‘how long will we work here?’ organizational tenure and characteristics of the psychological contracts in call/contact centers employees [“¿Cuánto tiempo trabajaremos aquí?” Antigüedad en la organización y características de los contratos psicológicos en empleados de call/contact centers]

Abstract

In the past few years, the rapid expansion of the call/contact centers (C/CC) industry has been associated with images of work places offering precarious conditions. These have been characterized by temporality, low wages, routine tasks and a stiff control of operating efficiency. However, the development of their activities forces C/CC to provide increasingly more complex and skilled services, thus demanding a workforce that meets this need. In this context, it has been considered that the psychological contract (PC) can be a useful instrument to study whether such kind of conditions allows the establishment and development of only transactional relationships or relational ones as well. Current research has analyzed the two mentioned orientations of PC, considering seniority. Results show that relational orientation decreases progressively during the first years of contract up to five years of tenure. From that moment on, this trend reverses itself, increasing even to the point of exceeding the initial level. Just the opposite happens to the transactional orientation, which gradually increases during the first five years, and then decreases to levels below the ones shown at the beginning of the contract. These results allow to discuss the implications that PC orientation changes could have for human resources managers in the C/CC industry. © 2005 by Fundación Infancia y Aprendizaje.