<p>I love the company I work for and the people I work for. I manage a small, boutique call center operation. My aggravation comes from the folks that work for me. I understand the economy is bad and all but even with all that I can’t find good people. We don’t pay badly for what we do here. We start in the $12.00 an hour range with benefits. It’s not a sweat shop by any stretch. </p>
<p>The problem comes down to the fact that I feel like all I do is babysit. I constantly have to remind people they are here to work…not text message, surf the net, etc… Perhaps it is the culture here but what happened to people getting paid to do a job…and gasp!..doing it? Maybe I’m just not an effective manager of other people. I think I am too easy going. </p>
<p>The other thing that drives me insane is that my livelihood depends on their efforts. Our reps work on behalf of specific clients which is why I can’t have a high turnover rate. It’s just very frustrating. If anyone else is in a similar circumstance or has some advice I’m open. Thanks for listening!</p>
<p>Maybe you could cut off the internet if they’re messing around and not allow cell phones to be on unless of an emergency? At least until they get their act together.</p>
<p>Unfortunately we need the internet for the job they do. Yes, I could ban cell phones but I have no way of enforcing it. The way we are set up they are spread out all over the place in offices. I don’t have direct sight of them. It’s an imperfect situation. Thanks for the thoughts.</p>
<p>I have a similar problem at my job and there is no way of completely fixing it. My only advice is that you just have to stay on their a** about it.</p>
<p>I do not like managing other people, so you have my sympathies.</p>
<p>I assume they’re goofing off when they are supposed to be doing other work, and not just during downtime. Is there a way to build rewards (that will motivate them) into the system for doing the work they’re supposed to be doing? For example, if the company is getting paid based in part on productivity, they might be willing to pay for pizza for your team if your productivity increases a specified amount. Or the company might be willing to give a $25 gift card to the top performer in a month-long contest. Even if you can’t get a budget for this sort of thing there may be some kind of recognition or reward you can make available on your own.</p>
<p>If you’re just telling them what they’re doing wrong, it’s not going to motivate them to change unless you have a really effective punishment (like firing them), and even then they’re going to be motivated to change by not getting caught. You’ll probably get better results by rewarding them for what they’re doing right. The trick is not coming off as if you’re condescending to them (so I wouldn’t use the word “babysitting” in front of them even though I know where you’re coming from).</p>
<p>I’m trying to implenent an incentive system that will give them access to additional $$$'s. We’ll see how it goes. I appreciate the words of advice. Sometimes we tend to get so focused on what is being done wrong we don’t think about how to motivate.</p>