Low-walled cubicles allow employees to talk to one another. They sit in jewel-toned chairs and decorate their desks with pictures and colorful knickknacks. They also get vacation days, holiday pay and health and retirement benefits. The company provides job training that can last five weeks in the classroom plus training time on the floor. A few of them place sales calls to customers who have asked for services.
Stress is a factor on the job.
Television monitors show employees the number of calls coming in and how long customers are waiting to talk to a representative. One department listens in on the calls and monitors how well employees answer questions. Shelby took 60 calls in one day last week. The relatively high number of calls came in after the company had an outage in several communities. Calls bubble up like popping corn whenever lines are down.