Effect of Call Center Work to Marriage and Family LIfe

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
“Family and work are so closely interdependent in the experience of the vast majority of people…family life and work mutually affects one another in different ways.” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church); these two realities are so connected with each other that often times married couples have difficulties to manage which results to varied problems from child rearing to broken marriages.
This is a conflict between two values that of married life and work. Couples have to face this reality, but not without neglecting one over the other. There is no problem with regards to those who knows how to manage such responsibility but to those who has little ability to manage married life and work it would be a great struggle.
In the past man takes up the responsibility of being the breadwinner of the family, but due to economic problem women of today work for economic gain to help the husband and sometimes leaving the childrearing to nannies and house helpers or to the care of their relatives and in-laws. This kind of family set-up more often than not has varied consequences especially in family relation. “The task of educating the children in faith and the things in life is an irreplaceable responsibility of the parents.” (Familiaris Consortio)
What happened now to this role of the parents? Working parents spent eight hours of work everyday or more depending on the nature of their job. How much time left for the children? How much of their energy left to do their task at home? These questions and many more awaken the interest of the researcher to pursue this study.
One of the interesting works parents usually go into now a day is call center job. More than a phenomenon of the present day businesses call centers has become a refuge to those who were laid-off from their jobs. Their work scheduling is worth noting especially their graveyard shift. Although other work requires a graveyard shift like those in breweries, distillers and hospitals who work 24/7, what makes call centers different aside from being a phenomenon it gives their employees a considerable economic gain without being conscious of your educational attainment. Parents who were not able to pursue their studies can work in call centers as long as you have a good English proficiency.
In call center work agents does not only waste their physical energy but also their emotional energy, the fact that most of callers were irate or problematic and the agent have to explain or even argue with callers in a nicer way. They cannot just simply put down the phone even if the callers is shouting and in rage. In the Hospitals although they 24/7 but nurses and other personnel can have a rest after their rounds, the patient came in once in awhile, in the call center calls came in after calls and quotas should be met.
In breweries and distillers people are working 24/7 but they are not dealing with irate people they are not using much of their emotions. There are times that they stop processing if quota is reached and during special occasion they can rest, call centers are open 24/7, 365 days a year.
The number of people working in hospital and other businesses who are working 24/7 has no match compare to the number of call center workers. “As of July 2008 Philippine Call Centers has 151, 000 seats and 205,000 employees and it is poised to grow even more rapidly in the next few years with the projection rate of a 23% growth rate through the year 2009.”
In the midst of economic recession and lay-offs call centers provides job for our displaced workers especially those who were sent home from abroad. With a minimum required educational attainment, and a promising salary, many people some of them married workers go to call centers in the hope for landing a job.
The revenues that call centers are giving to a certain Local Government Unit is so promising that local leaders are encouraging investors to put up their call centers in their particular places.
However, call center job is not a promise land for workers. With the kind of work they have especially the scheduling of the shifts married couple face a great task of balancing their work and family life “In this industry there is no tomorrow because Philippine Call Centers are already operating 24/7 and serving different time zones.” (Philippine Daily Star July 28, 2008) With a graveyard shifts that start at 9 p.m. just about the time other establishments are closing and some households preparing a night rest for a days work a call center agent is about to start his regular working hours until 6am just about the time a normal working man or woman would wake up and start their regular working day.
The graveyard shifts, the unlikely behavior of the callers, relationship with co-workers and company pressures such as sale quotas makes up the many job pressures a call center agent have. There are also problems of being hooked into smoking to battle stress and caffeine dependent to battle sleepiness. There are also issues of morality at stake especially issues of infidelities of married call center workers.
Nevertheless, “the industry is also striving to provide an even better working environment for agents inasmuch as call center employees work on graveyard shift and ungodly hours.”
With the demands of changing times, married couple working as Call Center Agents need help not only in coping up with the demands of work, marriage and family life but also a reorientation towards the proper understanding of their vocation as married man and woman. The demand of such work and its effect to their married and family life is so great that cannot just be taken haphazardly.
Along the process marriage and family values like eating together, celebrating special occasions, sense of love and belongingness, going to church and praying together, continuous and open communication, attending to school activities and hands-on child rearing was overlooked by some, if not all working parents. Such values are valuable for a healthy relationship inside the family. Often times work was viewed solely as a means of gaining and enriching one’s self and not as part of man’s integral growth and development, thus, making man as money making machine. In this area it is worth visiting John Paul II Theology of Work for enlightenment.
It is the tasked of the church to help married couple to meet the demands of work and married life. “It will also acquaint those concerned with correct methods for the education of children, and will assist them in gaining the basic requisites for well-ordered family life, such as stable work, sufficient financial resources, sensible administration, notions of housekeeping. (Familiaris Consortio, 1981)
Basing from these realities mentioned the researcher believes that these two values work and family life are good to man and must be both upheld. Thus, one should not be left out in favor of the other all it need is a reorientation of values.

Statement of the Problem
The main purpose of this study is to determine the impact of work to the family life of call center agents of Call Center Companies in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental based on the following categories; economics, social, emotional, physical and spiritual needs and to re-orient marriage and family values in the light of the Theology of Work of John Paul II.
Specifically, the research study aimed to answer the following questions
1.) What is the profile of call center agents as to the:
a) age
b) sex
c) length of marriage
d) number of children
e) ages of children
f) work of the spouse
g) educational attainment
2.) What is the extent of impact of call center work on marriage and family life of call center agents in the following aspects such as:
a) Economic needs
b) Social needs
c) Emotional needs
d) Physical needs
e) Spiritual needs
3.) What are those marriage and family values call center agents upheld most based on the following categories?
a.) Economic gain
b.) Social relationship
c.) Emotional security
d.) Physical well -being
e.) Spiritual growth
4.) How does call center agent understand work in general basing on the extent of impact on their:
a.) Married Life b.) Family Life
5.) What is the extent of impact of call center work to the spouse and children of call center agents?

Hypothesis:
The following hypotheses were formulated:
1. There is no significant difference on the extent of impact of call center work on marriage and family life of call center agents’ base on the (a) economic, (b) social, (c) emotional, (d) physical and (e) spiritual needs of the respondents.
2. There is no significant difference on marriage and family values call center agents upheld most based on (a) economic gain, (b) social relationship, (c) emotional security (d) physical well being and (e) spiritual growth of the respondents.
3. There is no significant difference on call center agents’ understanding of work based on the extent of its impact on their married and family life.
4. There is no significant difference on the impact of call center work to the spouse and children of call center agents?

Conceptual/Theoretical Framework:
This study theorizes there is an extent of impact of call center work to the marriage and family life of call center agents based on the economic, social, emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the married call center agents
Further, the researcher also theorized that work and family is intrinsically connected that others if not all marriage and family values were overlooked, and because of the nature of call center work, it also creates an impact to the spouse and children of the call center agents. Thus, proper re-orientation on the marriage and family values and the value of work is needed. In doing this re-orientation John Paul II’s Theology of Work is essential for enlightenment.




Significance of the Study
This study may be significant to the following:
The Associate Pontifical Institute of John Paul II on Studies in Marriage and the Family. This research will help the student and professors of the Institute to delve deeper in the reality of marriage and the family. This research is a valuable contribution to knowledge and the development and propagation of the essential knowledge with regard to the Theology of Work vis-avis Marriage and the Family.
The Commission on the Family and Life Program of the Diocese of Bacolod. The findings of this research will help the commission to put up a program that will cater the needs of working parents, not only with married call center agents but also other professionals who may need the assistance of handling work-life balance, and to be able to handle the pressures of job at the same time be able to take care their marriage and family.
The Lay Associations, Laymen and the Clergy. The results of this research may help lay associations especially those whose ministry is focused on family and married couples in ministering to their members and to put up a formation with regard to handling married life, family life and work together. To help mothers and fathers towards responsible parenthood. To the Clergy, the ministers of the family, this research is can be a guide in their ministry especially those married call center agents in their spiritual and moral development.
The married call center agents. This study will help call center agents how to balance their work and family life. To be able to face the pressure of their job but at the same time handles the responsibility of being a mother and wife, husband and father. Furthermore, this will help enhance the spirituality of married call center agents and to bring God in the call center industry.
The Call Center Industry. This study will help Call Center Industry in terms of Human Resourcing, to put up programs to help their married call center agents fight a stressful job and be able to balance their work and family life. This will eventually raise the agents out put and help the company in return.
The Students, Faculty and Staff of the University of St. La Salle. Its is the aim of the researcher that the result of this study will also help those who might be interested in doing research related to this topic. Most especially to the academic community of the University of St. La Salle, to its faculty and staff, who might wish to pursue a study with regards to the connection of work and family life, specifically the married call center agents.

Scope and Limitation of the Study
This study is limited in reorienting the marriage and family values of call center agents in the light of the Theology of Work of John Paul II in three leading call center companies in Metro Bacolod namely, the Teletech, Convergys and Teleperformance.
In reorienting the marriage and family the researcher try to know first the extent of impact of call center work in the following categories (a) economic, (b) emotional, (c) social, (d) physical and (c) spiritual life of the respondents to identify the kind of values that call center agents upheld and what were those values that needs to be reoriented.
The researcher also delimits its study in knowing the impact of work to the spouses who are present and living with them when the study is being made. In understanding the effects of work to the children of the call center agents, it is a limitation of this study to focus to those children who reach the age of reason. This simply means that children ages 1 to 5 years old cannot be chosen as a respondent.

Definition of Terms
The following terms are operationally and conceptually defined for adequate understanding and interpretation:
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) - the increasing trend of relocating entire business functions to either self-owned or third-party service providers, typically in low-cost locations; higher end BPO functions are also called knowledge process outsourcing. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
Call Centers - a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone, operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
Call Center Agents – people working in call centers, they make or received calls depending on the products or account given to them by the management. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
Economic – relating to the satisfaction of man’s material needs, in this study it is used to mean any the need of the call center agents for safety and security such as; security of the body, employment, resources, and property. (The New Meriam-Webster Dictionary)
Emotional Life – the affective aspect of consciousness, in this study it is used to mean one’s need for esteem, love and belongingness such as friendship, family and sexual intimacy. (http://www.merriam-webster.com)
Family Life –the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children; various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional family. In this study it refers to the relationship among family members. (http://www.merriam-webster)
Familiairis Consortio – Apostolic Exhortation on the Role of the Family (John Paul II (1981) Familaris Consortio)
In-bound Call Center Agent – when the agents answer calls from the people or customers. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
Impact - the force of impression of one thing on another : a significant or major effect in this study it is used to mean the influence of work to married and family life, it also mean either positive or negative impact. (http://www.merriam-webster)
Laborem Exercens – Encyclical Letter of John Paul II on Human Work (John Paul II (1981) Laborem Exercens)
Married Life – refers to the relationship that exists among married couples. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
Night Shift – a group of workers whose work schedule is during night time, otherwise known in call centers as grave yard shift. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
Physical Life – refers to man’s physical need and health; in this study it is used to mean one’s need for breathing, food, water, sex, appropriate sleep and rest, homeostasis and excretion. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
PCP II – Second Plenary Council of the Philippines II (– Second Plenary Council of the Philippines ; St. Paul’s Publication)
Out-bound Call Center Agent – when the agent make calls to the costumers or prospective costumers. (http://en.wikipedia.org)

Spiritual Life – it refers to man’s relationship to God and people around him; in this study it means man’s self actualization, one’s need for morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
Work - the labor, task, or duty that is one's accustomed means of livelihood, it also mean employment, esp. as a means of earning one's livelihood, specifically work in a call center. (http://www.merriam-webster)

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
1. International
It is the earnest desire of the researcher to find literature in books to back-up the study but because of the scarcity of literature in books most of the literature in this study is from the World Wide Web. The Literature is divided into International and Local resources compose of books, journals, articles and internet resources.
Call centers and their contemporary successors, contact centers, have become a preferred and prevalent means for companies to communicate with their customers. Most organizations with customer contact – private companies, as well as government and emergency services – have reengineered their infrastructure to include from one to many call centers, either internally managed or outsourced.
For many companies, such as airlines, hotels, retail banks, and credit card companies, call centers provide a primary link between customer and service provider. “The call center industry is thus vast and rapidly expanding, in terms of both workforce and economic scope. A recent analyst’s report estimates the number of agents working in U.S. call centers to have been 1.55 million in 1999 - more than 1.4% of private-sector employment and to be growing at a rate of more that 8% per year 43, 140.00. In 1998, AT&T reported that on an average business day about 40% of the more than 260 million calls on its network were toll-free.” (www.columbia.edu.)
No doubt Call Center is a growing business today and a source of employment for many Filipinos. This simply shows how many laborers they catered; a lot of family whose breadwinner is a call center agent relies on call centers for their daily sustenance. But more than economic gain there are hidden struggles and problems that call center agents face especially with marital and family issues.
Call centers has a mechanistic organizational make-up. Workers are expected to do their job with mechanical precision. In this kind of organizational set up organizational life is often routinized with precision demanded on clockwork. People are frequently expected to arrive at work at a given time, performed a predetermined set of activities, rest at appointed hours, and then resume their tasks until work is over.
In call center upon making or receiving a call agents have a pre-determined spiel, presentation or selling skills, rebuttal or closing skills and sales verification. An agent must memorize all these and diligently follow such process for the whole 8 hours of work, thus, making it a repetitious act. This type of organizational make – up is often prone to boredom and stressors.
“This mechanistic approach to organization is confronted with severe limitation (a) it can create organizational forms that have great difficulty in adapting to changing circumstances, (b) can result to mindless bureaucracy, (c) can have unanticipated and undesirable consequences as the interest of design to achieve, (d) can have a dehumanizing effects upon employees, especially those at the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy.”
"The daily experience of repetitive, intensive and stressful work, frequently results in employee "burnout". Brown, more vividly, characterizes the work as "repetitive brain strain". These descriptions are hardly surprising, in a way, given that call centers are established by organizations to "create an environment in which work can be standardized to create relatively uniform and repetitious activities so as to achieve economies of scale and consistent quality of customer service". This means, in other words, that workplaces are organized in ways that weaken employee autonomy and enhance the potential for management control, and "a loss of control is generally understood to be an important indicator of work-related stress" (www.bpoindia.org) there is almost universal consensus that call center work is stressful.
“The primary source of stress reported is inherent to the nature of the job: spending all day on the phone dealing with people one after another, day after day, is difficult. Doing it under constant pressure to keep call volumes up, with no time between calls to "recover from an awkward call or from 'customer rejection'" is even more difficult. And doing it with "very little authority or autonomy to rectify problems" that arise is perhaps the most difficult of all. Second, organizational rhetoric in inbound call centers is concerned with 'customer care', or 'keeping customers happy' (providing quality service), yet these goals are juxtaposed with an ongoing pressure to keep call times down and call volumes up.”
Third, central stressor in call center work is its intensity. As Bain (2001) argues, "far from being either in terminal decline or on the wane, Taylorism-in conjunction with a range of other control mechanisms-is not only alive, well and deeply embedded in the call center labor process, but its malevolent influence appears to be spreading to previously uncharted territory".
Fourth, stressor is the performance target. There are various types of targets, which may vary between inbound and outbound centers. Inbound centers typically have targets for call duration, 'wrap time', and daily call volume. Outbound centers often also have sales or 'completion' targets, which are closely monitored and upon which pay may be partially based. In addition, in some sectors, inbound call centers are attempting to introduce the practice of cross selling, where agents attempt to sell additional products to the customers who call in for another purpose. In these centers, sales targets similar to those in outbound centers are often in place”. "The question of how call center employees deal with stress is an important one, particularly in view of evidence that a build-up of stress leads to illness, absenteeism and turnover," writes Houlihan . (www.bpoindia.org)
Other than the stressors mentioned there are other health issues that came along with the job in call centers. This includes; (a) sleeping disorders, obviously this affects first timers more severely, as they take time to adjust their biological clocks, but even experienced people or managers are not able to completely escape from it. Some call centers are looking at devising innovative mechanisms like flexible shifts with sleeping arrangements in the office premises as possible solutions, (b) Digestive system sleeping disorder, working long and odd hours without any sleep, and eating food supplied by external caterers everyday, has led to 41.9% of the respondents suffering from digestive problems, (c) depression, (d) severe stomach problem, (e) eyesight problems due to long exposure to computers, (f) ear problems this is due to prolong use of earphones. Other human related issues at call center includes (a) personal habits, specifically smoking, alcoholism and caffeine dependency, (b) discipline and behavior, (d) cases of immorality and infidelity especially to those who are married.
Transporting these realities in marriage and family life we can say that such problems and issues are of greater importance. Because of the graveyard shifts, work pressures obtain from the job and the issue of quality time; a married call center agent has to joggle between family life and his work in call center and often times they are in conflict.
“Work-family conflict is a type of inter-role conflict in which the role demands stemming from one domain (work or family) are incompatible with role demands stemming from another domain (family and work).” (Sloan Work and Family Network)
A study conducted which included 61 in-depth interviews with 28 dual-earner and single-parent families – the two most common forms of families in North America. Some observational studies of their pre-school children were also conducted. “Parents see family time as being spent primarily in the service of children, with children’s needs and schedules setting the timetable for everyone,” says Daly. For “time-poor” parents, the demands of schedules and households – even when the whole family is present –prevent the type of family time they desire.
Time-Available parents described how they spent as much time as they could with their children; quantity time was more important than “quality time” for these parents. This study also found important differences between mothers and fathers. While both mothers and fathers valued spending time with their children, they often had different views of what quality time should be. In general, mothers seemed to be more responsible for ensuring that a
family spent quality time together and this was especially true in families where mothers and fathers disagreed on a quality time approach. (Journal of Marriage and Family, May 2007)
Other studies showed that “work stress does not necessarily make parents less knowledgeable, but fathers’ high job pressure in combination with certain other conditions, might interfere with parents' abilities to stay informed about who their children are spending time with and what they are doing on a daily basis, the research shows.”
This simply shows that parents need to be knowledgeable about their children's activities, but won't be able to acquire the information on their own. “Parents' knowledge of their children's daily activities is not just a matter of tracking or monitoring, the researchers say. Children must reveal information, a two-way process that can be jeopardized by certain circumstances within the family.” (JM&F June 4, 1999)
A study conducted show how negative feeling transferred to the family emphasize how negative feelings from irate caller been absorbed by call center agents and transform to their family. “Negative emotions can create a chain reaction of distress that moves through a family and affects the behavior and health of the individuals who are the most susceptible receivers. The researchers have also mapped the path of these emotional spillovers which appears to follow the order of power in the family, from fathers to mothers to children.” (www.ncfr.org February 2000)
With regards to night shifts in call centers study shows that “unsociable work times (hours during evenings, weekends, or nights) areas associated with poorer mental health in parents and more social and emotional difficulties in children. Compared with families where both parents work standard daytime hours, families where fathers work nonstandard hours show worse family functioning and more hostile and ineffective parenting. When it is mothers who work these hours, there is also worse family functioning, more hostile and ineffective parenting, and more parent distress. The most problematic family environments occur when both parents work nonstandard hours. (JM&F May 2006). “Work in the evenings, nights, and weekends can make it harder to maintain family rituals, routines, and social activities that are important for closeness,” the researcher states. “Common problems associated with working shifts other than daytime include sleep disruption, turnover, motor vehicle accidents, accidents at work and medical and psychiatric illness (Mardon 1997)
This simply shows that “work often interfere the accomplishment of family duties because of the time demanded and family duties such as taking care of sick child often interfere with work.” (Smitter 1998)
In a study of work interference with family, (Thomas and Ganster, 1995) found out that more interference was associated with less job satisfaction and more depression and health complaint among health care workers.” Adams, King & King 1996, suggest that a person’s family relationship affects both job and life satisfaction.
In the study of work intrusions into family were not as disruptive as family intrusions into work. The result showed that unpleasant moods did not transfer from one setting to another. ( Doby and Caplan 1995) “Study shows that individuals who experienced family interference with their work were more likely to be depressed, but work interference with family did not create depression.” (Frone, Rusell & Cooper 1992). (Duxbury and Higgins 1991) found that men were more upset when family roles interfere with work roles, whereas women were more upset when work roles interfere with family roles.”
This simply shows a strong relationship between work and family. This problem then is not only the concern of human resource experts or BPO’s but also of the church. ” Knowing that marriage and the family constitute one of the most precious of human values, the Church wishes to speak and offer her help to those who are already aware of the value of marriage and the family and seek to live it faithfully, to those who are uncertain and anxious and searching for the truth, and to those who are unjustly impeded from living freely their family lives. Supporting the first, illuminating the second and assisting the others, the Church offers her services to every person who wonders about the destiny of marriage and the family.” (Familiaris Consortio )
Greater concern should be given also to those young couple embracing married life how to balance their job and married life. “In a particular way the Church addresses the young, who are beginning their journey towards marriage and family life, for the purpose of presenting them with new horizons, helping them to discover the beauty and grandeur of the vocation to love and the service of life.” (Familiaris Consortio)
Work is very essential to man that it constitute the basic and fundamental consideration before starting a family as a means of sustenance. “Work constitutes a foundation for the formation of family life, which is a natural right and something that man is called to.” (LE #10)
These two spheres of values-one linked to work and the other consequent on the family nature of human life-must be properly united and must properly permeate each other. In a way, work is a condition for making it possible to found a family, since the family requires the means of subsistence which man normally gains through work. Work and industriousness also influence the whole process of education in the family, for the very reason that everyone "becomes a human being" through, among other things, work, and becoming a human being is precisely the main purpose of the whole process of education.
Obviously, two aspects of work in a sense come into play here: the one making family life and its upkeep possible, and the other making possible the achievement of the purposes of the family, especially education. Nevertheless, these two aspects of work are linked to one another and are mutually complementary in various points.
Work uplift man’s dignity. “Work is a good thing for man-a good thing for his humanity-because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes "more a human being". (LE #9) It also follows that one way or another work has become a source of dehumanization of man and woman most especially.
2. Local
Despite of economic melt down our country’s leading BPO’s are still on solid grounds. According to www.gmanews.tv “revenues of the country’s BPO industry rose to $6 billion last year, 26 percent more than the $4.9 billion reported in 2007.”
Call centers – the voice segment of BPOs – contributed 65 percent of total revenues. Non-voice operations were responsible for 17 percent while the rest came from IT operations. Similarly, the industry employed more workers, reaching some 371,000 individuals, excluding those from companies not belonging to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.” (gmanews.tv February 9, 2009)
But there is more than just providing jobs and security. Often times these are unforeseen effects that we see with regards to call center job. Working in a call center environment can be hurled with so much stress. Call center agents worldwide especially in the Philippines mostly complain this manic behavior which they encounter from their customers. defined as: constraining force or influence: as a: a force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part; especially : the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch b: the deformation caused in a body by such a force c: a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation d: a state resulting from a stress; especially : one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium .
Call center agents both inbound and outbound services will encounter a lot of insulting comments from their customers. “The agents are also berated and questioned their incapacity to give technical solutions demanded by the irate clients. This is the reality in the call center and beyond. Though call center employees in the Philippines are receiving attractive benefits, they are bombarded with heavy psychological problems especially stress. “Occupational health experts warned the possible rise in the prevalence of mental disorders due to the growing number of call centers in the country.” (Philippine. Daily Star, October 7, 2008). According to Dr. Dulce Gust “agents suffering from anxiety, stress and muscoloskeletal disorders and eye problems aside from hearing disorder cause by continuous telephone use.”
Despite of all these odds work in the call centers, however, have also its great impact in the economy. Based on (PDS July 28, 2008) “151,000 seats and 205,000 employees, Philippine call centers are poised to grow even more rapidly in the next few years with the projection of a 23% growth rate through 2009. According to Dan Reyes President of Call Center Association of the Philippines; “Call centers are the torchbearer of the business process outsourcing industry. In the industry there is no tomorrow because call centers are operating 24/7 and serving different time zones.” Revenues are also expected to grow to $ 4. 34 billion by the end of 2008. In the Asia Pacific revenues is amounting to $665.4 billion by the end of the year 2007 and it is expected to grow by $13.1 billion for the next seven years. “The call center industry has given opportunities for people who want to say in the country. More than jobs it has given our people a psychic income. Those who would have left are now gainfully employed.” Sen. Manny Villar.
Bussiness World June 1, 2005 called call center company as “sunshine industry” with a phenomenal growth of 100% for three straight years.” “A booming outsourcing industry is generating thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenues but many of its young employees are turning to caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol to deal with unsociable hours and demanding, sometimes abusive callers.” (Business World May 2007) Allyn C. Lara gave some facts about the job in call center on the Philippine Daily Inquirer Dec.4, 2007 issue. The following were quoted.
Fact 1. The call center is the new church of the gay religion.
Fact 2. The call center industry is the breeding ground of college bosses.
Fact 3. The call center industry is slowly turning into a haven for the “plastics.” Fact 4. The call center industry is a modern day Garden of Eden. “It is where single men and women meet, work together and fall in love. It is also where married men and women meet work together, fall in love and leave their wives and husband. Morality and social obligations are often overlooked, if not, deliberately forgotten as lust triumphs completely.
Fact 5. The call center industry is a ticket to foreign travels.
Philippine Journal of Psychology 2005 states that “since call centers necessitates a 24/7 day service employees need to work in shifts. This shifting schedule can make it all the more challenging for employees to establish work-life balance.” This is a great challenge for people who work in call centers especially married call center agents. The problem is often times occult basing from the fact that it is always between husband and wife. Thus the need to aid these couples in managing their marriage and work at the same time. This however is not the only concern of psychologist and human resource managers of call center companies. The church being in its youthfulness all the time have to give special attention to this problems. “A continuing education for Filipino families in accordance with catechesi tradendae and Familiaris Consortio should be taken (PCP II 1991)
This presupposes call center agents especially the married one should be aided with spiritual guidance for an active spirituality “With this special efforts are to be made at sanctifying people in their places of work (offices, schools, factories etc.) Direct pastoral care of employees in their work places can be made along the lines of BEC’s (Basic Ecclesial Community). It is the sincerest desire of the researcher that these questions can find solution in this study.
























Books
“Organizational behavior : human behavior at work.” Newstrom, John W , 12th ed. Boston : McGraw-Hill Irwin, c2007.

“Managing human resources : productivity, quality of work life, profits “ Cascio, Wayne F. 7th ed. Boston : McGraw-Hill/Irwin, c2006

“Personal development for life and work.” : Wallace, Harold R. L. Ann Masters, Australia : South-Western, c2001.

“Health and work : critical perspectives “ edited by Norma Daykin and Lesley Doyal, New York : St. Martin's Press, 1999.

“The psychology of work and human performance”; Robert D. Smither, 3rd ed, New York : Longman, c1998
“Succeeding in the world of work” Grady Kimbrell, Ben S. Vineyard.; Teacher's annotated ed., 4th ed., Encino, CA. : Bennett & McKnight, c1986.

Church Documents
John Paul II (1981) Laborem Exercens: On Human Work

John Paul II (1981) Familaris Consortio. Pasay City Paulines Publishing House, 1999.

Paul VI (1968) Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern World.

Diocese of Bacolod (2005) Second Diocesan Synod: Acts and Decrees: Print Sources

Journal/Publications
Philippine Star June 2006
Philippine Daily Inquirer p.B13; November 17, 2004. Cruz, Loree
Business World p.07 vol. 18 (35), Sept 13'04 Yap, Karl and Rubrico
Business World 19(133):S2/7;Jan. 27-28, 2006. Balaba, Romer M.
Business World /19(237):p.S1/7
Business World /17; February 08, 2005

“Conflict managemant style,social support,and teamwork in a call center environment.”; Philippine Journal of Psychology/38(1):p.97+;2005 Grozman,Elizabeth Patricia M

“Satisfaction with life balance programs and its relationships with work related outcomes.”; Philippine Journal of Psychology/38(1), 2005 Cementina,Raquel S.,Pangan,Farida R.,Yabut,Katie,Abigael C.

Unpublished
Analytical study of Philippine call centers : basis for growth and development; Jamero, Donald M. , Thesis (Ph.D. - B.M.) - University of St. La Salle.

Websites
Journal of Marriage and Family (2007): Parents Disagree On What Constitutes “Quality Time: http://www.ncfr.org

Journal of Marriage and Family (2006) ” The Night Shift May Lead to Family Nightmares” http://www.ncfr.org

Journal of Marriage and Family, Jill Kiecolt, K ( 2003). Satisfaction With Work and Family
Life (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) http://www.ncfr.org

Journal of Marriage and Family (2000) Researchers Map Path of Second-Hand Emotions in Families: http://www.ncfr.org

Hyatt, Kay (1999) Research Links Fathers’ Job Stress, Other Risk Factors to Parents’Tiedeman, Michelle R. Curbing Lost Call Center Productivity: http://www.loma.org/
Human Factors of work in call centres: http://portal.etsi.org/docbox
Human Issues in Call Centers and BPO Industry- A Report: http://www.bpoindia.org
Keit, Kimberly L. Stress and Family Life: http://childparenting.about.com/

Knowledge about Children’s Daily Experiences: http://www.ncfr.org