What should my employer do about stress?

Employers have a statutory duty to carry out a risk assessment of any hazardous task or equipment, and consult their workforce. If the union is recognised, then this means talking to recognised safety reps. Employers should identify the key factors leading to stress at work, including consulting you for your views. For further advice on risk assessments for stress, go to tackling stress at work.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to stress and job dissatisfaction in call centres, but these are two ideas to improve your working arrangements:

• Genuine teamwork can help improve the variety of work, and allow you greater day-to-day control.
• Tightly controlled scripts are used to increase productivity, project company image and eliminate room for human error. But scripting is often seen as excessive and unnecessary. A simple alternative allows for flexibility around the core scripts that call centre staff are required to use.