Legal Advice for Call Center Employees

Questioner

I work at a call center. I am monitored in all sorts of ways all day long. At the moment, a colleague (same function) calls customers who have indicated that they are dissatisfied with the service. They specifically ask why the customer is dissatisfied with the call center employee. Is this procedure allowed and should this type of work not be done by managers or (in my opinion even better) by an external agency? It is a helpdesk that handles telecommunications failures and in principle every customer is dissatisfied. I have never spoken to a customer who calls with the good news that his internet telephony is not working. The turnover is enormous. 80% of the workforce is renewed annually. The number of employees who have been doing this work for more than 5 years is a maximum of 10%. I myself have been doing this work for this employer for 11 years now. I have only reached this milestone because I only work 3 days a week. To be clear: not only is the customer contacted, but of course everything is recorded.

Lawyer

As a call center employee it is important how the evaluation is done. Personal data protection can be a reason for change. If you wish, you can contact us without any obligation.

Questioner

I don't understand your answer. What evaluation are you talking about? Everything can be a reason for something. Is it legally permissible for a colleague in the same position to carry out checks in this way and record them in a database?

Lawyer

Yes, unless the method of monitoring violates the Personal Data Protection Act. If you wish, you can contact us without any obligation.

Questioner

Does this way of monitoring violate the law on the protection of personal data? Only when I have a clear answer (yes, no or your information is insufficient to say yes or no and I want to know .....) then I can assess whether I want to contact you.

Lawyer

The way of evaluation is important. Without more about the way of evaluation in your complaint I cannot help you.

Questioner

After a conversation, the caller (the customer) is offered a survey. The employee can be given a grade; only a 9 or a 10 is considered sufficient. If the customer gives a lower grade, they will be called back and asked why they are not satisfied with the conversation. This concerns malfunctions. In many cases, the helpdesk has no choice but to register and direct an underlying department or ask the customer for patience. Of course, the company wants customers to have called the helpdesk to their satisfaction. It is also possible that the dissatisfaction of customers is caused by applicable legislation. Previously, this was a government task, but it has been privatized. Compare it with the Dutch Railways: you have the railways and infrastructure management; the carrier (NS) cannot influence the railways (infrastructure management); however, in the event of a malfunction in the infrastructure, the NS is blamed. Before privatization, this was in 1 hand. Smart employees do not register and if the customer has not been helped, they call back. When the customer calls back, the customer gets a different employee. This employee records conversation and some time later customer gets survey and gives insufficient grade. Some time later customer is called back and remembers the contact with the helpdesk as bad/difficult or something. This while the 2nd employee informed and helped customer in good faith. This 2nd employee his results are emailed around in a week among the people of his team (publicly pilloried). It reminds me of the time of the Romans.

Lawyer

What you write is not against the Personal Data Protection Act. If your employer uses your personal data without a purpose or discloses an excessive amount of data internally, you can file a complaint with your employer.