tas

text in german
From the hotlines-leaflet no. 2 on the intensification of work (December 2000):

I work for TAS. We are handling out- and inboundprojects for other companies and get DM 15 plus bonus. The bonus depends on the quota (calls per hour, call targets, for instance sending out information, appointments) and on quality (how are you talking on the phone?). The quotas for each agent for days, weeks and months are put up on the wall so that anybody has the information on his or her current performance and that of the others. Monthly call analyses and "training on the job" (where a quality manager sits behind you and listens to your calls) are used to control whether your are actually handling the calls on a "high standard" and, therefore, deserve the bonus. Again, everybody has access to the information who has got the "quality" and who has not. The bonus itself depends on the whole team. That means you are not working for your own bonus but for the whole team. Put into positive words, that is supposed to create additional motivation. But in fact, it shall make us put pressure on each other to work harder.
Thanks to modern technology we do not have to remember the quota by heart - no, it is permanently displayed in front of us in a small on-screen-window. So everyday we hear a version of "Sing the song of the quota", sometimes as a dark-sounding blues whenever you do not accomplish anything on the phone and the quota hits the ground, sometimes as a happy-end-music. Somehow everbody has accepted that, it is part of the game. Whenever things do not work well, teamleaders, trainers and quality managers try to get them back on the bosses' track through trainings and workshops. Most agents really like to take part in those events. How do they say: Anything is better than being on the phone! But it is shocking how that "Now you can tell me all about your problems"-talk leads agents to reveal others' tricks, how they make work easier.
Although we are fed up with a lot, things that cannot be solved in any team-meeting in the whole world, we are not able to speak up but on the phone. The reason for that lies in the way the management justifies the quota, control, etc.: "...otherwise we could loose a customer, and you could loose the job." The roles are clear: the understanding employer and the niggling customer. But who cares?


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