Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Working Conditions for Call Center Employees: What a Mess

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Today call centers are very much in demand and with growing technology, every business needs a contact center to improve their business value in the market. They need call center agents for the call handling process. These agents receive the calls from the customers and answer to them regarding any of their queries. Their work also involves selling of the products and services of the company or organization to the customers.

These call center agents work in a very pressuring environment. They always have this pressure of achieving their targets hovering over their head. With the growing popularity of call centers and Call Center Outsourcing, their conditions should not get affected. The working conditions of the call center agents needs to improve. In a verdict of BPO seminars and conferences being held all over the world, it came out that the employees who flounder their backbone day and night and seems that they are more than unhappy at particular workplace and environment. There is no doubt about this issue that these complaints have too much to do with how things have changed with the BPO industry in the last few years.

Too much of work pressure, abrupt and sharp deadlines, fatiguing and formidable deadlines, all these leads to outburst of negative vibes within the answering service industry. To take a look over the pet peeves of the employees of the call center industry.

The beginning goes with a BOSS! In the words of an answering service agent, who preferred anonymity, the stereotypical boss of a BPO has been named as a “a yelling megalomaniac”. All those who are working must be knowing that their bosses in the office can be(they actually are) dictatorial and overbearing. We all have become so much used to of such attitude of our boss and this thing has actually become a genuine and obvious part of our professional lives. But with this increasing demand of BPOs today, things have become more worse than ever. Having plentiful in his plate, the bosses of these Call Center Outsource are just not able to keep it cool. It is always on the mind of every employee that in any time there could begin a jeremiad.



In an already worse situation, the TL or the supervisor becomes a cause of lowering down the call center echelons. This TL or supervisor now gets into a very thankless situation. As, his superior bullies him down for building an increase in the BPO profit margins. Because of the extensive recession, his resources are being chopped. With the result of this, the executives have become a subject to scrutinize every moment. Each of their action is being monitored. Getting grilled and roasted under the pressure has become a part of their daily lives. They are being intensely and severely reprimanded if they lack behind in the completion of their targets.

The call center agents feels themselves flickering on the branches of uncertainty. At times, they also get scared of the paucity of projects. Actually, they are concerned about losing their jobs. They sometimes feel like even weeping hard over the treatment being served by some of the answering service firms. But they remain buttoned up, as speaking up could bring them a termination letter. So, they try their utmost hard, to remain mum and carry all the pressure on their shoulders.

We should give a BIG thanks to surplus options in the department of manpower, they can very well sack you and get someone to do the work (same HIGH amount of work) at a lesser pay.