Another Day On The Phones

Just another day on the phones. I received this email from my boss and I am not sure what to think. Here is the series of emails that we sent back and forth today.

Hi

The idea of being able to move your break to a later time isn't so that you can save the break up for when there is a queue and the dodge the queue.

The idea is that if your break comes along and you would rather help the queue, then help the queue and break later when the queue is gone.

It's pretty much only a 1 sided deal where you want to help the team.. we won't ever have a time where the break will let ya dodge the queue.

So, in summary, if there's a queue, don't change your break to avoid calls.

Joe

I am sorry you feel that I was avoiding calls. This was not the case.

We were running a low queue for quite some time and it was not that bad and I had not taken my brake. So on my brake I actually was working on a problem with a customer and I went to tell brook that the thing he did fixed the problem worked. And then Jim started talking to me and that is when you came up to get me on the phones.

Again I am sorry if you feel that I was trying to avoid calls. Just talk to me and find out the situation before you accuse me of this please. I know you are just doing your job and I feel that you are truly concerned for the needs of our customers. I know that I can do better at watching the queue for our customer needs. I just don't want you to go down being known as the person who does anything to avoid the queue and that is the way I think you feel about me at times.

Just trying to avoid any frustrations on my part by letting you know how I feel by communicating with you.

Steven Risenmay

Intime: 7am
7:00 - 7:15: Prep Time
7:15 - 7:45: Phone Time
7:45 - 8:00: Break Time
8:00 - 8:30: Phone Time
8:30 - 8:45: Break Time
8:45 - 9:00: Phone Time
9:00 - 10:00: Team Meeting
10:00 - 11:15: Phone Time
11:15 - 12:15: Lunch
12:15 - 2:00: Phone Time
2:00 - 4:00: Chat/Email
Outtime: 4pm

If you wish to displace a break because you're tied up on a call, or because you need to help with the queue during your break, that's fine. Take that break as soon as you can to replace it.

If the queue is large, you can't be taking 'missed breaks'. That is the time where we are relying on you to help the customers. And by 'we' I mean the whole floor who doesn't want to take the calls we projected and schedule you to take.

If you take a break that is not scheduled during a queue, you are avoiding calls. You might not want to have the intention of 'call avoidance' but that is what it is. I really wish that we could all just do things ourselves, or do whatever we wanted to help things but the bottom line is we need bodies, in chairs, headphones on, taking calls. If you have an issue that merits 'Off Phone Work' of more than 2-3 minutes, you need to place it in hands of a TA and then take another call.

It's just that easy. Don't blow time trying to figure out something above and beyond, just plow through calls. And if you need special time for projects you want to invent, come talk to me, and I can consult with WFM to determine if removing you from their labor calculations will be detrimental to the rest of the floor or not.

We just can't have everyone else on the floor taking a higher volume of calls because you want to do things in a different way.

Joe

PS I'm not out to get ya here. You do a very good job of assessing a client's needs and you know your material. Heck, you're about to be setup to take, and pass, cert 10. This isn't a disciplinary talk or anything like that. This is just me trying to help you realize that doing anything other than taking calls will mean more work for your teammates.