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Always On Call? The Competitiveness of the UK's Call Centre Industry

Where are UK call centres located?

According to industry research, the most likely locations for UK call centres are city centres and business parks. Some, though, are run successfully from rural locations. In the early stages of the development of the call centre industry, some areas of the UK offered incentives to attract firms operating call centre operations.

Changes in the industrial structure of regions such as South Wales, South Yorkshire, North-East England and parts of Scotland, caused high levels of long-term unemployment. Call centres which were set up in or relocated to these areas which experienced large levels of structural unemployment, did so in part because labour costs are lower.

Those firms which are based in these areas are more likely to change location again, especially if they can achieve lower labour costs elsewhere. Organisations that were encouraged to locate call centres in high unemployment areas are most likely to be vulnerable to offshoring. Call centres have become more sophisticated operations in the past decade; grants are less important now. What is vital to call centre location are believed to be the following:

• A good pool of skilled staff
• Access to this skilled labour force
• Low 'attrition' rates, also known as labour turnover
• Suitable physical infrastructure, such as buildings

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