CCall—Healthy and Successful Work in Call Centres

Abstract

Call centre workplaces are in many ways a challenge to occupational health and safety. The occupation itself can be described as an IT information technology-supported, communication-intensive form of work with often unusual working hours and a high rate of part-time employment. Data on the employee turnover as well as absenteeism related to occupational disability is quite contradictory. Occupational safety and its proponents still have to find new ways into the corporate structures and cultures of this relatively new and rapidly growing branch of industry. In a 2-year research and development project, using a holistic approach and under consideration of all the relevant disciplines, call centre workplaces were studied, and organisational measures were developed and field tested by putting them into practice. Practical help was developed for a sustainable strategy for successful and healthy work in call centres.

A qualitative study of employees’ opinions on establishing a generic call-centre

“…The participants who were used to alternate between call handling and direct patient contact (OOH-GP employees) wanted to continue this practice in the generic call-centre to ensure varied and professional challenging work. Similar findings have been reported in previous studies [ 14 , 22 ], and it has also been found that variety in working tasks is important for job satisfaction in call-centre operators [ 5 ]. In Norway alternation between call handling and direct patient contact is recommended [ 13 , 23 ], but there is a lack of evidence for direct patient contact being decisive for the quality of call handling [ 24 ].…”

“…Call-centre work has been described as an information technology-supported, communication-intensive form of work [ 5 ]. Research has shown that call-centre employees often experience high work intensity and limited influence over own work schedule [ 6 ].…”

“…Research has shown that call-centre employees often experience high work intensity and limited influence over own work schedule [ 6 ]. They often have to work unusual hours and there is also a high rate of part-time employment [ 5 ]. A study conducted among nurses working at a Swedish telephone advisory service found that nurses described being both a gatekeeper and a carer as mentally demanding [ 7 ].…”

Job strain, effort-reward imbalance and ambulatory blood pressure: results of a cross-sectional study in call handler operators

“…Several reasons make this job particularly suitable for the purpose of this study: the high rate of turnover and absenteeism in this job suggests that working in call centers can be a stressful experience (Benninghoven et al 2005); the relatively short-cycle routine interactions with customers, mostly controlled by automatic call distribution systems and supported by networked information technologies, allow little control of when and whom to speak to (Norman et al 2004). In addition, a homogeneous sample is particularly suitable to study the pure work stress effect on health outcome, since using a single occupational group minimizes the variance attributable to socioeconomic status and work characteristics, also allowing to analyze this occupation in depth.…”

Salivary cortisol and psychosocial hazards at work

“…The main objective of this study was to analyze the relation between self-reported work stress measured by means of the job strain model and salivary cortisol levels in a group of call-center operators. Several reasons make this job particularly suitable for the purpose of this study: (i) relatively short-cycle routine interactions with customers, mostly controlled by automatic call distribution systems and supported by networked information technologies, allow little control of when and whom to speak to [Norman et al, 2004]; (ii) the high rate of turnover and absenteeism in many call centers suggests that working in call centers is a stressful experience [Benninghoven et al, 2005]; (iii) recent studies suggest that most jobs in call centers can be characterized as unskilled work, which some authors called an advanced form of Taylorism [Holman, 2002]. Moreover, call center workers are expected to be always friendly (as if they are ''smiling'') on the telephone, a fact described in literature as imposing emotional demand [Cox-Fuenzalida, 2007].…”