Comedian Alan Carr claims he has the solution to getting the UK’s 1 million unemployed youngsters into the workplace – give them jobs in contact centres.
Carr, who worked at a Barclaycard call centre for five years before hitting the big time, told The Sun that dealing with customers over the phone should be the new conscription.
He said: “Never mind National Service – young kids should be put in call centres, hearing people swear at you all day. It helps you talk to people – and to listen. I can talk to anyone and sound interested in what they say.”
The move follows comments by Employment Minister Chris Grayling to the Policy Exchange last week in which he argued that firms should repatriate their overseas call centres to boost the number of jobs available in the UK at a time when vacancies are scarce.
Andrew Gilbert, managing director of data centre and communications firm Node4Node4, said: “We witnessed a period of seeing far too many companies outsource their contact centres overseas in a bid to save costs. However, this is a false economy when you factor in the dissatisfaction many customers have when speaking with customer service staff that don’t match their expectations.
“We have found that through making an investment in the right technology and implementing it in UK centres, companies can add value instead of detracting from it. At a time when there are falling loyalty rates among customers, areas such as this demand immediate attention.
“There is a growing trend among more progressive companies who are investing in call centres in the UK and are making a positive feature of it in their marketing and communications to the customers and target markets. This is helping drive growth and differentiate them from their competitors.”
