If you've never worked in a call center, you may want to consider yourself lucky. Nearly every one of the ones I've worked in have had some really annoying common practices and for some, these border on terms and conditions that smack of 21st century neo-slavery.Though I'm currently determined to "cognitively restructure" my thoughts and feelings regarding my employment, I can't help but take note of the fact that this job seems to epitomize all that is "bad" with call center work. Policies like the ones now being clarified to us new trainees are the basis for the reputation the industry has become associated with.
1. You must be available and prepared to take calls the second your shift starts.
Well this isn't bad. It's logical. Your job is to answer the phones and you agreed to be on-time for work. BUT...
It can take anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes even for savvy computer users like me to insure that your computer is up and running, your systems are ready to go and you've read and been informed of any changes or updates that would be important in your communications with customers. So in reality, the expectation, though they say you "shouldn't" is to come into work early and insure these tasks are performed before your shift starts. And it's not paid time. It's illegal, but they get away with it because they "say" you shouldn't be getting prepared before your shift start. Yet, if you're not ready and logged into the phones at the start of your shift, you'll be coached and may lose 10% of your incentive bonus since you'll be regarded as tardy.
2. If you're on a call and your scheduled break or lunch time has begun, you can't just end the call (ie. shrug off or hang up on the customer...duh, of course) so when you do get off the phone, you are now out of adherence. This will affect your stats and potentially jeopardize your incentive bonus, and, of course, you'll be coached.
3. You must maintain an 80% sales attempt rate. So even if the customer you have on the line is highly irate and complaining about fees or high finance charges, which policies demand you not waive whatsoever for any reason (unless they fall into a certain category of a profitable yet low risk customer, which is rare), you have to attempt to sell and rebuttal them on an enhancement to their credit card like Fraud Detector that costs a monthly charge. Oh, that's really fun.
4. Oh, and speaking of sales...here's the two "products": Fraud Detector which doesn't provide much more in benefits and protection against fraud than a credit card holder would already get via agreements with VISA or Master Card, and Payment Protector which is essentially a payment deferment service offered if the cardholder is unable to pay the minimum monthly balances on their credit card but for limited acceptable reasons and the balance will still be there when the deferment ends so it's just procrastinating on what really needs to be done first if you are in financial trouble...that is paying off your credit cards. Ask Suse Orman!
5. And they want you to hard sell, though, again, they SAY that you should not hard sell. I could tell as much the first week looking around and seeing the kind of people working there. Type-A, cocksure, mainly Hispanic or black younger guys, the same demographics as in boiler room telemarketing. So I better learn to do some fast talkin' and slippery pitches, and probably out-right lie to get the 100 to 120 quota of sales per month. 'Cause with my consultative-style it ain't gonna cut it. I got 2 so far. In two days.
6. Oh, and speaking of consultative-style...forget that. AHT, baby...it's all about the AHT. They are really stuck on this stat. It means Average Handle Time, the number of seconds you take for each call, on average. They want it to be less than 235 seconds. That's a little less than 4 minutes. Think that's plenty of time? Think again. What if you had an issue with your credit card that caused you to call into customer service? Would your issue be resolved to your liking in 4 minutes? Oh, but remember, I gotta read my sales pitch and rebuttal to you after I resolved your issue and before you hang up. Even speed-talking like the FedEx guy I don't know how I'll do all that in 4 minutes!
Add in all the monitoring, and coaching and misdirection, management double-talk, faulty equipment and facilities, and mentally unstable co-workers and managers (oh, I can't wait 'till the Roast, really, it'll be a blast!) and I can't help but sit back, laugh to myself and take it all in.
And like the carney-game sucker that stubbornly blows all his cash vainly trying to win the big stuffed panda, I'm gonna let it ride, try to hide my "I knew it" smirk, and just play the game.
Cue the crazy carnival music...