Mapping the Danish call centre industry
Published: 1 June 2005
During the last two decades, the call centre industry in Denmark and in other European countries has been growing rapidly, with increased employment in the sector. This expansion represents a profound restructuring of the labour market for service and sales workers: customer services and handling of telephone calls may be centralised in-house, or may be outsourced to a subcontractor.
An international research study reveals that the Danish call centre industry is growing rapidly, and that women constitute the majority of employees. The findings also indicate that the level of job control among employees is high with regard to handling customer calls, but low in relation to control over tasks, work methods and pace of work.
During the last two decades, the call centre industry in Denmark and in other European countries has been growing rapidly, with increased employment in the sector. This expansion represents a profound restructuring of the labour market for service and sales workers: customer services and handling of telephone calls may be centralised in-house, or may be outsourced to a subcontractor.
As part of an international comparative study, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Danish Centre for Alternative Social Analysis (CASA) investigated developing trends in the Danish call centre industry. The project aims at gaining knowledge of the scope and characteristics of the sector, and of the relation between human resource management practices, economic performance, and the quality of jobs. Initial results are presented in the report Call centres in Denmark 2004 - Management, Cooperation and Technology (2.9Mb pdf; in Danish).
Industry characteristics
The study estimates that approximately 300-400 companies are involved in the call centre industry in Denmark, employing 25,000 people in 2004. According to the survey, most of the companies are newly established, with up to 47% formed since 2000. As Table 1 shows, almost three out of four Danish call centres are in-house centres, servicing customers for the rest of the company or for other departments within the company. Some 25% of centres are subcontractors, servicing other companies. The majority (83%) of all centres handle incoming calls.
| Sectoral distribution | Type of call centre | Type of activities | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of the total industry | In-house centre | Sub-contractor | Incoming calls | Outgoing calls | |
| Bank and insurance | 18 | 100 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| Manufacturing industry, food production, retail distribution and supply | 18 | 95 | 5 | 86 | 14 |
| IT and telecommunications | 17 | 35 | 65 | 80 | 20 |
| Distribution/transport and leisure/holiday* | 17 | 75 | 25 | 90 | 10 |
| Other | 30 | 64 | 36 | 68 | 32 |
| Total | 100 | 73 | 27 | 83 | 17 |
| * The two sectors distribution/transport and leisure/holiday are put together because the work tasks are similar. For instance, private customer service is the main activity in both sectors. | |||||
Source: El-Salanti, N., Wiegman, I-M. and Sørensen, O.H., ”Call centre i Danmark 2004 - Ledelse, samarbejde og teknologi”, Centre for Alternativ Samfundsanalyse, Copenhagen, 2004.
Call centres supplying customer services only are most common (36%) in the industry. However, customer services combined with sales is also prevalent (29%).
Gender profile, and types of contract
More women than men are working in the call centre industry; this trend is particularly apparent in the small call centres. Women constitute more than half of permanent staff in 72% of all call centres.
| Female permanent employees | Share of call centres |
|---|---|
| Up to 50% | 28% |
| Between 50% and 75% | 35% |
| More than 75% | 37% |
Source: El-Salanti, N., Wiegman, I-M. and Sørensen, O.H., 2004
Full-time and part-time work
The majority of employees in the call centre industry work full time (68%). However, the proportion of part-time workers is as high as one third of the total number of employees in the sector. Compared with the general prevalence of part-time work in Denmark - which, according to Eurostat, is estimated at 20% of total employment - part-time work is more widespread in the call centre industry than in other sectors.
| Frontline staff | Supervisors/ team leaders | Managers | All employees | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Full-time employees | 4,739 | 66 | 428 | 86 | 215 | 96 | 5,382 | 68 |
| Part-time employees | 2,471 | 34 | 72 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2,551 | 32 |
| Total | 7,210 | 100 | 500 | 100 | 223 | 100 | 7,933 | 100 |
| * The study includes 118 call centres. The data are based on employees working on a permanent contract. Frontline staff: full-time employees n = 106 call centres, part-time employees n = 85 call centres. Supervisors: full-time employees n = 91 call centres, part-time employees n = 17 call centres. Managers: full-time employees n = 100 call centres, part-time employees n = 3 call centres. | ||||||||
Source: El-Salanti, N., Wiegman, I-M. and Sørensen, O.H., 2004
Temporary staff
The study also investigates the use of temporary employees in the call centre industry, i.e. employees working for a limited period of time or hired through a temporary work agency. Approximately one third (31%) of call centres use temporary staff. Among these centres, an average of 20% of staff are temporary.
The most common reason for using temporary employees is as a flexibility buffer to create more stable working conditions for full-time staff during busy periods and irregular working hours. Temporary employees are also taken on as substitutes when staff are absent and when short-term peak periods occur.
The average working week for temporary staff is 22.5 hours, and, each year, approximately 16% are transferred to a permanent contract.
Job control
The overall picture in terms of job control is that employees have a high degree of influence in relation to handling customer calls, but have little autonomy over tasks, work methods and pace of work. However, the study shows significant differences, according to the type of call centre and activities, and to the size of the company. No significant differences are observed by sector.
Employees working at subcontracting companies have less control over change in work methods and handling customer complaints than employees working in an in-house call centre. Also, the use of manuals and prepared scripts is more common among subcontractors.
The study shows that employees taking incoming calls have higher degrees of job control than employees who mainly make outgoing calls. This higher level of job control includes control over what to say to customers, change in work methods, handling supplementary enquiries or unexpected problems, and handling customer complaints without needing to refer to a supervisor.
Employees working in small call centres (less than 20 workstations) have more control in relation to breaks, design and use of technology, and organising their daily tasks.
About the study
The Danish study is part of an international comparative research project, run by Cornell University in New York. The Technical University of Denmark is responsible for the Danish part of the research, and the report has been prepared in cooperation with the Danish Centre for Alternative Social Analysis.
The study is based on a questionnaire developed by a team of researchers from Cornell University, and the same questionnaire is used in all the countries involved in the research. Due to the lack of official source information on the Danish call centre industry, an important part of the study was to get an overview of the total number of call centres in Denmark. For this purpose, the researchers developed a database, which includes information on 226 call centres. The database constitutes the total population of the survey.
The report Call centres in Denmark 2004 - Management, Cooperation and Technology (2.9Mb pdf; in Danish) is based on data from 118 call centres with 7,933 employees, which equals a response rate of 52%.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2005), Mapping the Danish call centre industry, article.
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