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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 byGE
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 widedatabase,
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.
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There has been some dispute amongst researchers as to whether it is appropriate to refer to such a
thing as the ͞call center industry͟. As Bain and Taylor point out, ͞despite similarities in the integration of
computer and telephone technologies, centers differ in relation to a number of important variablesͶ
size, industrial sector and market, complexity and length of call cycle time, nature of operations
(inbound, outbound or combined), the nature and effectiveness of representative institutions including
trade unions, and management styles and priorities͟. To this list of variables, Callaghan and Thompson
would add the ͞degree of product complexity and variability and the depth of knowledge required to
deal with the service interaction͟. Bain and Taylor argue that it is more appropriate to use the term
͞sector͟, as call Centers are found across a wide range of industries and may be similar primarily in
terms of their core technologies. They do note, however, that there is a professional literature and a
collective identity that is maintained and developed through conferences and forums. Belt, Richardson
and Webster (2000) agree that call centers are not an 'industry' as the term is generally defined, but
rather represent certain ways of delivering various services using the telephone and computer
technologies across traditional industry boundaries. However, these authors provide three strong
reasons defending the practice of referring to call centers as an 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.



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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.

ͻ Factors that Create a Stressful Call Center

ͻ Emotional Labor

ͻ Stress Levels, Staff Turnover and Some Suggested Solutions

ͻ Customer Centric Attitude and Stress Recommended Solutions to Solving Stress in the Call Center

ͻ Involve Front Line Staff in Creating Solutions

ͻ Attention to Ergonomic Factors Helps Reduce Stress

ͻ Develop an Internal Ergonomic Program

ͻ Employee Assistance Programs Can Contribute

ͻ Consider Massage Therapy Services or Yoga As Possible Solutions Resources

ͻ Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanizing Your Interaction Hub

ͻ Managing Workplace Chaos: Workplace Solutions for Managing Information, Paper, Time and Stress
Tele-Stress - Relief For Call Center Stress Syndrome



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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 ͞burnout͟. Brown characterizes
work as ͞repetitive brain strain͟. 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 service͟. 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 stress͟.

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.

FOUR KEY STRESSORS

- µCan we get off the phone for a while?¶
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 rejection͛͟ is even more difficult. And doing it with ͞very little authority or autonomy to
rectify problems͟ that arise is perhaps the most difficult of all. Many studies report agents as wanting to
͚just get off the phones͛. For example, Belt and colleagues note ͞agents in all three sectors [financial
services, IT, and third-party services] spoke of the phenomenon of ͚burnout͛, caused by the pressure of
working exclusively ͚on the phones͛͟. In the same study, the authors mention that the issue of ͚burnout͛
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 work͟.
͞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.
 Others mention social interaction squeezed into brief moments--Callaghan and Thompson
describe agents using humorous (or rude) gestures towards the phone, or making faces at colleagues to
defuse stress over angry or abusive callers, and making jokes to combat the tedium of the day.
Lankshear and Mason describe a similarly social approach to reducing tension in one of the sites they
observed, where staff often laughed and joked with one another in intervals between calls, with
management͛s approval. More formally, some call centers include stress management as a component
in training programs, and many have, or claim to have, team de-briefings which permit staff to vent
frustrations while discussing difficult calls or dissatisfactions with elements of work.
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 employees͟. 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 them͟ including ͞contradictions͙over service quality versus the
quantity of work output͟. ͞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 control͟. This focus on the ͞contradictory͟ nature of
demands strikes at the heart of the second inherent sources of stress in (primarily inbound) call center
works: the quality/quantity conflict.








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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 time͛, and daily call volume. Outbound
centers often also have sales or ͚completion͛ 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:
͞Cross-selling is seen by employees, not as an opportunity to engage in creativework, but as an
additional and acute source of pressure͟. This is especially the case when sales targets are parachuted in
on top of service targets set originally when there was no pressure to produce sales.
As a CSR in Taylor and Bain͛s 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 seconds͟.
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 they͛re not really interested in numbers. They say that
they are more into quality. Well, that͛s a lie. They͛re usually more into numbers than anything͟. 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 it͛s ͚human nature͛ 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 got͟ one manager is quoted as saying.


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The result of intense, stressful work may be an effect on workers͛ 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- out͟, 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 loss͟.
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.


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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.
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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.

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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.

Severe Stomach Related ProblemsContinuing digestive problems lead to severe stomach

disorders like gastroenteritis, as endorsed by more than 24% of the respondents. Even doctors in major
cities agree-in recent times many of the patients with various stomach ailments are from call centers.

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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.

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Understanding that the ͞Stress͟ is a major concern for all Call-Center Employees, it
is a duty of HR-heads of Call-Centers to address it properly.

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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 physical/behavioral symptoms include; muscular tension, muscle spasms and tics, rapid
heart beat, shortness of breath and high blood pressure, cold hands and feet, backaches, headaches and
neck aches, stomach problems, indigestion, irritable bowel and ulcers, feeling fatigued, irritable,
decreased ability to concentrate, insomnia and changes in eating behavior. Since these physical
symptoms may be related to physical problems, you should consult with your medical doctor before you
assume that your symptoms are purely stress-related.
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 doesn͛t 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 body͛s 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.







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Depression can result form chronic stress due to the constant release and depletion of
norepinephrine. What also contributes to the depression is the thought that life is terrible and that it is
never going to get better. What then results is a feeling of helplessness and ineffectiveness, feeling like a
failure and a reduction in self-confidence. Individuals who are depressed are also likely to withdraw
from relationships and isolate themselves which often increases the intensity of the depression. In
addition, anxiety and fearfulness are commonly felt emotions if someone constantly perceives threats
around the corner. In addition, individuals who are chronically stressed are likely to exhibit increased
cynicism, rigidity, sarcasm and irritability since they believe that their situation is not likely to improve.
Chronic stress also has significant behavioral consequences. Behavioral consequences often result from
innate survival urge we have to seek relief, to fight or to flee. Unfortunately, these relief-seeking
behaviors eventually become problematic. For example, "addictive behaviors" can result from the
repeated efforts to soothe or escape the painful stress. Alcohol, drugs, smoking and overeating are
often seen as tools to help manage the stress even though their effects are short lived and the
consequences of chronic use are destructive to the body and mind. Unfortunately the mind͛s ability to
deny the long-term consequences in order to fill short-term need to escape perpetuates the problem
and increases excessive use behavior. Similarly, procrastination, poor planning, excessive sleeping and
avoidance of responsibility are examples of behaviors used by stressed individuals to temporarily flee
from the pain. What is most significant about these behaviors is their ability to generate additional
problems that are as severe as the original stressor. For example, procrastination or avoidance of the
management of a stressor only serves to increase anxiety and exacerbate the stress experience. Stress
consequences reviewed above suggest that in addition to being physically and psychologically
distressing, they reduce the likelihood of effective goal reaching. Rationale for properly managing and
coping with the stress is for health protection in future as well as making present more productive and
satisfying.







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Since stress is an inevitable fact of life that we can͛t 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 behavioral/practical approaches to stress management include exercise and eating a
healthy, balanced diet, which includes selections from the basic food groups. In addition, it is
recommended that one avoid the excessive use of alcohol, caffeine and sugar, which contribute to
fatigue and vulnerability to mood swings. It is also important to allow the body to rest and replenish to
help inoculate the body against future stress. Building this stress resistance also includes scheduling
time for leisure and pleasure, which provides for a more balanced, fulfilling life. Anticipating and
preparing for recurrent stressors by managing time, setting priorities and limits, delegating
responsibility, and not procrastinating are helpful stress reducing strategies. These techniques are
effective stress management tools because their utilizationis within our control.
The relaxation approaches to stress management include a variety of techniques designed to
help you effectively manage the body/mind tension. Progressive muscle relaxation is an active form of
relaxation where you individually contract the major muscle groups of your body for about five seconds
and then you relax the individual muscle groups for a five second holds. The contrast experienced by this
exercise relieves muscle tension and relaxes the body. Some of the more passive relaxation approaches
include listening to music, reading and using saunas and hot tubs to relieve tension. Techniques used to
relax the mind include meditation and visual imagery. Meditation teaches you how to clear the mind of
stressful and distracting thoughts by focusing the mental energy on positive coping thoughts. Visual
imagery is designed to help the individual visualize him/herself coping

effectively with a stressor that was previously experienced as overwhelming. The behavioral and
relaxation approaches described above are necessary but not sufficient conditions for stress
management. The third prong to stress management, the cognitive or thinking approach, is essential to
effective coping with stress.
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.
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.
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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 you͟ 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
personͶafter all they wouldn͛t be calling if they knew what was wrong.

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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.












 ,!
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 Ͷ 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 can͛t be controlled.
Most of the BPOs arrange ͚feel good͛ 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 week͛ and ͚employee of
the month͛. 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.
BPOs like Stream have appointed ͚fun officers͛ 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.

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 option4