Working in a call centre, what it's really like
I have worked for BT, NTL, Cable and Wireless and even NYNEX, usually in a call centre environment and I can totally sympathise with the call centre staff. Particularly call centre staff who are often poorly paid and are quite literally treated worse than battery hens in a cage. It's shocking how badly these people are treated. First of all they are blamed for a multitude of sins by the customer about things that are completely beyond their control. As if that isn't bad enough, next they are treated like cannon fodder for the company to blame when it all goes wrong.
As I have found out first hand, the constant threat of redundancies often hangs over all call centre staff. You're expendable don't you know? Recruitment drives are another feature of call centres and as a new employee you will be presented with lots of smiling and happy faces when you first start. Well don't you believe it for a minute! When those calls are queueing, the team leaders will be running round like headless chickens doing everything they can to avoid taking calls themselves, but they will push you to get you to hurry up so you can to get onto your next call.
The aim is to shorten your call time (or AHT - average handling time) and the result is often a poor level of service. This is because you are unable to take a breath between calls or to actually finish what you were doing before moving on to the next call.
Believe it or not to get ahead in a call centre you have to be slightly incompetent. Every team leader I knew or ever had was terrible as a Customer Service Representative (CSR), yet despite this, they were the ones who were promoted to the rank of team leader. They would then get their own team of about ten people, a few thousand pounds a year more and of course their own company mobile! They would take numerous meetings (sometimes 3 or 4 a day) and then complain to anyone who would listen how hard it was to fill out forms all day long.
I don't blame them for not wishing to take calls I suppose. These people would do anything to avoid calls, particularly the difficult ones! A classic tactic would be to "delegate" or send in the most experienced team member to deal with the awkward ones!
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Nothing is ever good enough for your team leader. Last week I hit 7 out of my 8 targets and I felt pretty good but my team leader said it wasn't good enough. My eighth target doesn't even matter but as usual my efforts were not good enough. They really clamp down on absence too, I've had 2.5 days off sick in just 12 month which is nothing compared to some other folk and I'm bordering on disciplinary if I'm off again. I'm fed up of been monitored on how many seconds it takes me to wrap-up a call, how many seconds I have my customer on hold for etc. Yes I'm job hunting but again just call center jobs galore. Oh well, at least it pays my rent and feeds me.
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Customer service advisor - 2-Jun-11 10:05
Call centre workers should collectively sue their employers for the stress caused. Its slave labour akin to Dickensian practice: picking oakum in the workhouse. Breaking rocks on Dartmoor.
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Close 'em down - 13-Apr-11 18:25
I have worked in a variety of call centres and agree with most of what has been said previous.
The problem is is that you cannot help a great deal of the customers as you are just an answering maching advising them of the progress of their claim etc. You cannot actually process anything. When customers phone up they wont action (money/a proper answer) and you cannot advise them when something will be done. Call centres are a hotbead of stress and I have worked with a number of people who have actually gone onto anti depressants as a result .
Of course there are lots of managers and supervisors as well (who sometimes are quite reluctant to go on the phone). You will find lots of these people ,particularly in the public centre .
The problem is is that you cannot help a great deal of the customers as you are just an answering maching advising them of the progress of their claim etc. You cannot actually process anything. When customers phone up they wont action (money/a proper answer) and you cannot advise them when something will be done. Call centres are a hotbead of stress and I have worked with a number of people who have actually gone onto anti depressants as a result .
Of course there are lots of managers and supervisors as well (who sometimes are quite reluctant to go on the phone). You will find lots of these people ,particularly in the public centre .
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I moved from office to call centre work a number of yrs ago, I thought call centre work would be a new challenge and I would be helping people. Over the yrs I have worked in a number of call centres, each getting worse. I worked for the DWP Jobcentre Plus; I was looking forward to a long future with the Civil Service but on my induction I was told they expect staff to stay for 2-3 yrs max as they have a high turnover of staff. The DWP have the most complicated sickness policy I have ever come across. After each sickness I would be interrogated, even about my personal life. Each return to work meeting was minuted, anything they could use to discredit you or say it affects your work. The employer was never happy until you worked your ass off and gave everything to your job, pity they didn't pay enough. Advancement was down to whether your face fitted, if you done enough ass kissing, you better not have had any sickness or expressed an opinion other than that of the employer. My manager was very moody, and would tell you off in front of your colleagues or talk too as if you are stupid. The DWP call centres are so inconsistent; each manager has their own way of working. I was told off for being 1 min late back from break, whilst another day nothing might be said. Everything was target driven; you are only a number not an individual. I soon learnt the only way to survive was to disassociate from the customer, just think of the call handling time and after call time. I was LUCKY to get out of the call centre. Call centres are a stress breeding ground! I couldn't believe the number of staff with degrees; employers obviously have the pick of quality people during this current economic climate. I see the future of call centre as less Customer Care and worsening working condition. If you are lucky enough to work in a so call good call centre, you are the lucky one, but watch out for those changes.
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Guardian angel - 24-Mar-11 02:18
Well I find this amazing! I work in a call centre and do a mix of sales calls and customer service. Whilst we are encouraged to take calls as quickly as possible we are also encouraged to make sure every cs call gets the attention it deserves. The attitude is aftersales care is important to encourage further sales. OK we do get the odd nasty customer but on the whole most of them are perfectly friendly. Lucky us eh!
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There are good call centres and bad call centres. Lack of Customer service training and young inexperienced staff is the problem of the Call Centre Company and not the staff. Why are bad call centres not training their staff properly?
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I've worked in a call centre for a retail bank for over 4 years and I enjoy my job. Customers do come through shouting and screaming with threats etc. but we are extensively trained on complaint handling, even to the extent of learning basic psychology. Generally, I just half-listen until the rant has finished. When they have let off some steam, I just speak calmly and advise either what action I will take, or when I will call back and normally at this point the customer has chilled out and is just pleased something is being done. 95% of customers are fine when they come through though. I guess where I work we are given good systems, have intelligent managers and decent training. I really feel sorry for workers who get treated so appallingly - reading some of the comments here makes me feel way too lucky.
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Call centres are run on Theory-X grounds, by managers/supervisors fully promoted to their level of incompetence. These are wholly demoralising institutions, worked by depressed staff. Theory-X ensures apparent, but fake high productivity, at the cost of total customer disatisfaction with the service, but there is a significant loss in the quality of service.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_theory_Y
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_theory_Y
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Lose your Esteem: Work in a C - 15-Oct-10 00:23
I hate the way the managers in call centers monitor how many toilet breaks you take in a day. Sorry but if I want to go I will go, I don't care if my break time is only half an hour away or I've just had a lunch I'm going to the toilet. When your talking on a phone all day you need drinks to freshen your mouth and not everyone fancies holding a wee in and risking a wanter infection for the sake of "getting told off by a team leader".
When I used to work in an office I used the bathroom alot but they never said anything to me, the reason because I didnt have to put myself in personal everytime I left my desk.
They accuse us of skiving off but why the hell would anyone want to skive in the toilets thats smell like s****?? And you cant hang around in the break areas or a team leader might see you so where they get the skiving idea from is beyond me.
So I have been asked to produce a note from my doctor explaining I have a weak bladder so it excuses the amount of personal I have per day . . . . I dont think I shall be doing that, for a start I dont have a weak bladder and second of all my doctor has better things to do and third a toilet break is a basic human right.
So if you want me to have an accident at my desk for the sake of your precious figures then do one coz I aint, If I need to go I will go. End Of.
When I used to work in an office I used the bathroom alot but they never said anything to me, the reason because I didnt have to put myself in personal everytime I left my desk.
They accuse us of skiving off but why the hell would anyone want to skive in the toilets thats smell like s****?? And you cant hang around in the break areas or a team leader might see you so where they get the skiving idea from is beyond me.
So I have been asked to produce a note from my doctor explaining I have a weak bladder so it excuses the amount of personal I have per day . . . . I dont think I shall be doing that, for a start I dont have a weak bladder and second of all my doctor has better things to do and third a toilet break is a basic human right.
So if you want me to have an accident at my desk for the sake of your precious figures then do one coz I aint, If I need to go I will go. End Of.
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I have worked in call centres since I wad 19 and I'm 24 now (oh my god where has my life gone lol) I'm on my 2nd c/centre job and they are all the same. Your the model employee she all your targets are hit but the minute you slide all He'll let's loose! I did a stint on sales and it's sooooo soul destroying I practically begged for a job on the customer service line, I got it , I likeitbut the team leaders (that's all they are they are not managers) are brain dead, very reluctant to get on the phones....... I have just completed a coaching course to reduce my AHT and I just though look , if mrs smith wants rant about how appauling her bras are for 20min then what can I do about it? Callcenters..... Just a job! X
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I agree with most of the above. Some people can handle call centre work better than others though it must be said. It is a boring job in a highly controlled environment with a crazed emphasis on targets. The targets tend to focus on getting the customer off the phone as fast as possible with little thought as to whether or not the customer has been helped.
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I know exactly what it is like to work in a call centre. Once I was off sick with really bad morning sickness. Team leader called and told her what I had. Among other things she actually asked me if I was taking any tablets for it. I was absolutley speechless, I said it's morning sickness, you cannot take a tablet for that. I could tell she was embarressed and admitted she was reading from a script and that the call was probably being recorded.
Just about everyone that worked there was miserable and pressure to reduce call time was enormous with very little empasis on customer satisfaction although great pretence was manufactured about customer service.
I am afraid I was a very poor operator, as I actually tried to resolve customers issues, (I learnt a lot about other departments and how things got done and managed to bypass the very long line to get things done) much to the customer delight. Glad that I have left.
Just about everyone that worked there was miserable and pressure to reduce call time was enormous with very little empasis on customer satisfaction although great pretence was manufactured about customer service.
I am afraid I was a very poor operator, as I actually tried to resolve customers issues, (I learnt a lot about other departments and how things got done and managed to bypass the very long line to get things done) much to the customer delight. Glad that I have left.
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I used to work in a call centre, the constant abuse from customers and team leaders left me in a state of deep depression, and that was over a year ago.
When my son was made redundant he went to work for the Bank of Sotland in Rosyth, I told him it really was not a good idea. Call centre's are sweat shop's and extremly bad for a person's health. But he needed a job, recently he was ill, they called him 2 times ever day demanded he went to the doctors on the 3rd day saying the doctor was not doing enough to get him back to work , he spend 6 hours in hosiptal and was given a sick line but his team leader demanded that he call twice a day to tell him when he was coming back to work, he has been of 1 week.
This is the sorry state of our society ill people put under pressure to return to work even after a doctor has signed them of work.
When my son was made redundant he went to work for the Bank of Sotland in Rosyth, I told him it really was not a good idea. Call centre's are sweat shop's and extremly bad for a person's health. But he needed a job, recently he was ill, they called him 2 times ever day demanded he went to the doctors on the 3rd day saying the doctor was not doing enough to get him back to work , he spend 6 hours in hosiptal and was given a sick line but his team leader demanded that he call twice a day to tell him when he was coming back to work, he has been of 1 week.
This is the sorry state of our society ill people put under pressure to return to work even after a doctor has signed them of work.
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hi
i just wanted to say how right you are, I work for bt I was taking calls yesterday and my talk time was through the roof trying to sort out unhappy customers, when a manager came over sat down becide me and started to say how crap my calls were. I have worked for by for 10 years never befor have I ever had anyone make me feel so low. I am on what they call a pip the first one ever in all the years I have worked for them, I am suposed to get daily coaching this does not happen I have started to keep a note daily of what is happening so I can go o the union if needed. I feel totaly lost with knowone to talk to. I wish I could get another job.
i just wanted to say how right you are, I work for bt I was taking calls yesterday and my talk time was through the roof trying to sort out unhappy customers, when a manager came over sat down becide me and started to say how crap my calls were. I have worked for by for 10 years never befor have I ever had anyone make me feel so low. I am on what they call a pip the first one ever in all the years I have worked for them, I am suposed to get daily coaching this does not happen I have started to keep a note daily of what is happening so I can go o the union if needed. I feel totaly lost with knowone to talk to. I wish I could get another job.
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I have worked for an indian company called first source an out source company that work for sky an it was one of the worst jobs that I have EVER had. The customers were IDIOTS-they didn't know what a plug/ standby button or a viewing card was and I am not exaggerating. I spent most of my day thumping the poor table with frustration. My employers did not make it one bit easy, disciplinaries were handed out like sweets (for poor average handling time/ coming back from a break 30 SECONDS late etc) and I think because the customers can't actually see you they think your void from any human emotion and can talk to you how ever crappy they want to
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blonde-brunette - 13-Aug-09 00:56
To GrumpyOld Woman: I understand what you're saying but it's our company policy to offer the Market Research Society number that confirms we are genuine, plus contact to our head office as well as the link to our website. Our firm is also responsible for a lot of research carried out for programs such as crimewatch - we're in the credits and everything! So I do understand because I know I would be slightly wary if someone randomly called me asking questions but we explain absolutely everything and we still get people giving us verbal abuse and it's like...COME ON!! lol know what I mean? We'd prefer if they just hung up on us lol..seriously, it's better than having to be polite to people who insult us. It's unbelievable how much self control this job requires at times
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Yasmin, the problem is that alot of scams are perpetrated (or attempted) by companies who start the call saying "we're doing a survey, can you answert a few questions?" and if you stick with it they then say "congratulations, you have won..........".
This makes people very wary of market research calls.
This makes people very wary of market research calls.
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grumpyoldwoman - 24-Jun-09 08:30
And to all of the people making derogative comments about people working in call centres...not being funny, but in case you didn't realise..we're currently going through a RECESSION. If you know there's a call centre nearby paying more than minimum wage with flexible hours..and you've been giving out CV's left right and centre and not getting anywhere...then bloody hell - of course that's what we'll end up going for. We have the right to moan about it if we want to - if I could leave for another bloody job..I would - but I can't - everywhere around is me is making people redundant, closing down or already have enough staff. We can't all pick and choose what we do, sometimes it's a case of taking what's available (within reason, of course). So stop looking down on people, we all have to start off somewhere.
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I work for a call centre but of a different kind...lol I'm one of those dreaded telephone market researchers! We get abused because businesses (I work business shifts during the day) think we're calling them to scam them and steal there identities or some nonsense lol, we're literally just getting customer feedback, it's how companies find out what services to improve, take away or upgrade on to keep their customers happy. Yeah we get paid for it, but doesn't make it any less useful in the long run! Lol some people are just extremely rude and it's like mate..if you don't want to take part...then don't. Just hang up, don't tell me I make you sick, or that you can't stand people like me - I'm just doing my job and not harming anyone. Managing directors in particular do my nut in omg.
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I used to work for Sky, but I could not lie to myself anymore ,it could get worse and it did. In the end it was simple earn a resonable wage, put up with endless abusive customers,many have a point, yes it is true, if you want to buy a product, you will get straight throught to purchased , if you wish to complain you will sit in a que for 40 mins and yes you will be passed around and around . do you want to know the truth , most of us don't know what we are doing. Training in Sky is 3hrs then on the phone . When I told my team leader .....CEL as they are called now, I dont understand, I dont get it , the answer was tough, if Sky was in charge of the NHS, I could be a doctor within a week.
CEL's don't want to talk to customers, they are only interrested in targets, and if you dont meet that target , your for it.
Infact Sky models itself on 1984, perfect working model of a panoptician society, for many who have to work there , its HELL.
Next time you have to call Sky, have a little humanitarianism for those operators,it is not there fault they have to work there if they could find another job they would.
CEL's don't want to talk to customers, they are only interrested in targets, and if you dont meet that target , your for it.
Infact Sky models itself on 1984, perfect working model of a panoptician society, for many who have to work there , its HELL.
Next time you have to call Sky, have a little humanitarianism for those operators,it is not there fault they have to work there if they could find another job they would.
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