Running head: Call center jobs

Tied to the Phone

Margarita M. Acompa
Professor Michael Brammer
Salt Lake Community College

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Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the effects of working in call center. There are
studies that show that the effects vary. Stress has a lot to do with how your body reacts to the
emotion of hating your job and other effects physically as well. Working in a Fortune 100
company comes with dealing with conflicting personalities, social seclusion, stress, depression,
and anger. This paper will go into the effects of each and what we can do to manage it while we
are waiting for something better to come along.

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Tied to the Phone

Jobs are an inevitable part of life. Working at a call center has its positives and negatives.
However, I can feel the negative psychological effects on my body and mind, I know I need to
find something to manage it, before I let the effects control my life. When you are working for a
Fortune 100 company in the call center side, the effects begin to wear on your mind and body.
Mental Health
Psychology is strongly focused on mental health. Mental health includes our emotional,
psychological, and social well-being. Workers in a call center for a Fortune 100 company, have
their mental health is pushed to its limit. Researchers say that for mental health a bad job is
worse than no job at all. "Moving from unemployment to a poor-quality job offered no mental
health benefit, and in fact was more detrimental to mental health than remaining unemployed,"
(Butterworth, 2011.) This study was published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine,
researchers from ANU (Australian National University). In this, seven year study showed how
unemployed people had superior mental health compared to those who had a poor quality job
(2011.) Poorest quality jobs have the sharpest decline in mental health over time hence why call
centers have such a high turnover rate and are constantly hiring (Williams, 2011.) The mind and
body are also very closely connected. After working a long and hard day at a call center, your
mind is drained, you begin to feel the effects, physically on your body.
Physical Health
A normal day at a call center for me is logging in to the phone system and taking a ten
minute break after two and a half hours, then I am back on the phones for another two hours and
take a forty minute lunch, after another two and a half hours I then take my last break ten minute
break. Working in an office job, it is hard to stay active and moving around. Experts at Mayo

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Clinic suggest that 10,000 steps a day is a goal that everyone should set to remain healthy
(Rettner, 2014.) I decided to test this while wearing a FitBit and being attached to my phone all
day at work. It was almost impossible to reach anywhere near that goal in my work day. I had
reached about 3,000 steps. This shows how being tied to the phone and to a desk doesnt help
with your physical health. You are sitting for eight hours of your day. The normal heart rate for
average adults ranges from 60-100 beats per minute (Laskowski, 2012). Your body needs more
that a resting heart rate to have a strong and healthy heart. There may be an underlying problem
if you arent hitting your target heart rate often enough.
Stress
On average, most customer service representatives take about eighty calls per day. The
constant back to back, repetitiveness of the calls begin to cause stress. Of course these stressful
situations arent fight or flight, however we do feel the demands of the customers that we are
dealing with, especially the irate ones. A lot of the stress in working in a call center is from roll
conflict an inconsistencies between performance and evaluations (Geraghty, 2013). Currently at
my job, there are many rumors about layoffs and cuts. Unfortunately, these rumors are no longer
rumors and are becoming a reality. This is another huger stressor and it is now being so recurring
that is now more becoming a chronic stressor. Since this is more of a daily hassle, this will also
lead to more psychological symptoms (LaPierre, 2012) and physical symptoms (Piazza, 2013),
these effects often have a longer and greater impact and longer-lasting impact than major life
events.
Common Effects
As call center jobs are one of the easiest jobs to get, there are some people who stay
many years. Most people who work at my company have been there over five years. However,

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over the years, their body had started to deteriorate and are not the happiest of the bunch. As for
mental health effects, employees notice a decrease in performance, emotional exhaustion,
cynicism, and inefficacy (Sudhashree, 2005 and Ofreneo, 2007). Physical health is also a major
concern. 85% of workers in the LL Beans Maine call center are overweight (Engel, 2014.) Not
being active and being tied to what is almost like a ball and chain can cause impacts to the
immune system, nervous system, musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, cardiovascular
system, endocrine system and gastrointestinal system. Evidence also shows that 30-40% of
employees who work in call centers suffer from eye soreness, blurred vision, light sensitivity,
and headaches (Sudhashree, 2005 and Ofreneo, 2007). Since stress is the main leader of all that
happens in a call center, there are many effects that we cannot forget to mention as well. Job
satisfaction decreases tremendously, professionalism in the workplace is almost out the window,
there is more at work conflict, either with co-workers or managers, and burnouts cause
absenteeism which does not help the employee nor the company (Sudhashree, 2005 and Ofreneo,
2007).
Coping with all the Negatives
When you look at all the negatives, you might think there is no way of fixing these
issues. However, this comes back to your mental health. Every year corporations spend millions
of dollars to find ways to improve employee productivity (Cummins, 2014.) The key concept is
your own engagement and mental health to keep a positive mindset in the work place. In a 2013
Gallup poll on the state of the American workplace, only 30% of employees felt engaged at
work, so it makes sense that there is a negative effect on your mind and body. Work is not
something that you can repress, it is something that you are going to have to do some rational
coping. To help cope with stress, one of the happiest people I work with, meditates. The stress of

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the job stays with the job and his health is not affected by it at all. Meditation does appear to
have positive psychological effects (Beilock, 2011). My personal favorite is aerobic exercise.
Studies indicate that aerobic exercise is associated with psychological well-being (Hassmen,
Koivula, & Uutela, 2000). While being physically active, this does help solve many of the
negatives of the call center slump.
In conclusion, when working in a call center you are dealing with a lot of different
personalities and different situations. The stress gets you mentally and physically. However, it
comes down to you. Your own mental health and your own perception on the situation will
predict your outcome. I wanted to test this theory out. I tried of week of being positive at work
and I had a much better outcome. I was happier and less stressed.

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References:
McMillen, M., 2011, C., & Butterworth, P. (2011, March 14). For mental health, bad job worse
than no job. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
Williams, A. (2011, January 1). What its like to Work in a Call Center. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
Rettner, B. (2014, March 7). The Truth About '10,000 Steps' a Day. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
Laskowski, E. (2012, January 1). Fitness. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
Geraghty, S. (2013, January 1). 27 Sources of Stress within the Call Center. Retrieved May 3,
2015.
Sudhashree, V. P., K. Rohith, and K. Shrinivas. "Issues and concerns of health among call center
employees." Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 9.3 (2005)
Ofreneo, Rene E., Christopher Ng, and Leian Marasigan-Pasumbal. "Voice for the voice
workers: addressing the IR concerns in the call center/BPO industry of Asia." Indian
Journal of Industrial Relations (2007)
Beilock, S. (2011, January 1). Meditation: Small Dose, Big Effect. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
Hassmen, P., Koivula, N., & Uutela, A. (2000). Physical Exercise And Psychological Well
Being: A Population Study In Finland. Preventive Medicine, 17-25.