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This unaltered story was originally published at ProPublica.org. [1]
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What It's Like As A Customer Service Agent In The Gig Economy : Planet Money : NPR
Author Name, ProPublica
Date:2020-09-29 00:00:00


Call Center Call Out

Enlarge this image Emily Suvanvej for ProPublica Emily Suvanvej for ProPublica

You've probably turned to customer service by phone or email for help. But having full-time customer support agents is expensive. Many of America's best-known companies slash these costs by relying on a growing, secretive industry built on an army of independent contractors who work from home.

For this show, we partnered with the investigative journalists at ProPublica who spent over a year digging into the world of contract customer service work (here's their story). It's life on the other side of your customer service calls, and a glimpse into the troubling future of work in America.

If you've done customer service contract work — get in touch with ProPublica reporters here.

Want more about contract work in the so-called gig economy? Go back and listen to our episodes on class action lawsuits and trucking.

Reporting from ProPublica by Ariana Tobin, Ken Armstrong and Justin Elliott.

Music: "Smoke and Mirrors," "Strip Parade," and "Doctor Dizzy."

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Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and NPR One

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[1] URL: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/918195277/call-center-call-out
[2] URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
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