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The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has issued a warning to Datacom, alleging its call centre staff are overworking and having wages docked.
The union alleges that Datacom staff, who are members of the union, have reported being required to take calls within minutes of starting their shifts, despite having up to 15 minutes of emails and administration to do beforehand.
The CPSU, which did not reveal how many people it had surveyed, said 96 per cent of Datacom staff and union members were required to check emails prior to taking calls.
Last year, the New Zealand headquartered multinational managed professional services and outsourcing company is said to have taken on 2,000 extra frontline customer-facing positions across the public sector to assist with the COVID-19 responses.
The CPSU alleges that up to 92 per cent of the employees it spoke to said they were required to check Operational Blueprint updates prior to taking calls but were also expected to take calls only a few minutes after their scheduled start time.
However, checking emails and Blueprint updates can take up to 10 to 15 minutes. As such, the union claimed some staff reported having their pay docked despite arriving at work on time.
In a statement, the CPSU reminded members that emails and Blueprint were not required before their shifts, with workspace sanitation the only priority before starting calls.
The CPSU also told members they were not required to take a call if it falls within five minutes of a finish time and that staff can submit for overtime if that occurs.
“If you continue to receive pressure from local managers or Team Leaders to arrive at work prior to your scheduled start time, management are not only in breach of Datacom's written assurances to the CPSU and staff, but they may also be breaking workplace laws,” it said.
ARN has contacted CPSU for further comments about the number of complaints.
“Datacom Connect takes the work environment of our people seriously when it comes to health and safety. This includes our practices around shifts and schedules to make sure our people have a safe and healthy working environment," a Datacom spokesperson said.
"As the CPSU group has highlighted, our customer service agents start their shift at Datacom Connect when they are scheduled to start and are not required to do any unpaid activity including sanitising their workstation."
