Out of Sync
It's Monday morning a little after 7 a.m. and I am at work. Oh joy! This is not what I signed up for, this is not what I wanted for my Monday mornings, or for that matter any mornings ever. Think about it, I live about an hour away, I take about forty minutes to get ready in the morning, I have to get up pretty stinking early to drive and even earlier to ride a bus. I drove this morning.
I drove this morning because I get to work until 6 p.m. One of the things that constantly seems to amaze me is the idea that an employer can just force you to work overtime with little in the way of recourse. They say you work and the Hollywood answer is that the employee, me, comes in to work on the schedule forced upon the person. Granted, I am sure this happens all the time, and I can see it happening all around me right now, but I never thought I would be somewhere where the "boss" subjectively says, "Come in to work a couple hours early. Oh, and we're going to have to ask you to stay a couple of hours late as well. I'm sure you understand." No.
This seems insane. People don't have lives, in my experience, where they can alter everything about their lives and come in early, or stay late, whenever the boss says so. Most employers learn that there is often a high level of turnover in the lower ranks when this happens and suggests a lack of ability and skill for managers when they insist upon it. Those managers probably don't last very long and don't have a future at that company. And yet, with Fidelity, that very trait seems to be an attribute. I don't know that I am, now or ever, comfortable with that.
Part of my problem is service levels and training. Before I came to work here there were X number of employees between two sites taking, more or less, the same calls with an average service level in excess of 90%. This is pretty good as Fidelity's Employer Services Company sells themselves on certain service levels. However, because of attrition the company is constantly hiring new employees. When you hire you have to train because there is a very small base of people who are already investment potentials. As a result, training, I would think, would be a priority so that you had more people with all of the skills necessary to answer all of the questions.
In New Hampshire training was the highest priority. Same company, different division, different priority. There, training was protected; here, training is subjective. Basically, service levels are based off the speed calls are answered and not the ability to assist a customer. Therefore, to increase service levels the priority is to throw as many people on the phones as possible because the mere act of having bodies on the phone is enough - regardless of the frustration people may encounter as a result of not getting to someone who can actually help them. Sounds backwards.
The outcome is that this division had X number of employees and hired Y more for a total of X+Y meaning that they had more employees now than they did previously and that the service levels should improve. Right? Wrong. Basically, people wait until a new class is coming on and then, before the class is ready, bail ship to other divisions. People quit because Fidelity requires more time and effort than they want to put into the job, and people demand off phone activity before the forthcoming group is ready. On top of that, they only train employees so far before throwing them on the phone. Give them the absolute basics and then watch as they flounder so that, during future trainings, they can be pulled out of training to go back on the phones because the MOST IMPORTANT thing is answering the phone and not actually helping the customer.
I guess what gets me is that I am working for a group that appears to be very short sighted. They don't look at long term needs because the group is very reactionary rather than proactive. The various sights don't seem to talk to each other enough that they know what is going on and who is supposed to be in training and as a result the entire division of the company seems to be faltering around looking for footing. It's no wonder that this place seems out of sync with the other divisions I've dealt with.