ICT industry employers treat salaried employees badly
Call centres are especially harsh workplaces, TU's survey shows

TU (24.11.2009) Salaried employees face more problems in the ICT industry than salaried employees in any other industry, the survey made by the Union of Salaried Employees TU reveals. An especially harsh place to have to work is in call centres.

Salaried employees in the ICT industry are on sick leave on average 15 days per annum where as the average sick leave for all salaried employees is 10 days. The real gap is even wider, as many women, within the 30 to 40 years of age bracket, temporarily employed in the ICT industry, come to work in spite of being ill.

When salaried employees were asked are they given enough information on work-related matters the ICT industry proved to be much worse in this respect than several other industries.

The fear of losing one's job in the ICT industry is three times higher than in the other industries. Work-related mental illnesses are more common in the ICT industry than in any other industry organised by the TU.

The ICT industry scored worst also in replies to the question "does the local management understand the significance, demands and conditions of my work". For example, the management in the construction sector proved to be, in this respect, three and half times better than the ICT industry management.

For Arto Heikkilä, the director of TU's ICT industry sector, the results of the survey do not come as a surprise.

- Older and more experienced salaried employees are sacked and replaced by low-paid young people. Customer service centres are continuously being transferred from one locality to another. All this is reflected in the quality of the services. Under these conditions it is simply impossible to work properly and provide a decent service.

- It is clear that management is demanding far too much in terms of results without knowing or acknowledging the amount of work that employees are expected to perform under pressure (speed being the order of the day) and how demanding and stressful it is for the employees.

Heikkilä is keen to stress that the problems are most strongly concentrated at call centre telephone service jobs. He is highly critical of the way in which management has chosen to lead employees by the stick.

- Regularly, the names of the three poorest performing salaried employees are announced or the sales of each and every employee are published. And if goals are not reached employer representatives begin to threaten employees with dismissal.

This kind of management is counterproductive to the company itself.

- Negative customer feedback only increases and sales results go down when there is no time to improve, by training, the skills of the personnel. Unfortunately, it seems to be the case that the employer regards salaried employees as just another expense or overhead, not as part of a productive organisation.

The data, referred to above, is based on the replies given in February and April 2009 by TU's rank and file members to the questionnaire. In February 17,000 persons (980 from the ICT industry) participated in the survey, and in April 13,000 employees working as experts and foremen (760 from the ICT industry).