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Having difficulties in a call centre 3.5 years into the job

AdelSharon

I am looking to get some opinions/support. I have been working in customer service for a big baank for a few years now. I disclosed when I started my role that I have Aspergers (formally diagnosed), sleep apnoea. Connected to the Autism I have sensory issues and also am very prone to feeling stressed and anxious.

The job I do is one that I feel that I excel in all areas except pretty much one - Call handle time! I have 450 seconds to deal with affluent customers who call the bank with multiple queries. We are trgeted on this as well as 15 other targets, however if I was to hit every other target but not my AHT I get in trouble.

I struggle with my communication in the sense that it is not always efficient. I can go around the houses quite a lot which of cause is symptomatic of having autism for me. This is a constant cause for me to go over target. Some months if I am having a good month I can be closer to my target but I have only hit the target a few times ad that was because I was assigned an easier call queue. 

The bank have put some adjustments in place for me - they have increased my target from 450 seconds to 500 seconds. I alo sit in a corner seat with nobody behind me because I struggle with hearing specific conversations. I believe that they have tried to be helpful

BUT

My manager says a lot of things that I think if they were said to somebody else with a different diability they could be done for discrimination. 

I have had a difficult year, I have had my 3rd child, I have had bouts of work related stress because targets and expectations changed and was difficult for me to adjust. So much emphasis is put on delivering a 'satisfactory performance'. 

So I am currently 300+ seconds over my call target but there are no other major faults with my work, I am never rude to customers - except one customer who apprantly I was wrong to tell her that the reason I couldnt deal with her enquiry quickly is because she kept interrupting me constantly - the quality of my work can not be faulted generally. But because my calls are longer its had side effects of me going to breaks/lunches late etc. 

I am trying to do everything that I can to imprrove my performance but talk time is hard to bring down. I keep being told 'dont overexplain things, dont go around the houses, try not to be too analytical, do only what the customer is asking you to do, etc.

It really gets me angry because I listen to all the feedback and  try to do whaat they ask but I end up slipping back to overexplainng etc I just cant keep it brief. I keep being told 'you need to find a way around it' etc. I havent had any coaching for ages until this week when they decide to ay Ive had calls which are too long and therefore not helpful to the customer. 

Now Im in a situation where they are basically asking me not to have autism and do my job. By them telling me not to go around the houses among other things are they being discriminatve and inconsiderate to my condition? Ive said before that the adjustment they gave me isnt enough because it does not take into account that I can have days where my head is cloudy for no identifiable reason, and I will aturally be slower. They just epect me to be a robot but they are trying to insinuate that I m baically not capable of doing the job consisstently. How can       they say that after 3.5 years in the job just now? 

Do I have any grounds to say that they are discriminating against me?

Sorry this is so long but hard to think how to shorten it down.

Apologies,
Adel

Parents

  • I have deliberately left things for a while to see what other thoughts come up and to give me time to properly reflect, so I am grateful to the contributors here.

    I'll try to summarise a few things.

    First 2 1/2 years in the job I was dealing with personal (non-affluent) customers, dealing with general banking queries, but no complaints. Measured to an AHT of 329 seconds.

    This last year I have moved to work with customers who are more affluent. This brings a different set of challenges. Initially the job wasn't targeted on AHT, then AHT was introduced for 600 seconds in July 15, 580 in August 15, 530 September 15 onwards then the role changed where I was dealing with a mix of affluent and non-affluent customers and the target was reduced to 450. I also deal with complaints, credit card queries, ISA's, have to give information on interest rates and product information, responsible for any callbacks, any failed security we have to call the customer back ourselves, we have to leave duplicated notes on different systems where in previous role we never had to leave notes except for certain processes.

    So the job itself has changed considerably. The position I'm in now is that our target is still 450 but the call blend has been taken away meaning I am dealing with just affluent customers, but our target of 450 has not been increased back to 530! I have challenged this and been told in no uncertain terms that it is not my place to question the targets and that I am to do whatever I can to deliver them. When I passed my call targets it was where we had the mix of calls and even then I just scraped past the post. Now I am completely lost.

    Also having difficulty as the job is meant to be rotating hours betwee 7am and 9pm. I gave this a try and of course still am but I really struggle mentally on the later shifts for a few reasons:-

    1) Having Sleep Apnoea as well I am tired and cannot stay awake from 6am all the way to 9pm, I am tired by about 6pm. I fall asleep easily on public transport so I rely on lifts from my wife or mom-in-law, or I have to use taxis.

    2) The routine has been completely taken away. There are weeks where I don't get a life-work balance as my friends who are musicians I won't see for that whole week, and it isn't enough for me to just play drums on my own. I need to interact with friends and can't, which leads me to get depressed.

    3) Being awake with the kids early and then having to do a long shift causes me a great deal of stress. I have sensory issues and do struggle with the noise and constant running around at times, it is too much to process. My point here is say if I am on a 1pm-9pm shift, I have had 7 hours where my head is just in completely the wrong place and then I am mentally and physically exhausted at work, causing my performance to suffer.

    Now since I have returned to business from paternity leave (end of March) work have been good to me in putting a flexible hours request through but this only covers me until August then I will go back to the stressful hours again. A GP has recommended the change be made permanent as my conditions are permanent but they wont do it because of apparent business costs in doing so. I havent decided if I'll appeal yet as I dont want to lose my job if I do.

    I'm just struggling mentally so much at the minute and wish I could go back to my old role. :'(

Reply

  • I have deliberately left things for a while to see what other thoughts come up and to give me time to properly reflect, so I am grateful to the contributors here.

    I'll try to summarise a few things.

    First 2 1/2 years in the job I was dealing with personal (non-affluent) customers, dealing with general banking queries, but no complaints. Measured to an AHT of 329 seconds.

    This last year I have moved to work with customers who are more affluent. This brings a different set of challenges. Initially the job wasn't targeted on AHT, then AHT was introduced for 600 seconds in July 15, 580 in August 15, 530 September 15 onwards then the role changed where I was dealing with a mix of affluent and non-affluent customers and the target was reduced to 450. I also deal with complaints, credit card queries, ISA's, have to give information on interest rates and product information, responsible for any callbacks, any failed security we have to call the customer back ourselves, we have to leave duplicated notes on different systems where in previous role we never had to leave notes except for certain processes.

    So the job itself has changed considerably. The position I'm in now is that our target is still 450 but the call blend has been taken away meaning I am dealing with just affluent customers, but our target of 450 has not been increased back to 530! I have challenged this and been told in no uncertain terms that it is not my place to question the targets and that I am to do whatever I can to deliver them. When I passed my call targets it was where we had the mix of calls and even then I just scraped past the post. Now I am completely lost.

    Also having difficulty as the job is meant to be rotating hours betwee 7am and 9pm. I gave this a try and of course still am but I really struggle mentally on the later shifts for a few reasons:-

    1) Having Sleep Apnoea as well I am tired and cannot stay awake from 6am all the way to 9pm, I am tired by about 6pm. I fall asleep easily on public transport so I rely on lifts from my wife or mom-in-law, or I have to use taxis.

    2) The routine has been completely taken away. There are weeks where I don't get a life-work balance as my friends who are musicians I won't see for that whole week, and it isn't enough for me to just play drums on my own. I need to interact with friends and can't, which leads me to get depressed.

    3) Being awake with the kids early and then having to do a long shift causes me a great deal of stress. I have sensory issues and do struggle with the noise and constant running around at times, it is too much to process. My point here is say if I am on a 1pm-9pm shift, I have had 7 hours where my head is just in completely the wrong place and then I am mentally and physically exhausted at work, causing my performance to suffer.

    Now since I have returned to business from paternity leave (end of March) work have been good to me in putting a flexible hours request through but this only covers me until August then I will go back to the stressful hours again. A GP has recommended the change be made permanent as my conditions are permanent but they wont do it because of apparent business costs in doing so. I havent decided if I'll appeal yet as I dont want to lose my job if I do.

    I'm just struggling mentally so much at the minute and wish I could go back to my old role. :'(

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