Scottish Professor Visiting Labor Center

When Professor Peter Bain, a distinguished scholar from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, came to the United States to continue his research on customer call centers, he took up temporary residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Bain is serving as a visiting professor of labor studies in the Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR) of the UAB School of Business. He will be here through June.

May 3, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — When Professor Peter Bain, a distinguished scholar from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, came to the United States to continue his research on customer call centers, he took up temporary residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Bain is serving as a visiting professor of labor studies in the Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR) of the UAB School of Business. He will be here through June.

Bain is currently undertaking an international research project examining employment conditions and practices in customer service centers — where customers call for help with malfunctioning appliances or tools, for example. The growth of employment in customer service centers is an international phenomenon. Approximately 3-5 million people now work in these centers in the United States and it is estimated that the employment growth rate will be between 10 and 20 percent per year.

Ralph A. Johnson, Ph.D., director of the Center for Labor Education and Research at UAB described customer service centers as “the assembly line of the information age.” Customer service operations utilize and integrate state-of-the-art information and communication technologies. They rarely fall within the traditional 9-5 office hour standard, and in many cases operate 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

The workforce is predominantly female. The employment status is often part time or temporary with few benefits and little job security. High turnover rates and burnout associated with the intensity and constant monitoring of the work process have emerged as the key concerns for management and employees. How these issues are being addressed and the extent to which labor unions have a role are key research questions.

Bain’s current research at CLEAR is part of a wider ongoing project involving the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden. With its sizeable concentration of customer service centers, Birmingham provides a particularly useful comparison with similar areas worldwide where heavy industry has been in decline.

For more information, call Bain at CLEAR, (205) 934-2101.