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

• Autores: Claudia Weinkopf
• Localización: Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, ISSN 1024-2589, Vol. 8, Nº. 3, 2002, págs. 456-466
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • 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.