Health issue leads to employee attrition in Chennai based call center industry

The international research on call centre employment presents mainly negative view of the nature of this work. A more positive portrayal of call centre work has been demonstrated in some international research, highlighting the problem of generalizing across different contexts. Previous Indian research has also found variation in terms of employment outcomes, job satisfaction and career opportunities across various industries, type and size of call centre and different management approaches. This paper continues to explore the work experiences of call centre workers and is based on research conducted in Chennai based call centers. Insights from focus groups of trade union delegates informed the development of a survey which was circulated across 22 organization, drawing responses from 845 call centre workers. The findings show that over half of the workers consider their call centre work is enjoyable most of the time, their work is strategically important and there are a number benefits. The benefits include career enhancements, new skills and developing social capital. However, despite the positives described in open ended survey questions and the ranking of attributes important to call centre workers, almost half of the respondents have health concerns about the nature of their work or the call centre workplace. It is this particular finding that is the focus of the paper. It illustrates the need for an occupational health focus to be extended to call centre employment in Chennai.