need some advice

kittensoft1984

hey,

i need some advice guys.

im new to a job....like ive been here a month.

Im starting to get really annoyed with the way things are run.

Basically we have a call time of €120 minutes each day. 2 members of the team reach this every day as they are making personal calls and its been counted against their call time.

Please dont tell me to just do as they do cos that wont solve the problem.

Anyway the straw that broke the camels back happened today, one of the girls has made NO sales calls today and she is on 99 mins and is getting congratulated for it!!!!!!! This just pisses me off.

So my question is, do i say something and be the bad person on the team or do i just leave it in the hope that someone cops on.

see if i do that i know that i will lose it eventually and will have a blazing row which i dont want either......

or should i just leave..?

advice please?

AARRRGH

Could you try explaining this again? I'm having a hard time following what the problem is...

Thanks.

EDIT: Ah, I think you are saying you need to make cold calls of 120 minutes per day, and some people are reaching this amount by making personal calls? As Seamus suggests, I would mention this is private to your boss, without naming names.

seamus

Ah sales.

Sales is a horrible business to be in, particularly where you're on the phone. You'll find that your colleagues and management care about nothing except hitting targets.

The best advice I can give is to play dumb. The next time you have a team meeting, just say something like, "I noticed that outgoing calls count against your total call time, surely only incoming calls should count?". Wrap you hair around your finger and chew bubble gum if you have to, to make yourself look innocent.

The other option is to say it privately to your boss. Don't name names, but just mention that it's going on. They'll either know about it and ask you not to rock the boat* or they'll thank you for bringing it to their attention.

In sales, often your colleagues would just as quickly stab you in the back as buy you a drink. Don't be afraid of taking action if it wil benefit you.

*If they know about it, that means that they produce fancy graphs for their boss to show how great the team is doing and don't really care about what makes up those graphs.

kerry4sam

everyone has at least one aspect of their new job that bothers them. Now im not saying to just go along with it but i also dont think you should put up with it seen as it is getting to you...Is their a supervisor on the floor or is it just senior management? Perhaps you could ask, purely innocent of couse , ask your head mgr is that allowed in here? Say oh its just that i thought some of the others were doing that and you just wanted to be sure before you dont anything uptoward in there considering you really want this job to work out

kittensoft1984

see the thing is ive already been told that its not allowed so i cant really go down that route.

my worry is that my manager will think bad of me if i say it - maybe its just me being paranoid but i keep thinking they will think that im only new and that im already rocking the boat.....

to be honest i dont really care what the other people think as was said your colleagues can just as easily stab you in the back as buy you a drink.

it is really getting to me and i wouldnt be wanting to do anything if it wasnt getting to me so much.

I just think its unfair that im made to look bad just cos they are making personal calls ya know?

MIN2511

I think you should stick it out for another 5 months or so, don't leave because someone else is getting congratulated for doing nothing. You wanted the job and you got it, you really don't need to concern yourself with what other people are doing. And please don't mention it to the boss, he/she would think of you as a snitch. You really don't need to make enemies


Not being harsh, but i know the feeling and it does suck but such is life.

kittensoft1984

MIN2511 wrote: »

I think you should stick it out for another 5 months or so, don't leave because someone else is getting congratulated for doing nothing. You wanted the job and you got it, you really don't need to concern yourself with what other people are doing. And please don't mention it to the boss, he/she would think of you as a snitch. You really don't need to make enemies


Not being harsh, but i know the feeling and it does suck but such is life.

yes i wanted the job but i also want to work in fair environment.

its not about the fact that they are doing nothing, its about the fact that its making me look bad.

homeOwner

kittensoft1984 wrote: »

yes i wanted the job but i also want to work in fair environment.

its not about the fact that they are doing nothing, its about the fact that its making me look bad.

It is unfair but thats life unfortunately. Seriously I know you are p1ssed off with it but after a few months in there you will probably be taking short cuts too. Your work collegues are just trying to get through the day and I think its kind of funny (as in funny haha) that they are able to get away with this as it seems like such an obvious scam. Dont know you management know this goes on. They probably started out on the phones themselves and know exactly what the score is.

I am not saying its right but I dont begrudge someone trying to get through a day by taking a few liberties. I am a manager and as long as my team get their work done I dont mind if they make personal phone calls or surf the web every now and again.

Seriously I would not advise mentioning it to your manager. Its not your job to blow the whistle on it, it might only make your manager look stupid for not doing anything about it in the first place. Also its a fairly serious accusation to make against your fellow workers. Make certain you are right before heading down that path.

kittensoft1984

homeOwner wrote: »

It is unfair but thats life unfortunately. Seriously I know you are p1ssed off with it but after a few months in there you will probably be taking short cuts too. Your work collegues are just trying to get through the day and I think its kind of funny (as in funny haha) that they are able to get away with this as it seems like such an obvious scam. Dont know you management know this goes on. They probably started out on the phones themselves and know exactly what the score is.

I am not saying its right but I dont begrudge someone trying to get through a day by taking a few liberties. I am a manager and as long as my team get their work done I dont mind if they make personal phone calls or surf the web every now and again.

Seriously I would not advise mentioning it to your manager. Its not your job to blow the whistle on it, it might only make your manager look stupid for not doing anything about it in the first place. Also its a fairly serious accusation to make against your fellow workers. Make certain you are right before heading down that path.

ok i can understand all that. The fact is we dont have a manager in our side of the building.

the thing is they are not making the "odd" personal phone call.

the difference is we have to make the 120 minutes a day. i wouldnt care if that target was not in place but it is.

MIN2511

I wish i could say "honesty is the best policy" but really, i think you should wait a while before you say anything to the boss.
Some people might say you should report it, it all depends on you. You know them more than we do so if you think you want to report it then go ahead and keep us informed

Mrs OBumble

IMHO, You take responsibility for YOUR performance.

When they make you a manager, then you can worry about supervising other staff, auditing time reports, training, checking up sales figures, following up dodgy sick leave, heading off personal grievances when new staff rock the boat, making sure you meet the health-and-safety requirements, recruiting new staff, doing performance reviews, keeping senior management and shareholders happy, etc.

In the meantime, instead of looking at everyone else, try focussing on your own performance: why are you not managing to make target call time? Fine to ask others/management for hints on how you can lift your own game. Not fine to be pointing the the finger at other people, especially when you're only a month into the job - you can't possibly understand the fully dynamics of what's going on, and why things might be the way they are.

If it helps, tell yourself that management already know (which I bet they do, most aren't as dumb as they seem), and that they are carefully monitoring with a view to taking appropriate action when enough evidence has been gathered, and that your stepping in now will just upset the evidence-gathering. Or, if you can't convince yourself of that, just believe that there is karma in the universe, and that the others will come back as ugly frogs in their next lives.

kittensoft1984

JustMary wrote: »

IMHO, You take responsibility for YOUR performance.

When they make you a manager, then you can worry about supervising other staff, auditing time reports, training, checking up sales figures, following up dodgy sick leave, heading off personal grievances when new staff rock the boat, making sure you meet the health-and-safety requirements, recruiting new staff, doing performance reviews, keeping senior management and shareholders happy, etc.

In the meantime, instead of looking at everyone else, try focussing on your own performance: why are you not managing to make target call time? Fine to ask others/management for hints on how you can lift your own game. Not fine to be pointing the the finger at other people, especially when you're only a month into the job - you can't possibly understand the fully dynamics of what's going on, and why things might be the way they are.

If it helps, tell yourself that management already know (which I bet they do, most aren't as dumb as they seem), and that they are carefully monitoring with a view to taking appropriate action when enough evidence has been gathered, and that your stepping in now will just upset the evidence-gathering. Or, if you can't convince yourself of that, just believe that there is karma in the universe, and that the others will come back as ugly frogs in their next lives.

i am taking repsonbility for my performance.

I am nearly hitting the target - my point is that they are hitting by making personal calls. if they werent making personal calls, they wouldnt be making the target.

whats there to understand about the dynamics? Im assuming its not normal practice to make the calls and say nothing.

flash harry

surely theyre not making sales if theyre not talking to clients??? is this not blatantly obvious??

rick_fantastic

the key here is to make up your target with personal calls....

just make sure not to call the same person repetitively. that how you'll get caught out!

kittensoft1984

you see i dont want to do that

i dont think its fair and id be a bit of a hypocrit if i started doing it now.

kerry4sam

kittensoft1984 wrote: »

you see i dont want to do that

i dont think its fair and id be a bit of a hypocrit if i started doing it now.

hey kittensoft has things improved at all in yourplace since your first post? Have you taken any action in work over the phonecalls scenario?

kittensoft1984

hiya kerry

well i havent taken any action but the girl in question is being moved to another team!

shes been moved next week so that may eradicate some of the problem!

Clytus

I cant believe that things like that can happen without management noticing.

Surley theres some sorta calls:sales ratio that sets a trend??

At the end of the month I bet theres some sort of management review,where sales are looked at,wages,overheads etc...etc...If the numbers dont make sense and change doesnt happen someone will get the bullet.

I wouldnt worry about it too much OP...let management do thier jobs...and you do your own.

smiler26

Agreed - and I would also add that it doesnt seem like an entirely decent company, so if I were you, I would be making sure my CV was up to date and being circulated!

Good luck!

kittensoft1984

yeah it is up to date

just havent got around to sending it out yet!

i dont think they are that bad to be honest, they just need a team leader for my dept!

to be honest i have smashed all my targets this month and thats what i get paid on!

have a review next month so we'll see then!

kerry4sam

kittensoft1984 wrote: »

hiya kerry

well i havent taken any action but the girl in question is being moved to another team!

shes been moved next week so that may eradicate some of the problem!

little quiet success like that should be celebrated. Those kinda people are in all workplaces but more often than not nothing is done about it.
Well done you for sticking with it. If you're not happy in your workplace all else suffers in your life so im happy for ya

kittensoft1984

kerry4sam wrote: »

little quiet success like that should be celebrated. Those kinda people are in all workplaces but more often than not nothing is done about it.
Well done you for sticking with it. If you're not happy in your workplace all else suffers in your life so im happy for ya

yeah im kinda happy.

means now that my call time wont look half as bad!