On this “World No Tobacco Day”, Fusion CX shares its concern that every organization should have for their employees, and as is the case here… about employee health. It is especially true for call centers, as it is no secret that the job of a call center employee is a tough one.
Dealing with sometimes irate customers, handling graveyard shifts, and adhering to aggressive deadlines, can often compel a call center executive to indulge in smoking and drinking caffeinated drinks much too often.
All call center agents experience stress from time to time, and each has different ways to deal with it. For many of them, smoking cigarettes is a great escape. They claim that smoking calms their nerves and helps them relax. If you take a careful look, a large component of any call center’s workforce is known to be smokers.
But other than stress relieving there are other reasons for which they prefer smoking. According to them, smoking breaks being shorter can be taken several times a day. So, it gives them a sense of well deserved but short breaks. As smoking is usually done in a group, it also allows them to feel a sense of camaraderie.
While these are some common ideas that call center employees have about smoking, the true picture is far from that. Nowhere is it proven that nicotine is a stress reliever. As a matter of fact, smoking does not improve a stressful situation but rather will more likely lead to many health risks.
However, with an effort, even the most frequent smoker can give up this terrible addiction. But, most people will find it hard to overcome this terrible dependency. It is not just a matter of willpower and determination. It is also about creating a support group around the smoker who will help him/her from smoking and see to it that he/she does not find himself/herself in a situation of smoking.
This is where the employer can integrated into the picture. Some businesses across the world consider smoking inside office premises acceptable and allow their employees to smoke on the premises. At Fusion CX, we have declared each of our centers as smoke-free zones. So, while our employees are inside office premises, our employees must abstain from smoking.
Apart from this, consumption of any tobacco product and nicotine infused gum, as well as practicing any other addictions is strictly prohibited inside our offices.
We encourage our employees to maintain a good diet, healthy habits and indulge in some physical activities as well. We have also organized anti-smoking and fitness awareness camps in our different centers from time to time.
Overall, our sole concern is and has always been the physical and mental well-being of our workforce. We consider banning the consumption of tobacco products in our office premises as nothing but a baby step toward that goal. But we hope that these small steps will add up to lead our employees towards a healthier tomorrow.
