HIV Cases Soar on Call Center Employees
Last week, for several days, local TV news had several reports on the “alarming” rate of HIV cases among call center employees. Although the news mentioned “young urban professionals”, the news states that it is more specific to call center employees. The news likewise mentioned that casual sex is prevalent among call center employees.
A lot of people have already reacted to the said news. People whose loved ones became very concerned upon hearing the news. Some have already communicated their sentiments to the TV network who aired the news.
Having worked for the call center industry for some years, I would like to say that, sadly, the industry – having a work force made up of mostly young people, sometimes as young as 18 yrs old, the environment is very conducive to those kind of things – sex and drugs. Nonetheless, I would have to say that because the industry is so big, the data presented on the news, in comparison to the other industries, may have to be re-checked. What exactly am I saying? Alright, here’s an illustration. A legit and reputable call center has several sites, with each site having an average of 800-2000 employees. A bank, which of course has several branches. Each branch will have an average of 20-35 employees. If there are 70 call center employees having extra-marital affairs or casual sex activities in a call center that houses 2000 employees, that’s 3.5% of the population. Where as, if there’s 6 bank employees having casual sex or extra-marital affairs in a branch that has 35 employees, that’s an alarming 17.14% of their population. Economics graduates and enthusiasts will agree on me with this. So, I guess it will be worthwhile to get the facts straight prior to be fair to people working in the industry involved.
If you have relatives, friends and loved ones working for the said industry, and if you trust your loved ones – their character, their upbringing, then I tell you, there’s nothing to fear. If you are a parent of someone working for the said industry and you raised your child with good values and a good sense of self, then you don’t have to worry that they will conform. Believe me, I slept over at my team mate’s house one time, and I watched them smoking pot right in front of me. They were giving me some, but I did not touch it.
On the other hand, if you are not confident about the way you raised your children, then I guess you need to start praying, because temptation abounds, regardless where they are working.
oh no.. i guess it’s also a factor that you guys have late shifts?
? joei
some news article did mention that, so baka may bearing din nga un.
i totally agree, temptation is everywhere
true ate girlie, kahit saang industry naman eh kung weak willed ung tao, magse-stray talaga.
What a great resource!
Hi,
I am an economist but I do not exactly consider your comparison between call centers and banks as apple-to-apple. Call centers have a lot more young people compared to banks. I believe that the incidence of sex between call center agents are higher than between bank employees due to the age factor and the fact that employee migration in call centers are most likely to be higher. Call centers are not considered as permanent employments by most of its employees unlike banks were people dream of staying up to retirement. The tendency then for bankers to stay away from their colleagues would tend to be higher.
Culture would also play a big role in this. Call Center agents nowadays spend a lot of money drinking and going out with one another. And since most of them are young and first time earners, the tendency for a lot of them to indulge in alcohol and to drugs (to some extent) would tend to be higher.
We almost don’t see bankers gathering in huge flocks while smoking and planning events outside buildings. We see call centers doing that, more than any other industry. I don’t even see this kind of culture in factories.
I do not have anything against call centers (I even have nieces working in it) but I agree that sex would tend to be more frequent in the industry. Having seen a lot of them, I sometimes even wish that I had a chance to have spent some of my youth as a call center agent. It’s too late now..
hi heff, thank you for your 2 cents on the issue. Funny that you were thinking of joining the industry had it not been too late for you. thanks for dropping by and hope you frequent my blog.
“but I agree that sex would tend to be more frequent in the industry.” <—That was the reason…
Har Har!!
Sorry for the typos in my comment.
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It may cause a stir in the BPO and I believe it is unfair.This maybe a reflection of an office environment anywhere and not BPO alone, although stress level, job hours and number of people situated in a room maybe the heavy contributors. If this is study they should include root causes and awareness in protective sex is mostly needed in the present situation.