Call Center Employees = Poor Work Ethic?

[dothe101]

Hmm... correct me if I'm wrong but despite being paid almost thrice the minimum wage rate (netting roughly 15k to 20k a month) you still hear CC agents rant about this and that.

Kesyo:
*Maliit sueldo, maliit allowance, mapolitika, mabagal promotion.

For once I say SHUT UP! I've been asking people who are applying at call centers and for those who are tenured agents its not unusual to hear
"In the past two years I've been with 4 call centers, iba pa nga lima" WHAT?

Bakit daw? Kesyo bored sa trabaho, maliit sueldo, may nakaaway na TL.

Well eto sa inyo: Kahit saang trabaho may politika, kung regular day job ka malamang mas maliit ang sueldo, mas mabagal ang promotion (average every 3 years lang), walang transpo/meal allowance. So what's the problem?

I have almost come to a conclusion CC Agents=Poor work ethic.

Give the industry a chance man! It's young, if you want to get ahead choose the call center you want to work with very carefully. Stick to it, work hard, don't be absent, don't be late, meet your metrics and in a year or two you should be on your way to a promotion. In the US it's $B industry and it can be as well but that can only happen if CC improve thier work ethic.

[sizzling]

The problem is the attitude, not just the work ethics. And the attitude problem in not exclusive to the call center industry. Most people just have the "entitlement mentality". They think they should have everything they want, even though usually they don't deserve half of what they're getting.

[pinkpinkapples]

i'd say a rolling stone gathers no moss........

[KuyaDanny]

I've seen CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CIO, and all sorts of assorted Os with entitlement mentalities, too. They just cost more but say almost the same things when they rant.

[My_topak]

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Leif_Erikson]

Call center agents are MOSTLY like that because call centers try to make the atmosphere at work as fun and as like school as possible. That's why there are many call centers where the agents think and act like high school or bum college kids.

However, a big factor is also the widespread availability of better options in the call center industry. There is so much mobility since there are always newer and newer call centers in need of EXPERIENCED agents--so the call centers themselves are the ones fanning the movement in between and among call centers by looking for experienced agents and managers (either by PIRATING them directly or ENTICING them via word-of-mouth or direct advertisements). You wouldn't have all this mobility and fickleness in tenure if there were so few options in this industry, just like in traditional industries.

[dothe101]

That's besides the point. As one pexer said, one dissatisfied, bored agent leaves his current CC transfers to another CC only to become a higher paid dissatisfied, bored (still) agent. If only they worked hard enough then for sure they would have gotten promoted by now and f**k that politics crap. It's part of the corporate game, one who wants to get ahead has to learn to play with it.

[namazucon]

Ang masasabi ko diyan, hindi ang isang isyu o ang isang problema ang magpapabagsak sa iyo. Ito ay kung paano dadalhin o haharapin ang isang isang isyu o ang isang problema. Kaya kung may nagyayaring pagbabago o isyu sa pinagtatrabahuhan mo, medyo maki-ride ka muna sa kanilang kagustuhan at kung may medyo hindi nagustuhan sa kanilang ginagawa, maari mo naman isumbong o ipaalam sa mga nakakataas na tao sa iyong kumpanya.

So, payo ko lang sa mga bagong gradweyt diayn, mag-isip isip muna kayo bago pumasok sa isang trabaho.

[metadreamerboy]

dothe101, i think that's a risky assumption that you made, considering that the logic is mostly one-sided. Have you considered that the BPO industry is one of the most volatile industries out there. one day you have this big Fortune 500 account, the next day it has already pulled out. The management themselves see the workforce as expendable. And c'mon, obviously you have not taken much calls, did you? otherwise you would have pointed out that some companies have impossible metrics.
PS: CC's are aggressive in pirating other cc’s employees. So there....

[Leif_Erikson]

Amen, metadreamerboy!

Management sees the agent workforce as expendable. CORRECT. Why do call centers hire in WAVES? And isn't it a fact that many call centers hire only seasonably--and then dismiss their agents after peak season has ended? It happened to some of my wavemates in Etelecare. After the holiday season most of them were terminated. Thus, the call centers THEMSELVES foster this phenomenon of "lipat-lipat".

Second, the nature of this industry is that they would rather hire experienced agents and attract them to leave their current or previous call centers, instead of hiring total newbies at greater expense and slower learning curve. In short, the expansion and growth of the call center industry in the Philippines REQUIRES the constant mobility of "lipat-lipat" among agents and managers in the industry. Otherwise, how would new call centers function if mobility was practically nil? They would be forced to hire total newbies--at greater cost both in terms of productivity and operational expenses.

Dothe101 also overlooks the fact that the call center industry is highly stressful, so much more stressful than a regular day job. Considering that most agents are young, fresh out of college, it's too much to ask of them to stay for years in a call center when their health and overall growth are at risk.

Dothe101 also mentions call centers in the US. S/he forgets that one reason call centers choose to come here is the fact that the turnover rate of agents here is lesser than in the US. Most agents especially in the traditional inbound and outbound call center jobs in the US stay at work for less tenure than our average Pinoy agent. I read that somewhere in an analytical report of the call center industry in the Philippines back in 2003.

[My_topak]

dothe101, i think that's a risky assumption that you made, considering that the logic is mostly one-sided. Have you considered that the BPO industry is one of the most volatile industries out there. one day you have this big Fortune 500 account, the next day it has already pulled out. The management themselves see the workforce as expendable. And c'mon, obviously you have not taken much calls, did you?otherwise you would have pointed out that some companies have impossible metrics. KOREK!!!! :rotflmao:
PS: CC's are aggressive in pirating other cc’s employees. So there....

AMEN!!! *okay*

May tama ka!

[dothe101]

Amen, metadreamerboy!

Management sees the agent workforce as expendable. CORRECT. Why do call centers hire in WAVES? And isn't it a fact that many call centers hire only seasonably--and then dismiss their agents after peak season has ended? It happened to some of my wavemates in Etelecare. After the holiday season most of them were terminated. Thus, the call centers THEMSELVES foster this phenomenon of "lipat-lipat".

Second, the nature of this industry is that they would rather hire experienced agents and attract them to leave their current or previous call centers, instead of hiring total newbies at greater expense and slower learning curve. In short, the expansion and growth of the call center industry in the Philippines REQUIRES the constant mobility of "lipat-lipat" among agents and managers in the industry. Otherwise, how would new call centers function if mobility was practically nil? They would be forced to hire total newbies--at greater cost both in terms of productivity and operational expenses.

Dothe101 also overlooks the fact that the call center industry is highly stressful, so much more stressful than a regular day job. Considering that most agents are young, fresh out of college, it's too much to ask of them to stay for years in a call center when their health and overall growth are at risk.

Dothe101 also mentions call centers in the US. S/he forgets that one reason call centers choose to come here is the fact that the turnover rate of agents here is lesser than in the US. Most agents especially in the traditional inbound and outbound call center jobs in the US stay at work for less tenure than our average Pinoy agent. I read that somewhere in an analytical report of the call center industry in the Philippines back in 2003.

On the contrary Mr. Leif, while it is initially more expensive to train a newbie/virigin agent, if that agent stays with his employer for a long time it actually entails less cost for call centers. For cost purposes they would prefer hiring, training "loyal" newbies, rather than hire and employ "fickle" tenured agents who leave thier employers even before they get regularized.

How can CC functions if all it's agents are inexperienced? Well almost 4-5 years ago, everybody was inexperienced and the industry did just fine. A tenured (if it ever existed at that time) was a rarity and puleeezzzzzzz, please don't justify your actions as natural reaction to industry trends. You're not a fresh out of college graduate? 30+, UP Law School Grad right? Why don't you take the board instead, you'd be of better service to the country that way.

[Leif_Erikson]

1) It's not a BOARD exam, it's a BAR exam. It's administered by the Supreme Court, not by the PRC.
2) I am not done with the bar exams yet since I have to work to pay the bills. I'm not some uppity softy middle class kid whose parents have the money (you need at least 100,000 pesos) to support a law grad for a full year of review, study, and exam.
3) Call centers THEMSELVES are to blame for the lack of maturity of their agents. They breed such attitude among agents when they try to make the workplace more like a fun and hip tambayan, with "fun days" and "theme days" and deck the premises like a preschool or kiddie center--by filling it up with banderitas, balloons, streamers, colorful banners, pictures laid out to look like a hip teen magazine, etc. In other words, they themselves pander to the baseline denominator underlying the mindset of their agents, who are almost all fresh college grads or still of college age, instead of raising the bar, so to speak. Why do you suppose they have "fun days" and "team outings" packaged like barkada outings?

You still didn't address the points I raised in my previous post--about American agents having less average tenure than Pinoy agents, about call centers themselves relying on this "lipat-lipat" phenomenon, about the HIGHLY STRESSFUL nature of call center work taking its toll on young lives and best relieved by leaving and moving on, etc.

[Leif_Erikson]

Moving around the call center industry doesn't NECESSARILY show a poor work ethic. There are numerous VALID reasons for moving--such as better pay and benefits, lousy metrics that are impossible to meet, oppressive work conditions, health reasons, a desire to upgrade one's skills from "first wave" outbound sales to "second wave" inbound customer service to "third wave" BPO/no-more-calls work, etc.

If you diss call center agents for moving around in search of a better paycheck and benefits, then you should diss nurses who migrate to the US and UK in search of a better life for themselves and their families. It's all the same operative principle. Do you actually suppose we work for the heck of it? Aren't we working MAINLY for money to support our families? Growth is also a big part of working, but it's secondary to the demands of a hungry stomach, a roof over one's head, and clothes for one's body.

[dothe101]

Pero di ka na fresh grad di ba? Thundercats ka na nga eh.

[Leif_Erikson]

Hindi na nga ako fresh graduate. Read my post above yours. Moving around the call center industry (or in any other industry) in search of better pay and benefits isn't immaturity. It's being in touch with what you know you really want. Immaturity is when you move around call centers just because you get tired of doing the same thing again and again, just like outgrowing an old "trip" and looking for a new one. Hindi ganon ang gawain ko, and I'm sure my coworkers who did "lipat-lipat" too (incldg my bosses and managers) were motivated by the same drive as I was/am.

[metadreamerboy]

It not necessarily personal ethics that caused such "phenomenon". In fact in the CC industry in India and the US, the average agent stays for around 9 months. I'm sorry I dont remember the magazine or newspaper that I got that fact from. And yes, health is a big factor in the short tenure of these agents. And to emphasize again the volatile factor, compared with other industries, CHANGE is the only thing thing permanent in the industry. Shifting schedules, changing workload.....

[Keitaro]

C'mon guys, it's pretty obvious by now that dothe101 is speaking out of his/her ***. I don't think he/she has even worked in a call center, kaya clueless sya sa mga reasons kung bakit palipat-lipat ang mga tao sa industriyang ito. Wag nalang patulan yan.

[PEXboy]

Well some of the factors are true.... Getting so bored by doing the same damn thing 5 days a week....the salary is not that competitive anymore... you are going to talk to all the ignorant US people that don't know even how to turn on a computer 0.0 and the h3ll they give you dsat csat hahaha funny....good thing i have a good coach ( he's really nice and motivate us but sometimes even motivation are not enough coz if you love your job you won't be compelled doing it.... sigh....) I guess this industry is not for me i guess after my contract i'll go find a job that i will learn to love not just by counting how many hours left before breaks/logout and not by counting when will i recieve my next paycheck....sigh.....if only theres a day job that pays
PXX,XXX who will bother working for a CC anywayz?

[sleepyhead]

depende sa company, depende sa account, depende sa tao.

nun college ako, i told myself i'de never work in a call center. pero when i graduated, san ako bmagsak? lol. (in fairness, biggest ito :lol: ) dito i was getting at least 60 calls a day. and asahan mo ndi lahat yun masaya. at 10 sconds lang ang pahinga. so i can understand why some people would really want to transfer. ok yun company pero i hated the account. may upselling pa yon. so i said, ayoko na mag call center.

pero nasan ako now? sa call center pa din. kasi mataas ang pay. and the irony of ironies, ito pa yun call center na ayaw ko. pero nkatagal ako. kasi ok yun account. para kasi kaming extension office. sure i do inbound/outbound calls. i do e-mail and chat support pa. minsan dahil jan, sa desk na ko naglulunch. chips pa. lol. i don't like my account manager either. (but my boss in the US is great!)

san pa ko makakahanap ng job sa pinas na fixed sched, at talagang pinapakita ng mentors na mahalaga ako? nasa tao lang talaga yun. some people can never be satisfied lang talaga.

[namazucon]

Merong ibang dahilan kaya lumlipat ng trabaho ang iba sa atin. Hindi lang basta ayaw-ayaw kuno, like yung iba, naididisolve yung account ng walang dahilan at yung iba, nagkakainteres sa ibang mas magandang pagkakakitaan.

[tazvic]

ako dati, sabi ko rin d ako magwowork sa call center pero next month, mag iistart na ako ng work sa isang call center company, salamat sa mga sini share nyong pov's kahit papaano, maihahanda ko sarili ko.

salamat pipol.

[bourbon]

Pero di ka na fresh grad di ba? Thundercats ka na nga eh.

nag name calling na si dothe, ala na siguro masabi, hehehehe :rotflmao:

[ice_D]

amen! its just a matter of proper mind setting :)

[ice_D]

amen! its just a matter of proper mind setting :p

[ambertookme]

LOL @ Thundercats...

[vinzer]

personally, i think dothe101's comments should not be applied as a whole to call center agents in general and should be applied on a case-to-case basis.

yes, there are malcontents in call centers, but there are also hard-working professional ones.

what i will point out, though, is that people applying in a call center should know the stress this would entail, and HR personnel make that clear to you during the application process (at least nung nag-apply ako, ganun sila).

problem is, most new applicants don't look beyond the salary figures when applying.

[kwerky]

i would like to add din na kaya yun iba palipat lipat is because hindi pa lang nila nahahanap yun work/job na magsasatisfy skanila....of course if you're only working for the money..or if your heart isnt really in it (ur job)..eventually you'll get bored...and maghahanap ka ng iba...

i used to work in a call center, pero i only lasted for like 9 months, y? kasi i got bored...kasi i knew that taking calls and doing night shift one month and day shift the next isn't really what i wanted...pero yung iba kong batchmates 3 years na sila dun..working for the same call center...agents still...but they are happy, although sometimes they complain about their pay, but hey! sino ba walang reklamo sa sweldo? Sabi nga nla...the more pay you get the higher your lifestyle gets din...the more money you make..the more money to spend!!

I hate people na hnd nmn nagwork sa call center pero kung makapag bigay ng opinion sa CC peeps kala mo napaka expert nila...don't take it out on them if for them ok lang magpalipat lipat ng call center..they just never felt na mahirap maghanap ng work kc there are tons of CCs out there willing to pay them more than ofc jobs...and anu nmn if palipat lipat ng CC?? i don't think naaapektuhan k nmn...

one thing i miss about call centers is the adrenaline pag may kaaway na caller.. hehe..

oohh...and of course the barkadas...:D

[ignas]

Hmm... correct me if I'm wrong but despite being paid almost thrice the minimum wage rate (netting roughly 15k to 20k a month) you still hear CC agents rant about this and that.

Kesyo:
*Maliit sueldo, maliit allowance, mapolitika, mabagal promotion.

For once I say SHUT UP! I've been asking people who are applying at call centers and for those who are tenured agents its not unusual to hear
"In the past two years I've been with 4 call centers, iba pa nga lima" WHAT?

Bakit daw? Kesyo bored sa trabaho, maliit sueldo, may nakaaway na TL.

Well eto sa inyo: Kahit saang trabaho may politika, kung regular day job ka malamang mas maliit ang sueldo, mas mabagal ang promotion (average every 3 years lang), walang transpo/meal allowance. So what's the problem?

I have almost come to a conclusion CC Agents=Poor work ethic.

Give the industry a chance man! It's young, if you want to get ahead choose the call center you want to work with very carefully. Stick to it, work hard, don't be absent, don't be late, meet your metrics and in a year or two you should be on your way to a promotion. In the US it's $B industry and it can be as well but that can only happen if CC improve thier work ethic.

i think we were raised to be that way. easy easy lang sa work, i really dont think pinoys are honest, hard-working, many times over minsan we are not competent. i dont think pinoys have that attitude. to me, we dont take pride in the things that we do for example:

earlier, i got a call cust was requesting that we call her back because shes in an emergency, she doesnt have money and is overseas. i told her we cant call her out. she begged to be called out cos shes in a very hard sitauation. she gave me her number right after call got disconnected.

i immediately informed my TL, supervisors, OM's abt the issue. I got the same answer 'NO we cant do that, we are just following company policies'. I like was like wtf! I reasoned out that this is a paying cust, shes one of the reason we have jobs like this in the 1st place. WE have an international number that takes in collect calls but it doesnt work. Whos fault is it? Its the companies. I got an answer 'we have like 20 mil cust, 1 disgruntling cust wouldnt hurt us.' I was like WHAATTT!!! Are you serious.

It was such a disappoining response I want to leave work right there and then. We were going back and forth with my bosses but I couldnt get them to freaking help. They was telling me 'dont be so affected with one call, "its ok"

How can people say that, given that they were higher in position I was expecting of a better answer. WHat if there were in the customers situation? Most pinoys arent just as responsive to situations like this.

I dont know people just dont understand that working in call center isnt just about taking calls, its about giving out service....


:(

[vinzer]

I dont know people just dont understand that working in call center isnt just about taking calls, its about giving out service....

i read your story and i think it's hypocritical of call center bosses to ask HR to hire only people with interview answers like "working in a call center means caring about the customer" and then they themselves not caring about the loss of one paying customer in need.

but then again, company policy rises above all, even over customer support.

[mystique26]

dothe101: no offense but your comments are hostile. most, if not all, people would choose to work for a non-call center center company if given the opportunity. in my case, i applied in a non-call center company but was not accepted. i needed a job, so i applied in convergys, got in, and stayed there for 2 years. tried my luck again in the non-call center company and finally got in so i left convergys. yun lang yun. doesnt matter if the pay is lower as long as im in a stable company and like what i'm doing. one of the main reasons for people to work in a call center is bec they have no choice. yun lang tumanggap sa kanila eh (like in my case). kanya kanyang dahilan lang yun. sa iba naman na guso talaga sa call center, good for them. just do your work well and your effort will be worth it. chill out...