leaflet on the intensification of work

text in german    testo in italiano
Here is the main article of the second leaflet (December 2000).
You can find the reports on specific call centers under:
hewlett packard/amsterdam
deutsche bank 24/bonn
quelle/essen
medion/muelheim
citibank/duisburg
tas

Quite a lot has happened since we distributed the first hotlines-leaflet (on the extension of working hours in call centers) in October. At Medion/Muelheim we gave out a leaflet on the planned work council elections, and another one at Quelle/Essen on the standard-phrases. Friends in Italy have also distributed a leaflet on call centers. You can find all that and some further contributions to the discussion on the website (address on the left). We keep on going.

Call by Call - On the intensification of work

- Just arrived at work, computer switched on, software started, logged in the telephone system. The teamleader comes over: "Here are your statistics for yesterday. Your break was one minute and 25 seconds over the limit!" I wish she would die right here in front of me, but she had just started: "Furthermore, your not-ready-times are 10 percent longer than those of the other agents. And you have not met the average of 20 calls an hour. So you won't get a bonus again." I look at her as bored as I can. Why doesn't she just leave me alone so I can get a coffee. But then it comes: "We will give you some assistance. Tomorrow the trainer will listen to some of your calls. He can give you good advice!" The trainer, brilliant. He will go on again about the missing "smile in your voice" and that you are using forbidden words like "problem". And then he will get all slimy and say how promising your attempts are but that there would be "room for improvements"... -

The first leaflet was on the attempts of the call center bosses to extend the working day. This one is on their attempts to let us work "effectively" and without breaks.

Division of work
There are two forms of stress at work: either it is monotonous because we do the same stuff on and on; or it is hectic because we get more and more tasks. Behind both forms of stress lies the attempt of the bosses to make our work as productive and profitable as possible. Therefore he divides the work process and allows each worker only certain operations. By measuring the time and observing the workers these single operations are analysed thoroughly and put in pre-arranged sequences. In call centers this is done by defining work flows for the call-handling and standard phrases for welcoming the callers (see report on Quelle). That way they want our work to become measurable and comparable - a precondition for defining and raising a certain call rythm (for instance 20 calls an hour).
But what is supposed to increase productivity to create more profit for the bosses (more calls with less workers) for us often means two or three times more work. After splitting up work in single operations, responsablities, etc. nobody really knows what is going on. In inbound-call centers for instance calls are transferred from one department to another and back and it is hard to get the right information... We have to make up for that by ignoring the official responsabilities.
But why do the bosses divide work in this form, even if it obstructs the smooth and productive cooperation? Because they do not see any other possibility how to divide us, control us and force us to work. Therefore they deny us certain information as well as planning and coordinating tasks. That leads to daily "chaos" and more work. This contradiction cannot be solved: as long as there are bosses they will try to make us dependent on their "information" and "organisation".

Machines
The bosses choose those machines which enable them to intensify work and control us at the same time. The connection of computer- and telephone devices allows a higher call rythm and a strict control of the workers (through statistics on the call amount, breaks, etc.).
The computer-software only allows us certain operations and a certain chronological order in which we have to perform them. The calls are automatically put through to our phones ("Automatic Call Distribution, ACD"), sometimes even - without us picking up the phone - straigth to the headset ("direct-to-ear"). That way they want to prevent us having any control over the amount of calls we accept. In outbound, after finishing one call, often the computer starts dialling up the next customer so we have no time to take a breath ("power dialer").
The employed machinery also shows how absurd work - and the whole society - is organised. As long as we are doing certain work cheaper than machines, we have to do it - as monotonous as it might be. If machines do it cheaper (for instance a computer which answers the calls: "Interactive Voice Response, IVR") we get fired and have to look for another job. For those workers who stay in the company that often means that they have to work more. Because they get more tasks and have to make up for the machines' faulty operations. The possibility to substitute boring, stressful or unpleasant work with machines does not lead to more time for the nice things in life, but to more and intensified work!

Team-Leader
In order to make us work and push through the intensification of work we are confronted with teamleaders, supervisors etc. These control whether we are answering enough calls per hour, check on our break times, whether we meet the qualitiy standards, etc. They do not want us to see them just as watchdogs and spies and, therefore - aside from the controlling tasks - get other responsabilities in the organisation, information handling, etc. We shall be dependent on asking them for help if things do not work well or we need something - and at the same time they hold the call statistics against us.
In this way the teamleaders gain information on the work process and pass that on to the management. That is using the information in order to intensify work even more. The teamleaders as our "contact persons" also play a role as a buffer: whenever there are problems and we are pissed off we are supposed to take that out on the teamleaders instead of attacking the managment straigth away. They want to keep conflicts small and confined that way. The teamleaders have the task to push the management's way through - against us. Depending on the type of conflicts and what they want to accomplish, the teamleaders behave differently: rather "like mates", something those can do best who have been working on the telephones themselves before; they allow to be called by their first name and allegedly take care of all problems; or rather "reserved" and authoritarian, which is done better by teamleaders hired form outside; they keep the distance and push measures through against us (see the report on the Deutsche Bank 24).
In conflicts we have to stand up against the teamleaders. They are our immediate superiors and, therefore, stand in the line of fire. But essentially all this is not about the teamleaders but about the workstress and contraint to work altogether!

Team-Work
In most call centers workers are divided into teams. In some cases that is done by taking certain qualifications (languages, technical knowledge). But more often the teams are just a way to form smaller, "easy-to-control" units out of the mass of workers. That way the management has less difficulties getting through measures to intensify work. Teams are formed to channel conflicts and, if possible, to sweep them under the carpet. Instead of using the team meeting for discussing and pushing through our interests, we are just allowed to unload our problems with cookies and coffee. We shall think that someone is taking care of it all. We shall feel like part of the team. The bosses try to play us off against each other through team-bonuses, which only get paid if the whole team meets the targets, and by waving with call statistics (see reports on Hewlett Packard, TAS...). We are supposed to control each other and urge each other to work. And if the bonuses do not succeed in making us work harder they just threaten to sack us or close down the call center. They want us to see other workers, teams, departments, locations or companies as competitors. But where does this competition lead to? If we undercut each other and make ourselves cheaper and cheaper, all workers will loose after all!

That's it!
Work and work conditions are not our fate, even though at the moment we do not have any alternative but to sell our labour force for an income. One interest stands behind the contraint to perform just a few operations, the use of standard phrases and the submission to the machine cycle as well as the commands of the teamleaders: we shall work more and in an intesified manner for those, who take the profits. That is no natural process but a damned lousy way of producing the basis of our life!
We need to come together from the scattered call centers, factories and hospitals and put an end to all that. We have start at those places where we work together daily and are confronted with the interest of the bosses. We find many "small" ways to avoid working hard - the extended lunchbreak, working slower, putting the phone on "mute", calling in sick and the provoked computer break-down... If we would not do all that, work would be unbearable and we could not do it for long. But real strength and mutual trust can only grow in joint action. That does not necessarily have to be an open confrontation. Here an example: at Hewlett Packard there was an order that workers should ask other agents, who are not having a call, to take call from the queue. The workers made fun of that and ignored the order. They did not want to spy on each other and make each other work!

Joint against the work stress!

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We work in call centers and elsewhere and produce a series of leaflets. That way we want to support and bring forward the discussion among workers. We need to stand up together against work stress and the contraint to work. We can only do that by self-organizing and by finding ways - together with other workers - to react against management measures and to push through our own interests. Our strength lies in the fact that we can quickly agree with other workers on - for instance - refusing overtime, ignoring boss's orders or reducing the call-rythm. Without the boss being prepared and without the mediation or control of works councils (german: Betriebsrat) or unions. If we develope that strength and use it, that can be a step towards the overcoming of wage slavery altogether.
All leaflets are published - together with more information and contributions - on the website:
www.free.de/prol-position
Take part in the discussion and send us your ideas, critique and reports:
Emails: hotlines@free.de
Letters: hotlines c/o Fabrik, Grabenstrasse 20, 47057 Duisburg


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