IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v29y2014i1-2p113-128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pre-employment training for the unemployed: A case study of a call centre foundation programme

Author

Listed:
  • Julian Clarke

Abstract

This paper examines a single pre-employment training programme for the unemployed. The training aimed to prepare unemployed participants for work on the front-line of telephone call centres. Drawing on participant observation and semi-structured interviews, the paper analyses one area in particular; the training participants received to enhance their soft skills, particularly as they relate to the concept of ‘aesthetic’ labour. Through providing an in-depth account of the training the paper offers a critique of the programme and identifies the potential drawbacks associated with offering this form of ‘employability’ training for those who face many barriers to employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Julian Clarke, 2014. "Pre-employment training for the unemployed: A case study of a call centre foundation programme," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(1-2), pages 113-128, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:29:y:2014:i:1-2:p:113-128
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094214520938
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094214520938
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094214520938?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald W. McQuaid & Colin Lindsay & Malcolm Greig, 2005. "Job Guarantees, Employability Training and Partnerships in the Retail Sector," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 20(1), pages 67-78, February.
    2. Dean, Hartley, 2003. "Re-conceptualising welfare-to-work for people with multiple problems and needs," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 338, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Peck, Jamie & Theodore, Nikolas, 2000. "Commentary: 'Work First': Workfare and the Regulation of Contingent Labour Markets," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 24(1), pages 119-138, January.
    4. George Callaghan & Paul Thompson, 2002. "‘We Recruit Attitude’: The Selection and Shaping of Routine Call Centre Labour," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 233-254, March.
    5. Stephen Deery & Roderick Iverson & Janet Walsh, 2002. "Work Relationships in Telephone Call Centres: Understanding Emotional Exhaustion and Employee Withdrawal," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 471-496, June.
    6. Chris Warhurst & DENNIS NICKSON & ANNE WITZ & ANNE MARIE CULLEN, 2000. "Aesthetic Labour in Interactive Service Work: Some Case Study Evidence from the ‘New’ Glasgow," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 1-18, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gazi Islam & Roberta Sferrazzo, 2022. "Workers' Rites: Ritual Mediations and the Tensions of New Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 284-318, March.
    2. Phil Taylor & Peter Bain, 2005. "‘India calling to the far away towns’," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 19(2), pages 261-282, June.
    3. Shameem Shagirbasha, 2015. "Does mode of interaction impact emotional labour? A mixed method study among service employees in India," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(11), pages 196-205, November.
    4. Stephen J. Deery & Roderick D. Iverson & Janet T. Walsh, 2010. "Coping Strategies in Call Centres: Work Intensity and the Role of Co‐workers and Supervisors," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 181-200, March.
    5. Sharda, Kirti, 2011. "Back to the Drawing Board: Exploring Gestalts of Work Design in BPO Firms," IIMA Working Papers WP2011-02-04, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    6. Sharon C. Bolton & Maeve Houlihan, 2005. "The (mis)representation of customer service," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 19(4), pages 685-703, December.
    7. Colin Lindsay & Ronald W. McQuaid, 2004. "Avoiding the ‘McJobs’," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 18(2), pages 297-319, June.
    8. Yuhyung Shin & Won-Moo Hur & Kyungdo Park & Hansol Hwang, 2020. "How Managers’ Job Crafting Reduces Turnover Intention: The Mediating Roles of Role Ambiguity and Emotional Exhaustion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-17, June.
    9. Minjeong Kang & Taeshik Gong, 2019. "Dysfunctional customer behavior: conceptualization and empirical validation," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 13(4), pages 625-646, December.
    10. David McCollum, 2012. "The sustainable employment policy agenda: What role for employers?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(5-6), pages 529-540, August.
    11. Paul Brook, 2009. "In critical defence of ‘emotional labour’," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 23(3), pages 531-548, September.
    12. Haddad, Lawrence James & Adato, Michelle, 2001. "How effectively do public works programs transfer benefits to the poor?," FCND briefs 108, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Jean-Michel Bonvin & Nicolas Farvaque, 2005. "What Informational Basis for Assessing Job-Seekers?: Capabilities vs. Preferences," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(2), pages 269-289.
    14. Dina Bowman & Michael McGann & Helen Kimberley & Simon Biggs, 2017. "‘Rusty, invisible and threatening’: ageing, capital and employability," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(3), pages 465-482, June.
    15. Rafia Faiz, 2023. "My first Little Black Dress: A Muslim immigrant woman academic's reflection on entanglement of esthetic labor and emotional labor at a White dinner," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1142-1147, May.
    16. Sean O'Brady & Virginia Doellgast & David Blatter, 2024. "The high costs of outsourcing: Vendor errors, customer mistreatment, and well‐being in call centers," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 80-103, January.
    17. Herwig Immervoll & Stephen P. Jenkins & Sebastian Königs, 2015. "Are Recipients of Social Assistance 'Benefit Dependent'?: Concepts, Measurement and Results for Selected Countries," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 162, OECD Publishing.
    18. Jos Gamble, 2007. "The rhetoric of the consumer and customer control in China," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 21(1), pages 7-25, March.
    19. Assist. Ph.D Student Dan Cristian Dabija & Assist. Ph.D Student Ioana N. Abrudan & Lect. Ph.D Alt Monika Anetta, 2009. "Retail Marketing Instruments – An Analytic Approach," Revista Tinerilor Economisti (The Young Economists Journal), University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 1(13S), pages 85-96, November.
    20. Julia Coffey & David Farrugia & Lisa Adkins & Steven Threadgold, 2018. "Gender, Sexuality, and Risk in the Practice of Affective Labour for Young Women in Bar Work," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 23(4), pages 728-743, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:29:y:2014:i:1-2:p:113-128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.