It’s your call: the facts about call centres

Tasker is all in favour of term-time only working, ‘It fits well with my business. Holiday periods are quiet because everyone’s away.’ Like many call centres Vartec aims to encourage increased productivity through competitions, but these are not based on the number of calls answered. ‘What’s important is how effective they’ve been. We aim to reduce the number of repeat calls by answering the questions well first time and reward performance that attracts, pleases and retains customers, not speed.’

He admits that some of the recent adverse publicity has been deserved, ‘There are bad call centres as well as good ones. It can be a tough environment at times, but not as tough as a checkout in a busy supermarket and no one thinks of that as a sweatshop.’

Michell McCafferty worked in call centres in Scotland before moving to London. She chose to stay in the industry. ‘The work suits me, it’s flexible and offers career development’. Now a team leader at Onetel’s Chiswick call centre, she gained promotion after nine months as a customer service rep. ‘It’s a friendly, fun place to work. The whole building has been feng shui-ed, we have on-site massage, fresh fruit and regular competitions.’ Meetings, known as huddles at Onetel, take place in an area called The Beach, which has been fitted out to look like the real thing. ‘All this contributes to a really energetic working atmosphere,’ according to Michelle.

BT have worked hard since the strike to improve conditions through training and other initiatives including a ‘People Charter’ which states zero tolerance for any form of harassment or bullying. Jim Spears, HR manager for BT’s Customer Service Call Centres, says: ‘Although there is still much to be done, the benefits of these initiatives are already being felt. We’re in no doubt of the strong link between a positive working environment and improved customer perception.’ In other words happy workers create satisfied customers.

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