British firms 'should base call centres in the UK'

Date: 23/01/2012

Companies planning to invest in 0800 phone numbers and setup customer contact centres have been advised to do so in the UK.

In an article for the Daily Express, Peter Hill claimed businesses should help boost employment levels in Britain by basing their call centres closer to home.

It was suggested outsourcing client contact handling to overseas telephonists could be harming budgets and reputations.

Mr Hill claimed British companies seem to be unaware of the "damage they are inflicting on themselves" by overlooking UK workers for their call centres.

The writer claimed basing outlets Britain could help firms to "supervise the service properly, ensuring accuracy and politeness".

As a result, customers would be happier with the service delivered and client satisfaction levels would be likely to rise.

The news comes after the Express and Star recently reported that BT has struggled to find the right calibre of people to fill its phone handler vacancies, despite having 1,500 applications for 300 roles.