Making Call Center Jobs Better: The Relationship between Management Practices and Worker Stress

The work of a call center agent has been described as one of the ten most stressful jobs in the global economy (Holdsworth and Cartwright 2003). Call centers are known for their heavy use of electronic monitoring, tightly controlled schedules and break times, and intense performance pressure. Past research has shown that these practices contribute to high levels of employee stress, anxiety, and burnout (Holman and Fernie 2000; Deery et al. 2002;…