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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Being made to cover call centre at work.

35 replies

RedIvy18 · 10/04/2025 11:25

I'm employed in a senior client based role which has peaks and troughs (sometimes we are crazy busy but there may be the odd day where work is less.) Over the past number of months I have been asked to cover work on our call centre on ad hoc days. There is a reason why I didnt apply to work in a call centre role, and while I respect the work that our CC do it has nothing to do with my role at all. I have worked hard to get this role including gaining postgraduate qualifications, I perform well and enjoy it most of the time.

I have encountered abusive customers on the CC which has upset me and have asked not to be put on the CC but my employers attitude is 'don't take it so personally'. AIBU or are they?

OP posts:
lunaemma · 10/04/2025 12:03

RedIvy18 · 10/04/2025 11:53

@ComtesseDeSpair it's to cover vacancies on the CC - I dont think that there is any overarching strategic reason for it. Other colleagues of my level are being asked to do it too and are very disillusioned by it.

I'm confident that there is enough work for me both in the long and short term - the nature of my job means that I know what I have coming up this year and it's a lot!

I just think that it's a poor way to retain and motivate staff... some colleagues have gone off sick in the past as they have had an awful time on the CC.

Edited

Can you bring that up? Because the people doing the call centre work will likely be paid a lot less than you and having to do it day in day out
If you can change stuff to make it better for everyone that would be a good use of time

ACynicalDad · 10/04/2025 11:59

There is usually a line in the contract saying and any other duties considered appropriate. I doubt you can stop this.

Original poster
RedIvy18 · 10/04/2025 11:53

@ComtesseDeSpair it's to cover vacancies on the CC - I dont think that there is any overarching strategic reason for it. Other colleagues of my level are being asked to do it too and are very disillusioned by it.

I'm confident that there is enough work for me both in the long and short term - the nature of my job means that I know what I have coming up this year and it's a lot!

I just think that it's a poor way to retain and motivate staff... some colleagues have gone off sick in the past as they have had an awful time on the CC.

OP posts:
Stevialive · 10/04/2025 11:37

If you are doing bugger all as an alternative to this OP, I’d brace yourself for redundancy

RareGoalsVerge · 10/04/2025 11:35

How central is the Call Centre to the operations of the business? And are other people of similar seniority, qualifications and experience to you also being asked to do this? There are some types of business where it would be deeply beneficial for all senior staff to do a shift in the call centre once a month in order to be deeply grounded in the daily operations of the business outside their normal remit. There are other scenarios where a person in a non-call-centre role is recognised as having great potential for promotion to a role which will include being in the hierarchy to which the Call Centre managers report and it would be beneficial for their career advancement to do occasional shifts there for their personal familiarity with that side of the operations, so it MAY be reasonable for you to be asked to do this.

On the other hand, if you are a young (or youngish) female employee with a level of competence, qualifications and personal gravitas which another senior person is finding threatening, they may be pushing you into low-status work in order to disarm your potential to outshine them. In which case that's unacceptable.

ComtesseDeSpair · 10/04/2025 11:35

What reason are they giving? Are they short staffed in the call centre, short of anything for you to do in your area, or is this about widening your exposure to the business and role development? I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing for senior people in client based roles to get exposure to what their juniors are doing and experiencing - it keeps you tuned in to the difficulties they face, the opportunity to develop a strategy to address that, and you get grass roots knowledge of that area of the business.

If they’re using you to cover vacancies, or haven’t enough work for you, that’s concerning, and a conversation to have with your manager as neither of those things are sustainable. I’d also use it as an opportunity to show initiative: as a senior, your response to experiencing call centre abuse shouldn’t just be “I don’t want to do that work, it’s beneath me” but “this is unacceptable, we need to find out why customers are being abusive, why the call centre is expected to tolerate abuse, and develop a strategy to remedy this serious problem from both sides.” If you’re being asked to cover because your own role is quiet and therefore at risk, it’s this kind of thing which will set you apart.

Daisyvodka · 10/04/2025 11:31

What does your contract say?
My only concern would be that if you are being asked frequently is that there isn't enough work for you, so I'd be thinking more about how that might play out long term. Having worked in a peaks and troughs environment before, things can change very quickly.

Whaleandsnail6 · 10/04/2025 11:27

What does your contract say about covering different roles/areas if needed?

Stevialive · 10/04/2025 11:27

So if you don’t do this, what will you be actually doing?

PurpleChrayn · 10/04/2025 11:25

Just say no - it isn’t in your remit/job description.