Call-centre work: specific characteristics and the challenges of work organisation

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Weinkopf
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Work Organisation ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Call Centres ◽  
Corporate Form ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Low Pay ◽  
Modern Form

In recent years call-centres have been, in many countries, one of the fastest growing areas of employment. The services provided by them are as diverse as their corporate form: call-centres may form part of existing companies but they may equally well be new independent serviceproviders. It is frequently asserted that they are invariably a modern form of sweatshop or dark satanic mill, with low pay, poor working conditions and highly flexible working time. In this contribution the characteristics of call-centre work are analysed more closely and it is shown that the quality of jobs is in practice extremely variable. In spite of difficult general conditions, a number of starting points for a better organisation of work and collectively agreed regulation exist.

Lost in Transition? Managing paradoxical situations by inventing identities

Paragrana ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 306-318
Author(s):  
Iris Clemens
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Call Centres ◽  
Life Styles

AbstractThe article focuses on Ashim Ahluwalias documentation John and Jane, which describes the living conditions, life styles and ambitions of six call centre employees in Mumbai at a time when call centres were not yet questioned in Indian society in respect of their working conditions or social implications. One main focus of the documentation therefore is a more general transition of Asian countries. The call centre agents embody almost perfectly this time of transition: Indians during day time who have never been abroad but become well trained Americans at night, their bodies still in India, but their mind overseas. This striking example is taken to analyse the framing of humans in times of globalisation and the related virtuality of constructions, including their own bodies.

scholarly journals Tecnologies of defining the indicators of call centre

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-67
Author(s):  
Ana Kobiashvili ◽  
◽  
Ketevan Kutateladze ◽  
Nodar Darchiashvili ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Level ◽  
Optimal Number ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Treatment Service ◽  
Level Indicator ◽  
Call Centres ◽  
Operational Level ◽  
Criteria For Selection ◽  
Selection Of

A great number of calls enter call centres daily. It is difficult to determine the state of the call cenre without evaluation of the indicators of the call centre operational level. In order to control all significant indicators it is necessary to have software, which will allow a real-time monitoring of various data. The paper describes all significant indicators of operational level of the call centre, such as the duration of waiting for the answer; volume of calls; the duration of call treatment; service level indicator; the percentage of those calls, which helped to fix the problem; the quality of conducted services. The assignments of each of them are discussed, definatory formulae and examples of some indicators are given, criteria for selection of an optimal number of call centre operators are analyzed, theoretical and practical assessments of various indicators of calls are conducted and necessary recommendations for improving the performance of a call cenre are formed as well.

scholarly journals Global forces and national Institutions: call centre work in Colombia

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Call Centres ◽  
National Institutions ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of this article is to contribute to the discussion about the relationship between global forces and national institutions, from a Latin American perspective. In addition to presenting some data about the diffusion of information and communications technologies in Latin America, we try to establish the relationship between some characteristics of Colombian society and the particular nature of the working conditions and employment relationships in call centres in this country, drawing on some exploratory case studies of call centres carried out in 2004, that formed part of a larger ongoing research project. It concludes that several features that are specific to the Colombian context appear to play a major role in shaping working conditions in Colombian call centres, including the particular characteristics of the labour market, the low regulatory power of the State, low compliance with labour laws, the persistence of the armed conflict that weakens all social and labour movements and the existence of a ‘culture of distrust’. This suggests that the national institutional environment exerts an important role in shaping local working conditions, even when powerful global forces are at play.

scholarly journals ‘Women’s work penalty’ in access to flexible working arrangements across Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejung Chung
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Women's Work ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Schedule Control ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Women’S Work ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Low Pay

Many assume that women and workers in female-dominated workplaces will have better access to flexible working arrangements. Some use this as justification for the low wages found in these workplaces. Yet, empirical results are mixed. I explore this question by examining workers’ access to schedule control across 27 European countries, and find no discernible gender differences in access to schedule control when individual and company-level characteristics are taken into account. However, working in female-dominated jobs and/or sectors significantly reduces access to schedule control for both men and women. This ‘women’s work penalty’ in female-dominated sectors varies across Europe but nowhere was the access better compared to sectors where both genders are equally represented. This raises concerns regarding the lack of favourable working conditions, in addition to low pay found in female-dominated workplaces.

Scoundrels or Stars? Theory and Evidence on the Quality of Workers in Online Labor Markets

2016 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne M. Farrell ◽  
Jonathan H. Grenier ◽  
Justin Leiby
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Online Labor Markets ◽  
Online Labor ◽  
Low Pay

ABSTRACT Online labor markets allow rapid recruitment of large numbers of workers for very low pay. Although online workers are often used as research participants, there is little evidence that they are motivated to make costly choices to forgo wealth or leisure that are often central to addressing accounting research questions. Thus, we investigate the validity of using online workers as a proxy for non-experts when accounting research designs use more demanding tasks than these workers typically complete. Three experiments examine the costly choices of online workers relative to student research participants. We find that online workers are at least as willing as students to make costly choices, even at significantly lower wages. We also find that online workers are sensitive to performance-based wages, which are just as effective in inducing high effort as high fixed wages. We discuss implications of our results for conducting accounting research with online workers. Data Availability: Contact the authors.

scholarly journals Sleep Disturbance, Sleep Disorders and Co-Morbidities in the Care of the Older Person

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Christine E. Mc Carthy
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Disturbance ◽  
Sleep Disorders ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Medication Management ◽  
Sleep Complaints ◽  
Co Morbidity ◽  
Sleep Assessment ◽  
Form Part

Sleep complaints can be both common and complex in the older patient. Their consideration is an important aspect of holistic care, and may have an impact on quality of life, mortality, falls and disease risk. Sleep assessment should form part of the comprehensive geriatric assessment. If sleep disturbance is brought to light, consideration of sleep disorders, co-morbidity and medication management should form part of a multifaceted approach. Appreciation of the bi-directional relationship and complex interplay between co-morbidity and sleep in older patients is an important element of patient care. This article provides a brief overview of sleep disturbance and sleep disorders in older patients, in addition to their association with specific co-morbidities including depression, heart failure, respiratory disorders, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, nocturia, pain, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, polypharmacy and falls. A potential systematic multidomain approach to assessment and management is outlined, with an emphasis on non-pharmacological treatment where possible.

Working Conditions and Special Educators’ Reading Instruction for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

2021 ◽  
pp. 001440292199982
Author(s):  
Hannah Morris Mathews ◽  
Jennifer L. Lillis ◽  
Elizabeth Bettini ◽  
David J. Peyton ◽  
Daisy Pua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Collegial Support ◽  
Instruction Time ◽  
Role Conceptions ◽  
Students With Ebd

Working conditions may be an important lever to support special educators’ reading instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Thus, we explored how working conditions relate to the quality of special educators’ reading instruction in upper-elementary, self-contained classes for students with EBD. Using mixed methods to examine video observations of reading instruction and varied data sources on working conditions, we found that special educators who provided stronger instruction had a partner coleading their program, and consistent paraprofessionals, with time and support for training. Partners and paraprofessionals, together, protected special educators’ instruction time. Other conditions (i.e., material resources, role differentiation, role conceptions, planning time) emerged as potentially important, but evidence was less robust. Results indicate partners and paraprofessionals may be important forms of collegial support. These findings have important implications for improving the quality of instruction in self-contained settings for students with EBD.

Comparison Experiment for Two Kinds of Hypoid Gear Drives

2010 ◽  
Vol 20-23 ◽  
pp. 1385-1390
Author(s):  
Hong Bin Yang ◽  
Xiao Hong Wang ◽  
Zong De Fang
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Test Object ◽  
Hypoid Gear ◽  
Gear Drive ◽  
Comparison Experiment ◽  
Gear Drives

To develop a good quality of hypoid gear drive, the authors test the vibration and noise of two kinds of hypoid gear drives under different working conditions. The test object is a pair of hypoid gear drive used in the back axle of one minivan and a designed hypoid gear drive with high teeth based on the former. The results indicate that the hypoid gear drive with high teeth has lower vibration and noise.

Male-Female Wage Differences: The Importance of Compensating Differentials

ILR Review ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall K. Filer
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Compensating Differentials ◽  
Wage Differences ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Female Wage ◽  
Wage Equations ◽  
Employment Survey

This study investigates the extent to which differences in average earnings between men and women may be the result of sorting by the sexes into jobs with different average levels of disagreeable and agreeable working conditions. An analysis of data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey shows that, on average, men and women hold jobs with substantially different working conditions and that these differences are of a pattern suggesting the need to pay higher wages to attract employees to the jobs held by men. Estimation of wage equations shows that these differences in working conditions contribute significantly to the ability to explain average earnings for each sex.

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