Atlantic Canada — Rogers telecoms employees are under extreme pressure to sell, sell and sell some more, or risk losing their jobs, according to a CBC Go Public report.
Workers are even encouraged to sell internet packages to elderly Canadians who don’t even own computers, the report detailed. Stress levels in these call centres are through the roof, as employees are forced to beat their own records and sell an array of mostly useless, overpriced products — or be sacked.
“Obviously no one wants a land line anymore, but I was forced to pawn one off on each customer,” said one former call centre worker from the institution where he sought asylum from the psychological horror show of working for Rogers. “As if the abuse from angry customers wasn’t enough, then my dozen or so bosses would be threatening us to sell more products and plans to more people who didn’t want any of it.”
Current employees, by contrast, are thrilled with Rogers’s response to the critique. Although Rogers CEOs refused request for interview, they all repeated the exact same phrase in generic press releases: “We take these concerns very seriously.”
“Well, shit, if I’d known they take our concerns seriously, I never would have had a mental breakdown and jumped out of the call centre, breaking both my legs,” said one employee. “I didn’t know they cared, but that one vague statement really says it all. Thank you, Rogers!”
Another worker who was threatened repeatedly and written up by her bosses almost daily said that, as long as her concerns are taken seriously, that’s what counts.
“I was going to quit and just move back in with my parents — it was that bad a work environment. But when I read that Rogers not only hears my concerns but takes them seriously? I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe this company isn’t so bad after all!”
In a statement to The Manatee, Rogers indicated that they have absolutely no plan to change policies or practices, or to do anything to ameliorate the lives of their employees. But they reiterated that, as always, they take concerns very seriously.