Rob* was part of an group of 16 workers hired by a private operator to answer phone calls for the Australian Taxation Office\u2019s customer service line.<\/p>\n
After training, the cohort was put on the phone lines and three immediately quit. Within six months, only four staff from the original group remained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just shocked about what goes on in these places \u2013 it\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d says Rob, who worked for the private equity-owned Probe Operations \u2013 the ATO\u2019s biggest outsourced call centre operator.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pressure they put these people under is extreme, every minute is monitored, and if you go over the call time, they\u2019ll let you know about it immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing stinks, [the ATO have] transferred these jobs off to private enterprise, and the pay is dramatically lower, leaving the companies to pocket the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those on the other end of the phones have also noticed.<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n The Tax Ombudsman has been receiving reports of deteriorating service on the ATO phone lines from tax agents, who note that they often speak to call staff who cannot provide informed responses.<\/p>\n According to an ombudsman\u2019s report<\/a> released last month, outsourced workers \u2013 half of whom have less than a year\u2019s experience \u2013 answer more than 85% of ATO calls, including those from tax agents.<\/p>\n And one of the problems is the huge turnover at the for-profit operators, according to the report.<\/p>\n In 2024-25, staff turnover across the outsource centres was 125%, although the data did not distinguish between the operators. This compared to 31% for ATO\u2019s internal workers.<\/p>\n In other words, it\u2019s as if the outsource companies\u2019 entire staff roster turned over during a calendar year, and then an extra quarter of the workforce left.<\/p>\n Same work, lower pay<\/p>\n Workers like Rob typically earn about $26.70 an hour<\/a>, which amounts to a base salary of about $52,800 a year, according to interviews with current and former staff. The rate rises to just above $60,000 for team leaders.<\/p>\n The ATO\u2019s direct employees, working on the same phone lines, generally earn over $72,000.<\/p>\n The outsourced workers argue that despite having the same duties, systems access and security obligations as ATO employees, the pay disparity, lack of training and inferior working conditions to the public service are extreme.<\/p>\n When Rob was working on the phones with Probe, he could increase his pay by $2 an hour if he averaged 25 calls a day over a two-week period.<\/p>\n But other staff monitoring the calls could also declare a \u201cstrike\u201d if they believed he gave inadequate responses, voiding his bonus for that fortnight.<\/p>\n The bonus system gets periodically adjusted, but is still broadly designed to encourage workers to take 25 calls a day, with \u201cstrikes\u201d or \u201cqualifiers\u201d that can nullify a bonus.<\/p>\n Denise*, who works with Probe, says the incentives were so vague she \u201cgenuinely doesn\u2019t know how they work\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTeam performances can also mean some teams get extra money for pizza parties, or at least that is what they tell us. I\u2019ve never seen it happen,\u201d Denise says.<\/p>\n She says training is organised by ATO staff, but provided by private contractors, which she describes as \u201cwoefully bad\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do the best we can when it comes to vulnerable taxpayers and I\u2019ve handled a number myself. It\u2019s hard on outsourced staff as we get little to no support which feeds into our turnover rate,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cVulnerable taxpayers mean longer phone calls which we are monetarily incentivised against as it affects our average handling time.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I\u2019m aware, we are cheap and our stats are monitored down to the second, saving millions compared to ATO workers.\u201d<\/p>\n Probe declined to respond to questions, which included queries about the workers\u2019 experiences, pay rates, staff turnover and bonus systems.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Tax agents unhappy with service<\/p>\n The KKR-owned Probe, the Nasdaq-listed Concentrix Services and the British multinational Serco share in call centre contracts with the ATO<\/a> worth $316.5m, according to analysis of government tenders.<\/p>\n