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A third of Albanian call center workers suffer health problems, study shows

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TIRANA, Jan. 24 – About a third of call center workers in Albania suffer health problems such as hearing and vision loss, a study has shown.

Surveying some 1,000 call center operators in the country’s main cities, the study conducted by local ‘Together for Life’ association showed 31.8 percent of workers said working in call centers, one of the country’s key employers for young men and women, had caused them not only stress, but also hearing and vision problems.

Ilda Lamà§e, an operator who worked in call centers both in Vlora and Tirana, says there is no healthcare assistance at workplaces and operators are not paid extra money for working on holidays and at evening shifts.

“I have worked both in Vlora and Tirana call centers and there are a lot of problems. Firstly, there was no doctor and health assistance at workplace. In every case workers had health problems, and there were lots of cases, an ambulance was immediately called, as there was no first aid at the workplace,” Lamà§e, a woman in her 30s said.

“We have also worked for 12 hours a day. The official holidays was another issue. We worked on holidays and were allowed to take days off based on Italian legislation. There were also cases when workers were given their summer holidays in October. However, only few people dare speak about those issues, especially in front of the cameras because they are afraid they could be fired,” she added.

International studies have shown visual problems are the most common health consequences over working in call centers due to long exposure to video display units. Experts say there are also auditory problems because of intense headset use and acoustic shocks and voice deformation due to continuous talking. Hearing problems seem to be the most common problems for call center operators in Albania, with doctors suggesting regular check-ups and avoiding long working hours.

On the positive side, call centers have been one of the top employers in the past few years, serving as a catalyst for youth unemployment, and the mismatch between skills earned at universities and labor market needs, making use of good language skills by Albanian youngers, especially fluent Italian, and cheap labor costs.

About 40 percent of call center operators in the country hold a university degree, at a time when fluent Italian or English and negotiation skills are the only requirements to get a call center job.

The study showed the overwhelming majority of 90 percent of workers also financially support their families with the call center jobs, whose average wages are more than double the country’s minimum wage of 24,000 lek (€178).

“There is a perception that only students work on call centers. The study has shown that a considerable number of employees also support their families with the wages they receive from this sector,” Eglantina Bardhi of the Together for Life Association told reporters.

About three-quarters of the estimated 25,000 call centers operators in the country are aged between 18 to 30 years old and women account for two-thirds of total workers.

The study showed lack of fixed-term contracts and a union protecting the interest of call center workers are two other challenges facing the call center industry.

Following a boom until 2016, dozens of call center companies in the country ceased their operations last year after Italian legal changes made the supply of services for Italy-based companies from non-EU countries such as Albania much tighter starting April 2017, according to the tax administration data.

Company representatives say the law regulating offshore outsourcing and a deal by 13 big energy and telecommunication operators in Italy with the Italian government to conduct 80 percent of their call center outsourcing work on home soil has already had severe negative effects for small operators in Albania. Big companies are already looking to diversify, shifting to English-language support services and speculative services such as online trading platforms or currency exchange investments.

More and more companies have recently diversified to mediating services in online trading platforms luring potential investors with high return rates and often targeting markets such as Italy and England. The services are considered highly speculative as customers tend to lose most of the times and experts say they cannot serve as replacement for call centers which can consider diversifying their services in languages other than Italian and also target new markets as a way out.

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