Virginia DoellgastProfessor of Comparative Employment RelationsLondon School of Economics and Political Sciencev.l.doellgast@lse.ac.uk

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.cornell .edu/globalcallcenter/

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.cornellpress.cornel l .edu/book/?GCOI=80140100916220

Restructuring of call center and technician jobs in 10 incumbent telecommunications firms • USA, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, Italy,

Czech Republic, Polandhttp: / /www.academia.edu/4498267/Alternat ive_routes_to_good_jobs_ in_the_service_economy_Employment_restructur ing_and_human_resource_management_in_ incumbent_te lecommunicat ions_firms

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 securityLimits 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 difference 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 workOutsourcing

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

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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 different 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