Call centres: the way forward - or sweatshops of the future?

Orange have just announced the creation of 2,000 call centre jobs and the focus is once again directed on the growing trend of call centres.

Critics call them sweatshops, advocates call them the working solution for the future; what makes them so special and why are there so many companies moving in on the scene?

Orange chief operating officer, Bob Fuller says: "These new call centres will enable us to meet that demand, maintain our high standards and continue to deliver the best customer service in the industry."

The NHS, British Airways and mobile and landline phone companies are all advocates of the call centre industry. With over half a million people expected to work in call centres by 2002, the trend is growing.

The call centre movement originated in the US with telebanking and moved into the UK through direct line helpdesks. The finance union UNIFI says one of the reasons call centres have become so popular is because cheaper and more advanced technology is available.

More and more companies, if not directly operating call centres themselves, will outsource their requirements to a company specifically set up to do so. With the expansion and availability of new technology including the internet and its capabilities for e-commerce, the traditional ‘telephonist' has been replaced by a customer service representative.

A study carried out by Strathclyde and Stirling University on the subject discovered that there was a specific type of person suitable for call centre work. Peter Bain, lecturer in human resource management at Strathclyde University said: "You can't take anyone off the street and put them in a call centre. The person who mans the phone is the first point of contact the person has." Research shows that around two-thirds of Scottish call centre staff are female.

Julie Crisp