Influencing colleagues when they dont want to do something.

[Shgytfgtf111]

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!

The quality of the buddying and chat facility is key here I’d say. I’ve been in their exact position and buddies are either clearly managers parking a difficult team member for a while or actually great but thr means they are run off their feet and you are left waiting hours for answers. Also lip service to support and training except, don’t put them on hold more than once per call, never for more than 3 mins and finish processing within 90 seconds of the call ending.
And hand on heart I am enthusiastic and make an effort at every job and I’ve hated every call centre trainer ever. If they vanish at the end of the training but before the new people are fully confident they have no need to actually prove their “ask open ended questions” flow chart actually works.

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

Asking staff to move from a back office, non-customer facing role to working in a busy call centre is a bit more than 'flexibility' or a 'reasonable management request. They are two entirely different roles which require different skills, I'm not surprised staff aren't keen.

Are back office staff made aware of this when they join the company, and is it specifically included in their contracts. If not, I think the employer may be on dodgy ground here.

You work with teams… stop right there. Those teams have managers and that is who you need to go to and let them know your boss has told you to tell the teams you work with to do x, y and z. No doubt, your boss has a shitty relationship with the managers of the teams you work with.

@Aintnosupermum

You work with teams… stop right there. Those teams have managers and that is who you need to go to and let them know your boss has told you to tell the teams you work with to do x, y and z. No doubt, your boss has a shitty relationship with the managers of the teams you work with.

Yeah they do you are right! I am in the call centre myself (but not on the phones) and I am not sure how this ended up with me to try to sort to be honest!

Well that's a shitty stick to be handed as a people manager.

I'd be on my staff's side essentially, mainly because it's not really 'helping provide cover'. It's a role and working hours change for a period of at least 2 months and since you have to allocate 8 specific people no way to share the role amongst the whole team so that people don't feel singled out.

Your answer has been not possible to all the suggestions to make it fairer. Other than address those going forward with Senior Management to make this time easier on everyone going forward, I think you're left only with the shitty stick to wave around.

Ask for volunteers. (Any chance of encouraging this with some sort of bonus, time off, something ANYTHING to make it seem attractive?)
When no one volunteers, select 8 people and piss them off.
Suck it and go back to Senior Management and start negotiating how to change this going forward so people CAN shift share etc.

Oh missed that.

But still as you pass it back to the people who should be holding this very shitty stick, let them know they should be talking to Senior Management about how to better manage this for all sides sake. I mean the call centre can't want pissed off, stressed out people on the phones either...

Shgytfgtf111
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

So thats proof positive that staff in your department have never been employed as call center staff.
No add on option on permissions= segregation of duties = new role

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

That's within the role and around the duties and functions associated with the contracted role.
Retraining is one thing but what is being asked is redeployment and associated role specific training.

to try to find out what it is that is causing them stress
Stress is a health and safety concern, add in fear around ongoing employment and an ongoing pattern of behaviour of pressurising staff into a new role ...... hello constructive dismissal claim.

You need HR to develop a company backed plan.

I senior management and this is something I would handle myself because you are fundamentally changing the nature of what people do in the company. You can’t just go and tell people their jobs are changing, suck it up. Also, when you ‘transform’ a company, you need buy in and that’s achieved by lots of conversations where you as the leader listen very carefully to those around you.

From what you are describing your manager is not very strong. Watch yourself because many many times I see women being used as the scapegoat in these situations. Back track immediately, call the managers of the call center and set up a meeting with them 1-1 for early next week, not when they get in immediately. A 15min or 30min if you think you might need it meeting should be plenty of time.

Oops pressed post too soon!

You need the managers of these people to be aware of what is going on and let them have the conversation with your manager and their leadership. I don’t mean to sound rude when I say this but it’s really not your place to implement this. It should be an conversation between managers and leadership. Since your manager is avoiding the conflict, you need the other managers to approach your manager or your managers manager.

@theemmadilemma

Well that's a shitty stick to be handed as a people manager.

I'd be on my staff's side essentially, mainly because it's not really 'helping provide cover'. It's a role and working hours change for a period of at least 2 months and since you have to allocate 8 specific people no way to share the role amongst the whole team so that people don't feel singled out.

Your answer has been not possible to all the suggestions to make it fairer. Other than address those going forward with Senior Management to make this time easier on everyone going forward, I think you're left only with the shitty stick to wave around.

Ask for volunteers. (Any chance of encouraging this with some sort of bonus, time off, something ANYTHING to make it seem attractive?)
When no one volunteers, select 8 people and piss them off.
Suck it and go back to Senior Management and start negotiating how to change this going forward so people CAN shift share etc.

Yeah unfortunately I think you are right. I have thought about everything I possibly could to try to make it more palatable but there's just no way around it. I'm not being deliberately difficult when I respond to people and say its not possible, I really wish it was. Raising with Senior managers has fallen on deaf ears so far but I will keep trying.

I have asked for volunteers and it was like tumbleweed! Thats when I asked what the issues were to see what we could put into place to help. I am tempted to go back to Senior managers to tell them that they can tell the 8 people that they have been chosen and that they have chosen them. Im getting really frustrated with it now as I totally see everyone's point of view.

@Aintnosupermum

Oops pressed post too soon!

You need the managers of these people to be aware of what is going on and let them have the conversation with your manager and their leadership. I don’t mean to sound rude when I say this but it’s really not your place to implement this. It should be an conversation between managers and leadership. Since your manager is avoiding the conflict, you need the other managers to approach your manager or your managers manager.

Thanks so much for this and all of your replies. I havent been a manager for long so when I was told it was up to me to sort it, I didnt even question it. I feel like I have been dropped in the sh*t from a great height.

Unfortunately you have been dropped in the shit.

First rule of management is listen so you can learn and the second rule is to always have a meeting before the meeting. If any of these people have gone to their manager, you say yes I wanted to get some feedback as to how this was going to be received before I talked to you. Seems you have a very dedicated team and they are happy with their schedules….. so, my manager dickwad has asked me to grab people to work in the call center. Is there a way we could work something out? Also, is there a time when your team are busy and we are quiet because I can send some of my top performers to help your team out.

How are their hours worked out? You say a lot of people choose to do 7am-3pm. Is it flexitime, or are they their set hours? If flexitime is in their contract , or if they are set hours, it needs proper consultation.

I'm only asking because I choose to work 7am-3pm for 3 days a week. If I suddenly had to work until 5pm, it would cause me problems. I have to be somewhere by 4pm!

Aintnosupermum - thank you!

HunterHearstHelmsley - we work a 37 hour week but its up to us when we work them between the hours of 7am and 7pm, so the folks working 7-3 are just choosing to do that to work their hours, there is nothing in their contract about it. I am not sure that they have this flexi time but that the call centre just dont have that. If they are due to start at 9 they can start at 8.30 and build some flexi (same at the other end of the day) but they cant choose what hours they work. The back office guys have full flexibility of their hours so I think its a bit of a shock for them.

'I am not sure that they have this flexi time but that the call centre just dont have that.' should read ' I am not sure that they are aware that although they have this flexi time but that the call centre just dont have that.'

I did some management training about 9 years ago and there was a book all about change management called Our iceberg is melting.

One of the ideas I remember was identifying in the group who were ringleaders for positive and negative and working with them. So investing a lot of time persuading one person who has the social standing to bring a few more with them. And taking steps to keep the negative influence as small as possible. So give the positive person time to speak in meetings but give less airtime to moaners etc.

www.wob.com/en-gb/books/john-kotter/our-iceberg-is-melting/9780230014206?gclid=CjwKCAiAg6yRBhBNEiwAeVyL0H6oMSvFoDd2HTi2ntwVJ-BeSSiPO1eLhp3WBmKJgiiT3m9hSs7g-xoCB5gQAvD_BwE

If the company has a change management policy you need to follow that. In my employer it is the sort of thing that unions need to be consulted on up front.

It's arguable as to whether expecting someone to move from back office to call handling for two months would be 'reasonable' - the courts would have to decide and I honestly don't know which way it would go. You'd certainly have issues if you tried to performance manage staff who had been redeployed based on their performance on the phones. A lot of people do find call centres stressful. For health and safety reasons you ought to do stress risk assessments for any staff. Also be aware that staff may have disabilities that are relevant to call centre work but not the claims office - if these are not taken into account that can be discrimination. Changes in hours can be potentially legally iffy if the hours would impinge on caring responsibilities e.g. where staff are expected to work hours that would clash with child care pick up, caring for elderly parents (indirect sex discrimination) or availability of public transport (although if moving to 9-5 this is less of an issue). Any choices of staff needs to be made in a fair way.

An alternative option in future which is legal but also upsets people if done heavy handed would be trying to get the claims team take most of their hols during the slack period, and discourage the calls teams from taking their hols during the busy period.

Your HR and bosses should be supporting the process more by the sound of it.

The change from Flexi time to fixed hours would be enough to make me look for a new job irrelevant of the change in dueties. I would never take a job that didn't have some flexibility in hours.

I agree with other posters that this is way beyond "reasonable request from management". Time for your managers to step up and deal with it. Good luck!

I don't think you can convince them.

I've done 'call centre' work and like others I'd be pissed off if I was shoe horned into it again by stealth by my employer. You say it says in their contract about being flexible etc. Was it explained when they were interviewed and recruited that they would be expected to do this?

If you're not a person who likes talking to people on the phone, it's a nightmare. I used to get called a fucking cunt and have people threaten to kill me. Oh yes and the perverts who asked what knickers I was wearing. This was all when I worked for a bank.

Thanks so much for this and all of your replies. I havent been a manager for long so when I was told it was up to me to sort it, I didnt even question it. I feel like I have been dropped in the sht from a great height.*

In my opinion, it is their managers that you need to speak to, not the staff, if they are not your staff. Either everyone does a share or again - how many managers are there, divide by the time that is needing to be covered and ask each manager to speak to their staff about how they intend to manage their allocated time. Say a week for each manager. Or get them all into a meeting and find out how it has been done in the past.

You are never going to get people to do this on your own because you don't have the experience, the kudos or authority if you are that new to management and currently, nobody owes you anything and can simply tell you 'no'.

So the back office staff have full flexitime written into their contract? I can’t see how you can force them to work fixed hours then. Where are HR?

@BlackishTulips

So the back office staff have full flexitime written into their contract? I can’t see how you can force them to work fixed hours then. Where are HR?

Even if its not written into the contract, if it has been the established custom and practice of the workplace, that can still have legal implications. Employers can sometimes vary contracts (including implied ones) but needs to be done in via consent or following previously agreed change management procedures.

Crow, you sound like you work in HR!!!
Hopefully the OP has got a decent HR department who will be able to clarify the situation so she can hand the shit back tied with a ribbon.

@BlackishTulips

Crow, you sound like you work in HR!!! Hopefully the OP has got a decent HR department who will be able to clarify the situation so she can hand the shit back tied with a ribbon.

Nope, IT, but am a union rep. We had something similar recently when management wanted to make everyone do on call one evening a week so had to brush up on it all. But in that case senior management didn't try to push it on to someone in OP's situation. OP - really hope you can find a way through with as less stress as possible.