re: #243 McSpiff

I’ve worked at two call centers before. They seemed to be truly horribly run places. I thought management didn’t have a clue. After reading over a case study from the management program at my university, I discover that what I thought was incompetence was actually intentionally orchestrated. The material and call flow was designed such that an employee who had been there for 5 months would know as much as an employee who had been there for 5 years.

Turns out a high turn over rate in employees was the goal. As long as they recouped the cost of recruitment and training, and you quit before they had to give you any raises, you were a net positive for the company.

The document just went on and on detailing why the soul-sucking practises I had seen were ideal for the company. Really turned me off “Corporate management” practises.

After a year at this store, I don’t think anyone could convince me that the methods and style of management with this company is anything be well orchestrated.

First off, there is a total lack of meaningful communication between upper management, middle management and worker bees. The only way you can get information is if you go looking for it, document it and make sure you can back up what you learned with proof. There is a “it’s not my table” attitude that rolls right down to the employee… making the employee as the final responsible party for any lack of management direction.

You have to cover your ass constantly. Since I run the front end overnight two night a week, I have made my own contact list of home phone numbers of management and responsible upper management. Why? Because you cannot rely on the official phone lists, contact lists, paperwork on site. it’s not kept in any organized way, it’s sloppy and mistake ridden. But if I was to rely on those documents, certain things would stop cold. And it would still roll down to me.

There is never a compliment for a job well done. No meetings with management, no reviews, no acknowledgements… the only time you receive any one-on-one time from management is if you have made a mistake. And then, it’s not counseling, it’s not pro-active, it’s not designed to correct and improve… it’s simply to write you up and warn you that you have ex-amount of days not to do it again, or a suspension.

This harks back to the 30’s, full blown Scrooge management model… unbelievable. After a year of it, I can understand why we have so many employees who are very good at their jobs, but other than that, don’t give two-shits about the company, improvement or loyalty.