Tweet
Hello all,
I have an issue at work I was hoping for some advice on. I do apologise for the long read but wanted to be thorough
I work night-shifts with 2 other colleagues in a busy call centre involving tyre breakdowns. One of our colleagues really hadn't been performing well and was constantly trying to avoid calls/awkward jobs and constantly making mistakes. My other colleague and I brought this up with our supervisors who put the under performing colleague on an extra weeks training. However, the problems still persisted despite us adjusting her mistakes time and time again and reminding her that roadside breakdowns are priority over making a cup of tea. I must stress that the tiniest slip up in my job which can be as simple as one digit wrong on a vehicle reg or postcode, or a vehicle being on the motorway too long that it gets recovered by the Highways Agency can leave my company liable for the fitters callout charge and the cost of a truck tyre and/or the cost of the recovery.
We then decided to take this to a management level and I sent (what I felt) was a fair email which is as follows:
(With names omitted)
Hi Pete,
Myself and B** just wanted to show a few instances of what we are dealing with on the night shift as I think I may have left a lot out when we spoke the other evening and there have been various and potentially costly and embarrassing mistakes since.
In no way, shape or form are myself and B** trying to single C****** out. On a personal level she's nice lady, but we obviously are here to make sure jobs are done correctly first and foremost. I know we are all guilty of making mistakes and I myself are far from perfect, but we feel we are constantly trying to correct her on the same issues every time and having to listen to her every conversation. We have, of course, gone over this with her time and again.
Below I have some examples of jobs with simple, yet potentially costly mistakes:
679635 - This R S***** job was loaded as I**N. Only when B***t @ U** questioned it when she was passing the job to him did it come to light. (I have explained several times that 1734 is a generic B***** member number and she has a note of it on her desk I believe). I felt this was an embarrassing situation seeing as a rival had to correct us that it was a B***** account.
679651 - This was called in by C * * which is obviously a key account of Tyres N*****. However, it was first loaded as Tyres N***** then C******** E***** as the fleet. I questioned C****** and she said it was called in by Tyres N*****. I queried this with the issuer as the name and number looked wrong. Only then did we find out it was called in by C * *.
677589 - This was the one we spoke about the other evening regarding a job that was erroneously taken as Ma***** that had B** extremely upset. Which was in fact an entirely different company (MAN ***** **). Obviously this could have been an expensive mistake had B** not questioned it extensively. This was the one Ba*** called you about in the early hours which you declined.
670840 - This one I had to step in and stop C***** from placing the job. It was called in by a member of the public saying he uses W***** tyres. No Breakdown card or member number given. Had I not interrupted, this could have proven costly to us
671802 - This job was originally loaded as R***r - K*. Clearly not R***r calling job in and not with a R***r order number which should, by now, prove obvious.
There was also an A**** A***** job last week (I cannot find the job number) that I made Ba*** aware of, where C****** called A**** A****** to okay a double night callout for the fitter. This is something we have explained many times over not to do on a B********* account. Luckily though, it was caught by myself when I spoke to the fitter and told him he would need to call for a TPA number for extra charges if needed.
This list isn't exhaustive but we really don't want to nitpick too much and we are trying to be careful not to do so. But we feel it is becoming a serious issue with summer quickly approaching. Although she may not have covered everything in training, we feel she is not picking things up at all and has hit a wall. Other issues are still very much ongoing but are hard to address with her as so not to cause more animosity. Taking roadside/motorway jobs that aren't straight forward and easy and leaving them for others to place which we have emphasised to her again and again that they need placing asap and not after making a cup of tea seems to be the most common issue of late.
Following our conversation and records having been checked that C****** has taken the same amount of jobs as the rest of us, I'm sure that will prove true over the months. But we feel that we have to correct more jobs than we should be correcting for someone who has been here almost a year. I have never dreaded coming into this office (which is a miracle in itself as other jobs, I've dreaded them from day one!). But now find myself feeling daunted by the prospect of having to watch every job taken by her. I really do enjoy my work here and hope a way forward can be found to best suit everyone. B** too feels the same if not worse than myself.
I apologise for the long email but I feel I can communicate better in written form and if you so wish, job numbers supplied for call recording purposes.
Both myself and B** are available to talk further if you deem it necessary and could possibly come in earlier on a shift day if that's easier for yourself.
Kind Regards
Alan
Our under performing colleague has now been moved onto day shifts. This evening, I was talking to my usual work colleague and we noticed a letter on our under performing colleagues desk. It was pretty much a personal attack against myself and my current work colleague containing many personal points (mostly spiteful lies/exaggerations but that is another story) but more importantly mentioning this email that you see above. With her trying to justify many points. From what she has written in her letter (I feel this letter has been left out in plain view to bait me), it sounds like the email has been read out to her by my manager and she has been told who sent it.
If the letter she has written DOES get me reprimanded (some nights are long and quiet and I'm a bit of a joker which is why I'm concerned) in the form of warnings etc, can I bring up that this email was supposed to be confidential and do I have cause to complain? I do joke about at work but have been in this job for 3 and a half years without any major complaint and my work always comes first.
Thank you for reading
Kind Regards
Alan
I have an issue at work I was hoping for some advice on. I do apologise for the long read but wanted to be thorough
I work night-shifts with 2 other colleagues in a busy call centre involving tyre breakdowns. One of our colleagues really hadn't been performing well and was constantly trying to avoid calls/awkward jobs and constantly making mistakes. My other colleague and I brought this up with our supervisors who put the under performing colleague on an extra weeks training. However, the problems still persisted despite us adjusting her mistakes time and time again and reminding her that roadside breakdowns are priority over making a cup of tea. I must stress that the tiniest slip up in my job which can be as simple as one digit wrong on a vehicle reg or postcode, or a vehicle being on the motorway too long that it gets recovered by the Highways Agency can leave my company liable for the fitters callout charge and the cost of a truck tyre and/or the cost of the recovery.
We then decided to take this to a management level and I sent (what I felt) was a fair email which is as follows:
(With names omitted)
Hi Pete,
Myself and B** just wanted to show a few instances of what we are dealing with on the night shift as I think I may have left a lot out when we spoke the other evening and there have been various and potentially costly and embarrassing mistakes since.
In no way, shape or form are myself and B** trying to single C****** out. On a personal level she's nice lady, but we obviously are here to make sure jobs are done correctly first and foremost. I know we are all guilty of making mistakes and I myself are far from perfect, but we feel we are constantly trying to correct her on the same issues every time and having to listen to her every conversation. We have, of course, gone over this with her time and again.
Below I have some examples of jobs with simple, yet potentially costly mistakes:
679635 - This R S***** job was loaded as I**N. Only when B***t @ U** questioned it when she was passing the job to him did it come to light. (I have explained several times that 1734 is a generic B***** member number and she has a note of it on her desk I believe). I felt this was an embarrassing situation seeing as a rival had to correct us that it was a B***** account.
679651 - This was called in by C * * which is obviously a key account of Tyres N*****. However, it was first loaded as Tyres N***** then C******** E***** as the fleet. I questioned C****** and she said it was called in by Tyres N*****. I queried this with the issuer as the name and number looked wrong. Only then did we find out it was called in by C * *.
677589 - This was the one we spoke about the other evening regarding a job that was erroneously taken as Ma***** that had B** extremely upset. Which was in fact an entirely different company (MAN ***** **). Obviously this could have been an expensive mistake had B** not questioned it extensively. This was the one Ba*** called you about in the early hours which you declined.
670840 - This one I had to step in and stop C***** from placing the job. It was called in by a member of the public saying he uses W***** tyres. No Breakdown card or member number given. Had I not interrupted, this could have proven costly to us
671802 - This job was originally loaded as R***r - K*. Clearly not R***r calling job in and not with a R***r order number which should, by now, prove obvious.
There was also an A**** A***** job last week (I cannot find the job number) that I made Ba*** aware of, where C****** called A**** A****** to okay a double night callout for the fitter. This is something we have explained many times over not to do on a B********* account. Luckily though, it was caught by myself when I spoke to the fitter and told him he would need to call for a TPA number for extra charges if needed.
This list isn't exhaustive but we really don't want to nitpick too much and we are trying to be careful not to do so. But we feel it is becoming a serious issue with summer quickly approaching. Although she may not have covered everything in training, we feel she is not picking things up at all and has hit a wall. Other issues are still very much ongoing but are hard to address with her as so not to cause more animosity. Taking roadside/motorway jobs that aren't straight forward and easy and leaving them for others to place which we have emphasised to her again and again that they need placing asap and not after making a cup of tea seems to be the most common issue of late.
Following our conversation and records having been checked that C****** has taken the same amount of jobs as the rest of us, I'm sure that will prove true over the months. But we feel that we have to correct more jobs than we should be correcting for someone who has been here almost a year. I have never dreaded coming into this office (which is a miracle in itself as other jobs, I've dreaded them from day one!). But now find myself feeling daunted by the prospect of having to watch every job taken by her. I really do enjoy my work here and hope a way forward can be found to best suit everyone. B** too feels the same if not worse than myself.
I apologise for the long email but I feel I can communicate better in written form and if you so wish, job numbers supplied for call recording purposes.
Both myself and B** are available to talk further if you deem it necessary and could possibly come in earlier on a shift day if that's easier for yourself.
Kind Regards
Alan
Our under performing colleague has now been moved onto day shifts. This evening, I was talking to my usual work colleague and we noticed a letter on our under performing colleagues desk. It was pretty much a personal attack against myself and my current work colleague containing many personal points (mostly spiteful lies/exaggerations but that is another story) but more importantly mentioning this email that you see above. With her trying to justify many points. From what she has written in her letter (I feel this letter has been left out in plain view to bait me), it sounds like the email has been read out to her by my manager and she has been told who sent it.
If the letter she has written DOES get me reprimanded (some nights are long and quiet and I'm a bit of a joker which is why I'm concerned) in the form of warnings etc, can I bring up that this email was supposed to be confidential and do I have cause to complain? I do joke about at work but have been in this job for 3 and a half years without any major complaint and my work always comes first.
Thank you for reading
Kind Regards
Alan
Comment