Working in Call Centers

John Kimble

Apologies first of all, as this is essentially a negative thread and I suppose the point of this forum is to promote and encourage employment. But after two years of working in the most incredibly unrewarding job, I feel it's time to vent a bit.
If I could pass on one piece of employment advice to anyone, it would be never, ever work in a call center. I've worked in two in Cork so far. Having 'enjoyed' a thoroughly miserable experience in the first one, I decided to cut my losses for the sake of my sanity. However, money being tight and all that, I soon accepted a position in another center. Big mistake.
Maybe it's because you don't have to see the person you're speaking to (although I'm well aware how rude people can be face-to-face), but the vast majority of customers tend to speak to you like a complete idiot. When you don't tell them what they want to hear (because, naturally, the customer is always right), they start to get personal. Strangest of all is their assumption that the call agent actually gives a damn about the company he/she works for.
I could almost cope with the rudeness on its own if it wasn't for the sheer, bleak monotony of the job. Hell is a couple of hundred people sat at little booths, wearing headsets and repeating the same tired mantra over and over again. I'm not a huge fan of the concept of sitting at a desk all day, but most other desk jobs allow the worker the freedom to get up and move about a bit. Call centers seem to demand the imprisonment of the worker at their desk, with every toilet break compiled into a daily set of reports and statistics, a further dehumanization of the employee.

So to finish..yes, I suppose I am a moaning git. Things could be worse, I could be unemployed or broke. No one forced me to take the job, nor do I have to stay there. I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions on this. Do you agree? Or has anyone actually enjoyed the experience?

Dord

I also worked in a call center, a very well known one on the northside of Dublin
I left in March. I found that the great thing about the place was the people I worked with, some great people. It was a good experience for a while, certainly not a long term job. I was there for 9 months. That was enough.

I agree that it gets repetitive after a while. I had people acuse me of rattling off a script...lol
In reality about 50 other people had asked the same question the same day. I knew it was strange when it got to the point that I could almost finish a call without opening my eyes or touching the computer. I have some friends that still work there and honestly I don't know how they manage it this long. It gets very mentally draining after a while.

While I wouldn't dissuade people from working in one, I would say to them that it shouldn't be a long term job. The call-center companies know this too.
Once you turn yourself "back on" when you walk out that door, you should be ok.

PeakOutput

i worked in a call center but it was an insurance claims department so the calls were fairly interesting(to me anyway) i now work in another similar type of set up without the phone and this time it is rattling off the same answers over and over again and i cant wait to leave...............i loved working in the insurance call center i hate working in this one.

the only thing that gets me threw the day is aiming to destroy the targets (just to spite them really) and having access to boards.ie

nesf

Have worked in a call centre, it's not an experience I'd care to relive but as you said, if money's tight...

miju

worked in a cal centre for 2 years so can fully understand the OPs pain in some ways. i guess i was a glutton for punishmet cos i loved the job.

EVERY call was an argument so constantly thinking on your feet and pretty much 200 out of 200 callers hung up more pissed than when they first got on the phone to me so it was good fun for me all the screamers used to be given to me cos I enjoyed the arguments and putting the ignorant ****s back in their place

the_syco

joe robot wrote:

I agree that it gets repetitive after a while. I had people acuse me of rattling off a script...lol

I get asked if I'm a robot sometimes:D

joe robot wrote:

While I wouldn't dissuade people from working in one, I would say to them that it shouldn't be a long term job. The call-center companies know this too.

Agreed. Being in a call centre which is Logiclly souless, but it's not too bad. Being there 10 months so far, and its not bad. The customers are give and take.

There's about four other call centre's nearby, 2 in the same building as I. It depends on what your lokoing for, I suppose. I wanted to do tech support, and that's what I'm doing. Some people just want call centre, and go elsewhere to do call centre job, but with less mental attention needed.

nads

Hi, have worked in two call centres and agree with everything but warning... it doesn't get much better, phone or not...

You're nearly always on the phone in other office based jobs, headset or not, if it's not the phone it's face to face, even worse.

wish i could quit and do proper manly work, none of this IT crap, IT is so stupid - the cleaners of the business industry for people who have lesser qualifications and are on double the pay cheque than the call centre monkey or the second level montior carrier.... who have 1.1 BScs !

Neo#

Im working in a call centre at the moment. Yeah it can be a pain in the arse and I agree with everything the OP said. It can drive you mad sometimes. Ive been working in one for 9 months now. Id give it another 6 months before I quit. Its my first time job so its not so bad. But tis definitely a short term option. Dont work in one if you value your sanity long term!

J.S. Pill

I'd like to think I'm a pretty road hardened call centre monkey at this stage. I can honestly say that I've had way worse jobs. compared to sitting in front of a computer all day number crunching call centres are positively fulfilling.

I wouldn't tar all call centres with the same brush. How satisfying the job is really depends on who you have to talk to and how management run the place. I used to work for Eircom. I started off in the residential section and had to deal with semi-literate retards who couldn't understand their phonebills. I was moved to the business section after a few months, still a lot of semi-literate people but they were generally more civil towards you.

You may have to deal with perfectly reasonable customers but management can still make life hell for you. In line with industry 'best practice', call centres will often employ just the right amount of staff so that the there are no gaps between calls taken. And as with any workplace there are going to be a lot of needlessly pedantic and bureaucratic procedures that increase the pain in one's arse.

nads wrote:

wish i could quit and do proper manly work, none of this IT crap, IT is so stupid - the cleaners of the business industry for people who have lesser qualifications and are on double the pay cheque than the call centre monkey or the second level montior carrier.... who have 1.1 BScs !

When you ring eircom or any other Irish call centre, its very likely that you'll be speaking to a well educated individual. From my experience, a lot of graduates take call centre jobs straight after college while they 'decide what to do' and then 5 years and 10 call centres later are still no closer to getting out. Sociology graduates beware....

John Kimble wrote:

I've worked in two in Cork so far.

Cork is a small place with a handfull of call centres so be careful what you say on public forums

nesf

nads wrote:

Hi, have worked in two call centres and agree with everything but warning... it doesn't get much better, phone or not...

I don't know, I've found people are far more polite when you're dealing with them face to face rather than as some disembodied voice at the other end of the phone that they'll never meet in person.

J.S. Pill

nesf wrote:

I don't know, I've found people are far more polite when you're dealing with them face to face rather than as some disembodied voice at the other end of the phone that they'll never meet in person.

Conversely, when calling a call centre, a lot of people think they're speaking to some nice young gentleman wearing a short sleeved white shirt and a blue tie when in fact they're speaking to a scruffy 22 year old with one hand on the keyboard and the other trying to get the ketchup stains off his t-shirt

John Kimble

J.S. Pill wrote:

You may have to deal with perfectly reasonable customers but management can still make life hell for you. In line with industry 'best practice', call centres will often employ just the right amount of staff so that the there are no gaps between calls taken.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head there. The main problem with that approach is that when one or two members of staff leave (holidays, new job etc), there is never adequate cover.

J.S. Pill wrote:

How satisfying the job is really depends on who you have to talk to and how management run the place

Again, well said. Unfortunately, because our business sells a 'higher-end' consumer electronic product to the UK and Irish market, the majority of our customers tend to be arrogant English middle to upper class snobs who can never concede when they are actually wrong. Nor do they bother themselves with such trivial matters as Terms and Conditions.

J.S. Pill wrote:

I started off in the residential section and had to deal with semi-literate retards who couldn't understand their phonebills. I was moved to the business section after a few months, still a lot of semi-literate people but they were generally more civil towards you.

I really don't have a problem with the intelligence of our customers. The vast majority of them know what they are talking about, some more so than me! What I cannot stand is rudeness. I reckon everyone has to contact a call centre at some stage or another. I've had to call, on numerous occasions, both Microsoft and Eircom. Sometimes the agent wasn't the most courteous or helpful, but for my own part I always make sure that I speak to the person the way I would like to be spoken to. The worst kind of customer is the condescending or 'quietly angry' type. At least if a customer is explicitly abusive, you can inform them that their behaviour is unacceptable and that you're going to hang up.

J.S. Pill

John Kimble wrote:

Again, well said. Unfortunately, because our business sells a 'higher-end' consumer electronic product to the UK and Irish market, the majority of our customers tend to be arrogant English middle to upper class snobs who can never concede when they are actually wrong. Nor do they bother themselves with such trivial matters as Terms and Conditions.

I think I've a good idea who you're working for :rolleyes:

sent you a pm

Agent Smith

J.S. Pill wrote:

Conversely, when calling a call centre, a lot of people think they're speaking to some nice young gentleman wearing a short sleeved white shirt and a blue tie when in fact they're speaking to a scruffy 22 year old with one hand on the keyboard and the other trying to get the ketchup stains off his t-shirt

its so funny cause its true!

its not so bad, i get to brouse boards and have unlimited tea-coffee, and long distance calls

lostexpectation

i recently left a call center, managed to sick it 5/6 months longer then anybody else who started at the same time as me, I didn't mind the pace and repetativeness, I wanted a mindless job, but I left in embarrassment because the business systems was so crap, (they knew it was crap and liked it that way), it made impossble to do the job.

it not mistakes that bother me on either end of the phone its knowing about those mistake for weeks and months and years and not doing anything about them... and putting the csr in that position to defend the indefensible

J.S. Pill

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if any of the jobs that are to be offshored at xerox are going to be English speaking call centre roles? If so where are they being moved to?

callcentreworke

Perhaps you guys could help me. I work for a trade union and am responsible for organising call centre workers into the union. This usually involves me responding to calls from staff who are being treated poorly, their emplyment rights being breached, no pay rises etc. To help provide info on some of these topics the union I work for is developing a website:

http://www.cwucallcentres.ie/

And I would appreciate it if ye could take a moment to consider what information call centre workers might want to see on this kind of site. At this stage it is very much a work in progress.

much obliged.

BTW if anyone working in a call centre wants to contact me with any issue they have, feel free to do so by pm.

angelsfire

[/SIZE]]I have worked in a call centre in Cork now for almost 2 years. I finally put my notic in in July so will be done in August. Thank God!! I hated it the minuted I started there and don't really know why I stayed as long as I did. No one from my training class is there anymore except me! That should tell me something! lol

I got promoted to a different job in the same company which was grand when I first started, but then add on tons of more things we need to do and we are supposed to know alot of information about alot of things but the money doesn't go up!! which was the worst part. Oh and the people, don't get me started on the people we have to deal with!!! They are all the biggest snobs in the world!

The reason I finally put in my notice was, I was calling in sick alot and always on Mondays. Just thiking about going to work made me feel sick! I mean when you feel sick just thinking about going to work....it's time to get out!! Which I have done! So anyone thinking of working in one....stop and read this! lol

KJ

Ishmael

I have worked in 2 so far, both in Dublin. The first one was absolutely horrendous. The Customers were pissed off and rightly so because most of the time they were being either ripped off or mis-sold the product in the first place by our brilliant sales team who sell a bag of ice to an Eskimo.

Of course, management gave us our nice little 15 minute windows to magically fix the problem when it takes a minimum of 20 minutes to complete most of the standard checks with a computer literate person, i we ran over the 20 minutes on a call we'd usually have a manager standing over us pointing to their watch so we'd have to invent some reason to end the call.

We were outsourced from another company so it meant that we were getting basically half the pay we should have been getting for the job.

It was pretty much a soul crushing experience and there was very little team spirit in the office either.

I lasted 5 months and swore I'd have nothing to do with BB tech support again.

The second one is the one i am in now is tech support for a website and i spend most of every day resetting passwords, there's no money directly involved with the website so not many pain in the ass customers except for the computards. I have better hours, better pay and better breaks and less grating on the nerves. Its not perfect but it aint half bad for a call center.

Although i do miss my remote desktop tool

Anyway, my point is, there are actually good call center jobs out there, you just have to look harder for them or be a little bit lucky. What i have learned though is that outsourcing companies are not worth working for.

The worst kind of customer is the condescending or 'quietly angry' type.

Oh yeah, they usually wait for their chance to rant to the high heavens if you're not careful with your words, baxtards!

I remember the first time i had a call with one, it ended with the guy telling my manager i was a disgrace to the company ...... ..ah, good times!

lostexpectation

callcentreworke wrote:

Perhaps you guys could help me. I work for a trade union and am responsible for organising call centre workers into the union. This usually involves me responding to calls from staff who are being treated poorly, their emplyment rights being breached, no pay rises etc. To help provide info on some of these topics the union I work for is developing a website:

http://www.cwucallcentres.ie/

And I would appreciate it if ye could take a moment to consider what information call centre workers might want to see on this kind of site. At this stage it is very much a work in progress.

much obliged.

BTW if anyone working in a call centre wants to contact me with any issue they have, feel free to do so by pm.

oh no a union person, lynch him lynch him the boards say...

I wouldn't have problem joining a union if I thought I needed it, even organising in the workplace, I don't know how anti-union the company I use to work for would be? (highly i suspect) but most people work part time for 6 months so they never bother with unions and they've probably never been in a union and theres no tradition of unions in callcenters or big IT companies anyway...i don't think it would be nesscesary.

mr cwu how many call centers have unionised workers? in ireland?

the thing is these companies are not regulated, and im not sure you could regulate them, I don't know if a union could help, its not that your getting treated badly as an employee its that the business is crap and you take the flak for that, my company kept putting up awards they've gotten for customer service so they might be passing that bit of reguation but that doesn't apply to the whole business, the companies don't supply the service advertised and frankly dont bother to.

callcentreworke

lostexpectation - there is a ring of truth to much of what you say though I'd hope the lynching thing was an attempt at humour. We union chaps are a force for good and evil I assure you.

Regarding your question on unionised call centre workers you'd be surprised just how many call centres there are which are unionised, I represent quite a few myself though other unions represent call centre workers in specific industries. You main point is however correct, there are a lot of non-union call centres and this is a largley to do with the reasons you point out - high staff turnover, unsatisfying work, poor management etc.

Though it is interesting to note that some call centres I have successfully unionised have improved the staff turnover rates and generally improved in a lot of other areas - including rates of pay for the staff - and though these places do not become a working nirvana - the staff were generally very happy with the improvements. So i suppose it could be argued that its a chicken and egg situation.

Bottom line for me is that there no easy fix to make call centre work hugely satisfying or rewarding (though I am open to suggestions) but what I do try to do is help those staff that come to me because their employment rights are being walked on or their management are being agressive/abusive (to say nothing of the customers) or they just want to improve their lot. And while achieving this is not easy, it is possible.

John Kimble

callcentreworke wrote:

Bottom line for me is that there no easy fix to make call centre work hugely satisfying or rewarding (though I am open to suggestions) but what I do try to do is help those staff that come to me because their employment rights are being walked on or their management are being agressive/abusive (to say nothing of the customers) or they just want to improve their lot. And while achieving this is not easy, it is possible.

I agree. I think that due to the nature of the work (logging complaints, repetition of tasks etc) it is inherently unrewarding but management could certainly take steps to minimize this. From my own experience, I don't think workers get adequate breaks from their workstations. The problem is that while no company in this day and age is going to contravene the law with regards to break time, they tend to give only as much as is legally required. Which isn't very much.
Good luck with the website. I'll certainly PM you with some more issues if I can think of any.

lostexpectation

callcentreworke wrote:

Regarding your question on unionised call centre workers you'd be surprised just how many call centres there are which are unionised,

willing to name any?

callcentreworke wrote:

You main point is however correct, there are a lot of non-union call centres and this is a largley to do with the reasons you point out - high staff turnover, unsatisfying work, poor management etc.
Though it is interesting to note that some call centres I have successfully unionised have improved the staff turnover rates and generally improved in a lot of other areas - including rates of pay for the staff - and though these places do not become a working nirvana - the staff were generally very happy with the improvements. So i suppose it could be argued that its a chicken and egg situation.

Bottom line for me is that there no easy fix to make call centre work hugely satisfying or rewarding (though I am open to suggestions) but what I do try to do is help those staff that come to me because their employment rights are being walked on or their management are being agressive/abusive (to say nothing of the customers) or they just want to improve their lot. And while achieving this is not easy, it is possible.

has unionising in call centers actually improved not the working conditions but actually improved the busines practices( as in getting some decent ones, not just filling quotas).

the problem I had was the managers were nice and/or admitted the business was **** and shifted the blame to the higher ups and you can't go the MD of the comany and tell them their business ethics are ****.

J.S. Pill

lostexpectation wrote:

willing to name any?

A lot of eircom call centre workers are represented by the CWU and the CPSU (though they tend to be the people who've been there a while as opposed to the young people who are just passing through so to speak). The management of eircom call centre staff was outsourced to a British company called capita in late 2005. I've no doubt that the terms and conditions offered to the workers would have been a lot more unfavourable were it not for the involvement of the unions.

PeakOutput

there were two unions in the call center i worked in siptu and amicus

callcentreworke

lostexpectation wrote:

willing to name any?


has unionising in call centers actually improved not the working conditions but actually improved the busines practices( as in getting some decent ones, not just filling quotas).

the problem I had was the managers were nice and/or admitted the business was **** and shifted the blame to the higher ups and you can't go the MD of the comany and tell them their business ethics are ****.

Among the companies already mentioned I would also point to the call centres run by the banks - AIB Direct Banking (they work in partnership with their union) and Banking 365, also the Vodafone call centre in Dundalk is unionised. And JS Pill is spot on regarding Capita, who have a good relationship with their Union and who actually won call centre of the world last year against stiff competition (from Apple and SAGE) and did so based on their people and culture - which I would suggest has a lot to do with the fact that they do business with the CWU on a sensible basis that benefits the company and the staff.


I agree that you cannot go to your MD and tell him the business ethics are crap - but then isnt that why you should join a union so that someone who is independent of the business, and therefore has nothing to fear, can say it on your behalf. Its what I spend a large amount of my time doing and often with surprising results. You'd be surprised how senior mangement exist in a little bubble, completely unaware of the frustration of their staff and often for the reason you have mentioned. Your line manager tells he'd love to help but what can you do ... i.e. I'm not sticking my neckout - the net result being that the very resonable suggestions/issues you have raised dont even make it to the ears of the real decision makers, who are then unaware of any problem!

Stephen

J.S. Pill wrote:

A lot of eircom call centre workers are represented by the CWU and the CPSU

Communist Party of the Soviet Union?

Agent Smith

i'm currently working in a call centre,
i like it here, i get to use my tech skills, and its a great way to get onto the ladder.
where i work offer education help, and I hope to do the n+ and a+ with them.

i was only in the door, when i was in a bit of an accident at home, and they were really supportive. getting time off for hospital apointments was no problem.

the company i work for seems to look after its staff, i've had nothing but good experiances here so far.

joe

JæKæ

I used to work in an ISPs call centre in Waterford, servicing the UK. I managed to stand it for about a year, mainly cos some sound people worked in it.
Then moved on to a famous Computer manufacturer based in South Dublin/Wicklow. What a hole of a place. Full of socially inept IT geeks, unemployable to anyone else. Almost anyone that stayed any longer than a year fell inot this category really. I was fired after 8 monthsfor not hitting targets. One of the targets being to say 'are you happy with the service from ****'. We had to say it at the end of every call. Boll** to that. They didn't care half as much about your fix rate.
Gettin fired was the best thing ever happened to me, went on to a decent Helpdesk/Sys Admin role and learned huge amounts.
People that come out of college with an IT degree or cert have no real choice but to go do time in a call centre, no wonder no-one wants to do IT in college any more.

J.S. Pill

JæK&#230 wrote:

I was fired after 8 monthsfor not hitting targets. One of the targets being to say 'are you happy with the service from ****'. We had to say it at the end of every call.

Scripts have to be one of the most dehumanising practices that call centres can have. Having guidelines on how to handle a call is perfectly reasonable (and sometimes calls have to be scripted to include certain information for legal reasons) but scripting a call like that is incredibly irritating for the agent and a lot of customers are put off when they think they're speaking to a robot.

If you're deviating from a script just make sure everyone else is doing it first and try be subtle about it.

kittenkiller

Hi,

If you guys could come up with 4 or 5 things that'd make call centre life a little more pleasant, what would they be?

We're switching our department to a more call centre-type envirnoment and I'd be really interested to know how to not fall into the robot/battery hen atmosphere you guys are describing.
I know that the customers will always be problematic, but until the killing spree that won't change.

Any advise?