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Below is my message to ACS upper management – I hope that you will
read this and really consider the future of this site and this
company. Why did I go to all this bother? Before I begin, here are
some quotes I’ve heard from very talented people in LEADERSHIP at this
site said about ACS – this should help highlight the fact that this
company has PROBLEMS! – “ACS is willing to step over a $100 bill to
pick up a nickel”, “I can’t wait to get out of this hell hole”, “So
we’re screwed again huh? What else is new.”
Let’s begin in the style of an exit interview:
Why are you leaving ACS?
There are many reasons, but the most prominent is that, in taking a
step down to a supervisor role at a new company I am receiving an 84%
raise over my present salary.
But what about your bonus?
You mean the one I have not qualified for in the last 3 months and
have little to no hope of earning in the foreseeable future? My new
company does not offer bonuses – they simply pay me what I’m worth up
front, and will let me go if I don’t measure up. In my 3 years at ACS
I consistently had great performance and higher than average bonus
payouts for my position – my new salary will still be larger than my
total compensation was in my best year at ACS with bonuses.
You said there were other reason’s you were leaving?
Yes, many. But let’s not dwell on every little complaint I might
have. Instead, how about I share with you some areas where I see room
for ACS to become a better company?
OK, go ahead.
Thanks.
First - If I had to characterize the way this company approaches it’s
call center employees – from GM to agent – I’d describe ACS as a
customer that orders a Steak at the Outback Steakhouse and then
screams at the wait staff because the steak wasn’t as good as one at a
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse while simultaneously berating said server for
charging more than Shari’s.
Let me put that more literally – ACS expects top end performance, but
is only willing to pay the absolute lowest wages and benefits possible
– then complains when they don’t get the performance they were looking
for.
So my first recommendation for ACS is that they either adjust their
expectations downward, or put their money where their mouth is and
start paying competitive wages and benefits to their call center
employees.
Wages – last I heard, supervisors here make between the mid 20K range
up to 31k annually – at the high end of that range you are still well
under market for Call Center Supervisors in the Portland area – most
companies pay between 35-50K to supervisors. You simply cannot expect
to keep or motivate top talent with sub-par wages. This is a big part
of your performance issues. Needless to say – not giving a raise to
your Sales “manager” doesn’t exactly make said manager feel like a
real manager, does it?
Bonus pay – For supervisors, this is the only reason I can see as to
how you are able to keep as many good people as you do – still you
have one glaring flaw in RBC – the $500 penalty for Terms. This only
serves to incent supervisors to keep poor performers on their team to
avoid a $500 hit. It also causes huge resentment, and deflates
motivation when a sup is hit by a term they could do nothing about –
such as the all too common instance of an agent graduating to
production, taking a couple days worth of calls, and then
disappearing, never to be heard from again. How exactly was the
supervisor supposed to prevent that? Can’t be done, but we’ll take
$500 of your money away anyway. I myself am a prime example of how
terrible this idea is. I once had an agent die. Sudden,
unpredictable brain aneurism. Besides the emotional cost, I also lost
$700 that month – you hit me with a $500 penalty for “terming” an
agent, and I did not get paid the $200 I was due for his perfect IR
that month because “he didn’t work the whole month.” Way to motivate
me ACS. Oh, let us not forget that RBC payouts have been reduced and
targets raised several times in the last three years – the most honest
answer I received for why came from David Afdahl I believe (could be
wrong) and came down to this – too many people are performing well and
it’s caused us to pay out too much money, so were’ reducing the
payouts. Way to motivate ACS!
Also – how about being honest and upfront about changes (or lack of
changes) to the bonus program ACS upper management? I took the sales
POC position in May of 2010. The next day after I took the position
the bonus program for this position was changed – the payout was
reduced significantly and the requirements to get a payout were
increased dramatically. It made me sick – I was informed by the
outgoing POC that the details of the new program were known before I
took the job – but no one told me until after I’d already accepted. I
will refrain from using the language right now that would accurately
describe my feelings for those responsible.
Then we come to this year. As we all know, Sprint upped its targets
20% in January. ACS requirements for me, and for OM’s to hit bonus
were all based on the old targets from Sprint. Sprint informed us of
the change in December. What did I hear all through DECEMBER,
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, and into MARCH? I head “don’t worry, we are
reviewing the system, we will make changes, it will be fair. In the
end, and not until mid-MARCH!, the final word came down – no changes –
“we don’t feel its right to go retroactive.” Again, I cannot use the
language necessary to describe how this made me feel, especially after
helping this site to achieve an all time record for sales in December
2010.
Benefits – well, we have health care. That’s fine. But where are
the rest of the benefits that MIGHT help make up for terrible wages
and unfair bonus systems? Vacation days? Nope – 10 sick/vacation
days a year for the first 4 years with the company? Terrible. 401K
match? Not in the last 2 years. Raises? Not in the last 3 years.
What about with a promotion? NOPE! Stock purchase/stock options –
nope. Again – ACS – you get what you pay for. Do not blame your GMs
and OMs and even your supervisors for the sites poor performance – you
are getting ever dollar’s worth. You want more? Pay for it.
(side note – the economy is recovering, so is the job market – in the
last week since it’s been known that I’m leaving I’ve had most of the
sups I’d consider top performers come by and ask about where I’m going
– many were very interested in leaving here. Many had already been
putting out applications and were interviewing and getting offers
elsewhere. You can expect a lot more good people to vanish if you
continue to pay bottom of market compensation.)
Agent Pay – agents hate ABC. Agents don’t get paid a lot, at any call
center. When you don’t get paid much, the majority of your pay goes
to basic necessities. You can’t budget for things like rent, heat,
food, and transportation based on “I might make this much this pay
period if my surveys are good.” You have to budget based on what to
KNOW you will be able to take home. That is minimum wage here. So
who works here? Agents that are okay with getting minimum wage.
Agents that don’t WANT to make more than minimum wage so they don’t
lose state benefits! What kind of performance do you get from agents
like these? Poor performance. You get what you pay for.
A small number of top agents will stay here and take the risk and make
good money. Most of the top talent, however, will not apply or will
quit as soon as a better job comes around. Your agents that stay long
term are mostly those that can’t or won’t go elsewhere but stay and
resent you and take it out on their customers.
What if you looked at where you want performance, then figured how
much an agent would make under ABC at that level, and then paid
EVERYONE that amount – and then fire anyone that doesn’t meet your
performance goals? Then the right people would be leaving this
company for the right reasons, rather than the current situation with
is the exact opposite.
Let’s move on from pay and compensation –
What else could ACS change to be a better and more successful company?
Stop instituting firing-freezes!
I’ve seen at least 2 multi-month long periods where we have not been
allowed to fire agents for almost any reason. Both times that I
remember the decision was made at a level above our Site GM. It’s no
secret this is done for revenue reasons – if the headcount is too low
not enough people are taking calls, not enough money is coming in.
But when you look at this in anything more than the SHORT TERM – this
is an absolutely terrible thing to do.
(Side note – in one of the periods of highest unemployment in decades
this site has consistently struggled to hire enough people to match
attrition – why is that? Re-read the last few paragraphs if you are
still wondering.)
Agents find out we have firing freezes almost immediately. As soon as
that happens performance takes a nose dive because agents know they
cannot be fired for performance or attendance. This cause’s sup
morale to drop as they now cannot motivate or effectively coach
employees that have no respect for them. Sups in turn face a dilemma
– issue meaningless correctives and watch what little authority they
have left die as agents ignore them without consequence, or don’t
issue the correctives and take the risk that they will be called out
by upper management for not doing them. I have tried both methods in
my time here and neither works.
If you want to know why sales, IR, attendance, and pretty much every
other metric has declined in Portland over the last 3 months you do
not need to look at bad sups, ineffective OM’s, your sales POC, or
your GM. The single biggest factor has been that agents know that,
unless they have a phone out on the floor, hit somebody in the face,
or do something else incredibly stupid or blatant, they are virtually
untouchable. Since, as we already covered, much of the agent
workforce is resigned to or happy with close to minimum wage, a firing
freeze takes away the only stick left to anyone in leadership.
Next, stop making your leaders dress up. No, most of us do NOT feel
more professional or productive in slacks and a button up shirt than
we do in jeans and a tee shirt – just more uncomfortable. Your sups
wear constructions vests – the agents know who they are – who exactly
are we trying to impress and why? We “dress for success” when ACS and
Sprint VIPs are on site – why? VIPs should care about results, not
appearance. Let your site leadership dress in the manner that makes
them most comfortable and they will wear your vests with fewer
complaints and do better work. There’s a reason you still hear about
the vests year after year – they are a bad idea – but a worse idea is
making people wear them AND do business casual at the same time.
Stop making leaders clean the building – it’s insulting and shows just
how cheap and disrespectful this company is that at least once a year
every supervisor and om has to take Sunday morning to come in and
“spring clean” the building for free.
Stop offering carnival-like prizes and incentives for overtime – fun
is good – but begging for OT and offering constant incentives and
prize drawings for coming to work is insane when the only reason you
have a need for OT is that you run 20% absenteeism because you won’t
fire people that don’t come to work according to your attendance
policy.
If you are going to pay Portland agents less bonus than any other ACS
site, use the money you don’t pay them for incentives like originally
intended. Portland pays agents (not sups) 70% of what Sprint pays,
all other ACS sites pay agents 80%. Years ago this extra 10% was
rolled back into agent pockets through sales incentives. Now it pads
the ACS bottom line and “you can have it back when sales are better.”
The money was supposed to incent better sales – if it does, then give
it to us to use for that purpose, if it does not, then return it to
the agents and put Portland on an even footing with every other ACS
site. This would be the perfect time considering Sprint just took
another huge bite out of every agent’s possible ICP bonus. For once
ACS could be the hero and give something back.
Re-evaluate the effectiveness of your managers above the level of GM.
Tim, you are a figure inspires fear – I don’t know if this is
justified or not, but it’s true – I’ve have heard many people say
things like “if Tim asks you a question, give as short an answer as
possible and volunteer nothing, treat it like being question by an
opposing attorney in a trial.” Again, I don’t work with you Tim so I
don’t know why this is, but it does mean you can’t be as effective as
you could be were people not afraid to communicate with you.
Rich – you have never had anything positive to say any time I have
ever hear you speak in Portland. News of your visits is greeted by
groans. Your tone is almost always hostile and from what I can see
you micro manage your GM’s. I do not work with you often, so again,
my perception may be totally off - but perception is important in
leadership, isn’t it?
Hire an AGM for Portland – there is far too much work here for a
single person to do in the GM role even if that person works 12 hours
days like our last and current GMs have done. It’s a hard job, made
harder by many of the issues I’ve highlighted, and they need more
support to do it right.
Keep your supervisor to agent ratios at 15 to 1 or less – yes you will
make more money if you don’t have to pay for more sups – but you will
LOSE more money when your sups can’t effectively manage their teams.
There’s a reason Sprint asks you to keep the ratio at 15:1 – respect
your client – they are your customer.
I’ll end my comments now. If I have offended anyone, I apologize. It
has not been my intent to go off on some rant, but rather to provide
the kind of honest feedback that only comes when one is cutting all
ties. Again, I do this in the hope that those with the power to do so
will take an honest look at the state of things around here and make
some changes for the better. I will take a good many positive
memories, thoughts and feelings of this place and its people away with
me, and it if it has not exactly been a pleasure; it has been a huge
learning experience. Thank you.
.
Where to begin? Working at ACS was one of the most demoralizing experiences of my adult life. This company has some great contracts, and so much potential to be incredibly awesome, yet they are one of the worst companies in the world to work for. Prior to another employee review site being recently bought out one could access reviews from all over the country and world, almost every single one giving the same conclusion: Run, don't walk.
Let me address some key points:
COWORKERS: The original class in my department, as well as the 2nd training class & my own were primarily comprised of people I would consider my peers. Professional adults who were there to make a living, and happy to be there. Please note, I LOVED what I did while working at ACS. Only a small handful of individuals from subsequent classes fell into the "peer" category. Many of the others made me question if I was back in high school due to their work ethic, actions and overall demeanor. One gal routinely came to work in clothes barely fit for a strip club, let alone a "business casual" professional environment, yet she was never sent home to change or reprimanded for this, despite complaints to management from other employees and several supervisors acknowledging that it was inappropriate. As a female, it makes me uncomfortable to be in an office setting with someone who's skirt is so short it risks flashing you if she bends in the slightest.
BREAKROOM/RESTROOMS: My location had constant issues with cleanliness in these areas especially. Restrooms were consistantly low or out of toilet paper, there were often no hand towels of any sort, one of three sinks was usually supplied with soap, even directly after the janitorial crew had been in. Also, it seemed like most of my coworkers simply didn't care enough to pick up after themselves.
The breakroom would almost always have overflowing trashcans as well as no cups, cutlery or napkins. The only reason there was ever soap or a sponge was because it was brought in by others like myself who just couldn't take the mess. There were 2 CocaCola refridgerators (the soda kind with no freezer section) for a floor comprising over 200 individuals. These were not cleaned frequently or well, so putting your food in them didn't always seem like a good idea, especially when they started to smell rank. Nobody wants to fight the urge to puke when retrieving their lunch.
BREAKS & LUNCHES: Although you will receive a schedule with your break times (from someone who doesn't work in your office), don't get attached to those times. If there are calls in queue, expect to wait, sometimes as much as an hour or more past your scheduled time.
TIME OFF REQUESTS: Submit these as soon as you possibly can, then wait. And wait. And wait. You may or may not get a response, even after repeated queries. It's unfortunate that this process is handled similarly to breaks in that it is done by someone outside of your office. In my opinion, they would do much better to have this handled by someone in each individual SBU who knows the strengths and weaknesses of the agents on their floor and can make sure they are sufficiently covered. This would also result in much faster turn around time on such requests.
WORK/LIFE BALANCE: ACS habitually requires mandatory overtime with as little as a few hours notice. I and other workers at my location were put in the situation of being asked to see the SBU manager on the way out of the office, then told that we were required to work 3 hours of overtime that night or face possible disciplinary action. For someone like myself who was already pulling 8-10 hour shifts on top of a commute that was 3 hours each direction this was an extreme hardship as I wouldn't get a sufficient amount of sleep to perform at the top of my game the next day. I'm very grateful that I did not have a child at home waiting for me, as some others did.
This leads me to....
JOB SECURITY: There is none. Do not delude yourself. As an Escalations/Loss of Revenue Department Lead, I assisted in saving my faction of the company up to $10,000 a month in payouts due to alleged agent error, computer glitches, etc. My termination came as the result of attendance points accrued on days I was A) Not scheduled to be in the office because my shift had changed entirely or B) In court as a witness for a felony assault case. My project partner was terminated due to her documented medical condition (which she had at the time she was first employed) which caused her to miss work while she was hospitalized with severe kidney stones.
OTHER THINGS TO NOTE: In the almost 2 years I was there, I never received a review and was frequently ignored or brushed off when seeking feedback or answers to important questions. The medical and dental benefits are hardly worth paying for, suprising for a Fortune 500 company that professes an "Agents first" agenda.
THE GOOD: A few coworkers that have become close friends. A job title and experience that have launced me into bigger and better things. An understanding of what I will and will not accept from future employers.
CONCLUSION: If you absolutely MUST have a job RIGHT NOW and you end up here, DON'T STOP LOOKING!!!