Recrion was recently approached by Dr Al James (University of London Lecturer in Human Geography) and Dr Bhaskar Vira (University of Cambridge) to be part of a research project into the UK call centre industry. Dr Al James is Programme Convenor in Globalisation and Development and is carrying out a comparative study of the UK call centre industry with that in India where, strikingly, call centres are increasingly regarded as offering potential career development and social progression.
Dr James approached Recrion as a leader in retention and talent management solutions to share our views in relation to the reasons for attrition in UK call centres. A stimulating debate regarding workers' experiences of different forms of call centre training, career progression, and the different institutions which shape call centre labour markets ensued.
The joint research project adopts a broad social economy approach and examines
(i) the experiences of call centre workers across the work-home boundary in different national contexts;
(ii) labour mobility patterns of call centre workers during and subsequent to leaving the call centre industry;
(iii) the role of labour market intermediaries such as training agencies, personality development companies, recruitment agencies, management consultants, call centre unions, and online job placement networks in mediating work and training practices, brokering employment relationships, and improving labour market outcomes.
The research should be published by the end of 2008 and will form an invaluable comparison between the UK and Indian call centre industry.
Recrion advises a broad spectrum of organisations on the vital importance of retaining their best people and effectively managing both their performance and expectations. For more information visit www.recrion.co.uk
