Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Today’s age is called “The Age of Anxiety” and this century is called “The
Century of Stress”. Today vast majorities of people are in a state of Stress. Their fast-paced
lifestyle demands that they are raring to go always and are always under pressure to
perform. This pressure usually leads to Stress. Stress can be due to various reasons. And
Stress in many cases causes Tension, Depression, Anxiety, etc.
A lot of research has been conducted into ‘stress’ over the last hundred years. Some
theories about it are now settled and accepted; others are still being researched and debated.
Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of research on stress. He stated in 1956 that
“Stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how we take it.” The stress
of exhilarating, creative successful that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.
Since then, a great deal of further research has been conducted on the subject, and new ideas
have come to light.
Stress is now viewed as a "bad thing", with a range of harmful biochemical and long-
term effects. These effects have rarely been observed in positive situations. Stress is that
stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed
the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” In short, it is what
we feel when we think we have lost control over events. There are very many proven skills
that we can use to manage stress. These help us to remain calm and effective in high-
pressure situations, and help us avoid the problems of long term stress.
Stress is something that occurs all the time and affects everyone one way or another
at least some of the time. Stress can be a good thing. It can be a source of motivation to help
get something done or help one to react quickly to a potentially dangerous situation.
HISTORY OF STRESS
Since the origin of the term 'stress' it is ambiguous 'stress' began life as a variant on
'distress' in the 14th century. It meant the experience of physical hardship, starvation, torture,
and pain. These days, however, the term revolves around the medieval definition, in which
'stress' simply meant 'hardship'. The recent scientific developments inform us that 'stress' is
actually good for us. Stress is derived from the Latin word stranger, meaning to draw tight,
and was used in the 17th century to describe hardships or affliction. During the late 18th
century stress denoted "force, pressure, strain or strong effort," referring primarily to an
individual or to an individual's organs or mental powers (Hinkle, 1973).
As has already been noted, stress has been defined as a stimulus, a response, or the
result of an interaction between the two, with the interaction described in terms of some
imbalance between the person developed, particularly that surrounding the person-
environment (P-E) interaction, researches have considered the nature of that interaction and,
more importantly, the psychological processes which it takes place (Dewey, 1992).
It isn’t easy to find a generally acceptable definition of stress. The word with
different people takes different meanings … be it professionals, psychologists, doctors,
engineers, management consultants, all use the word in their own distinctive ways.
Management consultants talk in terms of organizational challenges, psychologists in terms
of human behaviour and doctors in terms of psychological mechanisms.
At one end of a scale, stress represents those challenges that excite us and keep
us on our toes whereas on the other end, stress represents those conditions under
which individuals have demands made upon them that they cannot physically and
psychologically meet. Hence, at one end, stress is a life- saver and the other it is a life-
destroyer.
TO DEFINE STRESS…
It is a demand made upon the adaptive capacities of mind and body. This
definition is useful in three ways…
Firstly, it makes clear not only that stress can be both, good or bad, but also that
since there is wide range of things that can make demand over the mind and the body, there
is wide range of things that can cause stress.
Secondly, it infers the point that it isn’t the events that determine that we are stressed
or not, but it is our reactions to them.
And thirdly, as the definition says… that stress is a demand made upon the
body’s capacities, its nature and the extent of these capacities determine our response to the
demand. If our capacities are good enough we will respond well. If they aren’t… we give
away.
Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually
changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create
positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to
action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a
negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression,
which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes,
insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. With the death of a
loved one, the birth of a child, a job promotion, or a new relationship, we
experience stress as we read just our lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances,
stress will help or hinder us depending on how we react to it.
Stress is a fact of life. But too much stress can break down a person's physical,
mental, and emotional health. Planning can help people to manage stress in their lives.
They must begin to make choices that support their values and develop a personal plan to
take charge of their lives.
TYPES OF STRESS - SOME GOOD, SOME BAD
Did you know that some types of stress can be good for you? That's right! Some
forms of stress can be good for you, but other types of stress disorders can cause major
health problems and even be life threatening.
EUSTRESS
Eustress is a type of short-term stress that provides immediate strength. Eustress arises
at points of increased physical activity, enthusiasm, and creativity. Eustress is a positive
stress that arises when motivation and inspiration are needed. A gymnast experiences
eustress before a competition.
DISTRESS
1. Acute stress is an intense stress that arrives and disappears quickly. Acute stress is
the most common form of stress. It comes from demands and pressures of the recent
past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Acute stress is thrilling
and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting. Because it is short term, acute
stress doesn't have enough time to do the extensive damage associated with long-term
stress. Acute stress can crop up in anyone's life, and it is highly treatable and
manageable.
2. Chronic stress is a prolonged stress that exists for weeks, months, or even years.
Someone who is constantly relocating or changing jobs may experience distress. While
acute stress can be thrilling and exciting, chronic stress is not. This is the grinding stress
that wears people away day after day, year after year. Chronic stress destroys bodies,
minds and lives. It wreaks havoc through long-term attrition. It's the stress of poverty, of
dysfunctional families, of being trapped in an unhappy marriage or in a despised job or
career
The worst aspect of chronic stress is that people get used to it. They forget it's there.
People are immediately aware of acute stress because it is new; they ignore chronic
stress because it is old, familiar, and sometimes, almost comfortable.
HYPERSTRESS
Hyper stress occurs when an individual is pushed beyond what he or she can handle.
Hyper stress results from being overloaded or overworked. When someone is hyper
stressed, even little things can trigger a strong emotional response. A Wall Street trader is
likely to experience hyper stress.
HYPOSTRESS
Hypo stress is the opposite of hyper stress. Hypo stress occurs when an individual is
bored or unchallenged. People who experience hypo stress are often restless and
uninspired. A factory worker who performs repetitive tasks might experience hypo stress.
SIX MYTHS ABOUT STRESS
Six myths surround stress. Dispelling them enables us to understand our problems
and then take action against them. Let's look at these myths.
Completely wrong. Stress is different for each of us. What is stressful for one person may or
may not be stressful for another; each of us responds to stress in an entirely different way.
According to this view, zero stress makes us happy and health. Wrong. Stress is to the
human condition what tension is to the violin string: too little and the music is dull and
raspy; too much and the music is shrill or the string snaps. Stress can be the kiss of death or
the spice of life. The issue, really, is how to manage it. Managed stress makes us productive
and happy; mismanaged stress hurts and even kills us.
Not so. You can plan your life so that stress does not overwhelm you. Effective planning
involves setting priorities and working on simple problems first, solving them, and then
going on to more complex difficulties. When stress is mismanaged, it's difficult to prioritize.
All your problems seem to be equal and stress seems to be everywhere.
Myth 4: The most popular techniques for reducing stress are the best ones.
Again, not so. No universally effective stress reduction techniques exist. We are all different,
our lives are different, our situations are different, and our reactions are different. Only a
comprehensive program tailored to the individual works.
Absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of stress. In fact, camouflaging symptoms
with medication may deprive you of the signals you need for reducing the strain on your
physiological and psychological systems.
This myth assumes that the "minor" symptoms, such as headaches or stomach acid, may be
safely ignored. Minor symptoms of stress are the early warnings that your life is getting out
of hand and that you need to do a better job of managing stress.
Does stress tend to affect the male of the species more than the female? Opinions
vary, since there are differentiating factors between the sexes. All parameters being equal,
however, the preponderant view is that women are more adept at handling stress, thanks to
better coping mechanisms.
EFFECTS OF STRESS
The human body’s reaction to stress is natural. It results from the need to resist a
stressful situation. For example, when a person is nervous, there is an increase in his/her
pulse rate. This is a ‘fight or flight’ response. However, things can go out of control if too
much stress is present. The person can have a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. Too
much of stress can tell upon a person’s health. If neglected, it can lead to serious health
disorders at a later stage. Stress has both physical and psychological effects on an individual.
(Refer Exhibit 1 to find out the effects of stress on an individual.)
Exhibit 1
Effects of Stress on an Individual
Physical Effects :
[
- Insomnia
Psychological Affects :
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Always anxious
- Mood swings
- Increased usage of food, cigarettes, alcohol and drugs
After understanding the sources of stress and the effects of stress on individuals, let us
discuss some strategies to fight stress.
Some of the important strategies for managers to fight stress are prioritizing and
delegating work, laughing a lot, exercising regularly, practicing relaxation techniques,
maintaining a good balanced diet, and having a good night’s sleep.
Prioritize work
Delegate work
Some individuals prefer doing all the work themselves. This adds to their stress. They
should learn to delegate routine work to others. For instance, a manager can delegate the
work of preparing a report on a project to a subordinate.
Laughter
‘A day without laughter is a day wasted for life’. This is very true. Laughter is the best
outlet for stress. It is a great stress buster. Laughter is a no cost, no side effect medicine. A
person with a sense of humor is less likely to be under stress. A sense of humor allows an
individual to perceive and appreciate the imbalances of life and provides moments of
delight.
Exercise
Relaxation
The best strategy to reduce stress is to relax. Relaxation is not being idle. It is doing
what one wants to do, rather than what one should do. It is very important for a person to
schedule some time for relaxation. This relaxation time should disconnect the person from
all his/her tensions, worries. This is the time when the person rebuilds his/her energy levels.
Relaxation techniques vary from person to person.
Diet
A good balanced diet plays a vital role in reducing stress. A person tends to neglect
diet when under stress. This may lead to overeating or under-eating. This improper eating
results in a weak immune system and creates health problems. A well-balanced meal that is
eaten on time is very important to minimize stress.
Sleep
Sleep is a weapon. During sleep, a person prepares himself/herself to face another day.
Stress makes a person sleepless or very sleepy. A stressed person may feel sleepy throughout
the day and awake during nights. On an average, everyone needs at least 7-8 hours of sleep
per day. Some may need more sleep or some less. After a good night’s sleep, a person feels
fresh. An individual must adopt a bedtime routine that induces sleep like reading a book that
is soothing, and listening to music that is relaxing. One must go to bed at the same time
every day.
Meditation
Meditation is one of the most effective techniques in reducing and avoiding stress.
Regular meditation helps in stress reduction. It
• Improves concentration
Yoga
Yoga is another important stress reliever. Yoga has been tried and tested since ancient
times. According to Patanjali Maharishi, yoga is the cessation of mind. It is a state of no-
mind. Yoga is not for bodybuilding. It simply focuses on gentle postures that improve
circulation of blood to vital parts of the body. The increase in blood circulation rejuvenates
the organs and releases stress.
Work-life balance means a harmonious balance of work and domestic life. It allows an
employee to fulfill all the roles in his/her life effectively and efficiently. Researches have
proved that employees are at their best when they are contented and motivated both at work
and at home.
Achieving a work-life balance is not as easy as it seems. In the corporate world, change
is constant and imminent. The impact of globalization has further fuelled these changes. The
corporate world signifies uncertainties, too many responsibilities, and long work hours.
These changes in the environment disturb the balance between domestic and work-life of
employees. The increasing competition and demands of society further aggravate the
situation. All this adds up to stress.
Importance of Work-life balance
The corporate world is realizing the importance of the work-life balance. Companies
are realizing the fact that the work-life balance of employees has a direct effect on the
productivity of their organizations. Exhibit 5 explains the various practices that companies
follow to maintain work-life balance.
There is a shift in the organizational work culture. Today’s work culture provides
flexible work hours, focus on results, and recognition of achievements. However, this has
made the workplace even more competitive as employees are expected to always give their
best, and this leads to stress.
With globalization, organizations are working 365 days, 24 hours, and 7 days a week
irrespective of time zones. Businesses are focusing more and more on customer care. With
the coming of call centers, this focus has doubled. The technology has added to the speed of
work but the workload remains the same.
Dual income families:
The shift in attitudes, work styles, and cultures has disturbed the work-life balance.
Working mothers have major responsibilities of managing both home and work place. This
makes it all the more important for them to balance work and life. Organizations are helping
women by providing facilities like work from home, day care etc.
• Take a regular employee satisfaction survey that can identify the pitfalls in the work
pattern
Every one wants stress-free life. Yet, stress is ubiquitous. Of course, it cannot be
controlled by more nutrients as the real cause of stress is anxiety or pressure which may
ultimately lead to the neglect or proper dietary habits. Stress refers to the “circumstances that
threaten one’s well being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities”.
Stress is inevitable part of modern life. Like Janus, stress has two faces. It is a good
servant, but a bad master. In other words, it can be one’s best friend or worst enemy. A
certain amount of stress is necessary to achieve success. But, undue stress causes distress.
Stress is received by different people differently. If two people experience the same
amount or pressure, one may be healthy while the other is sick. This is so because our
personalities do influence the level of stress. The present day’s lifestyle breeds stress and
tension. When tension lasts long, depression sets in.
Stress is the body’s reaction to the external demands placed upon it by the
environment. Stress can be either good or bad. Good stress creates the necessary excitement
to perform an activity. This type of stress is temporary and has no long-term effects on the
body. Bad stress creates an alarming reaction in the body. It affects the body’s immune
system and has detrimental affects on the body over a period.
There are many sources of stress for an individual. It can be family, friends, workplace,
superiors, and colleagues. The sources of stress for an individual should be identified. The
effects of stress may include minor symptoms like headache, irritability, loss of
concentration, loss of appetite to major symptoms like insomnia, amnesia, heart attack,
ulcers etc. Stress should be identified and treated in the early stages or it could result in a
burnout. A severe case or neglected case of stress leads to burnout. Exercise, diet, and rest
play a vital role in stress handling. A healthy person is better at handling stressful situations
than an unhealthy person.
A working person should learn to balance work and personal life to lead a happy life.
This work- life balance can be achieved by giving importance to both work and personal life.
Organizations should help their employees achieve work-life balance, as this has an effect on
the productivity of the organizations.
Spirituality at the workplace has become a necessity in today’s world. The practice of
spirituality at the workplace enables an individual to deal with stressful situations. It
provides an individual with the strength to face unforeseen situations without panic.
Spirituality helps a manager to deal with stress internally instead of looking for external
solutions.
Action Points
Managers should:
• Adopt a de-stressing routine like going for a solitary walk at the end of the day.
• Take on too may responsibilities or demands that are outside your capabilities.
• Use self-medication.
STRESS AT WORKPLACE
“Job stress is a consequence of two key ingredients: a high level of job demands and
little control over one’s work.”
-PAUL FROILAND.
WHAT'S IT?
In this difficult economy, you may find it harder than ever to cope with challenges on
the job. Both the stress we take with us when we go to work and the stress that awaits us on
the job are on the rise – and employers, managers, and workers all feel the added pressure.
While some stress is a normal part of life, excessive stress interferes with your productivity
and reduces your physical and emotional health, so it’s important to find ways to keep it
under control. Fortunately, there is a lot that you can do to manage and reduce stress at work.
CALL CENTERS
Call center is a generalized term that embraces a number of activities like reservation
centers, help desks, information lines or customer service centers, irrespective of how they
are organized or what types of transactions they handle. Call center is generally referred to a
refined voice operations setting that provides a full range of high-volume, inbound or
outbound call-handling services, including customer support, operator services, directory
assistance, multilingual customer support, credit services, card services, inbound and
outbound telemarketing, interactive voice response and web-based services.
Call centers are becoming increasingly popular in today's business, where many
companies have centralized customer service and support functions. Call centers are
generally large offices with representatives who either make or receive phone calls.
Depending on the type of work, call centers may have a single office employing a few
people or large office with thousands of employees. The main activity in some call centers is
answering inbound calls, such as a bank that gives out a toll-free number for customers
needing help. At the same time there are some call centers that focus on outbound calls too.
With increase in outsourcing, call centers are also becoming popular. By way of
outsourcing, companies contract out some functions to other companies located mostly in
cost effective destinations like India. In this field India enjoys several advantages over a
number of developed counties. In India, we a have large pool of qualified people; English
speaking graduates and IT professionals. In addition to this India have some other
advantages like cheap labor, flexibility in working hours and time zone difference. This is
the reason why a number of MNCs are outsourcing their business activities to India.
Call centres are comparatively a recent introduction to the world of career options in
India. The career avenues provided by Call centres is one of the best suited and growing
option which even a fresher can opt for. With the opening up of the Indian economy and the
advent of globalisation more and more companies from abroad are basing or outsourcing
their call centre services to India, a trend started by GE when it established a call centre near
New Delhi in 1998.
A call centre is a service centre with adequate telecom facilities, access to internet
and wide database, which provide voice based or web-based information and support to
customers in the country or abroad through trained personnel. Call centres exist in all sectors
of business including banking, utilities, manufacturing, security, market research,
pharmaceuticals, catalogue sales, order desk, customer service, technical queries (help desk),
emergency dispatch, credit collections, food service, airline/hotel reservations etc. The wide
area of services provided by the call centres makes it a lucrative career with a range of
opportunities.
UNDERSTANDING - THE CALL CENTER “INDUSTRY”
First, the call center community often defines itself as an industry, with numerous
national and international call center conferences and workshops taking place each year,
industry journals and call center forums organized at local levels.
Second, the labor force requirements of call centers are often the same across sectors.
This means that many, though not all, call centers share a common labor pool.
Third, the organizational templates and technologies used tend to be very similar, regardless
of the sector.
To this one might add the remarkable similarities that international researchers have
found between technologies used, work practices and key issues including monitoring,
control, training, and labor demographics for workers in countries as diverse as Germany,
Japan, Australia, Greece, Canada, the US, the UK and the Netherlands.
STRESS IN CALL CENTERS
Stress exists in every call center. Call centers are stressful work environments. The
demands of serving the customer in real-time helps to lay the foundation. Add to this factor
things such as job repetition, potential job dissatisfaction, poor ergonomics or low pay and
the stress level climbs higher.
If stress in the workplace (i.e. the call center) is not on the agenda the results of stress
are revealed through higher absenteeism than other parts of the company, higher Worker's
Compensation claims and ultimately in reduced customer satisfaction.
This Operations Topic focuses on various approaches to managing stress. Raising the
pay isn't necessarily the solution. There are many other creative means of managing stress in
your call center.
Resources
[ STRESS
For many employed in call center sector, “ daily experience is of repetitive, intensive
and stressful work, based upon Taylorist principles, which frequently results in employee
“burnout”. Brown characterizes work as “repetitive brain strain”. These descriptions are
hardly surprising, in a way, given that call centers are established by organizations to “create
an environment in which work can be standardized to create relatively uniform and
repetitious activities so as to achieve economies of scale and consistent quality of customer
service”. In other words, that workplaces are organized in ways that weaken employee
autonomy and enhance potential for management control, and “a loss of control is generally
understood to be an important indicator of work-related stress”.
There is almost universal consensus that call center work is stressful. Even in studies
that report the observation that some staff actually enjoys their work, mention of stress is
still the norm, and a significant portion of the call center literature is devoted to detailing the
sources of stress in call center work.
The primary source of stress reported is inherent to the nature of the job: spending all
day on the phone dealing with people one after another, day after day, is difficult. Doing it
under constant pressure to keep call volumes up, with no time between calls to “recover
from an awkward call or from ‘customer rejection’” is even more difficult. And doing it with
“very little authority or autonomy to rectify problems” that arise is perhaps the most difficult
of all. Many studies report agents as wanting to ‘just get off the phones’. For example, Belt
and colleagues note “agents in all three sectors [financial services, IT, and third-party
services] spoke of the phenomenon of ‘burnout’, caused by the pressure of working
exclusively ‘on the phones’”. In the same study, the authors mention that the issue of
‘burnout’ was also recognized by some managers: “It was pointed out that managers face an
inherent conflict between the need to reduce staff boredom and labor turnover, and the
pressure to concentrate staff energies on telephone based work”.
“The question of how call center employees deal with stress is an important one,
particularly in view of evidence that a build-up of stress leads to illness, absenteeism and
turnover,” writes Houlihan. Many authors agree, and there are a variety of individual coping
mechanisms described in the literature. Tricks to circumvent control mechanisms, such as
those discussed above are sometimes mentioned as attempts at stress reduction, although
they are unreliable in this role as they may also increase stress.
Knights and McCabe take a different approach to stress in the workplace. They note
that although much organizational analysis and most of the call center literature tends to
conceptualize stress as an individual problem, it is actually located within “a framework that
emphasizes the interrelationships between structural relations of power and the subjective
interpretations and actions of employees”. This more nuance positioning may provide more
insight into call center conditions, as it allows a researcher to consider the response of
employees “forced to interpret the often contradictory demands management place upon
them” including “contradictions…over service quality versus the quantity of work output”.
“Clearly,” these authors write, “staffs face some fundamental contradictions over unity
versus conflict, uncertainty versus certainty, quality versus quantity and these are at the heart
of the reproduction of stress, resistance and control”. This focus on the “contradictory”
nature of demands strikes at the heart of the second inherent sources of stress in (primarily
inbound) call center works: the quality/quantity conflict.
QUALITY/QUANTITY CONFLICT
INTENSITY
The third central stressor in call center work is its intensity. As Bain (2001) argues,
“far from being either in terminal decline or on the wane, Taylorism—in conjunction with a
range of other control mechanisms—is not only alive, well and deeply embedded in the call
center labour process, but its malevolent influence appears to be spreading to previously
uncharted territory”. There is widespread consensus that “call centers are a new, and
particularly effective, manifestation of the increasingly capital intensive ‘industrialization’ of
service sector work, and work performed in them is highly intensive and routine”.
Buchanan and Koch-Schulte quote one call center worker who describes the constant
pressure graphically:
Ellen:
It’s almost like the army. It’s much regimented. You punch in with a time clock.
You come in and you sit down, and the numbers are all computerized. As soon as you finish
a call, the minute you hang up another call comes up just this constant, all day, repetitious…
constant sort of like beating on a drum, but day after day.
The pace of work is determined by the combination of technologies that deliver calls
to the headset and account details to the screen, and workers often have no control over this
process.
Buchanan and Koch-Schulte spoke with a call-center worker who articulated her
feelings about the organization’s expectations of its agents in very similar terms:
Rosa: You are standing waiting to be used by the technology, and it’s a physical
embodiment of that. You are standing, waiting until that call comes in to use you to make
money. And you are simply another part of that machine.
When this feeling of being a cog in a machine which never stops as it grinds on,
repeating the same actions over and over again, is combined with “the cumulative emotional
demands presented by the interpersonal nature of the work”, stress is inevitable.
Targets
There is a fourth feature of some call center work that may engender stress:
performance targets. There are various types of targets, which may vary between inbound
and outbound centers. Inbound centers typically have targets for call duration, ‘wrap time’,
and daily call volume. Outbound centers often also have sales or ‘completion’ targets, which
are closely monitored and upon which pay may be partially based. In addition, in some
sectors, inbound call centers are attempting to introduce the practice of cross selling, where
agents attempt to sell additional products to the customers who call in for another purpose.
In these centers, sales targets similar to those in outbound centers are often in place.
Taylor and Bain argue that particularly in the financial services industry in the UK,
targets are a significant source of stress for workers as more and more importance is placed
upon meeting them in an increasingly competitive business environment. Sales targets, in
particular, are difficult to accept, or meet, for staff who often consider themselves as service
personnel, particularly when they are set centrally and implemented locally:
As a CSR in Taylor and Bain’s study emphasizes: “When somebody phones in for a
balance you have to try to get a sale or get them interested as well as turning the call round
in 155 seconds”.
Even in centers that claim not to prioritize targets, researchers have found that staff
often feels significant pressure. Targets simply intensify the stress produced by the
quantity/quality debate, or, as one agent is quoted as saying, “They say that they’re not really
interested in numbers. They say that they are more into quality. Well, that’s a lie. They’re
usually more into numbers than anything”. It is important not to over generalize however.
While most call centers do have some targets, they are a source of stress that is directly
under management control. Some call centers are managed in such a way that targets are set
to realistically reflect local conditions, are interpreted in light of other, more subjective
information, and are not used punitively or to intensify work. In some they are even used
effectively to motivate and encourage staff. For example, Lankshear and Mason describe a
series of conversations with managers in their call center site where management
consistently conceptualized their performance reports (for example, one commented that it’s
‘human nature’ for productivity to drop before and after a holiday), and used their stats as an
excuse to praise good performance and coach those who consistently had difficulty meeting
targets: “Our best bet is to develop the people we have got” one manager is quoted as saying.
The result of intense, stressful work may be an effect on workers’ health. There are
often high rates of absenteeism and sick leave reported in the literature, although there is
relatively little exploration of these issues, particularly when compared to turnover. Most
often, authors provide a brief list of known health issues. For example, Richardson, Belt and
Marshall write that “Health concerns have been expressed, including tension, sleeplessness,
headaches, eye-strain, repetitive strain injury (RSI), voice loss, hearing problems and burn-
out”, but they do not develop the point. More detailed descriptions of the causes and effects
of these ailments can be found in industry and trades union reports. For example, the Trades
Union Council (TUC) in its brochure targeted at call center workers, cites the main illnesses
to which call center staff are prone: “back strain and RSI, stress, eyestrain, and voice and
hearing loss”.
Also in the UK, regulators have been proactive in their examination of the industry,
with the Health and Safety Executive issuing a bulletin on call center regulations, health
risks and best practices in December 2001. They looked specifically at health issues
including stress, noise levels, musculoskeletal disorders (such as back problems) and voice
loss, and also at display screen issues, working environments, requirements for work
stations, daily work routines, training, organizational working practices and shifts.
Sleeping Disorders :
No prizes for guessing the most severe ailment afflicting people working in Indian
call centers. Since this is a unique Indian problem, again, no solution appears in sight.
Obviously this affects first timers more severely, as they take time to acclimatize their
biological clocks, but even experienced people or managers are not able to completely
escape from it. Some call centers are looking at devising innovative mechanisms like
flexible shifts with sleeping arrangements in the office premises as possible solutions.
Working long and odd hours without any sleep, and eating food supplied by external
caterers everyday, has led to 41.9% of the respondents suffering from digestive problems.
Especially for the large number of girls working in the industry, the problem is even more
severe. Many call centers are now taking additional care to ensure their caterers supply
hygienic food; besides stipulating strict conditions to maintain the quality of the food they
serve.
[ Depression:
In last year's survey, this was not among the top disorders, but this year it has
climbed up the chart, affecting nearly one-fourth of the respondents. Not surprising, since, as
the industry matures, the initial glitz and glamour wears away and the real problems come to
the fore. Not only are there several health related issues, but, on top of that, the gradual
realization that there is limited scope in developing a career owing to fewer growth
opportunities is increasing the frustration levels. Coupled with growing mental fatigue and
increasingly punishing physical environments, depression is the obvious end result. Some
call centers have now devised different stress management programs mainly to counter
depression.
Eyesight Problems:
Globally call center industry employees are considered a high-risk group for eye-
related problems. While the quality of monitors might impact these disorders, sitting
continually without adequate breaks seems to be the truer reason. The number of people
affected seems to be on the rise-last year only 19% complained; this year it has gone up to
23%. At some point of time, this problem might also afflict the IT services industry, but for
the call center industry, no remedy seems to be in sight.
Ear Problems:
More than 16% of the respondents inform that they have hearing problems. Again, no
surprises here, since a call center job involves taking calls throughout the shift, sitting with
headphones. While quality of headphones does make a difference, it would not be correct to
completely wish the problem away by thinking that changing headphones will solve it.
The young executives are getting more than five figure salaries per month in an early
age. They tend to develop certain bad habits such as alcohol, smoking etc. It is not easy to
identify such individuals. It is also very sensitive to talk to them. The professional
counselors can conduct group-counseling, workshops, educative film shows in order to
create awareness on effects of bad habits. Such actions will enable individuals to realize the
importance of good habits and they could seek one to one Counseling sessions to solve their
problems.
Call centers provide excellent working environment, free food and transportation.
There is always a situation where individual or group of youngsters tend to commit mistakes
and abuse the freedom. They start behaving like in college campus where they have more
freedom. However, the call center executives have more responsibility and accountability,
they need to follow discipline and do well in the job. The most common behavior is misuse
of food, behave erratically in vans, and smoke in public places, misuse of telephones and
other resources of the company. The supervisors always concentrate on performance and
achieving targets. They do not have time or interest to go deep into these matters and find
out the reasons for such behavior. The professional counselor can play a major role in
educating the youngsters on discipline; provide advice to erring executives. The counselors
with their wisdom and experience can tackle such issues tactfully and bring change within
the individuals. As said earlier, to majority of them this is the first employment and they are
fresh out of the colleges. Few tend to behave differently and they have the “do not care”
attitude. Such executives will not take their job seriously, they indulge in teasing, and joking,
talking over mobile phones, have friction within the team. These aspects may go noticed or
unnoticed by the supervisors. The fact remains that such unacceptable behaviors will cause
disturbance to others and overall it affects the productivity. Sleeping while on duty, reading
novels and playing games on the computer during working hours brings down productivity
and quality suffers. The HR representatives and professional counselors jointly have a role to
bring behavioral change starting from the training days. Continuous education and
Counseling will help to mitigate such problems and it is possible to prevent serious
problems.
Executives develop friendship quickly and sometime the friendship breaks and there
will be misunderstanding among the team members and naturally affects the team
performance. The supervisors and counselors can play a major role to sort out the
interpersonal relationship and develop team spirit. Healthy relationship among the team
members has always helped the team to out perform. When the relationship fails the
individuals will also break down mentally. They either absent for duties or fall ill or the
performance will come down. It is also true that due to misunderstanding and break in
friendship they change jobs quickly.
Absenteeism:
Absenteeism is very high in calls centers. Employees tend to be very irregular to the
duty due to various reasons. Professional counseling services to such irregular employees on
one to one basis will help to bring down absenteeism. Counselor can educate and explain the
importance of attending duties to earn salary and also to meet organizational goals. Each
individual are unique and the problem they face are also different in nature. Professional
counselors can understand, analyze and provide long lasting solutions for the individuals.
Understanding that the “Stress” is a major concern for all Call-Center Employees, it
is a duty of HR-heads of Call-Centers to address it properly.
Although we all experience stress in different ways, there are certain signs that are
most frequently reported. These signs fall into two major categories; physical/behavioral
signs and emotional signs. If we become aware of our own stress symptoms, we will be
more effective in dealing with them sooner rather than later. What follows is a list of some
of the most experienced symptoms of stress.
The emotional symptoms include; anxiety in a variety of situations not limited to the
stressful situation, depression, hopelessness and a strong urge to cry without specific
incident, withdrawal from social interactions and avoidance of previously enjoyed activities,
powerlessness and decreased self esteem, hostility, anger and resentment, fears, phobias and
unwanted thoughts.
Learning to become more aware of your own stress symptoms is the first major step
in the stress management and healing process. It is often helpful to monitor your daily
symptoms in a stress diary where you match the stressful events with the symptom
experienced. For example; you made find that if you are stuck in early morning traffic you
may experience irritability and headaches. In this case it will be important to use these
symptoms as a cue that you have to begin managing that stress more effectively when it
happens.
We all know that stress is something that doesn’t feel good to us physically and
emotionally. What is even more compelling is what happens below the surface each time we
experience stress. Stress researcher Hans Selye, determined what happens internally each
time we experience something as threatening or stressful. According to Selye, when we
perceive a threat in the environment the thinking part of the brain sends an alarm message to
the nervous system via the hypothalamus. The nervous system then makes changes in the
body that prepare you to handle the perceived danger ahead. These changes include
increases in heart rate and blood pressure as well as pupil dilation. In addition, there are
hormones and chemicals secreted such as adrenaline, that give the body the necessary push
to be able to manage the threat ahead.
Although there are situations in which these adrenaline surges are very helpful in
helping us mobilize, the constant adrenaline surges due to repeatedly perceived threats, have
a toxic effect on the body. For example, recurrent adrenaline surges inhibit some of the other
important functions in the body including growth and tissue repair, digestion and the
immune response. Just as the thinking part of your brain is responsible for turning the stress
response on, you can turn it off by changing the threatening appraisals you are making. Once
you are able to determine that a threat does not exist or that it can be effectively managed,
your thinking brain stops sending panic messages to the nervous system. As a result of this
reappraisal, the hormones and chemicals cease to be released and the body returns to normal.
Bringing the body back to an "un-stressed" state is very important since almost every
system in the body can be damaged by stress. Although our bodies are adaptive and can
recover from periodic stressors, chronic stress has serious consequences. We experience the
consequences of stress on three important levels; physically, emotionally and behaviorally.
What follows is a description of the specific consequences in these three categories.
Physically, the body is likely to develop a stress-related disease as a result of the
stress toxins that are released. For example, chronic stress can lead to cardiovascular disease
by elevating blood pressure, damaging the heart and arteries and increasing blood sugar.
Respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis can result from stress-triggered
changes in the lungs.
When stress inhibits the body’s digestive functions, diseases such as ulcers, colitis
and chronic diarrhea can occur. In addition, stress contributes to inhibited growth of tissue
and bone which can lead to decalcification and osteoporosis. The immune system is also
inhibited by the reduced efficiency of the white blood cells, making the body more
susceptible to disease. Increased muscle tension, fatigue and headaches are additional
consequences of chronic stress.
MANAGING STRESS
Since stress is an inevitable fact of life that we can’t always prevent, our efforts need
to be focused on coping with stress more effectively. What follows is a description of a three
pronged approach to stress management which includes behavioral/practical techniques,
relaxation techniques and cognitive/thinking techniques.
The cognitive or thinking approaches are an integral part of coping effectively with
stress and now the primary focus of many stress management programs. Since it has been
determined that we can turn off the stress response by changing our threatening/dangerous
event appraisals to appraisals that help us view these events as manageable challenges, we
have a direct link to controlling the stress response. The first step in the cognitive approach
is to identify our thoughts or internal dialog that is negative, perfectionist, black and white,
rigid and demanding. In other words, you are more likely to experience stress if you believe
that you, the world and other people "should or must" behave in a manner consistent with
your demands and standards. For example, you are likely to experience stress if you believe
that the world and your life should be stress free and that you do not have the resources to
handle stress if it does occur. In addition, demands of perfection on yourself and on others
important to you, increases the chance of feeling stressed since these expectations are
unrealistic and rigid. After identifying your stress producing thoughts you are then able to
move onto the second step in the cognitive approach; recognizing the consequences of this
negative, rigid dialog.
The motivation to change the stress-producing dialog comes from the determination
that there are serious consequences that result form these negative, rigid thoughts. When you
talk to yourself in a defeated, pessimistic or rigid way, you deny your ability to cope and are
not likely to manage situations effectively or meet goals you set. In addition, perfectionist
demands are experienced as appropriately unrealistic and contribute to a "why bother"
attitude. This attitude reduces the likelihood that you will address these demands since it is a
realistic fact that no one or nothing is ever perfect. Once you are convinced that the dialog is
negative and counterproductive, you are ready to move on to the third step in the cognitive
approach; challenging and replacing the negative internal dialog with a healthier, more
productive internal dialog.
This important step in the reappraisal process requires that you challenge your rigid
dialog by asking yourself a series of questions about that rigid dialog. For example, "Why
must I perform perfectly in order to believe I am a valuable human being?" In addition,
"Does that demand for perfection increase my anxiety and reduce the likelihood that I
perform well at all?" "What would I feel like and would I be more motivated if I changed my
demand for perfection to a desire to do well?" Another example of this reappraisal process
can be seen in the area of criticism and rejection.
A negative internal dialog that would create stress in this area is "I am worthless
because I was rejected and this proves that no one will ever love me." A healthy challenge to
this belief would be, "How does the opinion of this person reflect my personal worth?’ "How
does it follow that this rejection will lead to future rejections?" It is also important to add, "
Even if I were to get rejected repeatedly, could I work to make desired changes in my
personality without condemning myself or feeling worthless?" By replacing the negative,
rigid dialog with more realistic, flexible dialog, you are more likely to feel healthier
emotionally and behave more rationally and productively.
The behavioral, relaxation and cognitive techniques described above have been
determined to be effective ways to manage and cope more effectively with stress. The
techniques give the control back to the individual and empower him/her to manage the
inevitable stressors that will occur in life.
FACTORS THAT CREATE A STRESSFUL CALL CENTER
Stress in the Call Center will affect the agent, manager, director, or anyone in the call center
when they let stress gain control. When this happens, they lose self control and have the
feeling of being overwhelmed. The first step in gaining control is and identifying what the
stressors are and understanding the causes and effects. Stress is caused by many things. Time
pressures, high expectations, lack of communication, high call volume, inexperience, ill-
prepared, to name a few. The effects are decreased productivity, anxiety, low morale, poor
customer service levels, and increased turnover. When faced with these stressors, training is
the tool to resolve the issues. You must go to your training programs and processes and ask
yourself if the training you are providing the call center employees delivers the tools
required for them to accomplish their goals without the negative stress. Approach dealing
with the stress in the Call Center with assertiveness and confidence. One of the most
effective things I have done, in my own call center experience, as well as seen in other call
centers, is to have a specific workshop covering stress. Let employees voice their specific
stressors and develop actions to overcome them and resolve what is inhibiting their
performance. Their minds are then clear and mentally prepared. It will then be motivated for
training to make them a more confident and capable call center employee.
• LACK OF COMMUNICATION
This is a call center disease that some call centers just gravitate to simply because
everyone is too busy with their job duties and with doing someone else's jobs that we simply
forget to communicate. Sounds harmless but if you don't address it could slowly but surely
drag down your center's morale, employees' self esteems, work life balance, job security,
employees' productivities, etc.
• HIGH VOLUME
This one is a little tougher because the causes could be variety of different issues. The
more common symptom of high volume is poor workforce mgmt. Put, workforce team
needs to be very proactive in correctly forecasting your volume two weeks in advance
(within 98% of the actual volume) and be ready with a staffing analysis of how efficient
CSR schedules are by day for you. If this is every week from your workforce team, you will
be well aware of your holes every day for the next two weeks and you can make staffing
decisions before the day happens. If your workforce team is good, then you will better
prepare to handle spikes/lull in your volume.
High volume is a self feeding animal - if you don't get control of it, it will surely
brings down your operation. Your frontline supervisors will have to help out on the phones
all the time and they can't work with their CSRs. Employees are constantly going from one
call to the next without much breaks in between. Your boss is constantly on you for high
ASAs and Abandon %s, blah - the story goes on and on and the picture doesn't look pretty.
Agents handle an average of 110 calls a day, and 80 percent of the calls that come in
have some level of emotion. Usually a caller is calling in because they're frustrated, angry,
upset, concerned—something has happened and they're not happy.
Therefore, it is crucial that agents and especially the call center manager note these
occurrences and become better prepared and informed on handling them for the sake of their
workers and their callers. In these situations the task should become how to handle this type
of emotional call rather than instantly labeling it "abusive" and not acceptable.
• JOB ROTATION
We instituted job sharing/intern program in our call center. CSRs who meet or
exceed job expectations are eligible to do a rotation for three months in other groups. CSRs
work half a day on the phones, the other half in the Correspondence Dept, or in the Research
Dept, Work Force Management, or Quality Assurance. This breaks up their day, teaches
them new skills, & provides us with a pool of trained staff whenever we need it. have a job
rotation program that alternate telephone staff to do administrative tasks to break up the day
to day grind.
• SPORTS ACTIVITIES
In our call center, what we followed recently is that we organised a sports week
where we asked the agents and their supervisours to organise and also take part in the same.
This has brought a change in their working performance as far as we can see. I personally
feel that you should organise something that will allow the agents change their daily routine
and do something routine.
If employee turnover is a major problem, you may want to budget money for
employee activities / incentives. I have a activity commitee that plans birthday decorating,
holiday potlucks, contests, etc. Involve the staff to join and participate in the commitee.
Any employee can come to a weekly or bi weekly focus group with the call center
manager and human resource manager. Questions from the employees are posted publicly
and the date that the issues were addressed. Over time, I have seen focus groups that started
with very serious issues slowly evolve to sessions that become more like rap sessions - more
fun and less serious.
Yes, this is a time consuming endeavor but if done right and done consistently, could
be a great medium to communicate new/revised policies, reward employees/teams, train
your employees, and build strong team spirits.
Each team/department should be highly encouraged to have this quicky huddle daily
with their employees. This goes a long way in building that strong bond between employees
and supervisors and yes, you can also use this time to communicate.
• MONTHLY LETTER FROM THE BOSS
It could be from the VP of Ops, or it could be from the CCM. The point is, the
company will have an opportunity every month to speak to the workforce.
Listen to the caller and acknowledge that something has happened to make them
emotional. Acknowledge it and move on to the next step before it escalates to an abusive
call.
Strong words choices will immediately diffuse the emotional aspect of the call. By
using strong "I can" statements and proper word choices such as "Absolutely, I would be
glad to help you with …", "I can look that information up for you” instead of emphasizing
the "you" in statements like, "can you tell me what happened?"--where the customer
immediately feels like they're speaking with the wrong person—after all they wouldn’t be
calling if they knew what was wrong.
Finally, to get the caller out of their emotional state, transition them into a problem
solving path. Once they have had a chance to get through the emotional part, move on so
their issues can be resolved.
BPOs HELP STAFF COPE WITH STRESS
MUMBAI: Blame the nature of the job, deadline pressure or customer expectations.
BPO jobs undoubtedly involve high stress. Prashant Chawla, COO, Integreon, a Mumbai-
based KPO, says that there are three types of stress an employee may experience — tight
deadlines, repetitive nature of the job and late night shifts.
Aashu Calappa, VP-HR, ICICI OneSource, says, “Everything gets measured and this
puts employees under pressure.” Companies are now making efforts to help their employees
cope with stress because it is an occupational hazard. For example, night shifts are rotated on
a regular basis. However, deadlines can’t be controlled.
Most of the BPOs arrange ‘feel good’ activities like an outdoor picnic or an official
dinner once in three months. This helps employees talk to their senior management in an
informal environment. Employees are also given recognition by being designated as
‘employee of the week’ and ‘employee of the month’. Vineet Mittal, president and MD,
Stream, says that they conduct in-house workshops at frequent intervals in which employees
play games and indulge in activities like dumb charades and scrabble.
Mr Calappa says they organise various events like family gatherings and
Valentine’s Day celebrations to lighten the atmosphere in the office. According to him, an
employee could be stressed because of a tough supervisor or if he is not able to perform well
in his job. So, there is a lot of emphasis on the training of team leaders (TL) and supervisors
to avoid a strained relationship between the employee and the TL.
BPOs like Stream have appointed ‘fun officers’ whose job is to arrange a party or a
movie for the entire office once in a month. Similarly, ICICI OneSource has an executive
who is required to spend at least two hours daily at the shop floor talking to employees about
their day-to-day life. 3Global, a Hutchison-Whampoa BPO, has also appointed an executive
to arrange sports events on a monthly basis.
Shirish Kerkar, general manager, HR, 3Global, says, “We organise sports events like
cricket tournaments to ensure that our employees are engaged in physical activities.” The
company recently concluded a cricket tournament where 300 employees participated (10
people per team).
Shilpa Shetty, a BPO employee, who heads a 200-member team says, “Our deadlines
are in hours and not days or weeks. So the stress is obviously high. I’m heading a large team.
So, managing it is a big challenge, which at times, may stress me out.” She has adopted an
interactive way of dealing with workplace stress. She makes sure that she talks to her team
members on a daily basis, which may not necessarily be about work. “I do a lot of catching
up with my team members, which helps me to understand them better,” she adds.
Another BPO employee, Prashant Warrier, who interacts with the company’s clients
across the globe says, “People at my level are the first ones from the company to interact
with the clients, so its puts pressure on us to present our company well because clients are
demanding.” Sanjay Salooja, a Delhi-based counsellor visits BPOs to counsel the
employees.
He says generally, front-line employees and team leaders talk to him about both
professional and personal problems like long working hours and family demands. Besides
teaching them breathing exercises and yoga, the employees are taught to look at things from
a different perspective. They are encouraged to take ownership and be accountable for their
job in the organisation.
Traditionally, call centres meant only voice-based customer support. But now most
call centres are more of a contact centre, offering E-CRM services, that include voice based
customer support as well as e-mail response, web-based text-chat services and other
customer interaction channels. The call centre services can be 'inbound' where in calls are
received from customers enquiring about a service or product that an organisation provides.
The call centre services can be 'outbound' where in calls are made to customers to sell
products or collect information/money etc. Call centre services can also 'specialised' say in
business processing where in calls are made from one company to another company.
Some call centres stick to only domestic businesses dealing with customers within
the country called domestic call centres while others such as an International call centre
mainly deal with clients from abroad say from US, Europe etc. There is a great scope for
Call centres in India, with a large population of educated English speaking people. The wide
range of opportunities, comparatively well paid jobs for the minimum qualification it
requires and the facilities the companies provide like to and fro transport, subsidized meals
and medical facilities makes Call centres a good option.