virginia doellgast professor of comparative employment relations london school of economics and...
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Virginia DoellgastProfessor of Comparative Employment RelationsLondon School of Economics and Political [email protected]
RAISING STANDARDS IN CALL CENTER JOBS
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
Global Call Center Project (Rose Batt, David Holman, Ursula Holtgrewe, coordinators)• Surveys in 20 countries: over 2500 centers surveyed, with
475,000 employeeshttp://www.i lr.cornel l .edu/globalcal lcenter/
Union impact on job quality in the USA and Germany • Telecommunications call centers and their subcontractors• Disintegrating Democracy at Work (Cornell University Press)http://www.cornel lpress.cornel l .edu/book/?GCOI=80140100916220
Restructuring of call center and technician jobs in 10 incumbent telecommunications fi rms • USA, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, Italy,
Czech Republic, Polandhttp: / /www.academia.edu/4498267/Al ternat ive_routes_to_good_jobs_ in_the_service_economy_Employment_restructur ing_and_human_resource_management_ in_ incumbent_telecommunicat ions_fi rms
RESEARCH PROJECTS
1. Background on the global call center industry
2. What do good call center jobs look like? (Where do we want to raise standards to?)
3. Where are standards (currently) better?
4. Challenges to raising standards – and how they can be overcome
OUTLINE
Global Call Center Project survey findings• 83% call centers served a national (not
international) market • 2/3 in-house – 1/3 subcontractor• 78% inbound
• Collective bargaining coverage highest in Europe in many countries >50% of centers much lower union presence in subcontractors
THE GLOBAL CALL CENTER INDUSTRY
Good jobs in call centers have:Good pay
Job security
Limits on monitoring (intensity, how it’s used)
Employee control over pace of work and working time
‘Fair and reasonable’ targets – ‘income security’
Example: Deutsche Telekom in Germany (circa 2005)
RAISING STANDARDS: TO WHERE?
Segment of the industry In-house better than outsourced better than offshored High value customers and markets
Laws, regulations, and collective bargaining make a diff erence Jobs better in ‘social Europe’ – best in Germany and
Sweden In these countries: call centers with collective bargaining had better jobs than those without
Importance of ‘encompassing’ laws and collective bargaining
WHERE DO WE FIND GOOD CALL CENTER JOBS?
How employers escape laws and collective bargaining:
Temporary agency work
Outsourcing
Subsidiaries
Examples: Escaping equal pay rules for temporary agency
workers in the UK Outsourcing and subsidiary creation at Deutsche
Telekom
CLOSING OFF THE LOW-ROAD: CHALLENGES
TDC
Telia
Sone
ra
Deuts
che
Tele
kom A1
Fran
ce T
elec
om
Tele
com
Ital
ia BT
AT&T
O2 Te
lefó
nica
CR
Orang
e Po
lska
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
% subsidiary% temp agency% subcontractor
Estimated % of call center employees “externalized”
Union responses to employer escape:
Agreements to bring work back into unionized companies: reduce costs and improve flexibility/productivity in-house
Extend collective bargaining: organize new industry segments and job types
Improve legal regulations, close loop-holes: minimum wages, equal pay rules, transfer of undertakings, freelancers, etc.
CLOSING OFF THE LOW-ROAD: STRATEGIES
Denmark
Sweden
Germany
Austria
FranceItaly
UK
USA
Czech Republic
India & Maghreb
Hourly pay for call center employees: in USD ($) based on purchasing power parity
Research shows : Best outcomes for workers where high collective bargaining coverage and strong bargaining rights
But: Employers use a range of strategies to escape from minimum standards in laws and union agreements Creates growing pressure to reduce pay & conditions in line with
the external “market”
Unions face diff erent political “opportunity structures” across countries: Different starting points and power resources Building vs. holding onto encompassing rules/protections
Increased importance of global solidarity in a globalized industry: reduce pressures for worker-to-worker competition
CHALLENGE: RAISE THE BOTTOM