Interesting Call Center Trivia

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Interesting Call Center Trivia
January 3, 2008

Here are some trivia bits about the call center phenomenon that may perk your interests:

1. Bars and call centers
Think there's no direct correlation? Think again. Last 2007, India decided to close bars earlier in an attempt to minimize DUI cases. Guess they didn't think it would minimize the call center workforce as well. The new ordinance made night life for these call center representives a distant memory, and for a group of people who work in the wee hours of the night, this was one of the few perks they really needed.

2. Smoking and call centers
Did you know that the rise in offshore call center employment also contributed to the rise of cigarette smoking in the Philippines? In a recent Inquirer article, studies show that smoking is very common among outsourced call center representatives as a means to vent out stress.

3. Something Good about Graveyard Shifts
Everyone associates graveyard shifts with an increase in stress, and decrease in mental alertness. However, a study in 1999 shows that employees who have to work the night shift are actually more attentive than other workers when they go back to the day shift.

1. http://advice.cio.com/stephanie_overby/indias_call_centers_face_talent_shortage
2. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20080119-113485/Herbal-cigarette-may-help-smokers-quit
3. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/06/990602160636.htm