Working as a contact center attendant: Relating purpose, meaning, sustainability and mental health

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are companies that can be considered financially successful while creating negative externalities for their workers. This is the case of contact centers. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this article is to investigate the challenges for a service company (such as a contact center) in reconciling its economic and financial objectives with the promotion of the work dimension, guaranteeing workers the possibility of professional, collective, and human development. METHODS: This research has a qualitative ethnographic approach. An activity-centered work analysis method, also known as “Ergonomic Work Analysis” (EWA), was carried out in one of the largest companies in the Brazilian contact center market. RESULTS: The case shows that the achievement of economic-financial objectives of the analyzed company is mainly done by harming the well-being of its workers. In particular, the work of the attendants did not bring any development perspective for them. The prevalence of instrumental rationality in decision-making processes and the asymmetry of power relations between stakeholders are the main reasons why workers’ well-being is not considered. CONCLUSION: The discussion proposes that work-related sciences, such as ergonomics and psychodynamics of work, can bring another type of rationality to the decision-making processes of companies. The work also needs to be sustainable enough to allow the construction and development of professionals, and the health of working population, while improving the company’s performance.