Relationships between organizational workplace characteristics and perceived workplace strain in call-centers in France

Background Our objective was to study the associations between organizational workplace characteristics (OC) reported by call‐center (CC) managers and workplace stressors reported by call‐handlers. Methods The managers of 107 CCs were interviewed by their occupational physicians using a questionnaire designed to specifically explore OC in the CCs. Four thousand two call‐handlers from these CCs completed a self‐report questionnaire including the Karasek and Siegrist work stressor questionnaires and two specific items on other workplace stressors. Results Around one‐third of the OC examined were associated with the demand/control ratio, the perception of demanding work and ethical conflicts, however, far fewer OC were associated with the effort/reward ratio. Most OC were associated with higher levels of job stressors. Some had strong, systematic negative associations with stressors (e.g., highly formatted instructions for the client relationship). Conclusions These findings could help in targeting job stressor prevention and health improvement strategies in CCs. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:1317–1328, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.