Tell me what you want -- work edition
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I have been thinking of how to get my team at work to be more excited to work. I'd like them to be more productive as I'm a manager and that's a goal. However, I really just want to boost morale. I want this especially after the last year we have had dealing with everything.
My team has worked through 2020. It's a customer service division. I have around 100 on my team right now. So this is what I'm coming to all of you for.
Tell me what in your job made an impression on you. What would you have liked to see your first day on a job? A welcome? A map? Etc? What would have motivated you or helped you have fun?
There is no right or wrong answer, I'd just like some 'this was cool' or 'this made me feel cared for' or 'this made me want to stay at my job' ideas.
Thanks to any that assist!
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@rightmeow First, I want clear communication. I want to know what my duties are, I want to know how I am expected to fulfill those duties, and I want to know what conditions exist that will affect my ability to fulfill those duties when those conditions arise.
Second, I don't want anyone to ever fucking call me a hero unless they give me a goddamn pay raise or some extra banked vacation time or something that isn't hollow, meaningless words. I already know my employers are exploiting me; at least don't insult my intelligence by pretending they're grateful for me.
Third, I'd like to feel as if my workplace is something better than a place where the vultures at the top of the ladder are just harvesting profit from my labor. Donate to a civil rights advocacy group or volunteer to clean a highway or something.
Fourth, recycling bins are nice to see around the office. They just make me feel good.
Fifth, and this one may be too specific to my line of work to be applicable to you, I like diversity in the workforce, not for ideological reasons but for practical ones. I would really like to have a male coworker somewhere in the building when I'm expected to provide care for a man who likes to lift his leg like a dog taking a piss so he can show me his boner and demand I take care of it for him.
Actually, related to points one and five, I'd like it if management was proactive about identifying and communicating issues in the workplace. Reporting the previous situation is bad enough; having your supervisor tell you, "Oh yeah, we knew about that" makes me want to kill myself.
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@rightmeow This is probably going to make people roll their eyes, but... praise. Honest to god, sincere compliments on... something.
My boss right now is the best boss I have ever had the fortune to know. My first day was a dumpster fire. I forgot my lunch and sugar crashed, and he didn't even make me feel like a dumbass.
He finds a way to say something complimenting me every time I have a review. It can be something tiny, or something bigger.
Today, we went over bonus review checklist. I got stupid sick back in November and missed 4 days. I missed a day when my grandmother died. So according to metric, I BOMBED for the last quarter in that category. But my boss? "But then you've got your exceeds expectation in consumer communication. I never worry about you there, you're good with explaining everything to the consumers. So you evened that out to meets expectations."
It's not huge, but he always finishes on a positive.
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@rightmeow said in Tell me what you want -- work edition:
What would have motivated you or helped you have fun?
Don't do this. Companies that try to "have fun" are so hollow and annoying. It's work. I know it's work. You know it's work. We're not fooling anyone. If it was fun, it'd be a hobby and you wouldn't have to pay me to do it. About the most fun I like out of a place I work is an informal happy hour get together with my coworkers after hours. However, the emphasis is on the "informal." The more people attend, particularly higher-ups, the more it starts to feel like it's something I have to take part in for office politics reasons, and now it's back to being a company that likes to "have fun."
The thing that makes me like my job is having a workplace that is organized and competently run. I'm banging my head against that right now, as my current employer is pants-on head idiotic with how they run some things and communication between areas is terrible. So keeps things organized and run it competently, and you'll be a winner in my book and probably the books of most of your subordinates.
Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam
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@ominous said in Tell me what you want -- work edition:
Companies that try to "have fun" are so hollow and annoying.
While you can't force your workers to have fun at work, as a boss I try to make work as fun as possible. If work is not fun? I don't like doing it. So, I can understand that, if work is not fun, people may be looking for a job which is fun to them.
But, as you said, you can't force people to do that. Some people like to treat their job as just that. And bosses should let them and not hold that against them. However, there is a substantial amount of people who want their job to feel less like work and more like fun, so if there's anything I can do to do that, I'mma gonna do it.
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A lot of really good comments already. The obvious things are increased pay, good health care, paid vacation/sick days, etc., but that is probably out of your control but that is what people really care about. Especially after what happened in 2020.
It's hard to give other specific suggestions because it is hard to give a blanket checkbox to tick to make everyone happier, each team has individuals who have different outlooks in life. In the end, one I believe works for everyone in all walks of life is to remember that employees are human beings too, the highest earning CEO is not a special human compared to the lowest hourly wage worker, both are human beings. So it's best to remember that employees are not robots or worker drones, they are people. Treat them like people, with common decency, respect, and understanding of the challenges in life when it comes up.
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I have the good fortune to have a good manager at my job.
The main thing he does, which other managers don't seem to, is he's proactive about asking if I have any problems or concerns.
Your 'traditional' manager will assume if there's a problem, you will tell them. His assumption is that we'll try to handle everything ourselves, and maybe not tell him or tell him too late for him to support.
So, be proactive in asking your team if there are any issues, problems, concerns - and don't just relate it to work stuff. Sometimes just knowing about it is enough, but if you can support, so much the better.
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Free coffee, bottled water, sodas, and snacks. In tech support this was essential and kept us fueled all day, without costing us part of our paycheck. The free "scoop your own" ice cream, cappuccino maker, and popcorn machine were a bit over the top.
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@betternow said in Tell me what you want -- work edition:
The free "scoop your own" ice cream, cappuccino maker, and popcorn machine were a bit over the top.
No. No, every place of employment should have a fully stocked cappuccino machine available. Every single one.
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Thank you for all your feedback.
Raises are out of my hands as they are union set and by their voted in raise guidelines.
Benefit packages are also over my head, however, it doesn't mean I won't try to influence that.
We do have keriugs (spelling?) and free 'pods' of all types not as cool as a cappuccino machine. I tried man. I tried.
I also have a GREAT team. They are amazing. I have an open door policy and I stand by it, for everything. If it's just they are having a bad day, etc. They are always free to come in and I try to empower them more than not. It has been a ROUGH year for everyone. I'm looking at ways to make it so they want to come to work, not just check a box. It's not that I have high turn over, it's just I want to do stuff within my power to appreciate them.
So maybe another question?
What has made you feel appreciated at a job you have worked at, currently, previously, or hopefully?
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@rightmeow said in Tell me what you want -- work edition:
What has made you feel appreciated at a job you have worked at, currently, previously, or hopefully?
Exec calling my team out in a way that made it clear they actually understood what they were praising us for. Sincere recognition of actual accomplishments, not platitudes. It was hands down the best work moment I've had, having the executive team praise my team in front of everyone else in a way that made it really clear that what we were doing was helpful and it really mattered.
ETA: the gift card for Amazon with the handwritten note from council was nice, but seriously, the understanding/recognition combo was what did it.
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@rightmeow So I run business ops with about 3k or so in my call center organization which is the fourth largest cable/Internet company in the United States.
During Covid we have sent many home. If an agent gets good survey results or exceptionally high productivity at the end of the week we will send their family a pizza dinner.
Strategically rather then doing traditional call center KPI evaluation we have gained a lot of buy-in switching to a Calls per Effective Hour Model. We take the CSR/TSR agents number of Calls per Hour. Simply take 3600 seconds and divide by their handle time.
So if a rep has an AHT of 600 seconds their calls per hour is 6.
Then we determine Effective Calls per Hour by two of our most important stats (Transfers + 7 Day Repeats) which are pretty common KPI depending on what your business is.
So if a rep has a 10% transfer rate and 10% 7 Day Repeat Rate (Meaning the customer calls back within 7 days) they would have their Calls per Hour modified down 20% to determine their Effective Calls per Hour.
In this case it would be 4.8 Effective Calls per Hour.
In call centers it sucks when you have someone who has high AHT (Handle time) but does amazing with the customers. By being good reps they transfer less and generate a better customer experience but we penalize them for a metric that in wholistic customer care they are doing what they should be.
Outlining this out and changing scorecards to include this and quality has worked wonders for our organization. It's brought some fairness into those special people that just spend a lot of time with their customers but the results are company beneficial.
I found clear logic and approach of data and performance is always driving performance. Then taking that performance and doing minimal things where you send their family pizza to 50 or so people each week goes a long way in the world we are in.
If you want to IM directly for any other advice or details I am happy to dialogue on it.
I also listen to calls with agents and encourage all my business leaders to do so. Active call calibration at regular intervals shows you are involved and make them a part of the call quality process when you can.
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Let me bring my dog to work.
That's it. That's all.
"If you stand for nothing Burr, what will you fall for?"
-- Hamilton: An American Musical -
@cupcake said in Tell me what you want -- work edition:
Let me bring my dog to work.
That's it. That's all.
Must disagree. As much as I love dogs, that makes for a very unprofessional work environment.
Get around that by letting ME bring Cupcake's dog to work.
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@cupcake I'd love this, but I also realize that we have to be cognizant of others. My best friend growing up was terrified of dogs, and such a work environment would have traumatized her.
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Dang, I would give a kidney to have a therapy dog assigned to our school. For our kiddos suffering from trauma it would be SO AMAZING to have that where they could access it.
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@silverfox My son's school is actually going to have one when in-school teaching resumes in Feb. An emotional support dog who will be kept in a specific area (so kids with allergies or fears won't be put in his sphere) and kids that just need a few minutes can go cuddle a dog.
