The Canadian Contact Centre Industry: Strategy, Work Organization & Human Resource Management

Abstract

Enormous growth has occurred in the contact centre segment of the Canadian economy over the past decade. In part due to re-engineering, restructuring, and outsourcing, as well as to the technological changes that have facilitated this growth, the contact centre sector has experienced enormous growth and considerable changes. Widespread diversity in this sector is now evident - both in terms of employment practices as well as in outcomes experienced by employees. Despite this dynamic growth and increasing heterogeneity, relatively little is known about this industry on any systematic basis. This report is a first step in creating a deeper understanding about this sector's employment practices and about outcomes of interest to both firms and workers. This study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) is part of the Global Call Centre Project, the first large-scale coordinated international study of work and human resource practices in call centres that includes over twenty countries worldwide. This project is coordinated by Rosemary Batt (Cornell University), David Holman (Sheffield University), and Ursula Holtgrewe (Forba). In this report, we present important data for Canadian contact centre managers. The results are based on responses from 406 contact centre managers in a broad array of industries and in all ten provinces, and site visits to contact centres located across Canada. We collected data on hiring practices, technology use, location decision criteria, work organization choices from contact centres that serve a wide range of industries - financial services, telecommunications, retail, IT and technical support services, hospitality, manufacturing, print and media, and public and non-profit sectors. We analyze management and employment practices from multiple perspectives including region, organizational characteristics (inhouse, outsource, union & non-union), and type of work performed by the contact centre.