I think I called this one about three years ago.
Some of you may recall my commenting on how nervous I get when we go through quiet spells on my department at work. The first time I experienced this was when they took all the email addresses off the correpondance, claiming our customers were prefering to call us instead of email.
'Meeting the needs of the business' is the corporate line on this one.
The result of this was that we found ourselves with not enough work to go around the three Customer Service teams, the Renewals team and the Reports team - who processed all the incoming documentation and chased for outstanding ones, etc. The Reports team were, at the time, considered the dregs of the E-Services department; those whose work did not meet the standard required to be on the email teams.
Management decided to condense the E-Services team into just two Customer Service teams, getting completely shot of the Renewals team I was working on, and the Reports guys became a phone team. Most of the Renewals team went onto phones teams too, and I had to move back to the Customer Service teams. This was very unpleasant and I have never felt like I fit in on the team anymore - especially since I went part-time.
I've seen E-Services slowly shrink over the past three years, with us going on the phones more and more. And I've seen the standard of the free-format (ie. those not pre-written on the system) completely plummet to a level that shames me.
Plus we're now being pressured to sell Breakdown cover and all sorts of other stupid little things that we get marked down for not doing - I get silently pissed off at the number of competitions they hold to encourage upselling that is completely phones based, when I cannot go on the telephone.
This morning, Ops Manager Andrew (he who made a fool of himself about my role-play activities) got us all together to let us know that they're gonna be making us into a telephone/reports team in the very near future - essentially making us a phones team who just happen to be answering the emails too.
Morale in E-Services essentially hit the floor. Andrew had no idea what to say to us once he'd gauged the reaction, and could only spout the corporate line as vaguely as he could. It amazes me that they ever think we buy that bullshit - they certainly wouldn't have when they were just lowly workers themselves. No-one wants to be on the phones half their shift, when they were employed to answer emails - regardless of the 'needs of the business'. We have quite a few part-timers on our department, and several of the full-timers work on a specialised report which leaves only a handful of others to go on the phones when required.
And the real kicker? At lunchtime I heard a couple of the women on my team talking about one guy who, after a long time off sick, only works till eleven thirty and doesn't go on the phones anymore. I think it's an issue with his ears. They were bitching that he should have to go on the phones just like everyone else.
So you can imagine how I felt, quietly working away in my corner. How long did it take them, I wonder, to start bitching about me once my shift finished?
I need to get out of there. A long time ago.
'Meeting the needs of the business' is the corporate line on this one.
The result of this was that we found ourselves with not enough work to go around the three Customer Service teams, the Renewals team and the Reports team - who processed all the incoming documentation and chased for outstanding ones, etc. The Reports team were, at the time, considered the dregs of the E-Services department; those whose work did not meet the standard required to be on the email teams.
Management decided to condense the E-Services team into just two Customer Service teams, getting completely shot of the Renewals team I was working on, and the Reports guys became a phone team. Most of the Renewals team went onto phones teams too, and I had to move back to the Customer Service teams. This was very unpleasant and I have never felt like I fit in on the team anymore - especially since I went part-time.
I've seen E-Services slowly shrink over the past three years, with us going on the phones more and more. And I've seen the standard of the free-format (ie. those not pre-written on the system) completely plummet to a level that shames me.
Plus we're now being pressured to sell Breakdown cover and all sorts of other stupid little things that we get marked down for not doing - I get silently pissed off at the number of competitions they hold to encourage upselling that is completely phones based, when I cannot go on the telephone.
This morning, Ops Manager Andrew (he who made a fool of himself about my role-play activities) got us all together to let us know that they're gonna be making us into a telephone/reports team in the very near future - essentially making us a phones team who just happen to be answering the emails too.
Morale in E-Services essentially hit the floor. Andrew had no idea what to say to us once he'd gauged the reaction, and could only spout the corporate line as vaguely as he could. It amazes me that they ever think we buy that bullshit - they certainly wouldn't have when they were just lowly workers themselves. No-one wants to be on the phones half their shift, when they were employed to answer emails - regardless of the 'needs of the business'. We have quite a few part-timers on our department, and several of the full-timers work on a specialised report which leaves only a handful of others to go on the phones when required.
And the real kicker? At lunchtime I heard a couple of the women on my team talking about one guy who, after a long time off sick, only works till eleven thirty and doesn't go on the phones anymore. I think it's an issue with his ears. They were bitching that he should have to go on the phones just like everyone else.
So you can imagine how I felt, quietly working away in my corner. How long did it take them, I wonder, to start bitching about me once my shift finished?
I need to get out of there. A long time ago.