It’s your call: the facts about call centres
Call centres – a fun place to work with good promotion prospects or a dead end job where humiliation and excessive scrutiny are routine?
Recent bad publicity has damaged the already poor image of call centres. It’s not a new problem. In November 1999, the first national call centres strike saw 4,000 operators employed by BT walk out complaining of bullying managers and unreasonable targets. This year’s It’s Your Call campaign run by the TUC encouraged those unhappy with working conditions in call centres to ring in with their stories. The 733 complaints received during the two-week campaign echoed those voiced in the past – extreme monitoring and lack of breaks.
Callers reported three-second breaks between calls, having to ask permission to go to the toilet, then being timed. One of the worst stories was of a call centre manager who took disposable nappies into work saying staff that used the toilet the most would be told to wear one. However, TUC General Secretary, John Monks, recognises this episode is extreme. ‘Many call centres already treat their staff with respect and others are making a real effort to clean up their act. But there are still too many using bullying tactics to pressurise and intimidate employees.’
Facts, figures and futures
Call centre work appeals to those with family responsibilities because it can be flexible and fit around other commitments.
- 68% of call centre workers are women
- 43% work part time
- The majority are aged between 20 and 35
- Average salaries for customer service representatives: £11,039 to £13,841
- Call centre managers’ salaries start at £20,000 but can reach £67,000
- The Communication Workers Union estimates that 150,000 to 300,000 people work in call centres. Other estimates are considerably higher
It’s a big industry and likely to keep growing. As more of our everyday transactions are made via phone or the Internet, the number of people who process them will increase.
Next page: what does the future hold?
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