Many young and well-educated workers in the WB countries are employed in the call centre sector serving as inbound or outbound assistance to consumers all over the world. The number of employees in the call centres skyrocketed based on the spread of advanced telecommunication services and internet and the large pool of young unemployed people with strong knowledge of foreign languages willing to work for competitive wages. This new phenomena benefited young people with tertiary education in the Western Balkans where high barriers to entry are keeping young people out of the world of work. The call centres have filled this gap by offering the young ones work contracts, flexible working hours and relatively good wages.
How the countries in the region are utilizing this work opportunity depends on many factors: in Albania, call centres already changed hands from foreign investors who established the service into hands of Albanian businessmen. In Serbia selected foreign investors are getting subsidies to open new call centres; In Albania and Kosovo employees are well paid, above average wage , while in Serbia call centre workers are moderately paid.
In all countries in the region call centres play an increasingly important role in curbing unemployment of the young working force and slowing down the brain drain. However, they also create some short and long term negative consequences for employees and the overall economy: employees suffer from serious health issues such as problems with hearing and vision, and back pain, stress (especially among those who are engaged in outbound services), depression (due to repetitive job) , lack of union protection and high exposure to job loss due to the high supply of working force, and in the long run high probability of replacement with advanced digital technologies (chatbots, AI).
As such call centres represent an example of fast job creation in the digital era but they also pose an important question on how the Western Balkan countries are using opportunities of digital transformation, the quality of jobs created and the effective use of pool of talents.
Center is implementing the project with Together for Life from Albania (lead partner) and Kosovar Stability Initiative, Kosovo
