Burnout in call centre workers between demands and resources

The diffusion of call centres has highlighted the need to study the work-related stress of their employees, approaching burnout using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-JR) model. Objectives: a) to investigate differences in specific JD, JR, burnout, and symptoms of physical discomfort in agents dealing with both inbound and outbound calls; b) to verify the presence and type of connection between the JD and JR in relation to burnout and symptoms of physical discomfort, c) to investigate the presence of JD and JR that pre-determine burnout and symptoms of physical discomfort. Participants: 200 call centre agents. Instruments: A) Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS); B) 12 physical discomfort items put forward by the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI); C) The Customer-related Social Stressors (CSS) Scale and the Organi- zational Checkup System (OCS) to measure JD and JR. Results: Agents making outbound calls demonstrate increased levels of depersonalisation, despite lesser JD and more JR. The regression models carried out underline Work overload, Customer- related social stressors, Control, Leadership, and Professional development as pre-determining factors of work-related stress as much as they are pre-determining factors of burnout and physical discomfort. Conclusions: The results provide useful pointers on an operational level in planning the prevention of burnout in call centre agents.