South Korean Call Center Hit Hard By Coronavirus

The Coronavirus pandemic is making its impact felt around the globe. Pandemic leads to uncertainty, and uncertainty typically results in questions. While, usually questions are answered by the call center and customer service, but what happens when the call center feels the ripple effects of COVID-19?

A spike in call volume can certainly be expected in a time of crisis, and many would expect that to be the primary impact. A South Korean call center is having a much different experience, as of March 11, 2020 a Seoul call center reports 93 employees and family members have contracted COVID-19 – with that number to grow as testing progresses.

In addition to businesses, like the abovementioned call center, there are also 200 residents living in the building. At the time of this writing all of the cases in the “cluster” are linked to the call center on the 11^th floor.

This outbreak is serving as impetus for the city of Seoul to investigate the working conditions of the city’s call centers. There are more than 400 call centers in the city, and most with crammed working conditions, creating fertile ground for COVID-19 to flourish and spread.

Currently, city officials are urging remote work to avoid any more people from contracting the virus.
Yun Kun-young, a confidant of South Korean President Moon Jae-in who is running in next month's parliamentary elections tweeted, “I was personally fortunate, but my heart is still heavy... Considering the (working) conditions of the call center, there could be more cases, and it’s a concern that infections are rising among Guro residents.

South Korea has nearly 8,000 virus cases, and in an effort to halt the pandemic the government will enact anti-virus guidelines for workplaces across the country. Aside from call centers and places of business, many cases are tied to places of worship.

Call center scheduling can prove a struggle when you have no staff. In times like these proactive measures to protect the team can go a long way in ensuring operations remain status quo, as opposed to pandemonium.

Edited by Maurice Nagle