Pros
None, none, none, none and none
Cons
- There is no trust in workers: ⦁ All websites are locked, which makes agent's work more difficult. ⦁ Time control systems: agents have to report every single thing they are doing. Even the seconds are mesured in breaks. If you fail to do this, it is considered as "fraud". ⦁ Constant monitorisation of work. - No help with sickess and vulnerable situations: ⦁ Agents can't be sick more than two times in the timespan of 6 months. ⦁ Being sick one day a month makes agents fail their absence target. ⦁ Very ineffective help with mental issues. No real alternatives proposed. ⦁ Real case: my own experience with mental health as a Concentrix worker. I have been taking 40 mg of Fluoxetine (an antidepressant) once dialy for around a year. One of its side effects, from which I suffer, is sleepiness. When one of the managers noticed, I was brought out to a smaller room to talk about it. I told them the reason why this happens, and I offered him to bring all the documentation and prescriptions I have from my doctor. Around a month later I was called to go on a "Duty of care meeting" with two managers, where I was asked very personal questions about why am I depressed and where does it come from, which was quite uncomfortable to talk about. I made it clear that working in Concentrix was a trigger, but that I unfortunately can't leave for now. They asked me what could they do in order to help me, but the only options they gave me were reducing my working hours (which I can't afford) or staying longer in order to have more break time (which wouldn't help with my depression). I told them that wouldn't work out for me, but they told me to try it anyway without listening to what I had to say. I requested a doctor's appointment to talk about changing medication to reduce the sleepyness, which I have done, but she said there is no guarantee is going to work. I asked her if there was anything else to improve my situation at work - she said I should be able to request a meeting with an Ocuppational Health team which every big company should have. I talked to my manager about it and he said he would look into it. Finally he came back to me saying that it was not cost effective for them to organise this meeting. This made me upset, so I went to talk to him, telling him how the options they gave me weren't working for me, and expressing how much this was bothering me. He kept saying that I had to understand that Concentrix, as a business, has to make money, reason why they couldn't offer me a better solution. I asked him to be able to leave the floor for five minutes to wash my face when I feel sleepy, to what he said he couldn't let me do that unless I stayed longer at the end of my shift or that time was taken off my payslip on a weekly basis, which requires to be constantly contacting payroll and wasting everyone's time and resources. At this point I was so upset because of the greediness of the company that I started crying, so we continued the meeting outside. At the end, he agreed on letting me do this occasionally (not every day, and no more than five minutes) with the condition of emailing him first. - Good work is not recognised: ⦁ When agents have done a good job, there is a "high five event" where they get a high five from the senior manager. ⦁ The only prizes agents can get are 10-15-20 pounds a month if they win a contest. ⦁ Because of this, there is a general lack of motivation. Agents won't do more than the minumum as it is not worth it. ⦁ No promotion chances (appart from becoming manager). - Poor installations: ⦁ There is not enough tables and microwaves for all the workers to eat their lunch. ⦁ There is not natural light. ⦁ Bad air conditioning systems are making people sick and having to take days off. ⦁ Hot desking policy: finding a desk is made to be worker’s responsibility, and makes them feel disposable and irrelevant. - Lack of training: ⦁ Training is very inconsistent. Within the same team, some people have had no training at all, some people have had two weeks and others have had one. ⦁ For those reasons, most of the times agents are the ones that actually train new hires without being paid a trainer wage. - Pressure to sell. ⦁ In the contracts with sales, workers are constantly pressured to sell. The goals aren't adjusted to the different markets, so in most of the cases it's almost impossible to reach them, which gives the employer an excuse to fire people or to not pass their probation.