New manager ‘quits’ after forcing impossible productivity goals at a call center which ultimately implodes workflow: ‘Customers were NOT happy’

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
May 23, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

Why do new managers always feel like they have something to prove? 

One new manager at a healthcare call center recently came into the workplace and completely imploded everything that was good about their working environment. Since many of their calls were sensitive in nature, many of the employees took great care in documenting their calls and giving individual attention to each concerned caller. However, this new manager saw nothing but spreadsheet numbers and productivity goals every time the phone rang, enlisting an impossible new productivity standard that cut call times in half–against the better judgment of every seasoned worker. 

Keep scrolling to see how this inexperienced manager deployed horrendously naïve workflow standards on her team, which ultimately resulted in nightmarish working conditions and a lot of angry customer reviews. After this, here's a story of an audacious landlord who asks his tenant to leave a 25% tip on their monthly rent as gratuity. 

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  • 01
    "The company got so many bad reviews and complaints in the first six hours" IT
    via canva
  • 02
    New manager putting productivity over everything M I worked at a call center of nurses to give advice on whether the caller needed to go to the ER, GP, manage symptoms at home etcetera. As it's
    via Snjxx
  • 03
    health advice it's crucial to document everything, because if someone was for example instructed to stay at home while exhibiting clear stroke symptoms, we'd be responsible. Well, a new manager was hired above our own "floor" manager to increase productivity as the number of calls increased rapidly
    via Snjxx
  • 04
    She felt it was necessary to reduce the time we spent on finishing on documenting after the call had ended. In addition to medical records, we had to fill out a short questionnaire about each call to monitor the reasons people call us (internal purposes, not really my expertise). So, it obviously took a while. Average time I think was around 3 minutes after each call.
    via Snjxx
  • 05
    The new manager informed us that 90 seconds was going to be enough and she had asked the IT department to make the program push us a new call after those 90 seconds whether we were ready or not. The call would ring (loudly, first on headphones and after
    via Snjxx
  • 06
    10 seconds on the computer's sound system), new patient information screen popped up, everything unfinished was pushed to the back and we had to either decline the call (only allowed in emergencies) or let it ring and try and work over the ringing which could not be muted.
    via Snjxx
  • 07
    It was horrible, the noise was unbearable and just in a few hours we workers complained so much that the new manager just told us to take the new call and finish up the old one while talking to the new patient. Cue malicious compliance.
    via Snjxx
  • 08
    Patient information law (similar to HIPAA in the US) violations here we come, having two patients' info up at the same time, trying to figure out why the latter called and wrapping up the previous one. How many documentations were written on the wrong patient's records?
    via Snjxx
  • 09
    We tried. It was even worse than before. It took us about an hour to realize it would never work and so we took the new call, asked them to wait for a second, muted the call and finished up the previous one. The customers were not happy, but us workers gladly directed them to avenues to give feedback through.
    via Snjxx
  • 10
    The company got so many bad reviews and online complaints in the first six hours that they had to regroup and stay late on that Monday evening to undo everything. We went back to normal on Tuesday,
    via Snjxx
  • 11
    2 hours later than we should have opened, due to reprogramming. The new manager was with us less than three months, don't miss her a bit. I had the most chaotic, head ache inducing 8,5 hours of my life that day, still have nightmares of that ringtone.
    via Snjxx
  • 12
    PageFault 20 hr. ago This is a huge problem in medicine right now. My wife is a doctor, and they keep pushing more and more patients on her. She works at a clinic, and is off by 5pm, but she was working until 9:30 pm last night
    via PageFault
  • 13
    trying to keep up with notes and documentation about patients she saw that day. Management does. not. care. about patient health. They want as many patients as possible to come through. If you start making mistakes, it's not on them, it's on you, and they don't care.
    via PageFault
  • 14
    Snjxx OP 19 hr. ago I'm glad she quit! I'm also working somewhere where quality of care is put over quantity (charity based organisation). I was so worried I'd make a mistake while rushing
    via Snjxx
  • 15
    through the calls. It's hard to assess people without seeing them, you have to trust what they tell you and record everything they describe experiencing to prove your assessment.
    via Snjxx
  • 16
    bishcraft1979 - 20 hr. ago This is just a style. poor management I completely accept that our job is to be productive and complete as much work as possible over the shortest period possible but that doesn't happen in the long term by burning people out.
    via bishcraft1979
  • 17
    Yep, you can get short bursts of increases productivity from people but this will dip below average upon burn out averaging out the work completed (or reducing). Having a happy, well looked after team creates harmony and balance giving you a longer life work force
    via bishcraft1979
  • 18
    Snjxx OP 19 hr. ago Exactly this. After that fiasco management did increase our call number goals for each worker by 10%. Our previously fastest workers (I was one of them some months but not always) burned out really quick and the slowest could not keep up and crumbled under pressure. Nobody wins.
    via Snjxx
  • 19
    tiasaiwr 18 hr. ago It's like some managers get promoted to their posistion without ever having heard of Chesterson's fence. Which I guess is the equivalent of a farmer never having heard of rain.
    via tiasaiwr
  • 20
    Agent-c1983 18 hr. ago Urgh spreadsheet managers. Even a sack of potatoes is better than a slreadsheet manager - the potatoes at least don't make things worse, and can serve a purpose.
    via Agent-c1983
  • 21
    Tallguy71 18 hr. ago Ah...a new manager. The beginning of the end. The false self importance almost always breaks down good working environments.
    via Tallguy71

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