https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2021/aug/03/cigna-call-center-poor-working-conditions-profits
5 replies (most recent on top)
When have call centers been fun? Or not driven by metrics? Stating the obvious.
Call center driven by metrics = factory making widgets or win/ lose
Call center driven by service = Happy customer who stays and brings others or win/ win
Most reasonable people have already recognized these are not State Farm specific issues. This is how the world currently works.
I would theorize that working in any call center fits this description. Call centers were designed to maximize the amount of work squeezed out of the fewest employees possible. The whole premise is to have more people in the same call path under the theory that someone will always be available rather than smaller groups of people in their own call path. The problem is, at best, the call center is staffed at a razor-thin margin and then you have turnover, callouts, vacation, growth that causes the slinky effect. Call centers never get fully staffed and are perpetually under the g-n. It's like fitting 10lbs of sh!t in a 5lb sack. Just doesn't work.....
They'll learn eventually. I just pray it isn't the hard way.