And another thing...

The ship is sinking.

I have been getting all kinds of reports from friends still working for my former employer, the Undisclosed Customer Service Center™

I believe that the biggest client, the Undisclosed Computer Software Company™ will pull out completely very soon. Just before I left they lost the operating system support contract to the center in India, and soon after I left the Email support contract was lost as well.

They still have the customer service contract but I don't see it lasting. And I will tell you why.

When I was still there you would hear about people being fired for hanging up on up to 500 people in a month. One person, Five Hundred! Who does that? You would have to hang up on most of the people that call you, what makes a person do that?

Along with the firings, there are the tenured people who are quitting. People who know their jobs and do it well. Why? because they realize that there is no reward for doing your job well there. You go the extra mile to make sure the customer has a good experience, and you lose the 'bonus' because your call time is so high. Meanwhile, the guy who hung up on 500 people has excellent call times (until they realized how he was doing it) and he gets the bonus.

Middle management doesn't care, they get the bonus regardless. But when you are a tenured person, sitting next to that guy who is hanging up on everyone, and he gets the bonus instead of you? Ya, its time to move on. And what is perpetuating this? Favoritism by middle management. I have to qualify this, by saying that some middle management try, but as soon as the rest of them realize that that one good manager is fucking up the curve? They squash him.

SCENARIO:

Manager has 10 agents. Five of them are doing their job as set out by the Undisclosed Computer Software Company™. Customers are happy and the client can't say enough good things about the project.

The other five agents (the managers favored ones) do dick all, they hang up on customers, they barely take notes (because they are chatting on messenger or surfing the net) and, more often than not, transfer to the wrong techs for the issue the customer is having. At which time the customer gets transfered back and gets one of the good agents who fixes the case (screwing their handle time) and recovers the customer.

Somehow, the five assholes always seem to get the shift they want and their 'stats' are perfect and their absences are 'forgiven' so they always get the bonuses.

Now, all these agents sit together. The good ones know what the bad ones are doing. They see that they are getting better shifts and never miss getting the bonuses.

So, now the good agents are sitting there thinking, "Why the fuck am I busting my butt to satisfy the customer? Or dragging my ass in here when I am sick?" When they realize they don't have a good answer, they stop.

Now you have 10 agents that aren't doing their job. How long do you think the Undisclosed Computer Software Company™ will put up with that?

Not much longer. Mark my words. This is by no means the only thing wrong with working there but ask anyone in there what their biggest gripe is and it can all be attributed to favoritism.

When upper management finally realizes it, it will be much too late. Perhaps if they knew that middle management has already begun sending out their resumes, they might get a heads up. I doubt it, they would have to take their heads out of their asses first.

Not an easy job for a Big Giant Head.