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RIGHT?! It’s always the ones that never seem busy so busy themselves with scheduling meetings and following up with a teams pop up
That is so true. This particular individual was sitting behind me last week and all they did was run from one meeting to another and whenever they were at their desk, the screen was stuck on their calendar while they were looking at their phone the whole time.
We’re all sick of covid, but I’m also tired of people coming to work with covid symptoms. Almost 50 % of our office are out with it, and senior management are trying to keep it quiet. then I found out a senior colleague flew between 2 offices in different countries this week knowingly having tested positive that morning.
I was promoted from being a "customer experience" agent to team leader a couple of weeks ago, managing a team of 10.
Each day the team leaders have to listen in on three phone calls that each agent has taken, score them, and add comments. These ratings are visible to the agents the next day, and they're encouraged to review them as they're good learning tools - especially in the case of the comments, which often include suggestions for how they could have handled things better. Even as a team leader, I have to take calls for three hours every day which are also monitored and scored - so I'm very much living and breathing the whole process.
One of my direct reports is constantly challenging my scores. This is wasting precious time as a meeting is then scheduled between her, one of my higher-ups, and me, where she'll argue that she didn't say something - only for us all to listen to the recording and determine that she did. I wondered if the issue was personal (with me), but she apparently pulled the same thing with the team leader before me (who is now one of my higher-ups).
This has been going on for two weeks now - with a daily meeting of about an hour to try and clarify things. That is an hour's worth of phone calls going to other agents, who are battling their own workloads, which some members of the team have expressed concern and unhappiness about.
I suggested to my higher-up that this person be assigned to another team as she doesn't seem very happy where she is; he said they will not consider doing that until she proves herself. I then suggested we have a weekly meeting with her - he wasn't keen on that either, as we wouldn't be able to spend enough time discussing all the calls.
I don't want to be the bad guy here - I honestly think she feels that she's being scored unfairly and it doesn't help that she won't take any feedback onboard (repeating a lot of the same behaviours over and over again), but I have to choose my words really carefully as she could take a personal grievance if she feels she's been treated unfairly. A part of me wonders if she is challenging the feedback just to get out of answering calls ... ugh; the whole situation is just so annoying. If I just scored her highly for everything and left no comments, I'd be pulled up for not doing my job properly.
Each day the team leaders have to listen in on three phone calls that each agent has taken, score them, and add comments. These ratings are visible to the agents the next day, and they're encouraged to review them as they're good learning tools - especially in the case of the comments, which often include suggestions for how they could have handled things better. Even as a team leader, I have to take calls for three hours every day which are also monitored and scored - so I'm very much living and breathing the whole process.
One of my direct reports is constantly challenging my scores. This is wasting precious time as a meeting is then scheduled between her, one of my higher-ups, and me, where she'll argue that she didn't say something - only for us all to listen to the recording and determine that she did. I wondered if the issue was personal (with me), but she apparently pulled the same thing with the team leader before me (who is now one of my higher-ups).
This has been going on for two weeks now - with a daily meeting of about an hour to try and clarify things. That is an hour's worth of phone calls going to other agents, who are battling their own workloads, which some members of the team have expressed concern and unhappiness about.
I suggested to my higher-up that this person be assigned to another team as she doesn't seem very happy where she is; he said they will not consider doing that until she proves herself. I then suggested we have a weekly meeting with her - he wasn't keen on that either, as we wouldn't be able to spend enough time discussing all the calls.
I don't want to be the bad guy here - I honestly think she feels that she's being scored unfairly and it doesn't help that she won't take any feedback onboard (repeating a lot of the same behaviours over and over again), but I have to choose my words really carefully as she could take a personal grievance if she feels she's been treated unfairly. A part of me wonders if she is challenging the feedback just to get out of answering calls ... ugh; the whole situation is just so annoying. If I just scored her highly for everything and left no comments, I'd be pulled up for not doing my job properly.
We share a room occasionally and one of my colleagues keeps humming continuously. It's winding me up soooo much I can't concentrate!
This gets me too!
Whenever I forward a long email chain to someone not already in it, I always give a summary and exactly what I need help with or want them to comment on.
Not only is it good manners but it vastly increases the chance of a reply.
Which brings me onto my whinge, people who hardly ever reply to emails. It’s become a running joke among some people - eg “ah yeah don’t bother emailing him/her he/she never replies haha”. As if that’s acceptable! I know some people are busy but never replying to emails shows they can’t manage time or don’t care about an aspect of their role.
It also gets me. When you have a good reputation for responsiveness (as we all should) colleagues often take the piss and pass the buck when they can't be bothered to figure something out themselves.
In a similar vein, I'm often staggered by my colleagues terrible communication skills. Not answering a direct question you've asked and responding a waffling email that tells you nothing or just not responding at all despite something clearly being their responsibility.
To toot my own horn I work hard, I'm organised and professional. I was lambasted last week for a spelling error in an e mail (the spell check had changed it to an Americanised spelling and I didn't notice).
I have literally seen an e mail from a colleague to a customer that said 'I don't know what you're on about' just that as a response!.
And they wonder why morale is low. I really wish I was the kind of person to tell tales as I spent most of my time rectifying others mistakes to save the company face/money. Working hard and not making a fuss is obviously not enough.
How petty to pull you up on something so subjective. American English/ British English - who cares? Its hardly the same as sending out something with a major typo. Some people just have to make themselves feel important.
Speaking of low morale, I'm fed up of senior managers not thanking support staff for their efforts. Being able to recognise efforts appropriate to their level is so important for morale. Obviously as a senior person you have a deeper understanding of things but I see people work harder where there is acknowledgement of the work they put in rather than having it picked apart. Thanking some for their efforts separates the wheat from the chaff in terms of good management.
@ItsMeMelZ This is a real problem at my office too. I manage a small team and we recently inherited a project and a new director has been appointed over it. He's keen to make a splash with the senior management team and he is doing so. He's highly efficient, drives results and got up to speed with the company and project quicker than anyone anticipated, however he is majorly lacking in soft skills which is having an impact of my teams morale. Most of my team are junior and although they are the bread and butter operationally they lack the strategic insight and frankly salary to work and the pace he would like. He doesn't seem to be able to flex his communication style to different levels throughout the project, nor does he understand that a junior admin is not as invested as he is so he obviously needs to be a leader and be patient and provide guidance and praise where its due. He never says thanks, he questions everything curtly. He doesn't acknowledge the work that goes into meeting prep or reports he just curtly responds with his desired changes. I've mentioned it to my boss, who doesn't want to address it for fear for it will knock him off his stride. I don't see how anyone can make it to that level if they only do well working with people at their level and above. There should be mandatory training for managing people and communication styles whether or not you have direct reports.
I had an email today where someone wrote "I told you this right at the start of the project, months ago".
I'm almost certain he didn't, as I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered it. Plus it's just rude. I think he's just covering his arse.
I'm almost certain he didn't, as I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered it. Plus it's just rude. I think he's just covering his arse.
When you reach out to someone to ask a question on an issue to see if they can help. They don't help and then during a call with the lead, they say: "So, I was experiencing an issue TheGlossy was experiencing and I would like to know XYZ".
If you tell me you don't know how to solve it, let me raise it myself with the lead. Why are you speaking for me without even asking me? I don't like it when people do this because they try to act as though they've taken the lead on something when I simply asked for help and they couldn't help. I don't like it when people try to make themselves look good at the expense of someone else.
If you tell me you don't know how to solve it, let me raise it myself with the lead. Why are you speaking for me without even asking me? I don't like it when people do this because they try to act as though they've taken the lead on something when I simply asked for help and they couldn't help. I don't like it when people try to make themselves look good at the expense of someone else.
Welfare checks that involve telling you to “be positive” and failing to address any problems
A colleague kept sneezing out into the open air during a meeting today. He then proceeded to violently snort snot to the back of his throat approx every 10 seconds for the duration of the meeting. At one point he excused himself, presumably to wash his hands because he returned only to wipe his hands on the tissue he'd been snotting into 
plenty of senior colleagues present do you think even one called him out on his vile germ spreading. So thanks to the selfish tossers inability to stay home, we're probably all incubating covid or flu as I type.
plenty of senior colleagues present do you think even one called him out on his vile germ spreading. So thanks to the selfish tossers inability to stay home, we're probably all incubating covid or flu as I type.Does anyone have experience or advice on this. So my team are mostly junior office staff and a few of them are complaining that some of the older coworkers (same level) are treating them like kids and are generally condescending. To give context, the company is years old with lots of people there from day 1. It was acquired and is going for a trendier culture but there's naturally resistance from some legacy staff. This wasn't an issue working from home but now we're back some are pulling the elder card and manipulating juniors into doing their donkey work, like the way offices would have been ran years ago. I'm not saying they shouldn't be giving a dig out or respecting the experience of people who know the company inside out, but I've had complaints like this:
1) a member of my team helped the receptionist carry and unload deliveries one day. The receptionist has manual handling training, its been part of her job since she started years ago. Now she keeps calling him everytime something comes in and uses manipulative language like "I know my buddy will make time to help" , "you're in here a wet day this is how you earn your stripes'
2) I had a new admin start and she seems great. She's efficient, responsive, takes ownership but the office manager has taken a dislike to her (perhaps feels threatened) he's twice her age if not more and talks to her likes she's a small child. She forgot her swipe card and he ripped into her telling her its not his job to let her in and out. Then later that day it happened to someone else and his reaction was vastly different "no worries Pal anytime" any suggestions she makes for admin improvements he shoots down and says "that's not how we do things here"
I now have to figure out how to tactfully nip this in the bud and foster a culture that everyone has a valuable role in the workplace.
1) a member of my team helped the receptionist carry and unload deliveries one day. The receptionist has manual handling training, its been part of her job since she started years ago. Now she keeps calling him everytime something comes in and uses manipulative language like "I know my buddy will make time to help" , "you're in here a wet day this is how you earn your stripes'
2) I had a new admin start and she seems great. She's efficient, responsive, takes ownership but the office manager has taken a dislike to her (perhaps feels threatened) he's twice her age if not more and talks to her likes she's a small child. She forgot her swipe card and he ripped into her telling her its not his job to let her in and out. Then later that day it happened to someone else and his reaction was vastly different "no worries Pal anytime" any suggestions she makes for admin improvements he shoots down and says "that's not how we do things here"
I now have to figure out how to tactfully nip this in the bud and foster a culture that everyone has a valuable role in the workplace.
I started a new role at the end of 2021 which involves management of a team that is in such a dire state because the management before me were so inconsistent and awful. I am trying my best to improve the culture and working practices but it is a massively hard slog. This week, on Thursday and Friday, I worked extremely long days trying to action lots of tasks including picking up work for someone who suddenly went off sick on Thursday. I ended up having about 5 emails from 4 different individuals (all from the same department) about the exact same issue. By the time I replied to the third one, I wrote: “this is the third time I’ve responded to this query. Please see my original response below…I suggest you agree a single point of contact from your department in future”. Subsequently, I had a reply from them where they copied in my manager saying my tone was frustrated, rude and unnecessary.
i hate when people do that! It feels like they’re “telling“ on you to your manager and it’s so unnecessary!
On a side note, as I am still fairly new and due to the volume of work I was trying to action on Thursday/Friday, I now have pretty bad work anxiety for Monday as I am worried I may have inadvertently done something wrong as I was juggling so many tasks at once!!
i hate when people do that! It feels like they’re “telling“ on you to your manager and it’s so unnecessary!
On a side note, as I am still fairly new and due to the volume of work I was trying to action on Thursday/Friday, I now have pretty bad work anxiety for Monday as I am worried I may have inadvertently done something wrong as I was juggling so many tasks at once!!
It is always difficult when new staff/new culture comes in somewhere but everyone has to adapt and be respectful of each other.
The second guy is a bully and needs a verbal warning.
The first one probably just needs a quiet word to establish if they are struggling with that part of their job, so they can get some help by someone with appropriate training. If they’re just being lazy then it’s not ok.
Maybe you guys need one of those team bonding days. A bit wanky but it might help?
Good advice thanks. Would you believe I put a placeholder in calendar for May for a team day and the two that could benefit most declinedIt is always difficult when new staff/new culture comes in somewhere but everyone has to adapt and be respectful of each other.
The second guy is a bully and needs a verbal warning.
The first one probably just needs a quiet word to establish if they are struggling with that part of their job, so they can get some help by someone with appropriate training. If they’re just being lazy then it’s not ok.
Maybe you guys need one of those team bonding days. A bit wanky but it might help?
Receptionist said she was taking leave (fair enough) and the OM said he didn't feel comfortable going with covid numbers the way they are. I then heard through the grapevine he was telling others "he's too long in the tooth for this sh*te" 
I've my work cut out here.- Status