Plot

A feature-length documentary about an office full of young Indian professionals and the executives teaching them the rules of corporate culture.

A feature-length documentary about an office full of young Indian professionals and the executives teaching them the rules of corporate culture. Set in an American-owned business process outsourcing company in India whose clients include the top investment banks in the world, the documentary offers a rare look at cross-cultural corporate training, the lifestyles of young urban professionals in a conservative South Indian city, and the changes that outsourcing is bringing to India.

There was a time, not so long ago, when multi-national corporations saw the developing world merely as a source for natural resources and cheap labor. Factories, mines, and plants operated in the South and the East, but offices large buildings full of workers in jackets and ties, vying for promotions remained in the West. No longer. In recent years corporations have opened back offices in countries where costs are low and ambition is high most notably, in India. The companies that house and staff these offices are known as BPOs Business Process Outsourcing companies. To assuage clients fears about conducting crucial work halfway around the world, BPOs strive to reproduce the same professional feel, regardless of the country in which they are located. As a result, the corporate office culture and environment that many of us know too well strict managerial hierarchy, internal competition, drab décor, inspirational slogans, long hours, and fluorescent lighting is becoming universal. This banality has become a target of parody and source of entertainment in many countries as evidenced by the huge success of The Office in England and abroad. Such is the culture of the new economy: dreams of retiring to the sea at forty, realities of nagging bosses and petty rivalries, shared by stressed-out workers around the world. Yet precisely because all offices are the same, the ways in which local cultures do manage to infiltrate and alter the work environment can be revelatory. There may be no better way to get to know a culture than by observing how it works. In that spirit, Office Tigers is a feature-length documentary set in the crème de la crème of BPOs, a multi-national company that provides high-end support work to the worlds top legal firms, investment banks, and consultancies. The company is called OfficeTiger. It was started seven years ago in the conservative South-Indian city of Chennai by two young Americans, and has grown to over 2,500 employees across three continents 2000 of whom are in Chennai. It is not the best-paying game in town, but it is the most prestigious and therefore, in this status-conscious city, the most desirable. It offers the greatest opportunities for advancement, the most diverse work, the closest proximity to real American culture (which is equated with the ability to make a lot of money), and the sense of family that has become an increasingly common cliché of corporate life. The company receives over 30,000 applicants each year; its acceptance rate is less than 3%. The work is highly confidential. The drive, devotion, and skills of employees must be beyond question. Office Tigers takes us inside the closed world of corporate outsourcing. It introduces us to ambitious and charismatic Office Tiger employees, models for the new global economy, and the Americans who strive to guide them in their quest to join the ranks of the global business elite. The context encourages constant proselytizing, which the bosses are more than happy to provide as they strive to take the best from both worlds. The results are mixed often comic, occasionally brilliant.