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What Counts in Health Research? Who's Counted in Health Research? Making Research Count
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The Challenges of Studying the Health of Women Working in Call Centres Carol Putnam, Anne Fenety, Charlotte Loppie, Schools of Physiotherapy and Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, and Maritime Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health
Call centres are a relatively recent phenomenon in the work environment. In the Atlantic region, this rapidly expanding industry employs thousands of women. Call centre teleoperators use telephones and computers and either make calls for telemarketing, fundraising or conducting surveys, or receive calls, providing service via 1-800 numbers. Scripted dialogue, shift work, electronic performance monitoring of telephone conversations and a high degree of verbal interaction with the public characterize this occupation. With few exceptions,[1] research has not considered the impact of this type of work on the health of workers. What is known indicates that tele-operators are susceptible to repetitive strain injuries of the upper extremities.[2] Attributable to physical ergonomic factors (e.g., environment, furniture, etc.), these injuries are also associated with work organization and psychosocial factors such as work/rest schedules, fear of job loss, low control over the work and a lack of co-worker and/or supervisor support.[3] Given the limited knowledge in this area we wanted to use qualitative research techniques as a first step to identify the impact of job stressors and job modifiers. We wanted to accomplish this by talking to women who work in call centres in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Job stressors include physical, psychosocial and work organization stressors. Job modifiers include non-work factors such as family demands and the age of the individual. In the shortterm, job stressors may lead to acute reactions that are psychological (e.g., job dissatisfaction), physiological (e.g., neck discomfort) or behavioural (e.g., absenteeism). In the long term, if unchecked, these acute reactions may manifest as illnesses or injury.[4] The primary goal of our study, Who’s on the Line? (2000), was to facilitate collaboration and expand partnerships between representatives from the call centre industry, government, unions and arms-length government organizations such as the Women’s Employment Outreach Program and the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women. We wanted to develop these partnerships in order to create effective evaluation tools and disseminate research about the impact of work experiences on the health of female call centre operators. This article describes the difficulties we encountered in developing partnerships with industry, which in turn led to difficulties in recruitment of participants and necessitated changes to our research methods. These difficulties—which were overcome to a significant degree—reflect the unique challenges of conducting work-based health research in a new, rapidly growing and primarily non-unionized industry. Recruitment of Study Participants In the process of trying to develop these industry partnerships, we were able to tour two local call centres and meet anonymously with a few individuals from personnel and occupational health departments who provided us with details that helped to inform the research process as well as the development of our interview guide. Our initial intent was to conduct focus group discussions as the primary method of data collection for the study. The lack of support from upper management made industry-based recruitment impossible. Further, we anticipated that the relative openness of focus groups might inhibit people from addressing the more stressful aspects of their job if the focus group were composed of individuals from the same work environment. We opted to use individual interviews instead. We found the task of recruiting study participants on an individual basis more complex, time-consuming and expensive than industry-based recruitment. As a result, the inclusion of participants from New Brunswick was not possible. Even though recruitment was restricted to Nova Scotia workers, a wide variety of call centre types was represented based on business type, size and operational hours. The partners we were successful in inviting into the research enterprise were the Women’s Employment Outreach Program (WEO) in Halifax and the Atlantic Communications and Technical Worker’s Union (AC&TWU). The latter affiliation served our research objective of informing unions about the unique issues faced by call centre workers. Representatives from WEO and AC&TWU helped recruit some study participants. Most were recruited via advertisements placed in local newspapers and through an inter-campus electronic notice board. A total of 25 women, ranging in age from 20 to 58, were interviewed. A slight majority of participants (56%) worked part-time hours, 44% full-time. As well, 65% of the women worked variable shifts; the rest had fixed work schedules. Research Findings While some workers found their work fulfilling, others found it quite stressful. This range appears to be a result of different management styles and different types of call centres, both of which contributed to varying levels of perceived control on the job. Lack of control was related to: scripted dialogues, heavy workloads, excessive supervision and surveillance of calls, job insecurity, interference with family responsibilities, and unpredictable work schedules (including rotating shifts and uncertainty of holidays). The collective effect of various job stressors including lack of control, negatively impacted the well-being of our study participants through varying degrees of low energy, depression, irritability, disrupted sleeping and eating patterns as well as poor overall mood. The findings of this research indicate the need for future exploration of the psychosocial factors impacting the health of call centre workers. Our research results, as well as subsequent analysis of the entire data set, will inform the development of a call centre-specific occupational stress questionnaire. A brochure outlining our research results to potential call centre employees is being distributed through the WEO and other employment assistance programs. Despite the difficulties encountered in developing industry partnerships, we consider this a critical component of workplace health research. Our research initiatives continue to include this partnership strategy. For a copy of the full report, Who’s on the Line? Women in
Call Centres Talk about Their Work and Its Impact on Their Health and Well-being, contact: NOTES |
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