I'm a contact tracer, AMA

[ContactTracer]

I've name changed for obvious reasons

I've been working as a contact tracer since May of this year, I was furloughed from my last position in March and then made redundant as of June so have been doing this full time.

I'm well aware some people have absolutely no interest in what we do but Ask Me Anything if you are interested

How frustrating is it?

How many people actually answer their phone to you and how much time are you doing work during the day as opposed to the rumour which is you’re being to watch tv all day

How much do you get paid?

Have you had to trace many people yet?

How many hours do you get paid to work?
Of those hours how many do you actually work?

There’s been worrying stories on here of people being reported as a close contact when walking outdoors for ten minutes.

Is that really part of criteria or a MN scare story?

Do you work from home or an office?

@GroundAlmonds technical issues are the most frustrating part of it all to be honest, systems run so slow sometimes and that can alter how a contact is going as you find yourself apologising for how long it's taking. Sometimes this will be down to the agents own equipment though as we have to use our own and nothing was provided.

@Cupcakegirl13 I tend to do mainly isolation follow up calls where I'd say around 80% of my calls are answered, it can be frustrating opening a case to find out they've rejected your call 9 times though. In the beginning as the systems were still being built and we were waiting for contacts to be loaded it certainly was Netflix for 8 hours a day straight but we couldn't leave our desks are we were told this sytems would be ready any minute, this went on for about 5 weeks but the target now is 320 calls per week.

There was something in the papers about many of the "clinical" contact tracers (which were qualified healthcare staff) being removed and replaced with the "first line" phone people (and not being paid any more too vs the people they replaced) - was this the case?

Been busy?

Do you enjoy the job? Is it very stressful?
I’m about to have an interview for the role

How many box sets have you watched when there has been "IT issues"?!

@Horehound I get £9.20 per hour.

@littlefireseverywhere I can usually pull about 15 cases an hour, if these people answer or not is a different story.

@Wankerchief I work and get paid for 40 hours per week, paid overtime is usually available too.

@AcornAutumn The contact criteria is within 2m for more than 15 mins, we only contact those positive cases provide after being told the criteria.

@FeminismIsForALLWomen I work from home with my own equipment.

What do you do on an isolation follow-up call? Are you calling to check whether they are at home, to find out if they need anything practical, just for a chat to lift their spirits, what?

Thanks OP

I think that one was probably the thin end of the wedge

I’m now not even chatting to neighbours in the hallway to be extra careful not to get caught!

Did you get any verbal abuse when tracing people? Im sure it wouldn't be easy trying to interact with those who believe its all fake 😒

How did you get the job?

@peakygal

Did you get any verbal abuse when tracing people? Im sure it wouldn't be easy trying to interact with those who believe its all fake 😒

I imagine that can’t happen too often as they’d very careful to whom they gave their number!

If contacts don't want to self isolate,what are the most common reasons given?

Do you think the public generally know and understand the rules about contacts and self isolation?

What proportion of your cases do you escalate upwards to clinical staff to handle?

Do you feel your training and experience is sufficient for the task? (there has been some criticisms of using call handlers rather than using experienced public health staff more)

What proportion of the people you tell to self isolate do you genuinely think will do it?

@Rosehip10 No one in my team took the step to do clinical work, after the first lockdown ended many NHS staff (mainly clerical staff) went back to their own positions and more advisors took up positions of tracing, there wasn't a pay rise for this as the role is very much the same. Only medical professionals handle cases that require a clinical input. Also, I did a lot of reading in first few weeks rather than boxsets.

@waltzingparrot Some days can be very busy where it is just call after call, Team Leaders are great about advising comfort breaks which helps.

@peakygal The non-believers tend to block our number from the off so we don't get to speak to them much, but we do certainly get some abuse from those who believe they haven't been in contact with a positive case, it usually turns out they have but didn't think it counted.

@MellowYellow101 I applied for a customer care WFM position through Indeed and then did a phone interview where I was advised of the role and answered situational questions, I've heard many stories that some people didn't even have phone interviews and were just given the job. I don't know if this is true.

@Calimog I've never had a job with such flexibility over the hours, there is a shift swap system so you can trade for hours that suit you which is amazing. I enjoy the chats with my team and you do get some contacts who do brighten your day as well as those who drain you.

@PuzzledObserver Isolation follow ups are a bit of all of that, calls are made on day 4, 7, 10 & 13 of a contact and day 4, 7 & 10 of a positive case. We check on well being, how isolation is going, if they have support, if not can we sign post to support, are they able to keep in touch with family and friends. We're not directly checking people are at home but are listening for clues that they may not be which is then passed on to local authority to do the same thing locally.

@HopelesslydevotedtoGu Those who don't want to self isolate never really answer our calls in the first place. Many people do state they are worried about losing wages though.
I think the general public are generally aware, we will get the odd person who says "Ok, I'll just walk the dog alone instead of with my friend", which is not allowed.
I'd say only a small amount are escalated, these are normally picked up by clinical teams before they come to me.
My training has been excellent however it is self-led so I understand some people may feel differently.
Again, if they answer they are likely to follow instructions IME.

Thank you for your reply.
Have they said how long the role is likely to last due to the vaccine hopefully being rolled out soon?

@Calimog I was originally contracted until July, then October and now January 31st. No mention of extensions yet but we only had a weeks notice last time. Job security is not the best at all. However the programme is here for the foreseeable future apparently.

Re isolation follow ups

Is that to check the person is at home? What if they’re asleep or on voicemail etc?

Also, of all the positive tests, is everyone meant to be contacted?

My SIL was recently told to isolate from the app but hadn't been anywhere with anyone for more than 15m less than 1m apart etc. In the end they realised that their next door neighbour had tested positive so assume that was why they had been told to isolate. Does the app not know when there are walls between houses?

Why can't the system recognise members of the same family or adults and kids on the same phone number? From my experieince it was really stressful being called so repeatedly.