Hi! Just to start off, this is a throw away account for obvious reasons. I'll try to respond, but I don't know how long I'll keep it up. I lurk on my personal account, and really don't want the company, or this post to come bite me.
I work at a call center, and it's going south, really fast. Lets call them… Pal Pay (you can guess who it is) Been here for four years, and today got the news of “You're going to need to start pushing our products, or you need to find a new job.” I was just general customer service, and then I was pushed to be a universal agent for all departments after a year. My 'training class' was all people who were here for YEARS before having to be universal, meaning they only did one department and that was it.
Stock dropped, its all leaders talk about. Leads make a ton of money. Me? $17 an hour, with NON stop calls. Metrics were a bit out a reach, but would always exceed them which has been brought up every time for review, but each time I'm told “you can do better, you're just not there yet.”
Recently, they've been pushing us using a new program to put in our 'leads' to customers who may end up using a product like a company debit card or card reader. It started off as a “hey, just have this here in case ya need it”, now it's cracking down.
A company wide letter was released, and to break it down, basically said that the managers and sups are now the ones who shoulder if the company is doing well or not, and basically all super higher ups took their hand out the cookie jar for decisions, but of course not of the money.
When I told them I signed up to help customers. Just answer calls and help people understand things better, or fix what I can, it was agreed that it was all I would do unless I made the choice to do more. Welp, being forced to universal agent wasn't my choice. No pay bump, I was told that later on I could 'get a promotion within being universal, and you should put in the work now to get that, but it's just a maybe'. Last week I get told that I need to push sales, otherwise the yearly bonus will be taken away. Well guess who hasn't gotten a bonus yet, because they always pull some bull on something about a stat not being good enough.
So, I told them I didn't care about the bonus. I care that I'm helping people, I want to like what I do. I didn't sign up to do sales, and I'm never gonna do it. They didn't like that. Today I get the meeting of either push the sales, or get a new job. I asked if I could change departments, as I brought it up a hundred times before that I didn't want to be on the phones forever, and they laughed at me. Supervisor, and his boss, both told me that they will NOT allow me to go to a different department or promote in any way shape or form, until I do sales for them for the next 6 months, AT LEAST. I left that meeting absolutely stunned.
I'm shocked. I don't want to take calls anymore, and turns out, they did this to a bunch of other reps and I only found out because one reached out to me crying that they were doing this.
This company is going to force reps to make a sales attempt on ALL calls in the very near future, and if they don't meet that? Sucks to suck.
I had to put this out there. It's not okay. To quote their letter:
” We have decided to reshape our company to be truly organized around our customers, with a relentless focus on prioritization and execution.” “It is important to understand that our new operating model extends to all of us, requiring us to bring a customer champion mindset and a relentless focus on prioritization and execution to everything we do. The only sustainable way to build back the value of our company is by fully satisfying our customers goals and objectives, while we advance our commitments and our mission.”
I don't know what to do from here. I put out a few applications, but I feel so lost on what I could do that isn't calls. I want to be behind the scenes. Doing like paperwork, or case work, or something NOT ON THE PHONE ANYMORE. Any recommendations? The boat is being rocked here, and a lot of things are changing incredibly fast, but none actually help people. Lot of front line reps are panicking, and we're just panicking to each other. It's a hot mess, and I feel really alone in all of this.