Elsevier

Applied Ergonomics

Volume 40, Issue 4, July 2009, Pages 561-568
Applied Ergonomics

Physical discomfort and psychosocial job stress among male and female operators at telecommunication call centers in Taiwan

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2008.02.024Get rights and content

Abstract

The prevalence of job stress, distributions of major job stressors, and associations between perceived job stress levels and multiple physical discomforts are assessed via a cross-sectional study of 1023 male and female operators at telecommunication call centers in Taiwan. Cases of discomfort are identified via questionnaire surveys requiring respondents to self-reported symptoms of discomfort. Information is obtained on demographics, health status, perceived job stress levels, major job stressors and psychosocial job characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression models are developed to predict physical discomfort in nine body areas. ‘Eye strain’, ‘hoarse or painful throat’ and ‘musculoskeletal discomfort’ are the most pronounced and prevalent complaints after prolonged work time at call centers. Female operators had higher prevalence of physical discomfort than male operators for all body areas. ‘Encountering difficult customers’ ranked as the most important job stress factor among both male and female operators. Working in a call center for more than 4 years is strongly associated with discomfort in all body areas (odds ratio ranges from 1.65 to 2.15). Analysis of risk factors vs. physical discomfort reveals that operators who perceive higher job stress have significantly increased risk of several health complaints, including eye strain, tinnitus, hoarse or painful throat, chronic cough with phlegm, chest tightness, irritable stomach or peptic ulcers, frequent urination and musculoskeletal discomfort.

Introduction

Call centers are rapidly growing worldwide. Norling (2001) defined a call center as ‘any communications platform from which firms deliver services to customers via remote, real-time contact’. Call center operators do business over the telephone, occasionally using earphones, and generally working in a computer-supported environment, and possibly with catalogue holders for displaying reference materials, calculators and other accessories (Smith and Bayehi, 2003, Sprigg et al., 2003). Rocha et al. (2005) noted a 30% increase in the number of call centers in Brazil during the last 20 years. Moreover, an estimated 1–1.7% of the total UK workforce is employed in call centers, and this proportion is expected to grow (HSE, 1999). Most call center employees are clerical workers in industries including financial services, insurance and telecommunications (HSE, 1999). Although call centers provide an attractive alternative to traditional work locations, they are associated with negative effects on operator morale, stress and health (Robertson, 2004).

Ferreira and Saldiva (2002) characterized computer–telephone interactive tasks as involving repetitive movements and prolonged static sitting postures, occurring in complex situations where operators are expected to exhibit communication skill, cordiality, responsibility and efficiency, while simultaneously facing pressures from time, challenging performance targets and direct performance monitoring. All surveys of call centers indicate high rates of upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms (Hales et al., 1994, Ferreira and Saldiva, 1997, Norman et al., 2004, Rocha et al., 2005), and psychosocial disorders (DiTecco et al., 1992, Smith et al., 1992, Carayon, 1994, Sprigg et al., 2003) among call center workers, as well as high employee turnover, complaints of routine work without decision-making opportunities, high information processing load and stress (Smith et al., 1992, Hales et al., 1994, Sprigg et al., 2003).

The psychosocial effects of extended performance of computer–telephone interactive tasks have attracted increasing concern, especially with regard to adverse health impacts, for more than 20 years. Epidemiological studies have related psychosocial stress to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, psychosomatic symptoms, depression, smoking, and adverse birth outcomes (Kristensen, 1989, Homer et al., 1990, Landsbergis et al., 1992, Schnall et al., 1994, Hellerstedt and Jeffery, 1997). However, either the patterns of major job stressors or the associations between psychosocial stress levels and health conditions for call centers have seldom been examined. Psychosocial stress has only recently received public attention, as is so in Taiwan. Several recent studies identify psychosocial stress as a significant occupational health problem in certain occupational settings (Lu et al., 1995, Luo et al., 1998, Hsu and Wang, 2003). However, most of these studies involved employees of large manufacturers, such as semiconductor manufacturers. The lack of reliable and relevant information on their specific situation poses a challenge in safeguarding the health of call center operators. Therefore, issues regarding the health status of call center operators must be discussed. This study conducts a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of individual factors, health status, perceived job stress levels, major job stressors and psychosocial job characteristics to explore the associations between perceived job stress and multiple physical discomforts, as well as the patterns of major job stress factors, for male and female operators at telecommunication call centers in Taiwan.

Section snippets

Study subjects

The study sites were call centers of two large mobile telecommunication companies (FE and CH) in Taiwan, which provide telecommunication and information-related services. Call center operators are responsible for handling questions related to company products and services, including information about product promotions, customer account status and service fees. All operators must have at least a high school diploma, and proficient communication skills. A total of 1100 operators (FE = 800 and CH = 

Characteristics of the study population

Table 1 lists the study population characteristics. Women strongly predominated. Among the 868 female operators, 55% ranged in age from 25 to 34 years. Moreover, 62% of female and 60% of male operators had worked less than 2 years. Full-time workers dominated the study sample, accounting for 88% of the male workforce and 82% of the female workforce. Workers who ‘always’ or ‘often’ felt very stressed at work were categorized as the high-stress group; those who ‘sometimes’ felt very stressed were

Discussion

This study demonstrates that call center operators suffer similar health complaints to VDT operators. Eye discomfort and musculoskeletal illness are the main problems reported by call center operators, as shown in Table 3. Visual discomfort such as asthenopia likely results from extended VDT work (Aarås et al., 1998). Other studies have shown that visual-related problems to be related to ergonomic hazards of workstation, such as low luminance contrast or closed viewing distance (Hünting et al.,

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that work-related symptoms of hoarse or painful throat, musculoskeletal discomfort and eye strain are common among call center operators in telecommunication companies. Female operators had significantly higher prevalence of physical discomforts and stress than male operators. More than 4 years of experience in working in the present job was strongly associated with physical discomfort among call center operators. The findings also indicated that perceived high job

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