The Best of GRReporter
flag_bg flag_gr flag_gb

Greek version of the Slumdog Millionaire

18 February 2012 / 20:02:04  GRReporter
4912 reads

A client of a large multinational company called the technical support department because his smartphone had a problem. He spoke in his own language with an employee who not only didn’t work in the company that produced the phone, but was thousands of miles away.

Call centres offering Western-style services for Indian wages on behalf of third companies became known in Greece from the movies, particularly through the film "Slumdog Millionaire", where the protagonist works in precisely such a centre.

What is less known is that for several years now such call centres work on Greek territory as well. Thus, the German who wants to ask something about his I-phone or the African immigrant who lives in France and wants to know how to send money home, can do this from Greece.

"In this job, even if there is a holiday in Greece, we don’t have less calls. It is rather the opposite. In particular we work according to the French calendar and there for example Epiphany is not a bank holiday", says an employee who works in the French-speaking customer service department on behalf of Western Union, located in the Athens district of Kallithea.

They get hundreds of calls a day from France, Belgium and other French speaking countries mainly by people who are economic immigrants from Africa who wish to obtain information on how to send money home.

Unexpected situations are also possible. "The number probably resembles some number of a mobile operator in Africa, because we often receive calls from people who complain about their problems with their mobile phone. Other times it may be difficult to communicate with the man on the other end of the line because he doesn’t speak good French."

Unexpected reactions

According to the website of the company which is part of a multinational group, foreign language departments offer services in 25 languages ​​in Europe and the Middle East. Employees who work there are trained to serve customers based on a preliminary scenario.

"Before there was an order from the company to not disclose where we are situated" says "Αhmed", who has been working for years in the Turkish-speaking department handling phone calls from Turkey on behalf of Symantec.

"Over time it became clear that this is impossible," he adds describing also a case in which a Turkish customer complained that the man on the other end of the line is located in Greece: "Out of all countries in the world why did they decide to go to Greece?".

Sometimes, customer complaints may be associated with the level of language proficiency of employees who serve them. "As it happens in every job, whether you work with compatriots or with foreigners, there are always customers who complain," says "Orestis" who works in the French speaking department. "In my department in addition to people from all other nationalities there are also Frenchmen working there. The only case when there was a complaint of this type, it was by a Frenchwoman, and she was a true Parisian".

In general, workers in foreign language departments are considered to be the lucky ones working in the hard and sweat-breaking industry of call centres. "Because they have graduated in something, and because proficiency in foreign languages ​​is a quality that is hard to find, these jobs are somewhat safer than other industries, such as the sale of credit cards or providing information from the phone book", emphasizes an employee from the German-speaking customer service department of the company in question.

Is this a temporary job?

"Safer", of course usually means not a permanent contract, but one for several months, sometimes one, that is renewable if the company is satisfied with the employee and he is still needed.

"This doesn’t bother me personally," says an official from the French-speaking customer service department of Apple. "It would have bothered me if we were talking about the job, I would like to do my whole life". He said he was satisfied both with the type of work and with the remuneration. "My salary is good, there are supplements for higher education, foreign language, bonuses, my monthly salary starts from 1,000 euros."

Furthermore, as one of the Executive Directors of the same company says "being an employee in a call centre might not be the work which some people dream of. We know this and we respect this position. That is why we understand that for most employees this is a temporary job."

"The thing is that for two and a half years now due to increasing unemployment, many people with qualifications seek work in this industry," says Alexandros Perakis, chairman of the Syndicate of Employees and officials in the field of telecommunications and informatics, who is involved in the communist movement PAME.

"In our country such services are offered, as there are many people with qualifications such as language proficiency, who can offer high quality cheap labour, which is in any case cheaper than the countries of Western Europe. Typical for these companies are the flexible labour relations. Bimonthly, even one-month contracts and the rotation of employees are quite normal, Syndicalism is not only not encouraged, but often persecuted. I fear that the more unemployment increases, the more difficult things will become for people in this industry."

Tags: Slumdog Millionaire call centers multinational company
SUPPORT US!
GRReporter’s content is brought to you for free 7 days a week by a team of highly professional journalists, translators, photographers, operators, software developers, designers. If you like and follow our work, consider whether you could support us financially with an amount at your choice.
Subscription
You can support us only once as well.
blog comments powered by Disqus