This story was originally published at ProPublica.org. [1]

This story was originally published at ProPublica.org. [1]
Licensed under creative commons by-nc-nd/3.0 [2]

What It's Like As A Customer Service Agent In The Gig Economy : Planet Money : NPR
Author Name, ProPublica
Date: 08, 2021

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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[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/
URL: https://www.propublica.org/steal-our-stories

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