The Labour Process and Union Commitment within a Banking Services Call Centre

Abstract

The advent of the call centre workplace phenomenon has re-kindled debate within labour process theory, particularly in relation to control issues concerning service sector work and routinisation of clerical and white-collar labour. There has been rather more limited discussion of employment relations matters emanating from the call centre labour process. This paper considers issues such as absenteeism and labour turnover, management control, work intensification, union and organisational commitment within a banking services call centre based in Liverpool, UK. The main findings of the research indicate that employees or ‘agents’ were frustrated and bored with repetitive and standardised work operations; that there were high levels of managerial control and surveillance and that there was little opportunity for exercising creativity and autonomy in the work situation. The commitment of agents to their organisation was, not surprisingly in the light of these findings, correspondingly low. Agents, who were unionised, were moderately committed to their trade union despite some disappointment concerning the apparent inability of local union representatives to pursue and process grievances effectively. The paper concludes that the ‘sweatshop’ image of call centres is to some extent at least, confirmed within the research context.