Problems with Large Scale Call Centres
Many graduates step into the world of employment by undertaking call centre jobs. It is safe to say that it is not the job of choice for most graduates straight after university, but such jobs like those in call centres offer graduates a steady income and go towards paying the basic amenities of any household. Students and graduates find that they fit in very easily after finding out that a majority of their colleagues will be students and ex-students in relatively similar situations as the one that brought them look for call centre jobs.
Large companies that operate call centre jobs’ centre in the UK particularly telecommunications companies are the main providers of call centre jobs in the UK. However most students and graduates have expressed that their disillusionment with call centre jobs and what they do come within after 4 weeks of engaging in the actual job itself. This is despite the relative simplicity of the jobs’ description.
After the initial buzz of starting out their jobs, the call centre staff have expressed the mind-numbing factor of the daily task de-motivates them. They are faced with the same questions from callers about their bills, the same requests from management to improve their call times, the same complaints, everyday and always. The humorous thing is, that 78% of call centre staff leave their current jobs to find jobs in another call centre. It is the case that young impressionable and enthusiastic up-starts have not registered that it is the style of their jobs that are actually bothering them and the perceived domineering size of the cooperation their current jobs are with.
Again, a majority of call centre job leavers start their second jobs with a bank .This at first seems advantageous as they receive better pay, hold more binding contracts and receive staff friendly benefits like bonuses and great deals on bank offer offers like mortgages and loans. The above attractions blind previous call centre job holders into taking other call centre jobs that perform and carry out the functions and duties as their prior roles. Sad though the sentiment may be, call centres are simply the “sweatshops” of the 21ST century and this fact is often overlooked by the attractive pay, apparent simplicity of their jobs and the rotary shift patterns of most call centres adopt. However these shift systems mislead beguiling youths into living and breathing every moment of their lives for their jobs. For example a late shift would typically consist of 12pm/3pm start and an 8pm/11pm ending. This meant that the average call centre agent would basically be waiting to go to work, even if they got up from bed early, and finishes their jobs just in time for bed. Consequently an 8 hour call centre shift takes up a whole day shift
Holidays are another issue of contention that those with jobs in call centre find problematic. To the detriment of most call centre workers, companies have come up with a contentious way of granting holidays without having any actual impact on the business. For those in call centre jobs to receive their holidays, they must first book it on the systems in place and like most other jobs await approval from supervisors. However the loose flexibility of the term holiday or rather the handling of this issue in most call centres is that agents could book a holiday for the very afternoon or evening on which their jobs landed on if they so wished. Consequently call centre managers find that staff rarely ever work a full shift as most would take an “hours” holiday every now and again to leave earlier for other “recreational” activities. Albeit these involuntary holidays were only every granted if the call levels were low enough therefore maximising staff input and company expenditure as they did not have agents sitting around on their jobs with nothing to do and yet getting paid their presence. Where there is a backlash is that those on call centre jobs were slowly using up their holidays without even realising it.
For these and many other reasons those in call centre jobs on average stay on for no more than12 months and leave to find jobs in other sectors like retail, despite the more than likely possibility of a pay cut. Large scale call centre operations need to be managed on a personal and team initiative level. Large scale call centre jobs more often than not can leave the call agent feeling that they are merely a cog in a grand machine. Another downside is that many of the callers to these centres know that this is near enough to truth as well. With that said, it must clarified that not all call centres and the jobs that go with them a dreadfully mechanical and ill inspiring place to work in. the issue is that the scale of most inbound call centre jobs only work well in regards to employee turnover and such, when they are on a scale that still leaves the employee feeling value within the company; and they in turn can pass on those feeling to the callers. From the responses found from those with jobs within smaller call centre organisations it clear that this is very much the case and should be the more evident and economical route forward for call centre jobs. The real proof is in the pudding and in 2009 UK wide survey of call centres it was found that smaller call centre equates to a small turnaround of staff. Whilst the organisation may not handle as many calls the staffs are more likely to be better trained for their jobs, better acquainted with callers and in the end happier in their jobs
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