Oliver* says morale is so low at the outsource call centre in Perth where he works that management has offered enticements just to get employees to come to work.
In December the privately owned TSA Group ran a “12 days of giveaways” competition with more than $3,000 worth of prizes for staff working on the Centrelink phone lines, according to an internal flyer viewed by Guardian Australia.
The entry requirement was that a worker attend their full rostered shift with “no lates or unscheduled absences”.
“They do sausage sizzles and try to make it a fun place to distract you but it’s pretty miserable,” Oliver says.
“The stuff you have to deal with on the calls at our pay grade is pretty rough; issues like domestic violence.
“It really rubs me the wrong way that such poorly trained and inexperienced staff are put on the frontlines of that and then paid absolute peanuts.”
Tens of thousands of Australians speak to government agencies every day about sensitive matters, including tax debts, pensions, aged care, and disability and support payments.
But few know they are probably speaking to a private contractor, without the training, pay, conditions or public service support of a civil servant.
Guardian Australia has interviewed more than a dozen call centre workers at four private contractors with government agency contracts; the US private equity-owned Probe Operations, the Nasdaq-listed Concentrix Services, the British multinational Serco, and TSA Group.
The workers describe a system they say prioritises profit over worker wellbeing and quality of service. They say private operators offer incentives to get people to work without addressing underlying issues of inadequate training and low pay.
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A TSA spokesperson said employee tasks could be demanding but thousands of workers also enjoyed the benefits of working in the sector.
“Like many large companies around Australia we do provide team building, staff incentives and social activities to our team members to maintain and enhance our culture,” the spokesperson said.
An employee at the private equity-owned Probe Operations, an outsource call centre operator for several government agencies, says the “random bonuses border on bizarre”.
The employee, who works on the government’s aged care services phone line, says: “Occasionally they have seat bonuses – a lucky dip basically, turn up on a certain day and you go into a draw for a $200 bonus.”
“Seeing someone get a $200 bonus for no reason other than turning up is actually a disincentive to even care, it made me feel resentment.
“The attrition rate is very high – every few weeks there is a new rollout of 10 to 15 people in my centre alone. From the start the training is minimal to nonexistent; they throw you in the deep end and it’s sink or swim.”
Probe declined to comment.
‘Gamechangers’
Anne* says she will always remember how polite her employer was when she resigned from Concentrix, which has call centre contracts with Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office.
“There was no problem with leaving as they are so used to it,” she says.
“They’re very accommodating, it’s just, ‘Thank you very much, here’s your separation certificate, it was nice to meet you.’”
Anne says her training consisted of a “very casual talk fest with a few substandard modules” accompanied by teaching materials that referred to call centre staff as “gamechangers”.
“The stress of having to take calls from some of the most vulnerable people in this country, completely unprepared, was immense and I left feeling disgusted that the government of Australia could treat its citizens – both the workers and, particularly, the callers – with such disdain.
“We were all referred to as gamechangers but I’m still not sure what sort of game we were playing, or trying to change.”
Anne says she resigned after three weeks.
Concentrix did not respond to questions.
Privatised call centres have extreme turnover rates, according to a tax ombudsman report, resulting in a lack of suitably skilled staff taking calls.
Emmanuel Josserand, a professor of management and affiliate researcher at Sydney Business School, says it’s nonsense to suggest an external company can deliver the same quality of service as an ATO-run call centre at a lower cost while also turning a profit.
“It’s economically not possible,” Josserand says. “You have to do something to get the cost savings, so you put pressure on workers and you hire people who are less qualified.”
Moves by government agencies to curb reliance on external consultants and outsource workers have stalled just two years after Labor ordered them to bring skills back in-house.
The ATO intends to reduce its outsourced work by just $500,000 this financial year, a figure so low the union initially believed it was a typo, given that the agency has a $4bn-plus annual operating budget.
‘Mistakes can cost lives’
A Serco employee, who works on the national disability insurance scheme phone line, says she struggles to answer basic questions from callers despite having worked there for about a year.
“I still have very little understanding due to the lack of support and retraining as they change the systems constantly,” she says.
“It’s so sad as we are talking to vulnerable families and these mistakes can cost lives.”
A Serco spokesperson said: “Our people are empowered to thrive and deliver their best work through support, flexibility and training, and we continue to partner closely with government to deliver high quality and efficient services, in line with contractual obligations.”
Outsourced workers say while they perform the same duties as public servants, the disparity in pay and training is extreme.
Starting pay rates at outsource centres are about $52,800 a year, according to interviews with current and former staff, compared with more than $72,000 for many public servants on the same phone lines.
One Probe worker has lodged a “same job, same pay” application with the Fair Work Commission, drawing on the Albanese government’s workplace reforms designed to stop employers using labour hire to pay workers less than direct employees.
If successful, the application would call into question the viability of many outsourced government arrangements.
Call centre workers interviewed by Guardian Australia say many private operators cut costs even for essential equipment.
Several workers complain about headphones being cheap, uncomfortable and unable to block outside noise, frustrating the workers and callers.
Jack*, an experienced worker at Probe who is on the ATO phone lines, says it’s standard at most call centres for new employees to undergo training known as “double jacking”, which involves listening in on calls handled by experienced colleagues.
“While there is classroom training at Probe, there is no double-jacking, and when I asked my manager if I could do it, I was consistently told there wasn’t enough staff with time to facilitate it,” Jack says.
“Many new hires don’t have call centre experience and speak English as a second or third language, and are immediately put on the phones in a role that requires complex knowledge of tax law.”
Another Probe worker on the ATO phone lines says: “It is a common occurrence to walk into a break room and to see someone breaking down crying.”
*Names have been changed to protect identities
Do you know more? Contact jonathan.barrett@theguardian.com
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