Friday, October 20, 2006
Econ 101 works
I haven’t talked much about work, not because it’s been uneventful: quite the opposite. Drama is at every turn, more so than any other job I’ve had. I’ve got an eccentric CEO at my side pulling me in so many directions that I’m beginning to feel quartered.
And for the last year we’ve been gearing for a major attrition battle that myself and my little team are at the forefront. We’ve begun to get a field structure in place to use the weapons we’ve developed and deliver the “final solution” – to eradicate the practices, policies and mindsets creating a nearly 200% annual turnover rate. (For each position we have, we hire two people per year to fill it.) Its costs are astronomical, but too abstract to understand by our managers. . . eradicating the attitude that we should pay people as little as possible and that our agents should be treated like pigs will take Herculean efforts.
So I’ve been working to develop the technology to deliver this solution. In part, a “People Management” technology solution, that makes it impossible to stray from new processes: Higher wages, scheduling certainty, a consistent supervisor, agents being “innocent before proven guilty” and our supervisors and managers “guilty until proven innocent”. So, literally, people cannot log into computers or schedule these people to work until these requirements are met.
Next year this will be unleashed site by site, with me and my team traveling there to deliver it. “Fuck them!” The CEO says as I explain the resistance in the field: “You will be doing your job when you are the most hated person in this company!”
That same day I wielded my new powers with the COO of 1st party work with criticism of his compensation and people practices (until 11:30 last night). Indignant push-back from was inevitable; the CEO responds: “You must get Matt’s 100% comfort level before anything happens next year.”
Excerpts: Me: “With the way you are currently staffing calls, adjusting down the PPH for IB calls will reduce the pay of our inbound agents. They will all quit and this is going to kill us. We have to pay for more training, hiring and other costs associated with the fact that our top agents will now have better opportunities waiting tables and working at Wal-Mart. Is this how we reward our people?
CEO: "If Matt is not 100%, comfortable this doesn't happen. Find a solution."
Release the Kraken!
And for the last year we’ve been gearing for a major attrition battle that myself and my little team are at the forefront. We’ve begun to get a field structure in place to use the weapons we’ve developed and deliver the “final solution” – to eradicate the practices, policies and mindsets creating a nearly 200% annual turnover rate. (For each position we have, we hire two people per year to fill it.) Its costs are astronomical, but too abstract to understand by our managers. . . eradicating the attitude that we should pay people as little as possible and that our agents should be treated like pigs will take Herculean efforts.
So I’ve been working to develop the technology to deliver this solution. In part, a “People Management” technology solution, that makes it impossible to stray from new processes: Higher wages, scheduling certainty, a consistent supervisor, agents being “innocent before proven guilty” and our supervisors and managers “guilty until proven innocent”. So, literally, people cannot log into computers or schedule these people to work until these requirements are met.
Next year this will be unleashed site by site, with me and my team traveling there to deliver it. “Fuck them!” The CEO says as I explain the resistance in the field: “You will be doing your job when you are the most hated person in this company!”
That same day I wielded my new powers with the COO of 1st party work with criticism of his compensation and people practices (until 11:30 last night). Indignant push-back from was inevitable; the CEO responds: “You must get Matt’s 100% comfort level before anything happens next year.”
Excerpts: Me: “With the way you are currently staffing calls, adjusting down the PPH for IB calls will reduce the pay of our inbound agents. They will all quit and this is going to kill us. We have to pay for more training, hiring and other costs associated with the fact that our top agents will now have better opportunities waiting tables and working at Wal-Mart. Is this how we reward our people?
CEO: "If Matt is not 100%, comfortable this doesn't happen. Find a solution."
Release the Kraken!
# posted by otas : 7:04 PM
