Uncertainty clouds call centres job prospects
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By Victor Adar Stuart Agama, 23, has worked in small call centres for a year now and with ever-emerging risks of non payment he has learned the industry is not for the faint hearted. A call centre on Mombasa Road, is the latest non-paying centre he has worked in for a single month. He found the company closed when he reported for assignment as usual and was never paid, he said. Later he was informed that the company moved to the city centre. He did not find them here but sources told him the company opened business for three days and disappeared. It is a long chapter thereafter, he said. Agama is now trying his skills at a new call centre, but he is still fearful. He says the nature of his service contract is suspicious. He did not sign a formal contract, just a verbal agreement, something that is giving him sleepless nights. "I decided to take a risk without a contract after people who have worked here for sometime told me this company is paying. Maybe these people are not issuing contracts to cover up their deals," he fears. On the first month, he will be paid at a commission of 7.50 cents per minute. beyond reach This means he has no basic salary and will only be paid according to the amount of work done. During his interview, he was assured of a basic salary of 12,000 calculated from his second month at work. This means that in the second month, agents who have delivered above the assigned work will get their commissions paid on top of the basic salary. "For you to get Sh12,000, you must be able to finish typing an audio of more than 60 minutes. That’s a lot and I doubt if anyone will earn that amount," he said. He was enrolled recently at a new call centre and has transcribed audios of 300 hours ever since. If you type around 30 words per minute, then you are forced to work up to 8pm to make that significant cash. But as it turns out, some employees work for nine hours or more a day to earn Sh4,000 or less in a month. Therefore, each agent is striving to reach the basic salary level in the second month of work; something that is beyond reach, according to employees. Most agents do not believe they can make the cut. So what happens? "There is no hope here. But let’s see. If they’ll continue this way I won’t be here. I only pity the people who don’t see these things coming," says Kuria. These shaky call centres come with impressive names. Sarah Olango was an agent for a call centre. In November last year, she quit. Unemployed, Olango now stays home with her parents as she looks for another job. "These people took advantage of us," she says. Ms Eunice Mueni Kariuki, the Deputy CEO, Marketing at Kenya ICT Board told TechInsight early this year that the small call centres that collapsed were not registered with the board. The board registers BPO players free of charge with the aim of educating them on how to sign contracts and get clients. For instance, a seminar about service level agreement training was held in January 19 to 21, this year and only 56 participants attended.