Information for Call Centres
Leeds is one of the UK’s largest centres for telephone based customer services or ‘call centres’. Leeds has the largest number of call centres employing over 100 people outside London. Leeds City Council’s Health and Safety Service are the enforcing Authority for the majority of call centres.
The nature of call centre work is such that stress can affect call centre operatives in particular. Stress to call centre employees can be caused by:
- Unrealistic workloads - too much work given within the time allocated.
- Inadequate training provision for the tasks to be carried out.
- Quantitative and qualitative performance monitoring and targets. Many aspects of the work are measured; answer time, call time, wrap up time and post-call clerical work is all measured.
- Repetitive, boring or unchallenging work.
- A poor physical environment – for example ‘hot desking’ (which can mean a poor ergonomically designed workstation) or a lack of control over physical conditions (e.g. being unable to open windows for fresh air).
- Verbal abuse from callers.
- Changing shift patterns with short notice.
- Having no control over the timing and frequency of incoming calls.
- Organizational changes in a rapidly expanding industry.
- Inadequate breaks away from the phones
Being under pressure at work can be a good thing; it often improves performance. But when demands and pressures become excessive, this can lead to stress. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines stress as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demands placed on them”. An estimated 0.5 million workers in the UK report that they have suffered illness as a result of work related stress (WRS).
Contact centre managers and supervisors should be aware of the common symptoms of stress and should look out for these within their staff. The symptoms of stress fall into three general areas and include
Behavioural symptoms - Mood changes, irritability, panicking, working more slowly than usual, fatigue, not eating or overeating, forgetting facts and agreements, inability to make decisions, anxiety, increased accidents and errors, over indulging in alcohol and/or cigarettes.
Physical symptoms - increased heart rate, high blood pressure, back pain, headaches, skin and gastro-intestinal problems.
Cognitive symptoms - Depression, anxiety, anger, being obsessive about things, constant worrying, never seeing the positive.
All employers have a legal duty to ensure that employees are not made ill by their work. They need to identify and assess the risks of WRS and to take action to prevent or reduce it as far as is reasonably practicable.
Ignoring the issue of stress in the workplace can also cost businesses money
Work related stress can cause ill health. This in turn can cause higher absenteeism which causes additional pressure for remaining staff and the cycle perpetuates. Businesses may even face civil claims for compensation from staff.
Customer satisfaction decreases due to longer call waiting times, poor attitude to customers from remaining staff and poor service from staff not trained in areas of the business they are being asked to handle during colleagues absences. Ultimately poor service may encourage customers to choose to do their business elsewhere.
The impact of work related stress on businesses can also be measured through lower productivity and poor industrial relations
Increased staff turnover due to stress results in additional costs to the business in terms of advertising posts and recruitment etc
Useful guidance for both employers and employees on tackling work related stress can be downloaded from the Health and safety executive (HSE) website.
If you wish to seek further general or specific advice or assistance on health and safety issues, please contact the health and safety service using the contact details provided on this page.