call centre

Office that deals with customers' telephone enquiries. Call centres often employ several hundred staff in a tightly regulated environment, and they are often described as the developed world's equivalent of the sweatshop, or Taylorism (see scientific management) in the 21st century.

Employees are often required to read from a predetermined script and to deal with enquiries within prescribed time limits. Supervisors often listen in to conversations. The UK took the lead in the provision of call centres, which first appeared in the 1970s, but call centres could, in theory, be run from wherever the cheapest competent labour can be found.