Call Center = Mind-numbingly slow death - Anonymous employee Fidelity Investments Employee Review

Working in a call center is so, so, sooo very monotonous. The job very quickly becomes, not only uninteresting, but also completely unchallenging. The immediate supervisors (excellent performers and leaders) were laid off a couple of times, and then replaced by lower paid, inexperienced, entry level supervisors. Also, reassignment and relocation is common. I had 4 different managers and constantly rearranged teams over the course of 2 & 1/2 years. Entire departments were suddenly and unceremoniously laid off, as well. Working on the phones gives you a certain amount of security, because they need people to answer the calls... but, there's not very much opportunity for advancement. When you are on the phones you are pretty much tethered to your phone and your desk until your designated breaks, so you need to have a strong bladder or lay off of the fluids for hours at a time. You don't really get a chance to interact or get to know your co-workers. Meetings were cut down, which cut down on goal monitoring, teambuilding and learning opportunities. The part-timers had very little opportunity to become full-time workers. If you are on an evening shift it is practically a Herculean feat to get moved to the day shift, even if you've worked there for years. However, despite this fact, the company will consistently bring on completely new hires and place THEM on the day shift... meanwhile, they'll tell the tenured evening shift-ers that there are "no daytime slots" available at this time, and ask them to please be patient (years into waiting).