I’m certain it is not an HR problem – a lot of money is wasted on HR practices in call centres.
This is a design and management of work problem. If the call centre is designed and managed as a factory you’ll get one kind of behaviour; if it is designed as a system you’ll get another.
It is as Senge taught. The system influences behaviour.
Of course it is true that you do get amazing people in a ‘bad’ system. But we should not make the mistake of assuming we should therfore work on the people.