Philippines is one of the countries that has a high rate of call center jobs. Because of the cheap labor in this country, a lot of business process outsourcing investors are taking advantage of the good opportunities that await. It’s just sad that most of the people who have their bachelor’s degree still choose to work in this field of profession due to the Philippines’ low employment rate. Well, it’s reality and a practical Filipino would rather choose to be compensated of around 15,000php per month which is a lot bigger than what an average Filipino worker gets. However, although call center agents get paid high, there are still drawbacks that cannot be avoided. One of the things that get affected is one’s health.
As we all know, most call center agents are required to go to work in the evening – which is contrary to one’s body clock. Graveyard shift is one of the most common trademarks that you can associate with a call center job. This reason, along with many other causes, is what makes a typical call center agent vulnerable to health problems. Just so you have an idea, here are some of the health dilemmas that an agent might encounter:
A person gets stress problems – Call center agents are always monitored so they have to work under pressure. They need to meet a certain number of buying clients, get this goal and that, etcetera. Because of working in this kind of firm with a noisy environment, some agents tend to get stressed a lot. Eventually, a person will have health problems like nervous breakdown, heart and sleeping problems and appetite loss.
It leads to boredom and lack of interest – Have in mind that an agent’s job is pretty much repetitive – answering calls, addressing complaints, providing solution, ending call and then after a few seconds, another call would come in. Due to this routine, call center agents become more bored and it sometimes affect their social and personal life. What attitude they gather from their work place is what they unconsciously apply in their world outside work. Even worse, because this kind of attitude produces less brain exercise, it might lead to loss of memory and brain power.
It causes anxiety – This commonly happens to most call center agents since all of them are being monitored in terms of their work performances. A low score means memos pasted on the agent’s desk. More memos might cause someone’s job so it causes anxiety to most of call center agents. This happens probably because it’s really hard to get hired in the Philippines and losing a job is one of the things that should not happen to most Filipinos.
UTI cases – A ten-minute break allows an agent to do all the things he needs to do like urinating. However, having this ten-minute job interval every few hours is not enough for a typical employee. Well, an agent can get used to this routine eventually but what they don’t realize that their system might adjust to the break but their bladder won’t. That’s why there are common cases of UTI on some call center agents, especially women.
One gets exposed to junk food and poor diet – Because most of the workers are in a graveyard shift, 24-hour stores, bars and QSR restaurants are the only options when one craves for something to eat. What most agents don’t realize is they are abusing their body by consuming unhealthy food almost everyday. Not to mention other unhealthy vices and beverages like cigarette and coffee.
Working in a business process outsourcing firm is not that easy. Aside from the stressful work that one has to deal with, there are a lot of things that should be passed through like shifting lifestyle and adjusting body clock. If these problems are not provided any solution, many call center agents will suffer in the near future.