Influencing colleagues when they dont want to do something.

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Hello all
I work with teams that process customer claims but due to the time of year, some people will be required to cover the call centre instead of processing for a few months to cover their busy period. There is a huge amount of resistance to it and some colleagues have basically said that they will refuse as they have in the past as the call centre causes them stress.

I have been tasked with trying to get everyone to understand that its not really a choice but something that is just a normal part of helping customers. There is a lack of flexibility with the call centre in terms of start/finishing times compared with processing which I dont think helps.

Does anyone have any useful tips for influencing people who claim that requests like this cause them stress? Anything I could read etc? Unfortunately just telling people to get on with it as it is a reasonable management request doesnt seem to be allowed...

Thanks!

Can there be some give and take - e.g. offer call centre on same hours as processing, offer working from home if they don't already?

As you mention that 'some people will be required' to cover the call centre, I think you need to do up a rota so that everyone in your team is required to cover some calls in the call centre. I'm not sure if you meant to say that everyone in your team will be required to do this but I think if it is presented as an "everyone has to pitch in" rather than it fall to just "Some of you will have to pitch in" it will be better received.

I'd make sure that they are all familiar with whatever the call handling script is and that they know how to work the phones (both of these are in house issues and can cause stress before even dealing with the public).

Also if some of the team can't do certain times of the day, then I think that's ok. If they are helping the Call Centre, surely it is up to the Call Centre to adjust their team to cover the inflexible times and your guys can help during their other times?

What is the kick back about?

Do their job descriptions cover this?

Is the call centre stressful? If so, why?

They will be able to continue to WFH if they wish but the hours are a big part of the problem I think. A lot of people choose to work 7-3 but the call centre is open 8.30-5 and needs covered on either an 8.30-4.30 or 9-5 shift, neither of which are particularly late of course. They do a week of each shift so the same people arent working until 5 every day (unless thats better for them).

I have told them I will be arranging full training, support if they get stuck while on the phones and an escalation route if a customer complains but some people are saying that they wont do it as the thought makes them very anxious.

It isnt particularly stressful I dont think - the customers we have usually just need help with the claims they are making and generally arent arsey or complaining.

Their job descriptions state that they will be required to help customers 'by phone'.

Those shifts are relatively benign for a call centre. Is it school pick ups in the afternoon that are an issue?

OK. So I would draw up a rota like pp said.

Allocate everyone a training session slot. If they are not used to being trained, make sure that they are active, ie take notes and have a practice, not passively watching and then purposefully being crap at it.

For the first week or so, keep their sessions short, and within usual start/finish times. Basically work through each objection.

I guess the processing job is a much more chilled job and thats why people prefer it, but that doesn't mean its ok to avoid the other part of their roles.

OP I'm guessing you are middle management... I get a lot of tasks of being the bad guy. Its not pleasant but - stick with whats fair, make everyone think you are listening and sympathetic, ask people what do they think can be done about their issue whilst still making sure the customers are card for. Even if you think they are a bunch of moaning stupid lazy twats.

Ok so if they work 7 - 3, but the support centre is open 8:30 - 5pm, you have the cover from the staff who are already signed in at 7am. You need to train them in to be able to either take messages or log support tickets in your ticketing system. You need to give them the scripts so that they have the knowledge to be able to properly take the callers details and assign the ticket to the relevant support team.

You do have staff at the moment in the support centre that are working right? Why can't their shift be moved from an 8:30 start to a 9am start so that the cover goes right up to 5pm and by the trained staff for the support centre? Can't the current support centre staff cover the time from 3pm to 5pm?

What is the issue here?

I can see both sides here as they didn't sign up for a call centre job.

However, it's been requested fro higher up so you need to make it work.

PPs have good suggestions re altering the rota and times. If childcare is the issue, having 3/5 days per week on the call centre may be easier to organise for people, than a week on then a week off.

Does the call centre need the extra cover 3-5pm? If not, get people working 7-3 on the call centre. Could the call centre open at 7 for the next few weeks?

@Hercisback - did you miss the bit of the OP's message that says on their contracts it states that they are required to help customers by phone?
It is part of their job. They mustn't have been required to do it up to now though.

'helping customers by phone' is a bit different to call centre work all day every day. It depends what the job was advertised as.

I'd be annoyed if the change in hours was unexpected and made other parts of life difficult. Sounds like the company needs to manage this whole situation better.

How many shifts?

How many staff have you got?

Divide one by the other and work out how many shifts each needs to cover. It might just be half a day each.

If they don't want to choose then either it's out of a hat or someone else will choose for them.

Or hire a call centre person?

This is basic management stuff.

Hi all

Thanks for all the replies. Basically the issue is that the call centre is much busier at this time of year, when the processing work is quieter due to the claim cycle. We need to send around 8 people to the call centre to only handle calls. This means that they will need to do 8.30-4.30 one week and 9-5 the next so that the phone lines will be covered the whole time they are open. They will not be able to start at 7 anymore as due to system access requirements, they wont be able to process at the same time.

Because of the need to change the system access, it isnt a case of people covering half a day each, no matter how basic it seems in terms of management. They will need to be call centre staff for at least the next couple of months. There will be full training provided and plenty of support from experienced colleagues.

The main blocker seems to be just confidence around speaking to customers so I have reassured them that there will be plenty of training and support. The other issue is around the shifts but there isnt anything we can do for that. People could still do the school run etc as needed. I suspect that some people are still doing childcare while working from home when processing as they can get away with it whereas they wont be able to get away with it when they are on the phone.

So any strategies for helping to convince the guys would be much appreciated!

They shouldn't be doing childcare at home! That needs sorting.

You can't convince them. They have a shit change in their working hours and working processes. I wouldn't be happy. No amount of persuasion would change that. Empathise with them that you appreciate this isn't a change they want, however for business reasons it needs to happen.

Regarding the shifts, would or be possible to spilt it into half days? So for one week you work 7-3 and cover the phone lines 8-1, the next week you work 9-5 and cover the phone lines 1-5 (or whatever hours work for the business)?
That way no-one is on the phone all day and they can finish at their usual time.

Get senior managers onto the phones to lead by example.

If they won't - well, they can't really blame the juniors for refusing.

If I'd taken a desk job that suddenly turned into a call centre job I'd be well pissed off. I wouldn't have applied for the job if it had been a call centre job. I use the phone at work but I don't work in a call centre, they're different things. I think it's a stretch to think that a contract saying 'help customers on the phone' means they have to work in the call centre.

I hope your staff have union representation.

Hi all

Unfortunately they cant split their shifts (I have tried) due to the system access that is required, they couldnt do the call centre for part days. Its that all day unfortunately.

We do have union reps but flexibility to support other business areas as needed is in the contracts.

I think I know exactly what call centre you are talking about. I would say other than the fixed shifts issue (which is a pain but there’s nothing can be done) is the difference between the training and the reality of the situation. Full time call centre staff have obvious work at rounds and short cuts which people brought in to help can’t use or don’t know how to which builds animosity. Id say asking the regular call centre staff to be on hand to help and be welcoming (even when working from home) would be a huge deal. A teams chat (or whatever system) where questions could be asked and answered live would be so so helpful. But not by the trainers who, if it’s what I think, haven’t ever worked the system or been near a customer and have a print o it from 1982 to work from.

You need to organise a "Change management" team with HR and other managers involved. This is to cover your ass.

The main reason for this is the company is attempting to unilaterally change employee contracts. If the "by phone" element of the contract was designed to cover the Call Center none of the current staff would be surprised or objecting to being put on the rota. Those there last year would have already done some cover.

You don't appear to know the employment law involved. Nor what the company are prepared to offer by way of incentive, because nothing you have posted benefits the current employees. Change of work hours can have a larger knock on effect of the employees home life and result in increasing associated costs.

What you risk is forcing the employees who are currently preforming their role to the company's satisfaction into roles they dont want to do.
"Active and engaged" employees will start looking for other employment and/or become less engaged, the ones who are ticking along become the standard and productivity in your department tanks.
You are already the one who forced them into the Call Center and then you become the bad guy complaining about the drop in claims handling.
Then your personal targets and management skill are under review.

You say you don’t think the work is stressful (have you done it for a day?) but the people who don’t want to do it think it is. Have you explored why they think it’s stressful? As an outsider I can see lots of potential reasons it could be stressful.

Could they do processing from 7 to call centre opening, then a full call centre day with the extra as over time? That would be the carrot approach, along with training, gratitude etc.

The stick approach would be to crack down on childcare whilst wfh. And organise the call centre shifts in advance and make it clear that it is not optional but it will be shared, and fair.

In their contract is the wfh a right? Do they also have the line about 'any other reasonable duty' ?

I'd also maybe do some work to get rid of the us and them situation. And in future hire people to cover both as needed.

Hiya

No they cant do their normal processing and the call centre unfortunately due to the way the system access is set up, you can have one set of access or the other so they can only do the call centre work for this time which is why I have no flexibility with regards to their working patterns (I wish I did!)

You say you don’t think the work is stressful (have you done it for a day?)
Yes I have done it for 6 months before I started my current role. I have had a lot of discussions with people to try to find out what it is that is causing them stress and confirmed that there will be training, buddying, a chat facility and experienced colleagues available they can contact for help while on the phone as they are able to continue working from home but people are still arguing that they dont want to do it.

Yes their contracts have a line about 'flexibility to support the business' and 'reasonable management requests'

What would it take to change the systems access?
That sounds a bit like a legacy issue rather than something which would be impossible to change.