ABSTRACT
Staff working in call centres report low levels of wellbeing in comparison to many other occupations (e.g. Johnson, Cooper, Cartwright, Donald, Taylor & Millett, 2005). Problems identified among call centre staff include high levels of workrelated stress (Holdsworth & Cartwright, 2004), poor psychological wellbeing (Sprigg, Smith & Lane, 2003), weight gain and obesity (Boyce, Boone, Cioci & Lee, 2008), a high risk of physical health problems and low job satisfaction (Johnson et al., 2005). The poor health and wellbeing among call centre staff leads to higher than average absence from work (CIPD, 2013) and high staff turnover (CfA, 2012). A number of risk factors for poor wellbeing among call centre staff have been identified. These include working in a larger call centre, following a strict script, high workload, lack of clarity (Sprigg et al., 2003), lack of role variety, lack of support from supervisors and colleagues (Deery, Iverson & Walsh, 2002), the degree to which calls are monitored (Sprigg et al., 2003) and the clarity and usefulness of the feedback received from monitored calls (Kochan, 1989). However, it is difficult to draw any conclusions about causality from these findings on wellbeing in call centres due to a number of methodological weaknesses in the existing evidence, including a lack of longitudinal studies, a focus on limited numbers of variables and an over-reliance on questionnaire-based studies.
