A computer system that monitors call centre stress levels and can automatically reduce the pressure on overwrought workers has been developed by Italian researchers.
The new system, called Angelo, constantly measures workers鈥� heart rates and perspiration. It controls the number of calls each worker receives and can issue an early warning if it detects undue stress.
Call-centres are a fast growing industry. It is estimated that 1.3 per cent of Europe鈥檚 entire workforce will be found in call centres by 2002. As well as being highly efficient, however, these workplaces are known hotbeds of stress and tension.
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鈥淪tress is the number one problem in call-centres,鈥� says Stephen Cosica, a retired call-centre manager with 20 years experience and author of TELE-Stress, a book addressing this problem.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know about the commercial potential of Angelo, but there would certainly be a lot of interest in this new system. This is the one thing that management will invest in.鈥�
Calming influence
Angelo monitors the heart rate through a sensor attached to the ear. Another sensor attached to a worker鈥檚 finger measures skin conductivity to produce a perspiration estimate.
The system compares readings to psychological profiles produced from earlier psychometric testing. It decides whether a worker is suffering from above-normal anxiety and if worker is stressed-out, it tries to calm them down.
It does this by automatically reducing the number of calls or emails put through each hour. It can also advise them to take a break or warn a supervisor that they may be close to breaking point. The system is even hooked up to a building鈥檚 air conditioning and ventilation and can control a room鈥檚 temperature to help cool workers down.
Cheating the system
Angelo was developed by Fabrizio Davide, a researcher at Telecom Italia. Davide will present details of the technology at the Sensors and their Applications conference, held on the 6 September in London.
鈥淭here is an urgent need to improve and 鈥榟umanise鈥� stressful computer-based work,鈥� says Davide. 鈥淭he Angelo project brings together a multidisciplinary grouping of industrial partners and academic researchers that are set on revolutionising the call-centre industry.鈥�
However, Cosica says that system may not be 100 per cent reliable in practice. People could try to cheat the system by drinking a cup of coffee to increase their heart rate, for example.