One Document to Bind it all

8/7/2019 One Document to Bind it all

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The long goodbye

1. History2. Disgruntlement3. Pay revealed

4. How to quit5. Irony and tid-bits (some more history)6. I Care?7. If nothing else8. Lets leave it at9. The 25 page essay (interesting read)

I came here, 15 days short of 5 years ago, a University graduate with an English andHistory degree. Slightly embittered (considering a 7-11 night-clerk is the only position I

could find after 3 months of living off of credit cards, looking for work), sarcastic (butnot nearly as I am now), eager and egotistical doe-y-eyed participant of something thatthese parts has never seen. I was one of the first, as most know, being part o the FirstClass. Ext 3016 (we started at 3001-3023 even then we had 1 drop out of our classand NOT Comcast/AT&T were not the first).

That was (doing the math) June 13th, 2001, and a lot has passed.My God 5 years: thats a career!

Sorry, because the turn over rate for most call centers is 6 months, and this one was onlyslightly better, at about 8-9 from my reckoning, I cant list of the over 3000+ people that

have touched my life here. I sent out countless emails for both morale building andtechnical help (later to be used to question if I truly was spending my time wisely byone Mark Anderton (I just felt most of old management shudder at the name) thusachieving my first raise, 6 months LATE mind you, as the lowest paid mentor, EVER, forthe first year (and yes, there was a futile battle over that one, but that is another storyor is it?)) and tried to set the example that was impressed upon me by the first trainers:You are the first. You set the pace for every class after you. You are the ones that set thebar. I have always hoped to set that bar high.

Honestly: this was the best JOB Ive ever had. This was a bad career choice. Why stay?Because it really is an awesome job if you take it just as that: sit on the phone all day and

talk in an air-conditioned building, and if you do your job right (not even necessarilywell), you get nothing but praise and admiration. That, Ill miss. To quote an ex-employee: it was the only job could apply at 11 am, after crawling out of bed, in myunderwear. The pay, for around these parts, wasnt bad, either. We all know it couldhave been better.

Most dont remember, or know about, the fact that the original 6+ mentors were told bythe original trainees (who were only mentors in training, down in the states, themselves)

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that we should be making 15+$ /hr as mentors. They also didnt know about the fact thatall of us were going to walk there was a 2 week debate amongst ourselves, when wefound out that we were only being paid 12.69/hr, one month AFTER we had all beenalready doing the job. Compliance kept us working (and wearing our smiley masks). Weall knew there was nothing this side of the Lions Gate that would offer us 12+$ at the

basic math of commuting (subtract about $800/ yr from your salary for every 10+kmfrom home), at least not without a little more education. Like I said, this was a great job.

But I digress: There are a lot of bad agents out there (ya, I sit with my feet up listeningto my ipod. Screw management, and the visitors from HP. They cant tell me how to domy job. If I want to talk to my friends or get through Citrix and chat on msn, Ill dothat (And this agent had never talked to me before, I just pulled up a seat)). Thereare a lot of good agents (and thank-god for those of you who still give a damn- even ifsome of you give too much). But remember: with the turn over rate of 6-9months onceagain, each of you still set the pace for the future agents. Think of that when you openyour mouths in the pit of venom (and truth) called the smoke pit

So here is the good part. The part where I rant. ILL EVEN USE CAPS so those ofyou scrolling down looking for any sort of interesting tid-bit. Anyone that met me andhas seen my work

1. Knows I make mistakes like all of us, but get back up keep truckin2. Knows I was one of the best damn mentors/agent/workers Stream has ever seen.3. Knows this day is a day where Stream has lost one of its lifeblood4. Knows we are all expendable, and I am, in-fact, probably NOT going to be

replaced. (Last I heard we were still overstaffed in mentors- ouch, hit to the ego)

Why am I leaving? Simply: I have no where to go without giving more time than Streamhas left for me. I applied for management more than 8 times. I was short-listed 6 times.My last interview, I told them this is your last opportunity. I will be one of your bestmanagers, and I WILL NOT APPLY AGAIN. And once again ouch ego. Not tomention T.S., and Trainer (which I did a 3 month back to back stint at training classes)pays over $4,000 less a year than I grossed last year as a mentor/associate trainer. Not alot of incentive to achieve If I became management, until I became upper management,or if I got one of the sales bonuses they get (gee wonder why its pushed by some of themanagers that suck at improving their agents beyond what benefits them(NOTE: it ispossible to hit your goals, AND get RPC AND have a rocking T.S. that cares I know, Ihave worked for a few)), I would NEVER make as much as I made as a mentor: note tothose that want to go from Mentor to Trainer/Management UNTIL THEY CHANGETHE PAY SCALE, be content or use the opportunity to apply outside of Stream (6months should suffice, then leave- dont kid yourself, you are still more thanreplaceable).

Side note: to the Trainers that have stuck it out: everyone give them praise, they are doingthe job at a less pay than they deserve. **INSERT SUPERSTAR AND A STIFF DRINKHERE**

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For those that dont know: PAY REVEALED

When I first applied for Team Manager (hey look, same name that we started out withgo figure) a TM was paid 36,000/yr with an EASILY achievable 6,000 bonus per year.Yes, thats right, 42,000. Now: 30,000. Same job. Dont let them kid you. The whole

Solectron General Manager thing was just a smoke screen. ECE hasnt done much betterfor pay reduction.

The original Trainers were hinted at $40,000/yr. Welcome to 30,000, again.

Mentors were told 12.69 with raises capping somewhere around 17+ - and the raiseswere SUPPOSE to be 5% or so (easily achievable I you were a good agent, back whenStream was Stream). I never got more than 3.1 +- % ever. Im leaving at 14$ after 4.9years of mentorship Now they only give you a pat on the back and something like a+5%, then a lock down for 1 year w/o pay raise (that whole Feb. pay raise scam wherethey know attrition (6-9 months most people will quit, back in the day with 4 month pay

raises, that put them at 11.00+25+25+25 (11.75) after 9 months, not the 10.00 whateverthey pay now) will make it so they never have to give a pay raise, ever.)

Oh ya, and thanks, E.C.E for pulling my funding for schooling outside of Stream AFTERI paid the first $1,600, and working my ass off for the first semester as a GeneralAccountant. Although I barely got through and got 1,200 of that back through Tuitionreimbursement, because of my low pay, there is no way I could ever finish that which Istarted (at least while working here) without the reimbursement that has since beenREMOVED.

And guess what: the sad thing: This is still one of the best paying jobs for the

amount of work you do in all of Chilliwack. Sad. But true. So dont quit till you haveread my

STRATEGY TO SURVIVING AND GETTING A BETTER JOB:Or the things I have observed done right and wrong

1. Take any certification that is being offered.a. I got my A+ - but should have got my MCSE (Buu is making good coin

because he did)2. NETWORK DAMN YOU!

a. Do the math, 1,300 people, and you know a little, and someone else knowsa little, think of how many businesses are never created, but dreamed of.There are another 1,299 people out there trying to get ahead. Post youraspirations, talk to people.

b. You will NEVER (other than anonymous faces on the internet) find anopportunity where you have this many (diverse) people that have abovegrade 12 education that are WANTING something more. Use it. Even ifyou cant right now, get names, numbers, email addresses.

3. Quitting, or moving on:

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a. DO NOT QUIT without having a BETTER job lined up.b. If your aim is to quit/get fired you better have a backup. Otherwise:

i. I will see you at McDonalds in 3 monthsii. I will pay you to pump my gas

iii. I will see you being paid a less wage than me to do more work at

an entry level position at Staples (even if you were the snootySDM (Mark) that wouldnt give me my proper raise)c. Use your vacation to test out your new job.

i. Or request personal time. Dont fly blind, you may end up in aworse position.

d. You may be pissed right now because you didnt get the 25 cent raise youdeserve, but you are REALLY showing them by taking a 3$ pay cut. Ass.

e. Do NOT write a scathing email like this, unless you really really knowyou are NOT coming back. Ever.

i. Even if you do, because of the turnover rate and becausemanagement has a short term memory, in 6 months you can

comeback and make manager in 6 months after that.1. And, yes, you will be hired as a manager before me.f. Yes, taking a picture of your ass and sending it out will get you arrested on

indecent exposure.i. Even I you ass-hair is long enough to knit pants

ii. Try not to let anyone take incriminating pics of you to be laterposted. They will haunt you. Forever.

1. If they are ugly pics, they will haunt us. Forever.g. Or just do this

Irony and Tid-Bits:My Password says it will expire in less than 14 days. HAAHAH for once I have thatstupid fn message beat.

I remember getting my first Stream Hat: back when we werent supposed to wear ourbadges or any Stream flair outside of work (incase we were an embarrassment (the first 6months)) AND you cant wear hats in the building. I could wear it from my car to thefront door of Stream. That was special.

The best was the "Personal Electronic Equipment Policy." Thats right no PEE'ing on thefloor. IT will take your PEE away. You cant even PEE in the bathroom. That wasworthy of about 2 hours of mentor chat we have no lives.

I remember taking someone's badge (she always used to leave it at her desk) and walkingit outside and taping it to the outside of the glass doors by her desk. The irony that sheneeded her badge to get her badge struck me as funny. My TS didnt laugh.

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The more experience I got, the less authority I had. Originally I could give computersaway, 5 years later, I can only sign for $50 under fairly strict guidelines, same position.Odd that.

"the steel joists (in the warehouse in which they leased 72,000 sq. ft.) were deemed too

structurally unsound to handle the weight of the HVAC system specified for this size ofcall center." - And as we feel the airconditioning shudder, we hope it holds together

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I have been asleep for far too long.This job is a matter of habit, no matter if you are an agent, Sr, or management. Once in awhile there are a few uncomfortable shifts of knowledge (where we are actually tested),but within a day or so, everything becomes habit again. I will find it refreshing to bealive/awake again.Here is my timeline:June 13 2001 training class

August 9

th

hit the floorAugust 16th/30th Supposed to be a Mentor in TrainingAugust 30th, MIT position is dissolved full Mentor. And began my snoozeWoke up briefly to get my Stream Equivalent A+Julyish 2004 Was totally disgruntled for some time (since Feb) and slacked because ofmy poor pay raise (compared to my peers); mainly, because I was actually TRYING todo well and was totally screwed over by my TS even with 30+ pages of evidence.Dead asleep.Augustish 2004 Hired as a Point of Contact (Sub System Project Manager) for the E.C.I was actually awake and kicking for about 6-7 months. Crazy amount of work and jobprocess creation. None of us knew what to do so we had to invent the wheel, and did apretty damn good job at it. Kudos to all the POCs that broke the ground on this stuff.Only problem: A LOT of damn work for no extra money. The respect and the coolnesseventually wears off, especially when your schedule is unchangeable and you come to atime when you cant work days. That, and when an Engineer (SJ for those that know him)tries to use you as a scapegoat (Which, I got a Performance Improvement Plan thatvery few people know about I more than surpassed it with the next 2 projects, thenwhen being put back to normal duty opted out. Thus when the option for Mentor cameup, I took it)Augustish 2005 Back to my old roots.October-December 2005 I was training, infecting others with my truth and cynicism.Thanks to all o you that survived that class. And total ego boost to have over 100$ worthof stuff given to me from a class as a Thank You I still plan to use the rock that wassand blasted as computer repair kit.January Present other than a few key projects (crazy complicated schedule creator inexcel), I napped, mentally.

Now its time for the sleeper to awake! (and move to a sleepy little town)

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Honestly, I have never had such a job with so much praise and admiration from my peersand the ones around me. That, and the fact it is the easiest job I have ever had once youget used to the flow of things, has what has kept me. For every negative SOB out there,there is always the few that say good morning every morning, or ask how I am doingdown the hall way, or offering some bit of information to me to make my (and everyone

elses) job easier (sometimes causing my chronic lateness from break).

Remember: if you care too much, if you actually think of the people you talk to as peopleand really feel for them, youre gonna get yourself fired or end up on sick leave (thestress leave that they claim doesnt exist). Care just enough to put on the act. It is sadand pathetic, but customers will like or hate you just the same, and it doesnt wear on youas bad at the end of the day. My wife worked here, and actually cared: it took over 6months of repair to put her back to somewhat normal after the Gestapo stylemanagement techniques used on her by Linda Drummond, then later by a couple tagteaming SDM/Supervisors (from my personal experience, youve gotten better since then,Brian but I still see the child-like glint of evil in your eye most days think ants and a

magnifying glass, and on darker days - yeast and pigeons).

Before you get all stuffy, remember this: if you called about your toaster not working,how much empathy do you expect from the service line when you call. What does itmatter to you, beyond that 15 min call? As soon as you kid talks to you, or your friendcalls and youre off living your real life, how much of a roll does that toaster play? Whattype of freak are you to break down and cry about a piece of electronic equipment???How much do you want to bet that after the water works happen, within 5 min of beingoff the phone, they let out a little sigh, get up and watch T.V., go to a movie, eat anothertwinkie, or just go on with normal life. Do not kid yourself: as much praise or hate theyhave for you for those few minutes, you wont matter in 20 minutes. They wont rememberyour name after one day (no matter how good the kudos), and you are just someonefrom hp, a tech I think within 3 weeks. I KNOW THIS. Even the ones that really reallyhate *you* (usually the ones that cause the problems themselves) only know your firstname, so they really have nothing to know you by. I have taken probably well over 2000supervisor calls in my time. I have taken over 40,000+ mentor calls. Ive made countless74 year old grandmothers cry, and had to steal myself against it, because I had no powerto do anything. But most were not (old) grandmothers, most werethese type of people(32 year old grandmothers??). Admittedly, a low dark smile has curl at the side of mylips when denying service to someone who ahs bashed 3 or 4 agents on their selfrighteous battle to get what they want, when they dont deserve it.

If nothing else, in my essay on call centers, read the last section12:Since Then,Call Center Communication.

Before we begin this supervisor call, let me

confirm your street address and fax you my

picture

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Ok. This is getting too long for even me.

Lets leave it at:Blair had it right: if the devil goes to take my soul he will find a calling card that saysStream Chilliwack.I am proud to have worked for the worlds largest supplier and implementer of Tech-Leashes (headsets).

My wife said she would kill me if I got all sappy, regardless:

1. I will miss almost all of you. I have aged insanely here, and will be taking a lot of goodmemories.2. This job became a major part of my life, as weird, sad, embarrassing, and full ofmoments of pride that might inspire.3. Im scared of my future, but know if I dont take the gamble, I will only becomeembittered and depressed from the lack of (mental and occupational) growth in my life.4. 20 hours at 25$/hr beats 40 hours at 14$/hr if you know how to spend the other 205. May those with good intention prosper, and those without receive a karma-tic kick inthe ass. You know who you are, and payback is a bitch.

Contact: @.comIf you send me an email, ill update you with my msn/contact info.

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1. The Job Posting

Job Description: Liaison.- To document meetings, suggestions, and concerns with a date stamp; (use excel.)- To maintain total confidentiality from agents to any other group, unless agents

want it to be otherwise noted.- To be knowledgeable of all general policies, procedures across all contracts, to

know who should be informed, and to be able to find details or direct employeesto the department which is applicable to resolve.

- A resolve: To research and deliver directions towards a resolve within a shortamount of time. To deliver direction to resolve problems through researching inan efficient manner. Limiting the time spent to1-2days or less.

- Be aware of what changes are occurring in each major group, Upper and Lowermanagement, Quality, Social Committee, Facilities, Cafeteria etc.

- Be Non-judgmental.- To be willing to give suggestions to how things can be changed to improve

morale, and willing to accept when those changes are or are not implemented.- To maintain the goal of increasing communication across all areas in order to

increase morale.- To stop the production of rumors by supplying accurate and up to date

information.- To work for all of Stream, to enable the flow of information to flow both

directions.- To increase better communications throughout the entire system without having a

direct effect or ability to evaluate anyone; unbiased.- To be a living example of a good employee, adhering to all polices and

procedures. (a fair standing with all sections of Stream)

- To be accountable to Site Director, and all forms of management as needed.

This position is not in any way to take the jobs from any section of StreamInternational; it fills a gap in order to make the system run more smoothly. There aremany minor issues that are not, can not, or should not be addressed by any particulardepartment, and therefore go unheeded or they build up to the point where extrememeasures may have to be taken. Although the issue or issues are resolved, theduration of purgatory damages morale. Worse, yet, the final resolve may be almost asbad as the situation.

Even if this position does not create real results immediately, it will let all parties

know that there is something in place to show concern for what is going on. The conceptis simple: damage control.

HRs issue range is not complete or encompassing. And what happens when agents haveproblems with HR themselves? (general, not specific) What of the issues that areseemingly too small for HR to be concerned; or too general?

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Team Supervisors have a difficult time communicating with agents because the agentsknow that Team Supervisors are the ones that evaluate them. Available time is also aconcern.

Quality is focused primarily on the contract, and on TNSI, not necessarily on the agents

workplace concerns.

Upper Management cannot possibly process the volume of minor incidents that thisposition would allow, and it is, understandably, not their job.

Mentors are great technically, but have nothing to do with complaints, or out of contract(Stream) processes.

IT is tool and system based only.

The Employee Assistant Program is out of building support, and deal more with

emotional issues rather than helping the workplace run smoother.

2. Position Better DefinedThroughout my employment here, I have learned a lot about communication. The

same request or command can be given many different ways, but if the receiver does notunderstand the reasons behind, or misinterprets the request, uncertainty, bitterness, anddissatisfaction sets in. That one person who misinterprets can start bringing otheremployees morale down around him or her.

I have seen this many times, and often the situation becomes an us versus them

fight. With the proper perspective it could have, and should have, been a group efforttowards common goals for different reasons.

No wonder why the agents are quitting and leaving, it is not about the money, itsabout the politics and stress.1

Morale and stress may not be a measurable commodity, but it has a direct effect on a callcenter. But, before dismissing it as futile to address because it is not a measurablecommodity, take note that

"The technology, in one sense, is racing ahead of peoples ability to manageit," saidNoah F. Gans, professor of operations and information managementat Wharton. "I dont think anybody really understands what youve got to doin any kind of consistent way."

"What the call centers have been doing up to now is pretty much trial anderror," said Lawrence D. Brown, a Wharton statistics professor who is

1 A Technician in the Cafeteria 02/17/03

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examining call center staffing. "The big expense in a call center is the agentstime, and there are a lot of agents."2

Many of the tools, theories, and practices implemented often cause much work and littlemeasurable pay-off. This is taken note of, and aptly labeled,

The Myth.Every day I get Emails from mainly Europe & the US asking me to validate

information in an ROI document.

ROI stands for Return on Investment, and when the IT department is tasked with

buying new software or hardware for the Call Centre the vendor prepares a

document, which shows how the new equipment will cut cost and make the

investment worthwhile. The time it takes to recoup the investment is essential to get

the ROI.

In general an ROI from a vendor rarely reflects what happens in real life. In fact

its very rare that anyone ever actually audits the ROI and ensures that the

promised savings were actually realized.3

Because it is not easily measurable does not mean it can be easily dismissed. Without

stretching the imagination, one can think of many ways lack of morale and negativestress can directly affect the bottom line:

- Attrition- Stress leave- Sick days- Schedule adherence (late & leaving early)- Extended breaks- Dropping calls- Attitude on the phone / call control- Interaction with other agents- All around attempt at beating the system.

- Using the system to antagonize others (weak or false reports to HR orsupervisors)

Each sick day, late clock-in, or (potentially unnecessary) new class takes a vast amount ofmanagements time away. Where does that time come from? The agents that are adheringto policy, and not, supposedly, needing attention. That is, until it is too late and thoseagents, too, begin to need extended time to make up for lack of attention orcommunication. This viscous circle will be discussed more in section 6.

This position will attempt to alleviate some of the sick days, attrition, and generalstress through many ways, all of which relate to communication. Issues can be brought

forward to the parties that need the information. This will be documented, and the issues

2http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=14&articleid=540&homepage=yes>Streamhttp://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/gans.htmlhttp://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/lbrown.html

3http://www.callcentres.com.au/ROI_&_callcenters.htm#Head

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refined for efficiency in order to have a positive effect on all parties. If the answers arenot easy to come by, because all is documented, the next time a faster resolve or a repeatof the resolve is easily accessible. The answers will be created and available for all toaccess. The employees will not be named unless they desire to be. If there is a serioussituation, it will be quickly directed to the department that needs to know. If there are

many minor issues that relate to a similar situation or problem, then the generalcomplaints can be refined to reveal a specific concern, saving the department the issueconcerns much time trying to see where the true issue is coming from. The Liaison willbe accountable to all parties to keep accurate record of what was brought up, and whatdirection was given. The Liaison, because of the true purpose of the position, should bemanaged by a Team Supervisor, but be able to prove what has been done on a daily basisthrough notation. As stated before, any individual should be able to see the generaldirection of flow for each scenario, but the employees names must be held inconfidentiality. The job itself will be variable, in that it will be redefined as needed inresponse to the call centers needs. All of this will be discussed throughout this essay, andthe reasoning of why this position needs to be created.

To digress: There is much more to be contemplated on this subject, and a greatdeal of that will never be discovered until the position is given some testing time atStream International.

Before dismissing what has thus been presented, whether there has been morepressure on management to become more involved in their agents, or a proactive attemptis already being implemented, please take into account the following essay. It isacknowledged that not all the gaps will be filled, nor all sides be exercised within thisreport, but hopefully it will open a passage to a better understanding of what we need toaddress, and offer the incentive to build a bridge from where we are to where we shouldbe, if it does not support that span on its own.

3. Stress Defined // Stress in Relation to Morale

Before we can discuss the answers, we must take a journey in discussing thegeneral issues at hand. Only with a similar perspective can we find a common agreementor understanding. Some stress is good for an individual. It builds incentive and positivepressure to perform.

Cary Cooper, Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health,, at the University of

Manchester Institute of Science and Technology says:

" We must understand the difference between work pressure and stress.

Pressure is stimulating, it motivates people, but stress is bad for both the health and well-

being of the employee and employer. The reason we are seeing more stress in the

workplace is primarily because the nature of work is changing.4

4http://www.ccma.org.uk/Articles/safety.htm

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And, with the change of work comes the need for all workers, on every level, to be ableto communicate what those changes are and how they are affecting them. If the ability tocommunicate is not there, or, a more difficult issue to address, not perceived to be there,stress is created.

Studies have shown that stress arise when we have a difference between demands and

available cognitive resource

In McGraths model for stress emphasis specially the meaning of the cognitive perspective

[Number 2 of 4 is Interpretation]. With that means how the person self perceives the

objective demands and how the person precipitate, estimate, judge and think according to

these experienced demands, and how the person experiences his own ability to overcome the

demands.5

Doug Helvig, from the Cohen Brown Mgt Group, explicates on stress factors in a call

center and how to approach them when he says,

The first step in gaining control is and identifying what the stressors are and understanding

the causes and effects. Stress is caused by many things. Time pressures, high expectations,

lack of communication, high call volume, inexperience, ill-prepared, to name a few.6

It is my opinion that the majority of call center stress is created through lack ofcommunication, to be later discussed in section 5. Furthermore, morale is not theopposite, nor does it dissipate stress caused from lack of communication, but, as McGrathobserves, perspective plays a key role in how one approaches day to day stresssituations. It is not a far reach to say that an aura of high morale would be an excellenttemporary alleviation of stress because it alters ones perspective, but if the stress does notgo away, it is morale that will suffer. A high morale is a great buffer to stress, but in no

way a cure.

It is also known that a high morale, specifically a good attitude, can increase yourimmunity not only to stress, but to sickness. It is then possible to predict that a highlynegatively stressed situation, which is not perceived by the workers to be addresseddirectly by any department, can lead to physical illness. This will have a measurableimpact on any work place.

4. Stress and Sickness

In the Spring of 2002, we surveyed 2495 call center representatives in twelve workplaces. A total of

784 surveys were returned, an overall response rate of 31%. Key findings include:

5http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:RS1_jRdlkyYC:www.nada.kth.se/~tessy/NormanK.pdf+call+center+stress&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

6http://www.callcenterops.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=491

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On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest, one third (32 percent) report their stress level at

ten. The overall average is 7.9.

One third (30 percent) report that stress often affects them physically and emotionally.

Forty percent report that stress often or regularly affects their work performance.

One third (31 percent) report missing some work days due to stress, with a median of five days per

year.7

I am sure that every manager on any of Streams contracts is painfully aware ofthe amount of sick days, and how ironically those sick days increase as the queue getshigher, ILOA or not. This is when the agents are needed to be the most efficient, andwhen the small discrepancies, long breaks, unauthorized idle codes, and even generalattitude directly has an affect on both quantity and quality of calls. Pressure, and yes,stress levels, increase greatly. The stress from the increased queue cannot be addressed,so we must focus on what can.

If stress in the workplace (i.e. the call center) is not on the agenda the results of stress arerevealed through higher absenteeism than other parts of the company, higher Worker's

Compensation claims and ultimately in reduced customer satisfaction.

This Operations Topic focuses on various approaches to managing stress. Raising the pay

isn't necessarily the solution.8

Agents, when under pressure begin to shudder under smaller specific issues.These can be anything from a dirty working space, annoyance at perceived inadequatetools, or even a misinterpreted response from another individual (especially a supervisor technical or otherwise). It is also, frustratingly, a time that managers really cannotafford to pull the agent aside to discuss each of these issues. It seems their primary

objective is to control the queue to the best of their ability, and financially it makes sense.This is another gripe of agents who feel they do not get the personal attention when theyneed it the most, and knowing (and sometimes seeing) that the queue is a financialconcern of their supervisors only feeds to the disgruntlement. This can seem to, andsometimes does, last for days. At the same time, managers under these conditions feelunderstaffed and unable to address the peculiarities of their agents without putting in a 60plus hour workweek. Possibly with a reorganization of the way agent issues areaddressed, the agents can perceive the concern to be addressed, and the managers can getthe information they need when they have more ample time to deal with it.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the HSE Whitehall 2 study,, says of occupational

stress in general that; "Poor work design is a major, preventable, cause of mental andphysical illness.

7http://www.uwua.org/callcenter.htm

8http://www.callcenterops.com/topic-stress.htm

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There is likely to be a virtuous circle: management practices that are good for the health of

employees are likely to be good for their productivity. Good management is therefore in the

interest of both the organization and its workers. A healthy organization, like a healthy

society, is likely to be productive and prosperous".9

5. Stress and Communication

The simple solution would be to have supervisors pay more attention to theiragents, or possibly have the agents wait with their concerns until a more apt time.Supervisors must balance the business needs with the agents personal ones, and theagents can quickly draw conclusions that the business ones come first until somethingdrastic (or a trip to HR) occurs. If someone was to take their requested information, andconcentrate it and simplify it (if not resolve it on the spot) to be produced for thesupervisor at a later time, the agent can physically see that an immediate interest is beingtaken in them, even when it isnt a dire emergency.

According to a TUC poll called "Work smarter and end burnout", which was carried out in

September this year, one cause of stress and long hours can be bad management.

The poll suggests that more than six million workers have bosses that dont know how to get

the best out of them. More than five and a half million have bosses who are so overworked

they do not really have the time to manage the work of their staff properly. The General

Secretary of the TUC, John Monks, said: "The challenge is to tackle the long hours culture

and the dangers of burn out Britain through sensible regulation, better management and

partnership at work."10

The Liaison would not have the powers as a Team Supervisor, but even just theattempt to show the worker in need that Stream is willing to supply someone willing tolisten and act quickly may open up communication between Management and workers

(or even lower and upper management), especially when the Liaison makes sure that theyare supplied by Stream to be in collaboration and co-operation with all sections. Not onlywould the Liaison help realize the agents communication by better defining what the realneeds are to their supervisors, but the Liaison can also express exactly why things aredone the way they are in a perspective that is neutral or beneficial to the agents. TheLiaison has no specific concerns of quality, or quantity of production. The most vitalthing is that the Liaisons perspective and goal is never deterred from: to bring togethermanagement and the tech (or even lower and upper management) through opencommunication and directing the individuals concerned to the correct department(knowing when to not take ownership of an issue that a department has precedence).Communication is vitally important to be created only under the pretence that it is to

bring all parties together as Stream employees, and show each individual the positivecontribution they can have in Stream. If not, the job would be self-defeating:

In Coopers model for occupational stress, 5 of 5 is the structure of the organization and the

climate in the model are connected to phenomena like the degree of engagement in the work,



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replace. Annual turnover rates vary widely but are generally between 25% and 45%, Wilk

said. In fact, labor can account for 60-70% of the call center budget.14

I am not positive on how training directly affects Stream, for I am sure that thecontract pays for at least some of the training, but the fact is that unskilled, or new techs,make countless errors as they learn the skills required of them. In my contract, as amentor, and as an individual who has done countless call coachings and even taken manyescalations in relation to an agents mistakes, I can honestly say that the amount ofwasted time over the smallest mistakes is incredible. I can only imagine the time Teamsupervisors must spend bringing them up to speed, They are responsible for managingpeople - lots of people. High turnover rates make managing people even more

difficult,15and Upper management on giving special programs to cater to specific A-Bay requiring agents.

Kevin Hegebarth, director of strategic planning with Witness, believes that the more

successfully a center retains agents, the less need it has to train agents how to handle

calls. "The agents who stay tend to be more skilled anyway," he says.

In centers with greater turnover among agents, managers have less reason to assume new

hires know how to communicate effectively by phone. So managers at these centers first have

to train agents on fundamentals before imparting information specific to the center's

company or industry.16

As our last Site Director, Anthony Williams, told us, the pyramid isupside down, the agents are on top. They are the breadwinners, and we are thesupport. Many call centers agree,

By defining the purpose of the Call Centre and then look at how to achieve such

outcomes, it became quiet clear that Quality of the call and well-trained CSRs was

the basic building block to achieving the overall purpose of the Centre.

17

With what resources are given, it may be difficult to maintain those quality agents,though. How much should Stream sacrifice to maintain those quality agents? This willbe discussed in section 8. It is more important, at this time, to realize exactly howincredibly important seasoned techs are to us:

Outsourcing offshore can save 5% to 8% in Canada, and 10% in Mexico for Spanish-

speaking Americans, compared with domestic outsourcing. The percentages jump to an eye-

popping 20% to 40% when outsourcing to India, the Philippines and South Africa.

14http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=14&articleid=540&homepage=yes>Stream

15http://special.northernlight.com/crm/bow.htm

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17http://www.callcentres.com.au/ROI_&_callcenters.htm#Head

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The higher offshore savings stem from lower wages and reduced turnover. That translates to

less hiring, staffing and training expenses, plus fewer productivity lags as new agents are

brought up to speed.

According to Geri Gantman, a senior partner at Oetting and Company (New York, NY),

annual turnover rates are just 5% to 10% in India and the Philippines compared with 50%

to 100% in US outsourced call centers.

But analysts and consultants say that many outsourcers, especially in India, lack the

customer service, sales, business and IT skills to manage bureaus, especially for quality-

demanding US clients. Consequently, Data monitor's Huff predicts there will be a shakeout

of the Indian outsourcing market, which he estimates has 6,000 to 8,000 seats.

"There is an oversupply of especially the lower-end seats," he reports. "The companies that

will exit the market are those that don't have the expertise to deliver the service that clients

expect." 18

The fact that it is estimated that offshore competition will fail is not enough. We

must prove to our clients that we are incredibly more skilled and make almost nomistakes. We cannot do that if we have multiple training classes, and more importantly,unnecessary training classes caused by attrition and stress leave. Yes, Stream India is agreat new addition, but just like we were partial cause for some of the U.S. call centershut downs, we, ourselves, will be shut down and down sized if we cannot completelydominate the market in quality and customer service. This is nearly impossible to dowithout a majority of seasoned techs. The more technical the contract, the more we muststress this. We must offer seasoned techs more incentive to stay with us, and I do NOTmean financially. We must make this an incredibly attentive place to work: attentive totheir needs. Once again, this will be discussed in section 8. If we can maintain theseasoned techs, while keeping them actively involved and alert to Streams needs, we canmaintain the quality needed.

These results indicate that companies can expect their fortunes to rise and fall based on the

quality of customer interactions," said David Puglia, Aspect's senior vice president of global

marketing19

7. Importance of Communicating With Skilled Labour Different But

Common Goals

In section 6, we briefly discussed the concept of a ruined agent. Often when anagent has lost perspective for a period of time, it is near impossible to bring them backinto the proper frame of mind. This can apply to individuals, or even as groups. If there isa lack of communication for long enough, agents will only take what they absolutelyneed to do their job, and give only back the bare minimum:


19http://www.commweb.com/article/COM20021009S0003

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There also are examples of how the call centers Big Brother system can backfire. Data from

a foreign bank showed that some agents habitually hung up on customers right after

answering their calls, Brown said. These agents apparently realized they were rated on the

number of calls they answered, not the quality of service they gave. The big American bank,

in contrast, prohibits the agent from hanging up first.20

Because of the repetition of the job, and the feeling that stats are more important thancustomer service, agents will try to play the system. Agents will succeed, because theycan receive great scores, but still not actually care about what they are doing or why.There is no directional goal. It is similar to the old adage, An I.Q. test does not tell youhow smart you are. It only determines how good you are at writing an I.Q. test.

Although it would seem that it would be a waste of time to spend any time on atech with perfect stats, we must consider the immeasurable again. If an agent does notcare about the call, chances are this will soon be a reflection of how he or she feels aboutthe company they work for. I would like to think I made a personal connection to every

customer I talked to. Some I know I did, even within that 17-20 minutes on the phone.This has carried over to the way I treat the agents, even when the call time is down to 30seconds to 5 minutes. This all relates to a common goal. The customers goal was to getwhatever issue fixed. My goal was to make them happy, because I knew that sometimes Icouldnt do what they asked of me, whether because of lack of resources, an issue beyondmy scope of support, or just an issue that I knew could not be fixed first call. The key wasthat we had different, but common goals. The resolve was relatively closely related, andthrough absolute honesty, I gave them the security and confidence in the company Iworked for. This is directly related to the common goals of Stream and its employees.Everyone works for a slightly different reason. It would be near impossible to list all ofthe minor goals both Steam and each tech has, but it would be possible to help each tech

that needed a goal to find one. This concept has been explored by many TeamSupervisors and agents, but it is actually a little more complex than where do you wantto climb in Stream? It will be discussed more thoroughly in section 8.

The most important thing we must take from this section is that the agents need toknow what Streams goals are and what their goals are and how they can lead to acommon direction with complete honesty. Some of this may involve telling theSupervisor or Technician why things are they way they are, with an educated and wellthought-out answer.

For call center managers and executives, the scandals provide one more lesson in the value ofhonesty, integrity and transparency - at all times. Yes, be forthright with customers when thingsare going well, but also when they're not.

Is your call center woefully understaffed, under-trained or ill equipped? Make the necessaryinvestments in people, processes and technology. But until you do, don't misrepresent yourcapabilities. And be proactive about communicating to customers operations in need ofimprovement.21



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Have you communicated what it means to work in a call centre to your frontline staff?22

8. How to Potentially Maintain Skilled Labour Without Added Expense

We think money (base compensation, bonuses etc.) is near the top or at the top of what

motivates agents. Look at your personal list? Where did you rank money? Generally, the

primary motivator for agents is not money. We behave as though it is because we design

programs that reward in cash but it is not the base motivator. The primary motivator for

agents is to make a valuable and appreciable contribution to the success of the company.

How do we know? Research conducted by the National Opinion Research Center has

validated this very fact. It is common for us to have a personal set of motivators yet when

asked to list what motivates others, we assume that it is a very different set of motivators at

work for other people than for ourselves.

Understanding this gap in motivator perception is critical to successful call center

operations. It is highly probable that you may attempt to motivate staff using the wrong set

of priorities.23

As an agent, you can have many goals (or motivations). The first that I rememberis getting the shift I wanted. The next was to build my communication skills, and find ajob that I could use them at. Surprisingly I had to contemplate getting off the phoneswhen I became a mentor. It, for me, was one of the easiest jobs I had ever done. It wasalso one of the more relaxing ones. I knew how to find almost all the answers, and phoneskills were easy for me. This will in no way reflect what other agents are thinking. Manyof us have heard them quote, to get off the phones, as an answer to what their goals are.This is a problem in itself:

Career advancement at call centers is not as good as in many other industries, she adds,

though some entry-level agents gradually get the training and experience and move up tobetter-paying jobs. The typical agent-to-supervisor ratio is 15-to-one, according to

CallCentermagazine. That means there are a lot of candidates for a small number of

supervisory positions; in many industries, the ratio is half of that.

A recent poll by Callcentercareers.com, an online job site, found the leading cause of

dissatisfaction among call center workers was lack of promotional opportunity, cited by

26.4% of those polled. Next was "being unfairly paid for the work they perform," cited by

24.2%. After that came complaints about feeling unrecognized, being bored and feeling

inadequately trained.24

When Stream first opened, the rate of growth was incredible. The chances of

advancement were very high. This has now tapered off, and I believe attrition is mostly

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within the ranks of agents, not Supervisors and department staff. We have started toimplement Temporary positions to give agents a chance to get off the phones, andgain experience:

training and "mini-trainings" for the call centre agents, and a monitoring and coaching

process. CSRs who performed well became peer coaches and all coaches were trained and

calibrated to ensure consistency in their evaluation.

Going above and beyond the call of duty.

A CSRs supervisor notes contributions in the last category, says Roe Tabasco, manager of

quality assurance and training for IBC. For example, a CSR may have helped train others

within the unit, handled special projects with timeliness and accuracy, worked overtime,

received complimentary letters from members, made suggestions for improving work

operations or simply may have been an enthusiastic, motivated co-worker.25

This does relieve some of the itch to climb, but it is only temporary. Another problem is

that many view it negatively as all the work and none of the pay. If the tech wasbeginning to wane in production and quality, you can bet that it will only be worse whenbeing sent back to the phones. I will not go into the psychological ramifications andreasoning, but the general concept is that unless an agent is given a specific time frame,such as you will be a temporary Team Supervisor, Team Supervisor Assistant, orMentor for exactly 2 months, and then another needs to be given an opportunity, theagent may become disillusioned. When doing special projects, the agent needs to havespecific deadlines and start end dates for closure reasons. Otherwise, I am sure we willstart seeing that it will negatively affect morale. This relates to a perceived versus actualsituation, and the stress caused by the discrepancy between the two.

This temporary goal is good for some of the agents. Depending on how it ispresented, more agents may desire it than should. They may only want the position toget off the phones, like many of the roaming one-ups (stand in or guest mentors) wehave had in the past. This is a very bad perspective to propagate. Relating to section 6,our best agents need to want to be on the phones. This is especially important for welearned in this section that the job progression is just not available for everyone. We mustbe honest with this fact, because the agents already know this. We must re-direct theirenergies, and give them a reason to like their job. It will be the Liaisons job to createthese reasons, and help management implement them. A few general ideas involveadvertising that which is already available.

"Money is one incentive, but there are many more," observes Anne Nickerson. "I also seeincentives that are fun, that help improve morale

make sure theres lots of communication and publicity to keep interest high.

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Examine the process and root out barriers that may get in the way of agents doing their

jobs.26

The use of Stream University is an excellent resource. There may need to be somespecial incentive or consideration for those who have been here longer, such as lettingtheir shift flex to meet the class rather than waiting for a class that matches their shift.The rational can be that with more incentive to work at Stream, their will be fewer sickdays, less absenteeism, leading to fewer queues, which makes it possible to flex shifts alittle; also, the use of part time staff to make up for the moved schedules. Possibly even10 hour shifts for the agents doing the Stream University courses with the day off for theclass. These may not be feasible at all times, but the cost of losing the agent should bemore of a concern than a scheduling issue.

The promotion of out of Stream education. I did some studying, and found thatany course that is Stream applicable in ones progression, is allowable. This includesbusiness courses (pre authorized by T.S. and H.R. of course). There should be a study ofwhat the breadth is of what one can take and request reimbursement. Many of our techs,

outside of work, are non-technical. The bonus to Stream: one of the stipulations to takingcourses is that you do not end your employment with us for 6 months after the course oryou will have to reimburse the monies spent. That, I believe, is an incredible incentive. IfStream was to back the agent as well, making the agents schedule more amiable inrelation to the course, it would only look better for the agent and Stream relationship. Wemust take into consideration the employee must have at least a B average to bereimbursed and can only take 2 full time courses a semester. If an agent gets enougheducation that they now want to move on to full time studies, chances are they wouldhave been here for at least 1 1/2 years (6 months to be applicable for refund, 6 months ofwork before being able to quit without having to pay Stream back, plus the length ofcourses) and if the employee wants the first 2 semesters of courses? At 2 courses a

semester, including summer courses, it would take 1 2/3 years to obtain the 10- coursesfor equivalent of 1st year. Getting a person to invest in an institution will make them lesslikely to deviate. It is the one of the main principals of sociology and criminology.Deviation in this case is quality of calls, and desire to cheat the system.

9. Liaison in Action

But there is some hope for these workers, she added. "Firms are starting to realize that

sometimes your only contact as a customer is through these people." These call center

operators understand that creating a good workplace can pay off in good customer

relations.27

I have been here since before Stream Chilliwack existed. I was hired for the firstclass. The statement above was given to us many times by Mark Depuis, Anthony

26http://www.ccma.org.uk/Articles/incentives.htm


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Williams, and reiterated by all forms of management. Its easy to remember, because it istrue. I have been here to see, and even study, Stream Chilliwacks evolution. Much ofthis information we have gone over throughout this essay may already be known, butnow is the time to use it. If the logistics of creating this position is difficult to understand,I can explain it. If it is not viable, I can understand. I admit, I do not have all the answers.

Even as a mentor, I do not have all the answers, but the more time I spent as a mentor thebetter I became. The same goes for any position with any agent. That is why I feel if thiswas even a temporary position to give Stream Chilliwack a kick-start, the informationproduced for all levels of management and agents, and even the specialized sections suchas facilities, IT and HR could all benefit. The broadest purpose is to create acommunication bridge to span over all sections of Stream, with the intention to revitalizean interest in Stream as a positive institution. We are not the first to desire this, but wemay become the best at implementing a next to no-cost catalyst that will greatly increasemorale, and, most importantly, alleviate a large amount of unnecessary negative stress forour employees. As a final note, if the position of Liaison is not possible, I hope that allthe information in this essay will be considered. The communication problem does exist,

and if we disregard the solution of Liaison, please let us not forget to recognize thereason why the position is being suggested.

The Challenge:

HRDC recognized that they had a need for receiving critical operational statistics about

their centers in real-time. They were not getting the critical information they needed as

quickly as possible to determine what actions were needed to handle problems that arose as

well as keep their centers running efficiently28

This document was created on my own time at home.

A special thanks to all the Team Supervisors, Agents and family

that supported me in the creation of this, without your input, this

would not be half of what it is.

If any further study is required or desired by management on any

specific issue in regards to this, please send all formal requests to

@.com

March 7-10th, 2003.

SrSSR, 3120HPP

10. Dialogue

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Wow! It looks like you have put a great deal of effort into thisessay. You made several points in there are all too true in reference toStream Chilliwack. I have some questions thought.

Thanks, the reason I wrote this was to start discussion towards

a resolve, any resolve.

First you never really defined where the really gap in communicationwas that the Liaison would fill. You stated that there was a gap inabstract terms and suggested that it needed to be filled but neverwhere the gap was and where the bridge would go

Team supervisors sometimes work in excess 60 hours aweek, completing the bare minimum of their jobrequirements. Some of the reasons are the high attrition

rate, and the extra work caused by this (and ILOAs). Theyare responsible for managing people - lots of people. High turnover rates make

managing people even more difficult, - page 9. Other reasons are thatpart time agents are counted as a point where fullagents are 1 point. Some Team Supervisors have beenassigned many people to add up to the same points.Anthony Williams counted warm bodies, not points. Thisis not a bad or good thing, just different, but we mayneed to make up for the physical difficulties of keepingup to 40 part time agents as opposed to 20 full time(hypothetical and exaggerated difference). The new

system implemented leaves some managers with no timeto spend with each individual. This means the bigthings pay, days off, etc. can be addressed, but often,the little things cannot. Little things can be as simpleas going over protocol with a new agent or giving aseasoned tech insight on whom to contact to askquestions about being an associate trainer and what itinvolves. We know the seemingly simple answers, theagents do not. The reason we are seeing more stress in the workplaceis primarily because the nature of work is changing.29 (page 5) Theagents face may be buried in the phone, making them

unable to get the info for themselves. A more basicexample is the AIO switch. Agents were misinformed, andunder informed. The GMs wondered why agents werentswitching over, and decided to volunteer agents ifpeople wouldnt. This kills morale. One thing that has not beenclarified is if the ones that volunteer before management re-assigningthem may have lost their seniority. If the agents are doing this to help


24


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Stream, why should they suffer a loss of seniority? this type of

question can be discussed by the Liaison at some later point. All theyhad to do was advertise what they needed, showing theagents that there will be a growth in AIO, thus puttingthem higher in contract seniority. Also, many people

dont know, but I believe AIO had some 10 hour shiftsbeing experimented with, 4 day weeks. This might be anincentive too, if possible to do. (I asked 3 seasoned hpagents and mentioned hypothetically that if 10 hoursshifts were available would that be an incentive, all 3would have gone for that) "Money is one incentive, but there aremany more," observes Anne Nickerson. "I also see incentives that are fun,

that help improve morale

make sure theres lots of communication and publicity to keep interest high.

(page 14)

Second you suggested that the Liaison would be "like" a TS but "wouldnot have the powers as a Team Supervisor". What would be the point ofhaving some that is like a TS but does not have their powers.

- Same idea as acting TS or Roamer supplying theinformation and attention, but maybe not all theresources. The position is not to manipulate any state, itis only to inform. To increase better communications throughout the entiresystem without having a direct effect or ability to evaluate anyone; unbiased. Page1.

Thirdly you talked about the perspective of the work place on theagents. You also mentioned that once an agent had reached a point ofneglect that it would be very difficult to correct. I ask then what theLiaison would be able to do in these cases?

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The Liaison could then redirect perspective by introducing newinformation. A recent poll by Callcentercareers.com, an online job site, foundthe leading cause of dissatisfaction among call center workers was lack of

promotional opportunity, cited by 26.4% of those polled. In this example, theagent may see this as a dead end job. What if the agent was

paid by Stream to do something that they may be moreinclined to (maybe get business courses completed so thatthey can use them anywhere, or communication courses if theywant to head towards Human Resources that can also be usedin other jobs). Now, they dont need to apply for only T.S. ormentor, they are working towards an actual degree.Something they can use outside of Stream if need be, makingthem feel they are still progressing. This is especially important for welearned in this section that the job progression is just not available for everyone. We mustbe honest with this fact, because the agents already know this (page 13)

Would it not, based on your essay, be better to adjust the processes toprevent these "lost" agents from growing in number since the onesthat are already lost would require an unreasonable amount of effort toreclaim?

By showing the new agents that Stream cares and wants themto succeed in any endeavor, the seasoned agents that arenegative will be eventually (hopefully) raised by the new inputof good morale. Managers who are serious about reducing attrition must learnto value and empower agents as much as they do other employees, and invest in reps

accordingly (Page 8.) We must make an attempt to reclaim the

lost agents, but if they do not want to work, and totally giveup on being empowered, now that it would be available (ortaken note of, it has always been available), it must berealized that communication is a two way street. They canscrape by, but most will either start trying again, or quit. It is asad loss, but better that than poor quality that never willchange.

Fourth you suggested that the Liaison would be able to act quickly.How? If they are like a TS and have no power then all they would beable to do is talk to people and send emails.

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When was the last time you saw a T.S. or H.R. or an Intradaystaff member say hi to an agent in general, and ask howthey are doing, or why they look tired? That interest is beinglost. That can be altered, but enforced happiness or morale isnot possible. Specifically, a T.S. has a lot on their platter, so

would this position, but the fact that this is all the positiondoes would make it a faster resolve time because ofspecialization. If part of the job description says 2 days orless you know that the deadlines would be vital to theposition. Also, it would be part of the job to do daily follow-upsand keep record to make sure things get done It is thispersons sole purpose.I have been sending emails for 8 months trying to get my back pay fortraining. How would a Liaison have helped me in this case? I talked toHR, to my TS, GM, SDM, and Training Manager.

The Liaison would not actually do the paper work for the back pay. It is notthe Liaisons job, but the Liaison would let you know and follow up for you.Notes would be taken from each department on what needs to be done tocomplete the process. Do you know why it is taking so long? If not, theLiaison can give you that information, and give an estimated date ofcompletion. When a manager, or HR or TS promises something, it will benoted and they will be held accountable. If they cannot give a resolution, atleast you can be given a specific reason why and a potential completion date.This will keep you doing your job, and able to be kept informed withouthaving to run around during work, or on your own time, seeking somethingthat is owed to you (As long as it is owed to you).

You also mentioned that scheduling should come second to keepingagents. That would be like the owner of a corner store not being openafter 5 because his closing employee wants to work the 9-5 shift. TheSchedule is what keeps us open. Without agents here when they aresupposed to be then we will lose jobs and close. Every agent thatstarts at Stream is told this. When I train classes I tell all my agentsthat this job is controlled by the schedule.

Your concern in an EXTREME case is valid. Not every agent will be going

for extra schooling. In fact, in order to maintain a B average in Universitylevel courses, one must show some form of dedication. When we firstopened, agents really made the coverage.

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For example, when you have 22 agents (first class) and one goes sick ormissing, or does not adhere to his or her shift, that is a big problem. Whenyou have 160 agents or more, schedules have a little more leeway. Usingpart time agents to fill in the gaps and letting their shift flex (page 14) with otheragents, it may be possible to allow the seasoned agent to go to night or daycourses in University. Seasoned techs will generally have a more favorableshift anyhow, being higher in seniority, so some people in lower senioritymay want to change for those 1-2 days a week they need to go to school.Example: seasoned tech has a 10am-7pm shift, Mondaythrough Friday. The class is from 6-10pm Wednesday and Friday. A newtech has a 5am-2pm Wednesday to Sunday. For those 2 days, the personwho might hate morning shift but must work them because of seniority cantrade on a temporary basis (courses are usually 3-4 months). There arealways ways. If it is not possible, it isnt possible, but I have never heard of

anything being investigated thus far in regards to an organized effort tosupport education for full time technicians. If there has, I have not beeninformed, which means it should have been communicated, and Streamshould be boasting of this fact, giving agents hope that they, too, can beinvolved. This fact can be boasted by the Liaison as well, especially if theLiaison has seen related concerns that could be addressed by doing sobrought up in the past.

To offer a suggestion, lets make Stream U more flexible although it isfairly accommodating. It makes more sense, adjust the bonus to fit

business as opposed to adjusting business to fit the bonuses.

That is a possibility. One problem is organizing agents rather than justthrowing the classes at random times. Also, with flex shift, many agents willbe late if the class is anywhere near their end time. This may be relieved bypolling agents interested in & qualify for specific classes as to when they areavailable. Also, shift bids between or during training can really throw agentsfor a tailspin. If that occurs, where Stream U schedule has been modified, itmay leave some agents high and dry.

There are a lot of good points in this essay. I think that ithowever does not prove the need for Liaison. What it most certainlyproves is the need to have more TS that can take the time to be theagents Liaison as the system is designed now.

More than five and a half million have bosses who are so overworked they do

not really have the time to manage the work of their staff properly. The

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General Secretary of the TUC, John Monks, said: "The challenge is to tackle

the long hours culture and the dangers of burn out Britain through sensible

regulation, better management and partnership at work."30 page 7.

Agreed, if it were possible to hire more Team supervisors. Until that can

be done, though, because of the barrier that has started to be createdfrom minor neglect and misunderstanding, agents just want to work

and go home. Managers will have a long hard haul to swing that

around because the agents view it as partially their problem. We talk of

family, the Team Supervisors watching over the agents. What happens

when communication breaks down in a family situation? Often, one

needs to bring in a third party to kick-start or mediate till that

relationship can be rebuilt. The counselor, who really does nothing

more than listen, is the Liaison. The counselor may not be always

needed, but it will speed up the process.

The issue with communication is that here in Stream Chilliwack we arestretched too far apart, and so we cannot communicate. If we were toadd two TS to the Pavilion floor we would be much closer to what youwould have the Liaison do as well as improving quality and attendanceand Stats.

We cannot afford more Team Supervisors. If we could, there would be

more of them. Also, as I stated above, a good T.S. could help some (that

is, one that can keep up to all the demands and still have a positiveimpact on agents and maybe create a pocket of time for the other team

supervisors by taking some of the workload for all Team Supervisors),

but agents will still have a difficult time approaching someone who

marks them in regards to minor gripes because they dont want to be

felt thought of as a complainer. I personally know at least 2-3 agents

that have this feeling, and who have a difficult time accepting it when I

request they talk to their Team Supervisor or HR. I believe the Liaison

would be more successful with those agents because they know that the

Liaison has no effect on them, as well as no second agenda (metrics).

Team Supervisors are supposed to be, and are mostly, unbiased on all

their responses, but the PERCEPTION is the barrier that needs to be

brought down. Note: this will only work if the Liaison is positive about

the Team Supervisors abilities.


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Adding one person to help communication is not the answer to thesolution it is simply another patch on a system that is being pulledapart.

I dont see this as a patch, more as a band-aid or a stitch.

Throughout the essay, I believe I brought to light a potentialdownward spiral that we have already begun on. There isnegativity on the floor, and although I try my part to keep itfrom growing, it is way beyond my means as a mentor. As anindividual, I try to direct people the correct places, but manyminor issues are never brought up until it is too late becausemany agents do not know where to go with their problems.Eventually, hopefully, this barrier will dissipate. I do agreewith you in regards to the structure already in place can keepthis place going with a little more work. Although, a big part ofthat is to get Team Supervisors and all forms of management

and mentors and services at Stream Chilliwack to worktogether. We cannot have meetings all the time to do this, it isphysically, and just as importantly, financially unviable. TheLiaison could be a portable meeting, addressing the littlethings that it wouldnt make sense to have meetings about.

Again, I am not attacking your ideas I am asking some questions anddrawing some of my own conclusions and would like to have your feedback to them.

Thank-you again, I believe you gave me a lot to think about,

and brought out more of where the Liaisons boundaries lie.The fact that you contemplated this in order to question it isexactly what I hoped would happen. It means that there is adesire to communicate with positive discussion. Hopefully thisanswered other peoples questions as well.

G. T.HP 2nd Tier SupportStream Int.x3012

SrSSR

3120

HPP

SICC

11. Post Meeting Thoughts

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After a meeting with Michael Robinson (site director) and Charles Kilpatrick (CBOSDM), it is realized that the upper management is trying to address much of this, butrecognizes that they have to be careful not to offer any broken promises; cautious stepsforward. This speaks highly of their desire to gain the trust of all Stream Employees andbuild integrity on all levels They are proactively investigating and always looking to

implement new ideas.If the Team Supervisors need more support and help, they need to organize and requestthis. Possibly Stream Chilliwack must commit to a better implementation of the systemwe have now. If this is not the case, we must show why it is failing; possibly get thetechnicians opinions on this matter, as well as get some hard evidence of understaffingor a need for a better system of management. It is noted that this may not be the case forevery contract.

New ideas to lessen the stress of change need to be polled from the floor and addressed atthe Team Supervisor level. If the Team Supervisors do not have the resources to do so,

they should delegate as needed, with the permission/ work with the General Managers.

As long as any sort of communication is given to the floor that changes are in the works,it will give a lull point in morale to implement and test the new projects. The mostimportant thing is to show the agents that their concerns will be, and have already begunto be, recognized.

I greatly appreciate the time given to me, and hope that we do see some change. I await tosee what can be done, and I am anxious to be a part of it. These issues are only beginningto emerge as important and common issues, and have been recognized as such. Much wasdiscussed, but how much will be implemented is yet to be seen. There was a positiveinterest in all that was communicated. From my understanding, it is only a matter a timeto see a positive change. We should not wait for them to solve all our issues, but, wemust all work together to try to offer solutions instead of complaining of the problems.We all must be ready and eager to contribute and be open to increase communication sothat the goals of all tiers of Stream Chilliwack Employees can be strived for.

If there is a problem with the way things are, do not just complain, but offer a potentialsolution as well. If you have questions of why we are doing something a certain way, ask,and keep asking, until you get an answer. Use the appropriate question path (TeamSupervisor for Agents -who will direct to the appropriate group or give the answersthemselves, GMs for Team Supervisors, SDMs for GMs etc.), give that path anappropriate amount of time for an answer, and if you get no results, turn to another onthat tier, get a definite time of response, and climb the next tier if there is no answers atall. Do NOT do this heedlessly. People are human, and things do take time. It may take afew days to resolve or get an Estimated Time of Arrival for an answer, but all the answersare out there. For your own reference, keep track of when you asked, whom you asked,and what the response was. If there is a break down of communication, we can then learnwhere it is, and work together to fix it. Until there is a new path for communication, orthis one is proven to break down, this is the best (and should be the only) path for all

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parties. Stream is open to new ideas on how to communicate better, but if the one wehave is failing, we need to find out where and see if it can be made to work. If it cannotbe made to work, what good is it to create a new system when we dont know why theold system failed? April 18th 2003.

SrSSR3120SICC

12. Since Then

Part of the reason I wrote this monster was because I witnessed the dismantling ofStream Silver City. I experienced from a few of the mentors the day to day systematictear down of the jobs they depended on. I witnessed the evils of contract swapping downto lower pay to hold on to a job, then realizing that they were shut down anyhow and thatthose that took EI before were making more in the end. I also knew that the union was

close to getting in this building, and that Stream would pull out if that happened. That iswhy I was okay with Section 11, although it was a lot of management propaganda that Iwas supporting. I was supporting in that hopes something would be changed; and it was,for a brief time we had town hall talks with the site director and honestly, things havegotten faster to resolve on the management issues. Faster is a relative term.

In retrospect, what I really gleaned from the meeting, although there was muchtruth in how it should be in Section 11, was that If the agents want to move on, thenthat is O.K.. We expect agents to move on (Mike Robinson).

The concept of Stream having a conscious or acting as an entity is as likely as

HP agents actually working for HP. What I have witnessed is that there has been a littlemore time attention given to the agents, and a lot less benefits. ECE pulled out the tuitionreimbursement January 2005, where we used to be able to get 5,000/yr back. Before youget all in a huff no one (other than me and two or three others) ever used it.

A lot of people quit/got fired. Attrition is normal, and with the movement out thedoor, a lot of the old time resentment of broken dreams and forgotten promises left (asplanned). Hired are people with new expectations, lower expectations for pay caps,raises, and more responsibility and work for less pay. No offence to some of you, but Iwitnessed how Training suffered for this. Note: if you are reading this, and you havelasted longer than 2 months, you are probably not one of the ones causing all the

suffering.

Have a problem with the agents? Replace the agents. Done. Some of old timersthat didnt like the changes stuck around because we made it in before the pay caps andchanges.

10.5 10.815 11.13945 11.69642Agent - 3% 3% 5% mentorincrease

12.69 13.0707 13.46282 13.86671 Mentor wage +3% +3% +3%

NOTE: 3 year pay increase. Most mentors (that should) dont get the 3%.

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Sad, but true.

What has Stream done to hold on to their long standing agents? Nothing. They arelocked in the narrow minded view of CLEAR CUTTING. What I mean is thedeforestation of potential new agents: lowering standards all the time till they are hiring

saplings not ready for a real job or people who would never have qualified before. In fact,they hired someone to promote the influx of agents, rather than maintaining their oldgrowth. Someone to Promote Stream to the community. Guess what: ConvergysKamloops is 1 year our senior, and they are using the same tactics UNSUCCESSFULLY.

I drove through Kamloops on my way to my new job and they had a radiodiscussion with their equivalent to our guy. His take: Kamloops doesnt need newbusiness in Kamloops! We have a hard enough time filling the positions we havealready. Wow, all I heard was we have used up all the low income labour, and now weare scared of any other job that would be more fun or have a better future in it. Suffer, forwe have caused our own suffering: Suffer with us (They start at different rates than

Stream, but their computing positions are still 11.00/hr).

Can we learn from their mistakes? Or our own? Note: There was a job posting forManager, April/May 2006. Out of 1200 people they did not find ONE that was worthymanagement material. Does this seem odd? How many of the old timers would be goodfor the position if Stream Management implemented proper measures in preparing theagents that wanted the position by actually getting Stream University or better yet reimbursed for Management Courses at open universities/UCFV and allowed proper timeto complete the courses (allowed to re-scheduling part days).

Documents

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