"There are many instances where they don’t allow you to go to the bathroom."
These aren’t words you’d come to expect from an industry-leading contact center outsourcer with clients such as Google, Amazon, and Netflix.
However, as staff in Greece went on strike over working conditions and pay, Nikos Spyrelis, a Call Center Employee at Teleperformance and President of Setep, the trade union, shared all about the conditions in its contact centers.
"If you are sick or absent for any reason whatsoever, this is counted as being counterproductive and a reason to renew or not to renew an employee’s contract," Spyrelis told The Guardian.
The Teleperformance employee also condemned the BPO giant for over-surveillance and its habit of sending service reps messages to take more and more calls so the business can secure client bonuses. Spyrelis continued:
You might be working for years on end, and - if you’re not productive for two months or three months - you’re treated like you just started.
Teleperformance employs 12,000 contact center workers in Greece, with operations in Athens, Chania, and Thessaloniki that serve 43 markets around the world.
10 Strikes and Counting: Teleperformance and Unions in a Bitter Stalemate
Spyrelis's comments on the conditions across Teleperformance's Greek operations have helped draw more attention to Setep's strikes.
The most recent strike takes the overall amount to ten.
With disputes going back and forth between Teleperformance and staff, calls for a collective labor agreement have been met with targeted layoffs of union leaders, according to the strikers.
Speaking to Le Monde, Ghassen Ben Jannet, a former Teleperformance Employee & VP of Setep, suggested he was unfairly dismissed by the BPO for his role at the union. He said:
My superior justified this decision because of my behavior. But I have been working for Teleperformance since 2018; I have never had a series of absences, and my clients and superiors have always given me positive feedback.
The union has been advocating for permanent employment contracts, increased wages, job security for workers on visas, and a reduction in working hours.
Teleperformance Has Its Say
Following the initial publication of this article, a Teleperformance spokesperson shared the following statement with CX Today: