subject: Working Conditions for Call Center Employees [print this page] Working Conditions for Call Center Employees
The working conditions for call center employees have to improve. That is the result of surveys conducted by various agencies, including the International Labor Organization (ILO). However, very little is actually being done to solve this problem. The managers and supervisors of the BPO units have not much of a role to play here. They have to push the agents to complete the telemarketing projects on schedule. That is what their jobs depend on. If the projects are not meeting deadlines, it will count against the manager. But sometimes the work is too much for a designated team of employees. You feel that you are always working with lesser number of agents. It's not just the employees who suffer from such methods of working. The quality of call center services is severely compromised as well. Let's look at an example from the customer service desk. You are handling a certain number of calls with a fixed number of agents. Now, as the telemarketing project gathers steam and swells, the call volume goes up higher but the number of inbound call center agents taking the calls remains the same. This means that the call center agents are being pushed to work harder. They are being subjected to mounting work pressure. It's understandable that there is more of work to do in the constrained budget scenario when the BPO cannot hire more of these agents. However, after some time, overwork will start claiming your best telemarketing agents. They will either quit because of the work pressure, or head for burnout. The either cases are not an ideal situation for your company. You have to work out a way in which you can protect your agents from going over the cliff.
Now look at the same problem from the perspective of the call center services agent. More calls in the customer service desk would mean that they will have lesser time between calls. BPO agents taking calls use this little break times to catch a breather before the next call. When that time shrinks, it adds to the stress of the agent. They also have to rush through the calls that they take. This adds to their sorry state of affairs. Add to it the thankless task of listening to the continued barrage of complaints and sometimes aggressive behavior. After a period of time, it begins to get to them. The satisfaction of working slowly diminishes.
Most call center sectors do not have a union or a governing body that employees can use as a medium to protest against unfair working conditions. The lack of this organization doesn't leave much ground to work towards getting leaves and designated break times. The issue of salary and incentives also needs to be presented on a unified forum. Otherwise, the BPO management tends to relegate them to the sidelines. The profit-making operations take precedence. But the customer service employees have to be looked after because they are the ones doing the job for you. With more Answering Service projects in the kitty, you will need them badly.
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