Telephone call centres : gold mines or sweat shops ?

The telephone is enjoying a new lease of life. The boom in the call centres sector shows that it can still be a gold mine for whoever wants to launch a new business. However, if one looks more closely at the organisation of these centres and their work conditions, doubts arise : are these gold mines not actually sweat shops in disguise ? In order to discuss this topical subject, Jean-Baptiste Stuchlik, a consultant at Geste and former researcher at the Research Management Centre (CRG) of the École polytechnique, goes behind the scenes and shows that all that glisters is not gold. Martine Zuber of the CFDT presents a survey which was recently carried out among call centre operators. The initial conclusions show that these are not necessarily the sweat shops they are imagined to be. Finally, Emmanuel Mignot transfers the responsibility for the work conditions in the sector onto the clients, who want to avoid paying too high a price ! A lively discussion then follows.