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ding large files from the internet for their personal use. The agents usually blame the IT department for having very slow systems. However, the IT staff discovered that a potential cause of the slowness of the systems was the number and the sizes of the files call agents? were downloading. As a resolution to this, they periodically check the systems and clean up whatever personal files they have stored on the system. This was not quite effective, because during the shifts the agents were still found downloading files. In an attempt to resolving this issue, the IT department implemented some restrictions on the system reducing the access the agents had to the internet. There have been improvements but it is still an issue because some agents have still found their way around the restrictions to download files. Agents also log on as not ready or they drop calls but all this can be discovered when query reports are run of which there is no set time as to when these queries are run. Thus there is the possibility that agents do this and get away with such behaviours. General challenges the IT staff are faced with include:

Network failure
Power failure
Viruses.
ISSUES IDENTIFIED BY THE CALL AGENTS: The working conditions and were found to be the most prevalent issue in the call centre.

ISSUES WITH THE WORKING CONDITIONS:

Targets: the inbound call agents were expected to meet a target of one hundred and thirty calls during the day shift (morning and afternoon). Each shift lasts for about seven hours with only thirty minutes of break. The night shift was expected to meet a target of two hundred and twenty calls but since the hours were longer, they had two hours of break. The inbound agents have a talk time of one minute and thirty seconds for each call including wrap up time or could be referred to as handling time. A wrap up time is the period an agent leaves a footnote on the customer?s profile account, stating precisely what the customer?s issue was; if it was resolved stating how it was resolved or if the issue was not resolved and the reason why it was not resolved. This is usually done simultaneously or after conversing with the customer. The agent immediately after this indicates the ready mode to the system for the next call. The outbound agents have an average handling time of four minutes and are expected to make a hundred calls a day. A large number of the call agents in the inbound department, had an issue with the targets they had to meet in each shift especially the day shifts. They regarded the targets as well as the wrap up time as been unrealistic. Although some of them were of the opinion that the targets were unrealistic but it was still achievable. The problem in this case is the fact that they would not offer quality service to their customers. However a few number of them had no issue with the targets, quoting one of them, 'In my opinion, the targets are reasonable after all if agents knew their job well they would go straight to the point. After all not all customers would have complex issues. The fact is that most agents just want to have some time between calls to chat around'. During the course of the agents performing their duties, the researcher observed that the working environment of the inbound staff was more intense than that of the outbound. This could be attributed to the fact that the system (AVAYA) automatically directs the call to an agent,