High rates of staff turnover have forced call centres to improve their working conditions, a leading industry figure claims.

An increasing number of people now see working in call centres as a viable career option, often moving from one to another, according to Sally Wells, managing director of call centre recruiter Teleresources.

"If anything, people moving from place to place has meant that call centres have had to improve their working conditions," she tells Recruiter. "Areas such as Bristol and Glasgow have had high numbers of staff moving around. Therefore, employers have had to make conditions better to keep hold of their staff."

Wells adds that a buoyant market is forcing many recruiters in the sector to look outside the traditional talent pool, with more and more companies taking on disabled operators or those who wish to work from home — in other words, those who would not thrive in a typical call centre environment.

Wells says the trend for some firms to return their call centres to the UK and close operations in India was caused by "cultural differences", which could not be surmounted. "I think customers felt that the service they were getting from the overseas centres was not as good, so companies probably felt that coming back to Britain was a sensible idea."

Earlier this year, Powergen shut its call centres in India and reopened facilities in the UK.