Pay boost for call centre staff

Call centre staff saw salaries rise by 3% at the median over the past year, in line with figures for the whole economy at that time, according to research from IRS (Industrial Relations Services) and the CCA (Call Centres Association).

But the study shows that one in three call centre operators (32%) then had to go back and revise pay rates in mid year for at least one group of staff. With nearly two-thirds of organisations (63%) reporting that they had increased staffing levels this year, the indications are that the tight labour market is feeding through into better pay rates for employees ñ particularly for those on the lower grades.

This is the fourth year that IRS and CCA have studied the call and contact centre industry. IRS Employment Review, part of LexisNexis Butterworths, publishes the findings. The research covers the reward packages of 191 organisations, which operate in excess of 400 centres and employ an estimated 150,000 staff. The report examines salaries, pay awards and bonuses, as well as data on HR policy and practice, labour turnover, flexible working arrangements and expectations about the year ahead.

Nine out of 10 (90%) organisations surveyed stated that they expect to award a pay increase to contact centre employees in the coming year. Pay increase expectations overall ranged from 1.5% to 7% with a median once again of 3% predicted. Settlement levels are unlikely to vary greatly according to size of contact centre or public/private sector split, despite current significant differences between the two sectors and across the UK regions.

Other key findings include:
* 43% of call centres provided an across-the-board pay increase in the past year, worth 3% at the median. Others operate individual or team-based merit pay systems.

* Almost one-third of organisations (32%) reported making changes to their salaries outside their usual annual pay review.

* Lower level CSRs (customer service representative) formed the largest staff group to see changes to their pay rates; almost one in five (19%) organisations uprated pay levels for these staff. However, the median mid-scale salaries of all occupations have increased ahead of this figure, with CSR and team leader positions experiencing the largest salary increases of between 7% and 10%.

* The median pay award was expected to be 3%. This is in line with current UK pay settlement expectations and those reported in the contact centre sector over the past 12 months. In total, four in 10 organisations (42%) expected to make pay settlements of exactly 3%.

* Median mid-scale annual salaries by occupation range from 12,500 for a trainee, to 34,618 for a call centre manager.

* Almost two-thirds (63%) of survey respondents increased their staffing levels during 2004.

Public versus private sector
* The public and not-for-profit sector pays higher starting salaries than the private sector for all positions. Public sector starting salaries are between 4.2% and 9.6% higher than their private sector counterparts.

Regional variations
* The biggest regional differences in pay were recorded for higher-level CSRs, where the gap between the lowest paid region (West Midlands) and highest paid region (London) was 3,663 a year.
* London has the highest median starting salary for CSRs, team leaders and managers.

Trade union recognition
* Just under half (47%) of the organisations surveyed recognised trade unions for collective bargaining purposes. All public sector contact centres recognised unions, compared with only two-fifths (40%) of private sector organisations.
* In larger call centres with over 300 employees, 72% of employers recognised a union. The recognition rate dropped to a low of 38.5% for call centres with 50 to 99 employees.

IRS Employment Review managing editor Mark Crail said:
ìThe increases to pay rates can be explained by the nature of pay in the sector, which is able to react to changes in the market. Call and contact centre managers have scope to increase individual pay packets using individual and team-based merit awards ñ operating in 57% of centres ñ linked to the annual pay review, achieving financial targets or attaining set competency levels. It is also likely that these changes to pay rates reflect the industryís need to attract new recruits and retain staff at a time when many local labour markets are experiencing extreme skills shortages and very low levels of unemployment.

ìThe differences between the private and public sectors are also marked; the distinction in managerial salaries is, in part, likely to be due to the different sizes of public and private sector call centres ñ typically, those managing larger call centres are rewarded at a higher level than those managing smaller centres. Union participation in collective bargaining appears to have had a limited influence on pay settlements but survey respondents cited 20 different trade unions involved in collective bargaining. This is a surprisingly large number (and variety) of unions and may well indicate the emerging diversity of the contact centre industryî