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Last week, I discussed, based on the ILO and psychological theory,
that good jobs enable people to be productive while doing meaningful
work that supports employee participation, personal development and
security. Let us examine whether call centers are giving good jobs.
Wikipedia defines a call center as “a
centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and
transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone [which is] is
operated by a company to administer incoming product support or
information inquiries from consumers [as well as] outgoing calls for
telemarketing, clientele, and debt collection …”
The call-center industry is one of the
fastest-growing job sectors, with a growth rate of almost 10% in the
Asia-Pacific region. While relatively high pay attracts many
applicants, the qualified manpower pool is steadily dwindling.
Companies report low applicant hiring rates of around 5%. Worse, the
sector has an average employee attrition rate of about 20%.
Researchers have traced the attrition to a
number of emotionally straining characteristics of typical center
work, namely, low job discretion, target times and performance
monitoring. These characteristics tend to diminish the
“goodness” of call-center jobs. Highly standardized scripts are
used to bring employees quickly up to speed for consistent handling
of calls. Supervisors closely monitor calls to check for legal
compliance, consistency and politeness. Quantitative targets for
call handling times are set for employees to maximize operational
efficiency. It is easy to see how the job strain that results from
lack of autonomy and efficiency pressures can lead to high
call-center turnover, especially given the profile of well educated
and highly literate employees hired.
Catriona Wallace and fellow researchers, writing
in the International Journal of Service Industry Management, have
observed that the high turnover can be the result of a deliberate
company strategy of “frequent replacement of employees in order to
provide enthusiastic, motivated customer service at low cost to the
organization.” I don’t know if this is the case for local call
centers, but such a strategy would certainly not be consistent with
giving good jobs and developing people.
Innovative companies have addressed call-center
job problems. Recently, the Personnel Management Association of the
Philippines (PMAP) awarded eTelecare its coveted “Employer of the
Year Award.” The company reportedly invests heavily in talent and
leadership development. It actively involves employees in company
decision-making through town-hall meetings, and even solicits their
inputs for the design of new call centers. The results: day care
centers, game rooms, and resting lounges.
In England, Allison Widdup of arête business
services has approached the challenge by redesigning call-center
work. She was bothered by the low employee job satisfaction and the
high dissatisfaction among customers of UK call centers. Using
quality management principles from W. Edwards Deming, arête avoids
monitoring systems that do not add customer value and tend to
demotivate employees. Managers concentrate on removing blockages and
facilitating the progress of quality work. The company also avoids
motivational competitions, and instead focuses on building an
environment of collaboration and mutual support.
Most tellingly, arête does not utilize call
handling time targets or scripts. The company hires and trains good
employees, and then gives them as much time as they need to satisfy
a caller. Repeat phone calls and complaints about poor service are
avoided, and employee morale improves. Not surprisingly, attrition
at the company is very low.
Can call centers give good jobs? They can if
they balance the concern for efficiency and profit with job designs
that bring out the best in employees and promote the latter’s
well-being.
Dr. Benito L. Teehankee is the chairman of the
Human Resource Management Department of De La Salle Professional
Schools Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Graduate School of Business. He may
be emailed at teehankeeb@yahoo.com.
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