1. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act
Working for Job Security and Quality Customer Service in The U.S. Contact Center Industry
Why We Need the
Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act

2. Customer contact is a major industry
57,000 contact centers in U.S.
4,000 large centers (150 or more agent positions)
Large centers employ about one-half of agents
86% of centers are “in-house” (not subcontracted)
4.7 million U.S. contact center workers
3.7% of the total U.S. workforce
Customer service rep is largest occupational title in centers
2.2 million CSR jobs in 2010 (45% of call center jobs)
7th largest occupational title in the U.S.
3rd largest projected growth in the number of jobs with an expected increase of 400,000 jobs (18%) from 2008 to 2018
The customer contact industry is huge, with about 57,000 contact or call centers in the U.S. And about 4.7 million workers, the industry employs 3.7% of the U.S. Workforce.
Most of the workers in these centers are customer service reps, CSRs. With 2.2 million workers, it is the 7th largest occupational title in the U.S. It is the third fastest growing job. The U.S. Department of Labor expects the U.S. to grow 400,000 new CSR jobs by 2018.
Sources: U.S. National Report: Global Call Center Survey, BLS, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2009,

3. Competition drives goals and strategies
Business Goals:
Retain customers
Reduce costs
Increase revenue
Strategies to Achieve Goals:
One Stop Shop – for sales, service and billing
Web Self-Serve – for sales, tech support
Interactive Voice Response
Outsourcing/Offshoring
Customer service is a key business strategy. The business goals that drive customer service operations focus on retaining customers and reducing costs in order to increase company revenue.
To achieve those goals, the call center industry has implemented a number of strategies:
Rather than having different operations for sales, service and billing, operations are combined – it is a one stop shop so that customers need only have one point of contact.
With the advent of internet technology, firms are turning to websites so customers can serve themselves.
Interactive voice response allows a computer to interact with customers for all or most of the call.
The first three strategies focus on using technology to interface with the customer or to delay customer contact with a live operator for as long as possible. But then there are strategies to keep the cost of the human side of the business low, too.
Technology allows companies cut the cost of customer service by outsourcing, offshoring.

4. In-House, outsourced, and offshore centers
In-house centers: Still the overwhelming majority of the industry
Call center industry revenues: $250 billion/year
$200 billion in-house; $50 billion outsourced
80% of US centers are in-house
Leading outsource and off-shore companies
The bulk of the call center business is still handled in-house, that is not outsourced or offshored. But the 20% of the industry that is oursourcers are turning more and more to offshoring. Tens of thousands of call center jobs are shipped overseas to take advantage of lower labor costs.
Convergys Corp.
Teleperformance
Sitel Worldwide
TeleTech Holdings, Inc.
Sykes Enterprises, Inc.
APAC Customer Services, Inc
Source: CFI Group: Contact Center Satisfaction Index 2010

5. Call centers rebuild third world economies
Top two offshoring destinations are Philippines, India
350,000 – 400,000 call center workers in Philippines
Growing at 50,000 jobs per year; estimated 30-35% annual growth rate
Bills itself as 5th largest English speaking country and “inexpensive” labor
330,000 call center workers in India
Estimated 10-15% annual growth rate
Indian call centers beginning to sub-outsource to yet other countries to take advantage of lower labor costs
Markets “low cost of manpower” and government support of the industry
The Philippines has surpassed India as the top destination for U.S. offshored call centers.

6. Foreign centers lack security measures common in the U.S.
Expensive and difficult to run background checks on foreign call center workers
Bank account and sensitive data more susceptible to theft and fraud
Overseas call centers not subject to data breach notification laws
Indian government carved out call center companies from compliance with data privacy laws

7. Customer satisfaction in US vs. offshore centers
Customer satisfaction in US centers is 25% higher than
off-shore centers
In addition to major concerns about privacy and data security, there is the issue of customer satisfaction. Surveys have shown that U.S.-based centers score higher in customer satisfaction than offshored centers.
In-house centers
Focus more on quality – professional service
More worried about customer service
Want to keep their loyal customer base
Outsourced and off-shore centers
Focus more on costs - Simpler calls
More complex questions need to be routed back in-house
Source: CFI Group: Contact Center Satisfaction Index, 2010.

8. What We’re Doing to Secure Jobs and Quality Service in the Call Center Industry
Bargaining
Job security, improved working conditions, wage and benefits
Customer Service Committee sharing strategies and solutions
Organizing
Telecom: T-Mobile
Airlines: Piedmont, American & American Eagle
Outsourcers: ACS/Xerox

9. What We’re Doing to Secure Jobs and Quality Service in the Call Center Industry
Legislative Action: The United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act (HR 3596)
Introduced by Representative Tim Bishop
Creates “bad actor” list of U.S companies that send jobs overseas
Requires disclosure of call center location to U.S. consumers
Provides right to have call transferred to U.S.-based agent.