Ive never worked in one and im just curious, do the belittle u by getting out the progress chart, is it full of cocky bullies

Yes, it's pretty accurate; I've worked in 3-4 call centres in my time and I think they've made it quite realistic

Yes!
i worked in a call centre for around 2 months, it was offering PPI checks to customers who we called in our outbound centre

i had a period where i was smashing the average every day for two weeks stright and then one day i only got four out and i was pulled into the back office and ripped to shreds by the managers who completly forgot the past two weeks.

and yes you do get the cocky people who think they have the "gift of the gab". i honestly hated the job because of the hours and the bo****king you got like i mentioned above, i made some good friends there dont get me wrong but the job was just far too stressfull as they expect you to keep smashing your previous target (my best was 23 in a single day). so yeah Lee's current SL is very realistic!

I've done some things in my time but that was unquestionably the worst job I have ever done when I was graduating from uni.

Does everyone have their names on a leader board? That must be so humiliating!

I worked in a call centre when I was at school for a few weeks (I saved up enough to buy a new iPod then left, lol) and, yes, there was a big leader board in the middle of the room for everyone to see and it was updated daily. I guess it would be motivating for some, but I just found it embarrassing like you say. But then I spent more time chatting to the people on the phones than actually collecting the data I should've been, but whatever.

Yeh I worked in one for a bit - never had so many rules! If people were a few mins late, he would ask for the transport details to check their stories were true!

Yes, worked in one years ago - very stressful environment!!!

I've been working in an inbound (ie customers calling the company) call centre for just over 10years now and what Lee is experiencing is nothing like my experience.

Firstly there was an 8 week classroom based training course, before you take any calls, You get a lot of coaching about how to talk to customers as well as learning all the systems. Then once you start taking calls there's a two week "grace" period to get up to speed with the rest of the team.

I work in the customer service side of the company, not sales, but we still have expected standards of performance. I have never seen a board showing agent performance - the only league board we've had on display in the last few years is the annual Advent Calendar Challenge one; that ranks by team leader and based on things like who can eat a mince pie fastest (not me - although I am reigning Carol Trivia champion!).

Yes

Bullies 4 us we call them.

Never go in one.

Why are they so strict about attendance? I know all jobs probably are but Lee's boss really went into him about skiving off. It just seemed a bit over the top for someone who works in a call centre.

My husband works in a call centre and they don't have a leaderboard like that but they do have targets and are monitored on their calls.
His shift starts at 8:30 which means he has to be logged on and ready to take calls from 8:30 (it takes 45 minutes to get ready and logged on ) - that is 45 min which isn't paid.

I think EE is doing a great job on this storyline. It is highlighting how ridiculous the working world has become for ordinary people. There is an expectation to do more all the time, work faster, be better than someone else, or lose your job. (That obviously isn't written in a contract but it's the unwritten culture of the working world!)
I know the main storyline is depression and it's doing a great job of that too, showing the struggles that someone with depression has to overcome even though to the outside world he has everything he could wish for!

I am awful on the phone so I would avoid this area anyway. Also Most bosses are bullies regardless of where you work. My last job at home bargins was awful and made me so low in self esteem that a job in a call centre would definatly push a lot more suicidal thoughts by the sounds of it. I honestly think they need some law regarding how they are treated/bullied and not have it overlooked. Call centres need a major work over.

The place I worked in had a daily leader board but they also printed off a sheet at the end of the week with everyone's name and score on it which was colour coded and if you were in the red zone you were off to the dole queue.
Very demoralising job phoning maybe a few hundred people a day offering them something they have no interest in and most people hanging up before you even open your mouth or the phone data would be on a loop so you could end up calling the same people over and over then your team leader demanding better results.

Like all these storylines they are usually exaggerated to show how awful it can be. However there are lots of well managed call centres out there too whereby its a far more relaxed environment.

If every call centre was like this morale would be so low it would actually be more damaging to that business as the call handlers would never do the job well and would lose custom because they would come across as desperate to get a sale. These places would quickly go out of business, not to mention the reputation of the business would go around and they would struggle to keep hold of staff.

I think reputable companies telesales aren't like this. What is an issue is when a firm outsources it's telesales to a 'specialist' telesales company, they'll represent the company and the customer will never know.

I know energy and energy switching places have bad reps and Lee is calling energy right?

Places get away with it because people don't speak up because they don't want to be fired or get a bad reference.

A soap has rarely done a bullying in the work place story before so fair play to EE

I like the fact they have at least one character who doesn't work on the square. From that point of view, Lee working in the call centre is realistic.

If EastEnders reflected life more accurately then the Square would be almost empty during weekdays because the majority of people in London have to commute at least a few stops away from their home to get to work.

I only worked at a call centre once, many years ago, taking inbound calls for a major vacuum cleaner manufacturer. It was pressured but not as pressured as Lee's working environment. There were no leader boards or anything like that, but they were strict about how long you went to lunch for, how many fag breaks you took etc.

I am glad they've highlighted workplace bullying and despite all the critisim the show is getting, they deserve kudos for touching this subject.

It seems to be a really soul destroying job, and one bad week can mean back to the dole queue. As for employee rights...well they're quickly going out of the window anyway thanks to the idiots who voted Brexit, but I do think workers should be protected more than what they are now regardless wherever they work.

I mentioned in another thread, I went for an interview for a similar role for a computer company that has bases around the world as well as the UK/Ireland. I didn't get the job, and one way I think I dodged a bullet as the boss turned rather aggressive towards me when I mentioned about Brexit and what would happen with the company. Thing is, I've noticed the agency I'm under has once again sent an email out to apply for positions there! It was like a modelling agency this place, the lads and ladies working there wouldn't look out of place in a catalogue!

no, it changed throughout the day, you could get the first one out and be top of the board with a gold star next to your name then there was a silver and a red which was like the bronze, and people could easily overtake you.

when i got on top of the board, i thought it would feel really good but looking back it was quite intimidating as thats when they expected you to start really really pushing :/

He should tell them to stick it. I also find it a bit sad that there's a character working there walking around like a peacock as if hes King of the place- its a callcentre, not a high flying position! ( That's not saying anything against call centre workers; they are earning their wage- I'm just saying that's all it it is. It's not a high flying or top paid job. I've seen Aldi adverts for night time shelf stackers at £11/hr which I should imagine would be a much better job for someone who is fit and able-bodied)
Who would act like that in a menial job position unless they're an idiot, or deluded.

They either want him there, or they don't.

There's only so much " ownership" of you they can claim for 7 or 8 quid an hour. If you need a job then fair enough, use it for as long as you can until you find another better job. Why isn't the character of Lee looking for an alternative job; why is he dressing as if he's a high-flier? It's all a bit ludicrous, even as a plotpiece to move on the characters depression storyline.

Are call centres even successful? Everyone I know puts down the phone when they receive a marketing call.

Working in a call centre was easily the worst job I have ever done.

It must be hard for Lee who was once in the army and going shoulder to shoulder with his comrades into battle to being treated like a joke.

Not sure, maybe because of targets?

Not all call centres are for marketing, in the last 5 years I unfortunately worked in call centres that were about debt collection and yes they were successful.

They were however horrible, soul sucking and demoralising places! They constantly harp on at you about targets and collections, if you spend more than 1 min in "wrap" they moan at you (wrap means the time it takes you after the customer gets off the line before you click ready for the next call)

They really are awful places!

Wrap was the worst part! it was so hard to dispostion as the systems wernt running the same speed as one another.