"Call monitoring systems have increased pressure on call centre staff making them feel less like human beings and more like an extension of technology" is the main finding of a new UNISON report.
The stresses facing staff in call centres is examined in the report 'Holding the Line' which highlights the dramatic increase in the use of modern information technology in transforming the way people work. Although sophisticated technology can take much of the monotony out of work, in call centres it often appears that it has done the opposite . Instead of freeing workers up to enable them to take on more creative tasks, it is often being used to chain them more firmly to their workstations.
Sol Mead, UNISON Senior National Officer, who produced the report, said: "Being watched is very stressful, perhaps more so when it's a machine doing the watching. A computer collects data minute by minute and an almost ubiquitous feature of most call centres is an overhead LED display showing the number of calls waiting and the longest time waited.
