Job Related Hell

First, I cannot say the name of where I work, and if you KNOW, I beg of you to not to put it in this thread. We were informed yesterday that they actually have people in the company whose job it is to Google the company name to see what’s being said about it, and if you are caught saying anything negative, you will be fired.

I fear the firing is coming soon, anyway, but I need to keep it just as long as I can.

I have had this job in a call center for a HUGE phone company for about a year and a half. They record every call for quality and randomly ‘grade’ 6 calls a month. About 3 mnths ago, they TOTALLY changed the entire quality standard, making it near impossible to now pass a quality check. One word mis-spoken and it’s a failed call. More people have been fired than I can count. I am bordering on being on that list.

I have begged my manager to let me take a monthly quality training class they run, but so far he has not gotten me enrolled. Last night, I got another failed quality call. Now, it’s not like I am doing horrible, horrible things, one little slip-forget to use the customer’s name, a silence period longer than 30 seconds while I am working on fixing their account or device and… Yeah. My customers are always happy with the service I provide. I can usually make them laugh, get their problem solved, and often get accolades. My calls rarely escalate to management.

In addition, I am NEVER late to work or from breaks. I am there every day. I get along with my co-workers, usually staying to myslef.

The job pays fairly well and I have a 401K, insurance, etc. I may not LIKE the job but I do not want to lose it…and I feel certain that is what is going to happen in the next couple months.

If I am fired, I will not be able to collect unemployment in the state of Indiana. When I was laid off from my last job, it took me almost a year to find this one, and the job situations here has not improved. I have already started putting in applications for other jobs, but no nibbles.

I am constantly sick to my stomach over this situation; I feel certain I am developing an ulcer. I don’t sleep well, and I am irritable with my beloved pets. Physically I am limited as to what type of work I can do. My arthritis in lower back & legs makes standing, walking or lifting out of the question.

I am about at the end of my rope with this. I don’t really know what I’m looking for by posting this here, I guess I just needed to vent a bit. But any good suggestions would be much appreciated.

Sorry this is so long.

Time to start pooping on managers desks.

First off: my sympathies.

Secondly: do you have the above snippet documented in some way? A copy of an email where you asked, or, better, a copy of a “no/not yet” response? ISTM that your manager is dropping the ball a little bit here. Is there a waiting list for these classes? It’s unusual for an employee to request (“beg”) additional training provided by the company itself and be turned down, particularly when said employee is demonstrating a need for the training being provided (by failing the quality reports).

Thirdly: a little more sympathy. What the heck.

Sorry, I’m not clear on this. What is the presumed benefit to the company by enforcing a quality standard that no one can practically meet? According to this story, they apparently are taking a job that is notorious for high turnover and actually taking steps to increase turnover. Unless their hiring and training costs are near zero and they are trying to keep most of their workforce at entry-level wages/, I don’t get what the objective is.

Meanwhile, not much else to do but go on the job search, as apparently the OP is doing.

I don’t really have any advice- it’s a tough spot that you’re in, and I hope that you’re able to find something else before the hammer comes down. But if it makes you feel any better, ulcers are not caused by stress, but by a bacterial infection.

El_Kabong, it does sound like they’re trying to keep labor costs down by firing people for cause. They can also bring in part-timers at lower wages and for next to no benefits to replace them. Since most training is likely done in a classroom-type environment, training costs are spread out over more people.

It’s a shitty situation.

Why not?

Most states only let you collect if you were let go from a job without cause. Firing is always considered to be for a reason.

I don’t know about the state of Indiana, but in New York and Connecticut, if you’ve been fired ‘for cause,’ ie for screwing up, being a bad employee, etc., you can’t get unemployment. You only get it if you’ve been laid off, which means that they’re restructuring and your job has been eliminated, your skills don’t match what they need you to do, and so on. If PapSett is fired for making errors (picayune and absurd as the standard may be), (s)he’s being fired for cause.

If you fire people for cause, you don’t have to pay unemployment. If you downsize, you do (and company policy may also require a severance package).

So, if the goal is to offshore some of your call center work to save money, which method for reducing your number of U.S. employees do you think will be more cost-effective? Setting a new staff level & laying off your overstaff, or setting impossible performance standards & firing people who don’t meet them (and, as a bonus, watch others who are barely meeting them quit because they can’t handle the stress) until you get to your new desired staffing level?

Not that I have any proof that is what this company is doing. All I have to base this on is my past experience working in call centers for the telecomm industry (all behind me, thank Dog), from which I’d estimate the likelihood of this at around 98%.

I’m sorry you’re having this problem. Let’s see what we can do to resolve it for you. Do you mind if I put you on hold for a moment? Thanks.

♩ ♬ *…do you know the way to San Jose? WA WA WA-WA wa wa wa-wa wa… * ♫ ♪ ♬

Exactly on the no unemployment if fired. They are constantly running 'new hire classes- they hire in batches. There were 23 in my hiring class, there are 7 of us left. They currently have 4 new hire classes running. The new hires make substantially less than the rest of us, I suspect that’s the reason they keep a fresh glut of newbies coming thru the door.

Most of my requests for the training class have been verbal, both to my immediate supervisor and to HIS boss. I may have an e mail of the request, not sure.

I just know the stress is getting to me, big time. Honestly, it is sucking me dry, in every way you can imagine. I cry daily on the days I have to go in, I feel like my sanity is slipping away.

No one should have to live like this. If I didn’t care, if I wasn’t trying, that would be one thing, but I go in there every night and do my very best. Incredibly frustrating.

You can fight the fired for cause. I don’t know about your state, but in many once you get past the administrative stages, companies don’t have much of a chance fighting a judge over an unemployment claim. Cause for firing like failure to show up for work, or stealing, will automatically disqualify you. But failing an arbitrary standard may not be accepted as a legitimate cause to deny unemployment. Consult a lawyer if it happens. The sharks who advertise on TV are good at these type of claims.

And start looking for a new job now!

I would also recommend documenting what you did to prevent your dismissal and hope you get a sympathetic arbitrator.

I recall when I was in H/R we let two people go for being habitually late. They were identical cases and we had great documentation.

They both filed for unemployment. We disputed. In one case we won, in the other the arbitrator said, “Well she did TRY to show up and she was there, you didn’t do enough to keep her on.” So we lost one.

This shows, it can be somewhat arbitrary on collecting unemployment. But you need to be prepared now.

Always file for unemployment and start looking for a new job now. And keep disputing, you never know.

Do document the quality-control request via email.

Also note the change in standards somehow - do you have any copies of the old vs. the new? If you do get fired for “cause”, you might have a good case for appealing the unemployment thing, if you can document that the firing is a result of unreasonable standards changes.

Oh -and for those wondering about the company’s reasoning behind wanting to fire someone vs laying them off for monetary purposes (e.g. lay off the older person making 15 an hour in favor of a newbie making 9): If a company has a lot of layoffs, the unemployment insurance can be VERY punitive.

I don’t have big-company figures of course, but when we let our nanny go, my unemployment rate went from a fraction of a percent, to something like 6% of salary. So if I’d hired a replacement, the unemployment bill would have jumped from 40ish dollars a year to nearly 500. Add that up over a bunch of employees and it gets pricey. Some companies will fight every unemployment claim on principle (those companies are dicks).

You have to think like management. Evil, vile (hey those are anagrams, I just noticed! :eek:), horrible, management. They are probably trying to downsize and by creating a standard no one can match, they are effectively able to fire at will with little or no cause. Probably saves them some money.

Sorry, that super-duper sucks. Sounds totally like what happened to me while working at my soul-sucking call-center job at a very large insurance company whose name sounds like a lizard. Economy was on the down turn, company needed to lose employees, so our relatively benign head manager was transferred and a jackhole took his place and changed shit up to either get more people fired for cause or quit in disgust. A call-center employee for a large company is never any more than a replaceable cog, and they never do let you forget it.

Well, that sucks. I don’t understand a company that is trying to get rid of people who actually like taking calls and are good at it - nobody likes taking calls (and being good at it makes you some kind of superhero!). Good luck with finding a job where they’ll appreciate you.

This is exactly the case in my state as well. Incompetence or failing to meet standards isn’t considered just cause for unemployment compensation purposes. The employee’s actions must be something egregious like not showing up, sleeping at work, stealing, etc., as TriPolar stated. The company will of course challenge the unemployment claim, and then you attend a hearing where you present your side and likely win. The companies are very quiet about this because they don’t want employees to know that they are entitled.