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ILR Impact Brief - Ownership Status Matters: Call Centers, Employment Systems, and Turnover

Author
Batt, Rosemary; Doellgast, Virginia; Kwon, Hyunji
Abstract
"Each type of call center (i.e., ownership status) is associated with particular strategies and systems, which in turn influence quit rates. In-house call centers typically focus on service quality and adopt quasi-professional employment systems (higher pay, more opportunities for employee problem-solving, minimal performance monitoring). Cost control, by contrast, is the strategic driver of outsourced and offshore call centers, which favor low-commitment employment systems that depend on close monitoring and limited on-the-job discretion. Turnover, a major problem for the entire industry, is lowest at in-house call centers and highest at outsourced facilities."
Journal/Series
Impact Brief
Description
The ILR Impact Brief series highlights the research and project based work conducted by ILR faculty that is relevant to workplace issues and public policy. The Briefs are prepared by Maralyn Edid, Senior Extension Associate, ILR School.
Date Issued
2006-03-01Subject
ownership; status; call center; employment; system; turnover; in-house; outsources; offshore; U.S.; customer; India; ownership
Related to
For a more in-depth analysis, please see: Batt, R., Doellgast, V. & Kwon, H. (2005). Service management and employment systems in U.S. and Indian call centers. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS). CAHRS Working paper 05-12.
Related To:
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/77145Rights
Required Publisher Statement: Copyright by Cornell University.
Type
newsletter