‘Power words can help call center workers reduce stress’

A demanding workload and difficult hours make working in the call center industry a highly stressful job.

A study conducted by the International Labor Organization last year revealed that over forty percent of night shift employees in the business process outsourcing sector work the night shift, which is associated with occupational safety and health concerns.

The study also indicated that BPO workers are constantly under high levels of stress, due to their heavy workloads, performance targets and tight rules and procedures. Other stress-inducing factors include harassment from irate clients, excessive and tedious workload, performance demands, monotony, and regular night work.

A recently released book suggests that improving one’s vocabulary will help reduce stress in the call center, claiming that “taking calls without knowing the right words may be hazardous to your health.”

“The words I included here actually got me sales, appeased an angry American customer, or helped me build relationships with them,” says author Rye Gutierrez of his eBook called “The Top 25 Power Words Every Call Center Agent Should Know.”

With experience as a sales professional in Los Angeles and a trainer for a top call center in Manila, Gutierrez hopes the book will help elevate the reader’s English from a basic conversational level to a professional, modern and natural-sounding mastery of the language.

The eBook also includes interviews with top leaders in the call center industry on what makes a great agent. Apart from call center agents, the book also targets trainers who can use the book as a tool for foundational skills training (FST), as well as for training modules in American culture, Business English, Customer Service, and Sales.

‘Poverty in English’

Proceeds from the eBook will be used for Gawad Kalinga’s English-Learning for Employment Accreditation and Development (E-LEAD) Training Program. The program, which Gutierrez founded, aims to empower low-income families in the Philippines to permanently get out of poverty by teaching them income-generating English communication skills.

“We’re finding there are two kinds of poverty in the Philippines: a poverty of money and a poverty in English. We’ve learned that if you address the poverty in English, you can address the poverty of money” says Gutierrez.

Earlier this year, the BPO industry began collaborating with the government and various schools to ensure that graduates joining the labor force will be competent. Former Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim of the now-defunct Commission on Information and Communications Technology said few of those who graduate can readily be utilized by the industry.

With signing bonuses and above-average pay grades, call center firms are attractive to jobseekers. But the competition is tough, and data from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines shows only 3 to 6 percent of applicants are actually hired. –CGL/KG, GMA News