the US as well.

As for the rest, not sure as I work for myself and have no staff. Though employers have to pay National Insurance, Plus the cost of living is more expensive here than in the US, and we pay Customs Tax on everything.

Trust me, the idea is good and people here Im sure have thought about it, but the wages for software programmers in India will not match the cost of living here. Plus you then have the government obstacal .. as they seem to imvite tourism related but nothing much else.

I am just basing my opinion on what I have seen from several visits to Grand Bahama where I did not see ANY type of industry other than tourism related.

I understand the 59% tax on what you bring into the country, but it just seems without a corporate income tax, employee income tax, property tax, unemployement tax, medicare tax, and social security tax an employer can pay a Bahamian the same as a US employee but the Bahamian take home pay would be significantly higher.

For example if I have a call center rep wage $30,000 in the US, my cost for that $30,000 salary is $36,000 but the employees take home pay is really only $24,000 not taking into consideration they are paying 6%-8.25% in sales tax on everything they buy and an annual property tax for where they live (this tax is even passed onto renter and is built into the rent price) in additional to excise taxes on gas, alcohol, tobacco, and anything else they can justify taxing.

So I could save $12,000 a year per employee by just matching the take home of the US employee.

Then if that 33% isn't enough of a savings as the corporation I am also paying an 25%+ income tax on my profit in the US that I would not have to pay in the Bahamas.

am i far off in my thinking? what am i missing? seems like my labor cost is 33% less than what it is in the US and the Bahamian will take home the same or more than the US worker.

$466 a week, its too low a salary for a software programmer .. personally I couldnt pay my bills off that low an income, and Im single. Remember cost of living here is more than double the US.

not a software programmer, software programmers in the US are making $60,000-$100,000+

I am looking more in the lines of a customer service representative that answers calls and provides canned product specific answers or specific account information.

Anyone that can read, speak clearly, and learn how to use a computer can perform this job. I am sure there are alot of either unemployed or under employed Bahamians that can perform this job that are making less than $466 a week.

Yes, that would work. Would need to find some that speak proper english though ;-) You would stand a better chance in the college students, and females in that regard, maybe someone that has been in the tourism industry also.

Rory

Hey, NY ... there are in fact a few call centres operating in Freeport, but nowhere else in the country at the moment.

We can make the same or more, especially when we are selling our software in the US as well.

As for the rest, not sure as I work for myself and have no staff. Though employers have to pay National Insurance, Plus the cost of living is more expensive here than in the US, and we pay Customs Tax on everything.

Trust me, the idea is good and people here Im sure have thought about it, but the wages for software programmers in India will not match the cost of living here. Plus you then have the government obstacal .. as they seem to imvite tourism related but nothing much else.

Of course the government is inviting other business other than tourism...they call it LNG....

not a software programmer, software programmers in the US are making $60,000-$100,000+

I am looking more in the lines of a customer service representative that answers calls and provides canned product specific answers or specific account information.

Anyone that can read, speak clearly, and learn how to use a computer can perform this job. I am sure there are alot of either unemployed or under employed Bahamians that can perform this job that are making less than $466 a week.

The U.S. does that with Mexico with their American Express credit card...If you have an issue with your credit card, all consumers are rerouted to Mexico where a spanish speaking lady, struggling with english helps you. One may ask why this happens, because it is cheaper...

$466 a week, its too low a salary for a software programmer .. personally I couldnt pay my bills off that low an income, and Im single. Remember cost of living here is more than double the US.

definately $466.00 dollars a week is too low of a salary for a software programmer. With 466 dollars you can get a wonderful two bed house to rent over the hill.

definately $466.00 dollars a week is too low of a salary for a software programmer. With 466 dollars you can get a wonderful two bed house to rent over the hill.


:p

i pay $200 a month on eastern road, but its a ghetto apt on the side of a garage .. and no (close) neighbors so its like ... watchin da back (and da cameras and beams) all da time .. :friday:

simply put people in India and Mexico and those other places have to be a lot more humble than Bahamians, we dont put up with too much here and it is easier for these companies to bully these governments and its people verses the bahamas and its people. the idea that you brought up is a good one but i am sure other companies such as AMEX, DELL, RCCL, DISNEY. have all thought of placeing call centers in the bahamas but after they checked it out they saw it wasnt worth it. also i am sure there would be alot of protest by bahamian business becuase you guys would drive minum wages up.