by Kohana Tani

Created on: December 02, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I have worked in various call centers for the last four years and I don't have many positive things to say about it. With all the call centers outsourcing to India, The Philippines and other foreign countries tied with sub-par service,employee morale and performance, there's another big stain on the call center industry's reputation. The only few good things about working in a call center is that you (literally) sit on your tush all day, and if you're lucky enough good pay. Other than that, I would stay away from call centers and I DO mean far away. Here's a long list of reasons why;

Constant Nitpicking: If it's not the QA (Quality Assurance) team, it's management (or for some the "client(s)" if you work for a third party call center) . The QA team nitpicks at every last thing you did on your call and the pressure of knowing that they can monitor you at any given time is worse (if you forget to say or do on e little thing, you get so many points taken away from your score). Management nitpicks about more things than anything and those things are: your stats, attendance, time away from the phone, and your calls. Every call center has their own criteria as to how high or low stats are and such, but the main ones that are pretty much the standard are: After Call Work, Average Handle Time, AUX Time and QA Scores. After Call Work is used to prevent another call from coming in if you need to notate an account (but we agents sometimes use it to catch our breath or vent when warranted). Average Handle Time measure how long your calls are on average and if it's too low or high it's not good, even if it's by a minute from the goal. Aux Time is how much time you spend away from the phone to go on your breaks or things like getting a drink or going to the restroom. Unlike the Average Handle Time stats, if you're Aux Time is too low, it's a good thing,but if it's too high then there's an issue. As far as the QA scores go, you only get scores from the calls you were monitored on by QA. It's really good if your QA scores are high, but too low sometimes can be an issue.

Restrictions: You are on a 2 foot corded leash for 8 hours a day and you're constantly scrutinized for every minute and second you spend on and off the phone. Some call centers give you an allotted amount of Aux time (which is pretty meager) for you to use and if you go above it, your supervisor will be on you like white on rice. Another thing is that you just do as you're told and there's little to no influence

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