Most kids have the privilege of focusing on education before getting a job and supporting themselves and their families. In today’s day and age, the ever-increasing cost of education, skyrocketing student loans, growing lifestyle costs accompanied by the rising cost of housing in urban areas etc can make it increasingly difficult for families to survive if there isn’t a steady flow of income. This often results in compensating in the quality of education for the kids of these families or even results in their dropping out of school. Such is the story of twins Raghu and Madhi who have been working since the age of fourteen to keep their household afloat.
Raghu and Madhi’s mother, Devi, worked in a private school as an assistant nurse, allowing them to study in the same school for a subsidised fee rate. Having had no father all through their growing up years, their mother was determined to get them educated just as her parents had when she was younger. When they were eighteen, they lost their mother due to Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which meant that their entire lives came to a standstill. Being the sole breadwinner of the family and having been responsible for the two children and their grandparents, Devi’s demise had now begun to wreak havoc on their lives. With medical bills and loans to pay off, the twins had to quit school and their grandmother had started working at two houses as the house help. As for the twins, they stayed at home taking care of their grandfather and running errands for people to earn some money. After a couple of months of this, things got really bad for the family as they had to move houses which made it hard for their grandmother to travel to work. That was when Madhi took up a job as a biller at a nearby grocery store with Raghu taking the night shift at an IT park as a security guard. Mariamma, their grandmother, had begun working in a restaurant to contribute to paying off the debts and keeping their family afloat.
The skyrocketing fees eliminated any chances of the twins continuing their undergraduate education pushing their chances of having the life that their mother had wanted for them. They were barely making ends meet when their grandfather had taken ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. He was taken to the nearest government hospital where they weren’t sure if he would get the treatment he should be getting. Madhi had stayed in touch with a teacher from her school who was also close to their mother. She had immediately contacted her for a loan with the promise of a quick return of the money. Madhi’s teacher had complied and had enquired about their current situation and the nature of their present jobs. Madhi and Raghu had both gotten excellent education all through their academic journey for twelve years. Both of them were overqualified for the jobs they were working for but had no choice as travelling to the city back and forth would have burnt a hole in their pockets. Living in the outskirts of the city had provided them with only limited options of employment and they took up whatever they got regardless of the nature of the position.
Madhi’s teacher had gone to visit the family in the hospital and in the flow of conversation had brought up the topic of a remote CX marketplace of the name VOIZ that helps agents or CX talent that are registered with them to find options of employment with reputed companies. She suggested that they try it as her own daughter who is in college earns pocket money by applying for CX jobs and working for them on an ongoing basis. After the discharge of their grandfather, Madhi quickly registered on VOIZ and was surprised by how simplistic the whole registration process was. She was initially apprehensive about her just being a twelfth pass but she was surprised yet again as she was eligible for applying for jobs despite the lapse in college education. They were not in possession of a laptop so she did everything on her smartphone and applied for customer service jobs. With VOIZ’s precise job routing and recommendation system in place, Madhi was able to secure a job for the four-hour slot after her shift at the grocery store.
Raghu, on the other hand, was trepidatious of the idea in general. The past few years had hardened his approach towards life and work which made him believe that earning money from the comfort of one’s home had to come with a catch. Unlike his sister, he was not comfortable with conversing in English and was not confident about his people management skills which by observing his sister he considered important. Madhi was after his life to sign up with VOIZ but Raghu had flat out refused every single time. After one month of Madhi working with VOIZ as a support agent, she was credited with her payout at the fixed time which was when Raghu decided to trust the system and jump on the bandwagon. When he applied he was surprised to see there were language options that he could choose from along with many training modules that could help him get better at his job. For the first entire month, he worked four hours in the morning and then rushed off to finish his night shift. He began enjoying his work and realised that he was actually good with people and had incredible CSAT scores for someone who had just started. He quit his role as a security guard and signed up with VOIZ as a full-time customer service professional working all seven days for eight hours each.
With better pay, their grandmother stopped working as a help at the restaurant and Madhi and Raghu shared the responsibilities of home as they were around a lot more to help with their grandmother and with the caretaking of their grandfather. Before joining VOIZ, the twins report that the atmosphere at home was always that of stress and that it strained all their relationships. Having constantly worried about money and having at least two meals a day for four people while also worrying about electricity and other bills did not allow them to enjoy a meal together or allow them to stay with each other for too long. Mariamma would go to the restaurant from the afternoon to late in the evening while her grandson Raghu was in the house. By the time Madhi got back home, Raghu would leave for work. Such was the case. Nobody was around while the other was and even if they were they constantly worried about something or the other.
Having been with VOIZ for seven months now, Madhi has started taking up certificate courses while she’s not working. Raghu had saved up and finally invested in a laptop with which he can seamlessly go about working. We got in touch with Madhi who had to say this,
“I conduct most of my calls in my mother tongue which is Kannada and I love that VOIZ has accepted me despite not having good marks and incomplete academic history. I’ve been doing a few calls here and there in English and I want to thank my supervisor for encouraging me to test my limits and get better at communicating and interacting with my customers. With ‘money woes’ taking a back seat, I am able to focus on other things such as ordering from a restaurant on Sundays or playing new movies for my sister and grandmother on my new laptop. Things have been great since I became a support professional at VOIZ. There is always work available and ways and means to improve oneself. VOIZ is like my school, office and home all wrapped up in one!”
– Madhi