Travails in the call center (last of 2 parts)

(Last of two parts)

This call center agent didn’t die, but the child in her womb did. She spoke to BusinessWorld on condition of anonymity to tell her story.

She has worked in several call centers and has become a team leader, but promotion has only led to more stressful days and sleepless nights.

Knowing that she was going to be asked to do several weeks of overtime soon, she requested two days of leave after the scheduled overtime period in order to rest. It was during her overtime period that she learned she was pregnant.

There were problems. She experienced some spotting. Given medication by her doctor, she was warned that if she didn’t take time off for rest, she could miscarry. She notified her senior team manager about this, and mentioned that she had already filed for two days of leave. The senior team manager said only one leave day had been approved. She explained that she was spotting and could have a miscarriage. Describing the look on the team manager’s face, she said it was as if her request sounded “unreasonable.”

She went to work on what would have been her second vacation day, and bled.

“Alam nila na malakas na (They already knew that the bleeding was strong),” she said. “Pero pinatapos pa rin ’yung shift ko (But they still made me finish my shift).” While changing her pads during her shift, she noticed tissue along with the blood.

She went to her gynecologist, who said her uterus was clear. By the time she arrived home, the fetus emerged. “Ganito lang siya kaliit (It was just this small),” she said, holding her fingers slightly apart. “Pero korteng tao siya (But it was already shaped like a human being).”

Less than a week after the miscarriage, the senior team manager told her to return to work.

“Oh my God! Anong pinasukan kong company? Bakit ganito ang culture? (What kind of company did I join? Why is the culture like this?)…. They don’t care about your personal life or welfare,” she said as she related her story. “They are only concerned about the business.”

To be sure, when the human resources personnel saw that she was at the office so soon after her miscarriage, they sent her home and she was now able to take an extended leave.

Describing her experience in the industry, she said, “It’s like modern slavery.”

In a book by Jon Messenger, Offshoring and Working Conditions in Remote Work (published by the International Labor Organization in 2010) he cited call center agents working the night shift as being prone to sleep disorders, fatigue, eye strain, voice problems, and neck, shoulder, and back pains, as well as stress induced by harassment from irate clients, excessive and tedious workloads, performance demands, and monotony.

Gynecologist Rita R. de los Santos said there’s a growing body of research linking the night-shift schedule during pregnancy with impaired fetal growth and pre-term delivery.

“Research has suggested that the interference with the circadian rhythms or the body clock ultimately affects hormone levels, which could lead to miscarriage,” Dr. de los Santos said.

CARING FOR PEOPLE

“Everything is all about our people, if we don’t take care of our people, we will lose our people,” said Jose Mari P. Mercado, president and CEO of the IT & Business Process Association Philippines (IBPAP), a group of BPO companies, which includes top-performing members such as SPi Global, Stream Global Services, Convergys, Accenture, Teleperformance, and JP Morgan Chase Bank.

Mr. Mercado explained to BusinessWorld that companies spend much time and money attracting prospective employees, processing their applications, and training them, that it is only logical that they take care of their employees.

He went on to explain that IBPAP contributes to raising the industry’s standards through “brown bag sessions.” During these sessions, HR (human resource) managers from different companies have lunch and talk about what their companies offer to their employees.

“If I don’t do that, I will lose my people to you,” said Mr. Mercado. “That’s the subtle challenge we give to each other.

“By the way, it is not stressful every day,” he said. “There’s a lot of laughter on the floor. There’s a lot of fun on the floor.”

It is also cheaper for companies to spend on doctors and health benefits than to lose employees, Mr. Mercado said.

If, after a physical exam, an illness occurs, the employee concerned will be asked to go on leave to recover, then come back when he or she is ready for work. If an employee doesn’t follow doctor’s orders, there is little that the company can do, he said.

“They get sick; we get blamed.”

To break the monotony of working days, call centers organize creative activities, said Marie Ampeloquio, chief people officer of the HR department of SPi Global Makati.

Call centers have clubs engaged in sports and fitness, arts, music, dance, and photography, among others, to cater to the varied interests of their employees.

Special events are held, such as Santacruzans, Halloween, and Family Day; and there are weekly get-togethers among team members. There are also monthly concerts, dance competitions, sporting events, and annual holiday parties, mini-Olympics, and summer outings.

All these and more are stress busters, she said.

GIFT CERTIFICATES

Team leaders often have gift certificates in their pockets, said Mr. Mercado. If a customer gives a commendation after a call, the team leader rings a bell, makes a public announcement about the agent’s good performance, then hands the agent a gift certificate and says, “Have a Starbucks on me.”

“We keep looking for different ways to keep the spirit going on the floor,” said Mr. Mercado.

“Yes, it is stressful, but isn’t your job stressful?” he asked this reporter.

“And a lot of employers will tell you, that’s why I’m paying you a good salary,” he continued. “It’s not supposed to be a vacation. You did not join a country club.”

That good salary seems to have a weak hold on people though, as the industry’s attrition rate is high.

“The attrition rate right now in the industry is a staggering 30 to 40%,” said Ian Porquia, president of the BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN).

“That’s really big,” he said, adding that, for supervisors, their target is often an attrition rate of not more than 10% of the total work force.

“One of the reasons why the attrition is so high is because people are not satisfied with the benefits given by the company. They were promised this and that, but come payday, [they’re] surprised that this is the only thing they’ll get.”

“Eventually the employee will resign and transfer to another company expecting that it will be better,” said Mr. Porquia. “[Then] they realize, pangit din pala dun, kaya magre-resign ulit (the benefits aren’t good there either, so they’ll resign again).”

STAY PUT

One call center agent recalled the time her boss refused to have her brought to the hospital despite the office doctor’s advice.

Knowing she had hypertension, which she had developed while working at another call center, she asked her team leader if she could go to the clinic when she started feeling ill. Her boss said yes. At the clinic, they found out her blood pressure was 200/110. The doctor said she should be sent to a hospital. Instead, she found herself back in her seat, answering calls.

While she was attending to the calls, her supervisor was arguing with the doctor, saying, “Nag-iinarte lang ’yan. Kaya pa niyan. (She’s just overacting. She can still handle it).” Finally, around 20 minutes later, she was rushed to the hospital.

At that time, the different call center teams had an upselling competition, and she said she was the best at upselling in her team. If the team won, the team leader would get a free trip to China.

A call center manager in another company also found himself in an emergency room after experiencing hypertension. While there, he received a text from his supervisor saying that if he could still make it back to office, then he should do so.

“Nasa ER ka na nga pinapabalik ka pa (You’re already in the ER and you’re still being asked to return),” he said. “Parang wala kang karapatan magkasakit (It’s as if you have no right to get sick).”

Even if a fire alarm goes off, call center agents are not allowed to abandon their seats, claimed another agent. The protocol in her company is that a manager checks first before allowing the employees to file out of the building. “It happened to us,” said this agent.

It turned out to be a false alarm.

“But what if it was real?”

A GROWING WORK FORCE

Despite these experiences, call center jobs seem to be flooding the market. According to BIEN’s Mr. Porquia, the government is projecting that, from a current labor force of about 900,000, the BPO industry will have 1.6 million employees in 2016.

From its current annual gross revenue of $13 billion, the industry’s revenues can possibly shoot up to $25 billion.

“Why are we successful? Here’s what one client said: when a customer is talking to a Filipino agent, he knows that the agent is smiling while talking to [that customer]. Because they are happy to serve. It’s our natural service-culture orientation,” Mr. Mercado said. –Jasmine T. Cruz and Jeffrey O. Valisno, Businessworld

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