Lack of autonomy and repetitive work

On average, 65% of the call centre operators’ time is spent answering customer queries, while administration takes up between 10-30% and general activities 5-10%. Breaks contribute to just 5% of the working time. On average, operators respond to 100 calls a day, but this figure can go much higher.
Call centre work has sometimes been called ‘mental conveyer belt work’, illustrating its monotonous and repetitive nature. In addition, the work can be tightly controlled and monitored (both for the quantity and the quality of calls), which many employees in the sector find particularly difficult to deal with. Although legislation exists to set limits on what types of monitoring and control may be carried out, this can sometimes be ignored. The fact that operators do not know if and when they are monitored increases their feelings of nervousness, anxiety and stress. An additional psychological stress factor can be found in the emotional demands of the work, as operators can encounter verbally abusive, difficult or unreasonable clients.