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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
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
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
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
All Barry Caerphilly Cardiff MerthyrTydfil
Newport
Very interested Fairly interestedNot very interested Not at all interestedDon't know
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
All Barry Caerphilly Cardiff MerthyrTydfil
Newport
Made me more interested Made me less interestedMade no difference Don't know
BASE: all respondents (200)
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
CALL CENTRE COURSE PARTICIPANTS
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
CALL CENTRE COURSE PARTICIPANTS
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
CALL CENTRE COURSE PARTICIPANTS
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
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
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