PERCEPTIONS OF THE CALL CENTRE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH EAST WALES Presentation to Call Centre Forum Fiona...

PERCEPTIONS OF THE CALL CENTRE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH EAST WALES

Presentation to Call Centre Forum

Fiona McAllister, Market Research Wales

Nick Miller, Miller ResearchFebruary 2001

STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION

• INTRODUCTION

• RESEARCH FINDINGS

- Street Interview Results

- Focus Group Outputs

- Qualitative Interview Results

• CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES

Overall aim = to investigate root causes of

recruitment difficulties

Specific objectives were:

• To investigate why there are difficulties in recruiting

prospective staff onto call centre training/recruitment

initiatives in SE Wales

• To explore perceptions of call centre employment

generally

OBJECTIVES continued

• To highlight any negative attitudes which may exist &

may deter potential applicants from taking up

employment in sector

• To assess whether there is a need for TEC/CETW to

develop potential recruits so they are ‘job ready’ for

instant recruitment

METHODOLOGY

Approach taken linked together 3 research elements:

1. Quantitative survey of 200 potential call centre recruits across SE Wales

2. Two focus groups conducted with students on a call centre training course & potential recruits from outside the workforce

3. Series of qualitative interviews with training providers, recruitment agencies and employers across SE Wales

Fieldwork took place Oct-Nov 2000

RESEARCH FINDINGS

STREET INTERVIEW RESULTS

Q1/Q2: INTEREST IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF JOBS

%

33

20

27

26

33

30

33

37

44

45

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Call centre

Local authority/Council

Office

Shop

Factory

Would not consider working Would consider working

BASE: all respondents (200)

Q3: SPECIFIC INTEREST IN CALL CENTRE JOB

%

15

22

1134

20

Very interested Fairly interested Not very interestedNot at all interested Don't know


Q3: SPECIFIC INTEREST IN CALL CENTRE JOB

%Main Responses – Those Expressing

Interest

% Responses – Those Not Interested

%

I like talking to people 19 It doesn’t appeal to me 14

It is a job 16 Not my type of work 11

I would like to do something different

9 I don’t like talking on the phone

10

Too much stress/pressure

4

Boring 4

BASE: respondents expressing interest/non interest in call centre work (161)

Q5: PERCEPTIONS OF CALL CENTRES

%

7

39

55

62

47

61

66

61

22

9

23

7

14

12

40

37

32

32

27

29

29

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Call centres offer good opportunities forpromotion

The pay on offer in call centres is too low

There's too much pressure in call centre jobs

Call centres are friendly places to work

Call centres offer varied and interesting work

You can suit work hours to suit you and yourfamily in call centres

The work in call centres is boring and repetitive

Agree

Disagree

Don't know


Q5: BALANCE OF OPINION ON PERCEPTIONS OF CALL

CENTRE WORK %

Statement of Perception Balance of Agreement

%

You can suit work hours to suit you and your family in call centres

28

Call centres are friendly places to work 25

The pay on offer in call centres is too low 22

The work in call centres is boring and repetitive 18

There’s too much pressure in call centre jobs 17

Call centres offer good opportunities for promotion

13

Call centres offer varied and interesting work 9


Q6: AWARENESS OF CALL CENTRE TRAINING COURSES

%

33

13

25

135

18

68

88

70

88

6876

005

0

28

7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

All Barry Caerphilly Cardiff MerthyrTydfil

Newport

Yes No Don't know


Q7: INTEREST IN ATTENDING CALL CENTRE COURSE

%

13

23

8

20

151618

13

18

28

1819

13

23

1520

0

14

55

0

60

28

53

39

3

43

5

15

0

13

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Newport

Very interested Fairly interestedNot very interested Not at all interestedDon't know


Q9: ATTITUDES TOWARDS CALL CENTRE TRAINING COURSES

%

12

20

20

9

71

61

60

55

24

22

8

18

24

29

38

57

60

17

12

9

84

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

The colleges are too far away from where I live

Family commitments make it difficult for me to do acourse

The cost of travel to the college would put me off

I don't want to attend a college

I wouldn't want to lose my benefits by going on acourse

The training would help me achieve a real job

The guaranteed job interview is a good idea

Agree

Disagree

Don't know


Q10: ESTIMATES OF TYPICAL CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL

CENTRE SALARY P.A. %

38

10

34

25

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Don't know

£12.5+

£9.5k-£12.5k

Below £9.5k

Mean = £10.02k p.a


Q11: ACTUAL SALARY cf EXPECTATIONS

%

13

9

35

43

15

15

22

47

14

13

29

45

0 10 20 30 40 50

Don't know

Less than youwould haveexpected

More than youwould have

expected

About what youwould have

expected

Women Men All


Q12: EFFECT OF LEARNING SALARY ON INTEREST IN CALL

CENTRE WORK %

15

40

23

40

20

28

15

81083

9

70

50

65

50

6059

0333

18

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80


Newport

Made me more interested Made me less interestedMade no difference Don't know


FOCUS GROUP OUTPUTS

CALL CENTRE COURSE PARTICIPANTS

Perceptions of Training Course

Positive

• Gaining of essential skills &

building self-confidence and self-

discipline

“If you haven’t worked for a long

time, having to go in every day

really shakes you up….I

surprised myself over that four

weeks”

• Awarding of certificate

• Trainees not losing any benefits

by attending course

Negative

• Some found attending college a

shock

“Too much paperwork…. I

hadn’t worked for 20 odd years

and all the questions were about

being at work or at college”

“Too much crammed in - should

be longer”

• IT element intense for those not

computer literate


How Training Could Be Improved

• Content of course thought to be good, but could be longer

• College environment difficult for some, especially the more

mature

• Felt to be low general awareness of training & poor publicity for

call centres

• Perceptions based on stereotypes such as “adverts for

insurance on the TV”

• Trainees not aware of guaranteed employer interview at end of

course

• Employer visits widely welcomed, but experiences mixed,

depending on workplaces visited


Barriers & Incentives to Working in Call Centres

Barriers

• Pay, especially lack of overtime

payments at weekends

“I’d have to work four days at

**** to get what I get for two days

at (retailers), because I do

Sundays”

• Rates of starting pay with

employers who recruit through

agencies

“Start at £8,500 – I couldn’t

afford that”

Incentives

• Fairly positive perceptions of

nature of work carried out

“We asked them if there was

time pressure when you take

calls and they said no, it’s more

important that you satisfy the

customer, even if you take 20

minutes”

• Call centre employers perceived

as good at training staff


How Call Centres Could Attract More Staff

2 issues:

• Pay, especially overtime for “anti-social” hours

• Employers should be more proactive about going

into colleges and other centres

POTENTIAL CALL CENTRE RECRUITS

Perceptions of Call Centres

Overall downbeat perspective on call centre employment:

• Perception of having to deal with irate customers

• Fears of cold-calling/high pressure sales

“There’s only two types of call centres…. You’re either hassling people

to sell them something or you’re being shouted at (by customers)

because they’ve got some problem”

• Anecdotal evidence widespread

“She said it was the worst job she’d ever had”

• However, when prompted for knowledge of pay & conditions,

few had direct experience or insight

POTENTIAL CALL CENTRE RECRUITS

Perceptions of Call Centres continued

• No real knowledge of hours worked & perceptions of pay rates mixed

• When prompted with pay rates, men still not impressed

“That might be OK for a single person but it’s no good if you’ve got kids”

• Perceptions of working environment vague:

- lack of variety (although same as working in a factory)

- friendliness and team working – no real opportunities for conversation

as “you’re talking on the phone all the time”

- perceived to be high pressure by some

• No awareness of call centre training

QUALITATIVE INTERVIEW RESULTS

RECRUITMENT AGENCIES

Barriers To Recruitment

• Lack of appropriate careers advice in schools

• Need for positive PR

• Need to attract older people

Skills Issues

• No specific skills gaps identified

Staff Retention

• Labour turnover 20-25% (repetitive nature of job)

• To counter this, companies have to offer speedy and visible career

progression with constant training

• Influence of new technology may help increase retention by reducing

routine enquiries

TRAINING PROVIDERS

Barriers To Training

• Travel costs seen as disincentive to taking up training opportunities

• Fear of losing benefits also has impact

• Negative perceptions of sector felt to put potential recruits off –

seen as mundane & compounded by bad publicity around Firstline

• Training providers consider not enough interaction between

themselves & client companies

“There’s no dialogue at all - we just don’t know what employers

want”

• One trainer felt length of courses is too short due to funding

constraints

TRAINING PROVIDERS

Who Trains

• Typical trainee – late teens/early twenties, just left college/given up

first job

• Difficulties in getting women returners & mature applicants to train

Skills Being Delivered

• Perceived skills: basic verbal communications, literacy, numeracy,

administrative skills

• Basic skills a significant problem amongst trainees

• Ethnic minority recruits – English language skills sometimes lacking

Training & Progression in the Workplace

• Some employers do not provide enough progression opportunities

• Better training & development would benefit recruitment/retention

TRAINING PROVIDERSCall Centres As An Entry Point To

Labour Market

Positive

• Recruits on personal qualities, rather

than on formal qualifications

• Provides relatively well-paid entry into

labour market

• Quickly builds confidence

• Comparatively good wages on offer

• Perception of less internal pressure to

conform to stereotype of office workers

• Availability of flexible hours & casual

work

Negative

• Trainees have negative perceptions

of call centres: images of

regimentation & conformity with

prospect of humiliation if targets not

met

• Ethnic minorities: English grammar &

accents

• Perceived to be competitive/high

pressure

EMPLOYERS

Recruitment Issues

• Employers report tightening of labour market/increasing difficulty in

finding recruits - perceived to be due to local competition

• For inbound call centres – competitive difficulty of outbound centres

offering sales jobs with bonuses/incentive schemes

• Employers ideally want call centre experience when recruiting

• Many new recruits are young – but older workers & women

perceived to be more suitable

• Employers have difficulties in recruiting men

• Movement towards developing home teleworking for women

returners

EMPLOYERS

Salaries

• Salary levels in SE Wales may impact on its status as call centre

cluster

• Widespread disquiet about short-term effect of new entrants

Women Returners

• Perception that supply of women returners is drying up

• Also difficult to tap into this source - as with ethnic minorities, people

with disabilities, people over 50

Role of Employment Agencies

• Some employers report a declining relationship with agencies, now

failing to keep pace with clients’ demands for new recruits

EMPLOYERS

Disabled Recruits

• Unsuccessful attempts to recruit people with disabilities through New Deal

Negative Perceptions

• Majority of employers acknowledge widespread negative perceptions of

industry, especially poor media coverage

• Lack of marketing or promotion of call centre work in positive way

Skills Issues

• Employers looking for attitudinal skills, rather than formal qualifications

• Technical skills not considered important in recruitment

• Basic skills can be a concern – lack of literacy/numeracy

EMPLOYERS

Labour Turnover

• Labour turnover ranged from 15-20% up to 50% per year – varies according to

company culture, nature of work & type of staff recruited

• Some employers acknowledge embedding staff into a social culture improves

retention rates

• Agency staff tend not to stay long

Call Centre Training

• General awareness of Coleg Hafren course, but employers did not feel linked into it

& scale of course felt insufficient

• Perceived problem – calibre of people attending courses

• Content of course considered to be good general grounding

• Suggested that stronger links needed between providers & employers

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Increasing Take-Up of Training Courses

• Advertising campaign to recruit trainees for courses & industry to

raise awareness

• Investigate establishment of a centre of excellence

• Marketing of courses within colleges & Job Centres

• Facilitate a “recommend a friend” scheme

• Increase levels of co-operation between employers & training

providers

• Revisit location of training courses/suites

• Examine funding mechanisms for private sector training

• Tie in with basic skills provision

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS cont

Improving Industry Recruitment

• Facilitate showcasing of call centre environment to redress negative

perceptions & encourage new applicants

• Target women returners emphasising flexible hours, training

programmes, relatively good salaries, progression opportunities

• Market that employers are looking for “common sense” and a work

ethic, rather than computer/telephony skills

• Employers should examine pay structures – overtime rates during

unsocial hours

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS cont

Other Issues

• Growth in call centre market is leading to pressure on supply of

staff and consequent wage inflation

• Although problem in short-term, in longer term will be beneficial in

driving up value of activities carried out in call centres in SE Wales

• Employers need to take responsibility for redressing negative

perceptions of sector – perhaps by common advertising or

promotion

• Lack of co-operation between employers is having damaging effect

on sector development – concerted action by employers is vital

PERCEPTIONS OF THE CALL CENTRE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH EAST WALES Presentation to Call Centre Forum Fiona...

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