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Sitting at the head of the African continent and bounded by both the Atlantic and Mediterranean Morocco is fast becoming the call centre capital for Europe. It takes little more than 45 minutes to travel from Spain to Morocco by fast ferry – about the same amount of time you’d spend travelling a couple of miles in London.
Currently there are well over 300 call centres in Morocco serving multinational companies like Dell Computers (2,000 agents) which runs its various European language call centre operations from Casablanca to smaller businesses from all over Europe needing only one or two outworkers for projects such as database building, appointment setting, order taking, credit card processing, etc.
The reason for the explosive growth in Morocco as the base for so many European call centres is simple – a progressive government that has made it attractive for businesses to set up shop in Morocco through tax breaks and a reduced phone tariff available only to call centres along with a ready supply of young, educated, and above all native speaking Europeans returning to their ancestral land, even though born and educated in such countries as the UK, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Italy, etc.
Why would so many young, well qualified university graduates want to leave their European homes and go to Morocco to work for a lesser salary than they might otherwise receive in their European home country? It’s a good question and the answer is simple.
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A job. There is a big demand for native (European language) call centre workers in Morocco able to call back to or receive incoming calls from the country in which they were raised. In this context there are large numbers of UK citizens who have chosen to move to Morocco.
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Cost of living. Although the wages paid to a call centre worker in Morocco are far less than they would get in Europe (were they able to find work) the cost of living is also a lot less. Apartments can be bought or rented cheaply plus both food and transport are much less expensive than in Europe. Everything is relative.
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Climate. Unlike many European countries Morocco enjoys a great climate most of the year round with beautiful beaches along both the Atlantic and Mediterranean shores. When it’s below zero in the UK it is probably around 20 degrees in Morocco. Need I say more!
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Religion. Most Moroccans are of the Muslim faith, and the majority of persons moving to Morocco to work are also Muslim. By returning to the country of their forbears young Muslims can practice their religion in complete freedom and without any sense of persecution whether perceived or real.
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Ancestral Pull. For many young Moroccans returning to the country of their parents or grandparents is like ‘going home’. Many immigrants have found living in Europe difficult. Given the improving economic climate of Morocco it is only natural that the children of so many of the 1970’s immigrants should now want to return ‘home’.
The result of these migratory moves from all over Europe back to Morocco is that the country offers a highly talented pool of expatriate workers all of whom have a real understanding of the culture, customs and ways of the country from which they came and to which they will be phoning back on behalf of their employers’ clients. Expat agents working in call centres earn premium salaries and such jobs are highly sought after.
When an expat agent gets on the phone to your customer in Blackburn or Brighton they can talk about the weather, the football and local happenings with all the knowledge of one who has grown up in the area. And as thousands of Brits know only too well this is not the case with other call centre workers, say in Asia, who through no fault of their own have never visited or had any meaningful induction into British customs and the UK way of life in general.
Depending on the complexity of the assignment, the number of outsourced workers required, and the length of any proposed contract call centre costs in Morocco can range from 40% to as low as 25% of the charges made by a typical UK call centre. Over an extended period these savings can be significant.
For more information on how your business can benefit from using outsourced Moroccan telesales agents please call Henry Newrick on 01273 719 272 or 07866 69 69 99.
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