Open to Close

My job has a revolving door of employees. I think it has the highest turnover rate of any call center in town. It's really not difficult to see why that would be. Employee satisfaction does not seem to rate high on their priorities. And why change when there are always new bodies that seem willing to take the job and bring in the money? There's always fresh meat. After my last job I think my idealism has long since disappeared. The thought of small changes that would make things better no longer enter my mind. After all it's just a source of frustration since nothing ever changes. So I have just resigned myself to that's the way it is.

Now one thing that gets to me is the lack of consecutive days off. Maybe it's because of the Fibro... or just who I am but I find I need two days to recharge. The first day to get things done and the second day to rest. But I don't get that, most weeks. Right now it just feels like I have an extended weekend but really that's little more then illusion. Frustration number 2.... this week I worked open shifts (6 am to 2:30 pm) and then next week I go to close (5:45 pm to 2:15 am). So sure Friday I finished at 2:30 pm and Sunday I am not back in until 5:45 but I also have to switch over my sleeping patterns in there. Talk about a shock to the system.

I must say that the 6 am shifts are not my cup of tea. I do not enjoy the alarm going off at 4:30 in the morning and leaving the house while it is still dark outside. I much prefer the later shifts... especially the evening shifts. Not sure how I feel about the closing shifts quite yet. Ask me that next week.

Early Mornings Do Not Agree With Me

I realized today that I am missed... and people notice my absence. Now that to me seems a little odd since I am right here. I am still online. Or can be reached by phone. But my Blog has not been updated and my status on Facebook has been non-existent. So in many ways it is like I don't exist. But don't worry I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth.

I would like to be able to say that a newfound relationship has been taking up all my time.... But that is more wishful thinking. More like those super early mornings really do not agree with me. Let me tell you at 5:45 am I do NOT want to be getting out of bed and preparing myself for the long walk to work. The job really doesn't help that but that's a whole other story.

I have now recovered from working midnights, I think. Took quite a while but now even on my days off I am up in the morning. Maybe not quite as early as before work but still in the morning. I'm sure a few people are now wondering if I have a fever since I was always the one going to bed late and waking up late. Not any more. I guess I did a good job of resetting my sleep patterns.

Other then that my life has been pretty uneventful. Getting plenty of exercise walking to work. Had a friend suggest that I join the military. Not sure how he figured I was going to manage that with the Fibromyalgia or with the thought of carrying 50+ pounds on my back. Or even the fact I'd be without Azrael for an extended period of time. Somehow I just can't see it.

Speaking of Azrael I have an addict for a kitty. I am back to having catnip all over the floor at the moment. I put down the bag of catnip instead of putting it away. So he got into it. And now I really have nothing else to say. Enjoying the peace and quiet and am about to go back to it.

Nature of the Beast

Yesterday was my day off. For whatever reason (perhaps it was the drug induced haze from the antibiotics) my mind wandered off. Oh wait I do that on a good day. That really is nothing new. For some reason a comment from work came to mind. The supervisor had said, "Working in a call center is not something that you aspire to. It just kind of happens. I only planned to be here for 2 months and here we are a year and a half later." This thought was pretty much echoed with the other floor supervisor when he said, "If you plan on being here for a very long time then that is just sad."

I am not saying that people should necessarily aspire to work here. After all it is not a glamorous job. But then most people probably don't aspire to work as a janitor or the lunch lady in the cafeteria at school. Sorry was having a Survivor moment there. However, those are considered to be honorable professions and people recognize that we need to have people that do those jobs.

I believe that there needs to be a shift in thinking in regards to call centers. They are a job and people need to do those jobs. After all customers are always going to need to call their cell phone company, ISP, computer provider or whoever. However, the thinking even from the top seems to be that call centers are glorified temp agencies. I still remember when the head of HR at my former office was quoted as saying "You're all replaceable." And then they wonder why the turnover rate is so high. Hmm... perhaps it has to do with management's attitudes.

This was an ongoing fight of mine at the last place I worked as well. Seems that nothing has changed. Is it really so hard to nurture the attitude that it is a good place to work? Now I think that the wages also create an atmosphere of "temporary workers" since they don't generally pay enough to make it work over the long run. But then everything is geared at just getting bodies in the chair and not long-term employees. Perhaps it is a losing battle.... But it begins with the mind (probably a lot like any other battle).

Career Options

My degree is in psychology and I work in a call center. To most people those two ideas don't really go together all that well. Personally, I think that call center employees don't get the respect they deserve. There's too much of an emphasis on temporary employees since the wages aren't going to attract people for the long term. But that was a bit of a tangent. I find that I do use the psychology degree every day. After all my job is to coach and develop the other agents. I also use it when communicating with customers. So it is a useful skill to have in my line of work.

The big issue I have... and the reason I am at a bit of a cross-roads is that there are very few opportunities for advancement at work. They have done away with the team leader position here and with the turnover rate no manager positions will be available on the horizon. And even if there was there is a LOT of competition among all the performance coaches. The most I can make as a performance coach is $15.65 an hour ($32,552/year) and that is after 5 years of being a performance coach. Not to mention the fact you have to meet your metrics to even get a raise, something I didn't do in February. If it wasn't for my student loan it wouldn't be a big deal but that is still hanging over my head.

Steve seems to like coming up with career options to make more money. Now none of his ideas involve me actually leaving to pursue other opportunities. He does know that I applied for a promotion in Niagara Falls so he already knows I am willing to leave. I don't think he was quite so happy about it. So what is his current thought? He seems to think I should start a counselling practice specializing in people who self-injure. He thinks I would do well since I understand the behaviour.

I have a few issues with that thought. As an unlicensed counsellor you are a lot more vulnerable. Self-injury is a behaviour and in order to treat it you have to treat the underlying causes. That's not exactly short-term therapy. You really do have to change thought process and behaviour. It's also extrememly frustrating. There is a reluctance to change. You need a mix... otherwise you risk facing burnout. You just can't deal with the same thing over and over and over... especially when it is a behaviour that is resistant to change. Then there is the whole self-harm behaviour. Generally speaking you have a duty to report any threats to self or to others. So it's a bit of a catch-22. The last thing I would want to do is force someone to sign a no-harm contract.

While I do understand the behaviour and have been there that is only so beneficial. And since I still struggle with it I am not sure I would be the best counsellor. You can treat it as long as you can empathize with the person... which should be true in any therapy relationship. If it's not there then you should be looking for another therapist.

Now I can see me more as an advocate and generating awareness about self-injury. I could handle that. I do think there is a need for that. But as a counsellor... I'm not so sure about that idea. Unlike Steve I try to take a practical approach and not just have the idea of the week.

Day in the Grind

It's been a long week... I knew I was getting my annual review so I was pretty stressed about that. I knew what was going to be said (for the most part) but it was getting to me. Then I found out I wasn't even getting an interview for team leader. Had the money taken from my bank account. Last night I ended up being at work until 9:30. I wasn't being paid for it since I wasn't actually working. Today I finally got my annual review. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Then I was looking for trends on an agent. Typically that involves listening to a number of calls in a row and evaluating them all. That never seems to be a good thing. I am beginning to think I should do that on all the agents at one time or another... you learn a lot about the agent. That ended with a lengthy coaching session. So I was late again today... actually I got paid until 9:00 tonight and was done at 5:30. So after two 12 hour days I am a little tired right now... It's almost bed time any ways. I am pretty glad that I have a three day weekend coming up. I tink I need a few days off right about now... it's been a long, tough week.

Niagara Falls - Part 2

So the jobs for Niagara Falls have already been posted... That means the call center must be opening soon... probably in the fall. I picked up the posting today and have until next Friday to fill in the application and get it back in. I have no doubts that I will be applying for the team leader position. I am feeling some anxiety about the interview... leaving the people I know... and getting out of my lease. I know why I am feeling anxious though. Some of it is out of my control and that always bothers me. Right now there really is no point in feeling anxious though. After all, I may not even get the job. I might be staying here and waiting for a position to open up. But it looks like at some point during my vacation I'll be going into work to drop off the application and the resume and then we'll see what happens.

TGIF

I am so glad it's Friday right now. Until I got home tonight I don't think I realized how much this month had taken out of me. I averaged listening to 3.65 calls day. While that doesn't sound all that bad since most agents are able to take 20 calls a day it's actually not that easy. We also have other responsibilities that can be quite time consuming. And to listen to a call we have to wait for them to get one... listen to the call... score the call and then present the feedback on it. Even a 5 minute call usually takes about 20 minutes in total. The agents sometimes think it's an easier job because I only take calls for hours. But I've got to tell you it's often a lot more difficult to evaluate the call. Some people do not respond well to coaching and will challenge you on everything. That makes it tough. Today was a prime example of that. We had a team meeting about some new changes. I understand why they are changing it... and while it may impact me and my incentive, I am not going to fight it. I am just going to work towards meeting the new metrics. But the two people who were going to object the most were both at the meeting. They went ballistic with the news. It pretty much turned into a war. Even before that I was going over a procedural article... one of the two biggest ones that we follow on every call. I even got arguments throughout the entire article. At the last team meeting when Pat went over it she got questions about it... but people didn't argue about every point. So I intend to relax this weekend and am going to try to do as little as possible. Just relax and try not to think about work.