new manager making work unbearable.

mac.d

While there may well be an element of this new manager trying to make her team a little more efficient and professional, if they honestly think the way to go about doing that is as described by the OP, they are not a very good manager.

"we are not to discuss work in our break room, we are not allowed to use any profanities in our break room or discuss anything done or said on a night out that she would deem inappropriate.one young lady was disciplined recently for telling her friends about her boozy night out, she was reported and received a verbal warning."

mandy1955

elsien wrote: »

They may not recognise the union for negotiating purposes but they cannot stop you from joining as individuals. They cannot stop a union from giving you advice. They cannot prevent you from having union representation in any disciplinary hearings.

PS you haven't answered my question about where the stats and the scripts are coming from, manager or new company policy she is charged with implementing.

sorry, only just logged in here, they are her own changes, not actual company policies. When we started we were advised our calls are not scripted as they want us to sound like warm friendly individuals as our customers need that from us. She is trying to turn our office of 40 people max, into a call centre with scripted input from us even our customer have mentioned the change in our behaviours on the phones.

demiruss

mac.d wrote: »

While there may well be an element of this new manager trying to make her team a little more efficient and professional, if they honestly think the way to go about doing that is as described by the OP, they are not a very good manager.

I agree. Especially if you're not paid for your breaks :eek:

OP, stop staying behind for calls and if you can't end the phone call, tell the boss you'll be making a record of all the extra work you've done so you can be recompensed. Feedback the information from customers on the new style of call handling and see if she will compromise. It more than likely is for cost-cutting measures so probably not.

Marvel1

I'm surprised the manager has not brought in you must all keep quiet on your breaks!

As you logging in early to be on time, ok fair enough, however as for staying later and not getting paid - no way, tempting to end the call on the dot.

Marvel1

Mika134 wrote: »

Firstly, I 100% agree with her rules. I am only 28, but every job I have had has been strict with punctuality - we HAVE to clock in by our shift start time. One minute late gets put down as late and is on our record forever. And I see no issue with that, it takes very little effort to just arrive to your job on time, and is something that is expected if you take the job.

What about ending up working past your finish time and getting nothing?

Les79

cjdavies wrote: »

What about ending up working past your finish time and getting nothing?

Well, firstly I'd like to point out that OP allegedly isn't in a call centre.... So I have no idea why they are getting stuck on calls!!

If I were OP I'd be doing the workload during the day and probably not doing much/doing easier cases right at the end of the day. That's what a lot of people in offices do!

Secondly, I agree with the whole principle of paying people for extra time. Sadly, this is fairly common in call centre environments and it needs some sort of union/government action in order to eliminate it.

If you rise against it in the current climate then you run the risk of becoming a martyr.

Mika134

Seriously, have you ever been to a company Christmas party? The talks about who did what under influence of alcohol is fun and great team building!
I would not want to go to a company do if everyone needs to be on their best behaviour.

Of course christmas parties are fun and great to talk about! But not whilst you are working at such an important job which takes so much concentration and accuracy, you are literally in charge of peoples lives. And if the new manager doesn't want you to talk like this on the premises, that's a very easy rule to follow and takes no effort. It's actually really chilled out and you can chat about it all you like before and after work.

I was just saying that none of the rules mentioned are very strict compared to most places. I'm 28 and been working since 16 (sometimes had 2 jobs on the go at once) and every single job I've had, the rules there have been far more harsh than this. This is just basic laid back stuff and it sounds like the new manager was bought in to improve the company so she's got a lot to be concerned about and needs to put her foot down a bit.

There will always be strict rules which you don't agree with at EVERY job. I've had waitress jobs where we weren't allowed to accept tips, jobs where you got sent home for having slightly different shoes on, jobs which scolded us for not having neat handwriting, jobs which you had to pick up the phone in 10 seconds or else you were written up for punctuality, and even jobs that made us only eat healthy food during our lunch breaks!

But that's just life - it's why you get paid to follow them and do your job. Do what you like outside of work.

Tabbytabitha

cjdavies wrote: »

What about ending up working past your finish time and getting nothing?

That sounds pretty normal for any office environment I've ever worked in - even in the distant past when things were more easy going. I've never worked anywhere where everybody downed tools on the dot.

It's obviously not on to be expected to work a couple of hours without extra pay, unless you're in a professional situation, but it's normal to finish a phone call, writing a letter or a work based discussion.

74jax

cjdavies wrote: »

What about ending up working past your finish time and getting nothing?

I'm a PA and if my director wanted me to send an email after my day then I'd have to do it, I regularly start work early, finish late, etc. it's just part of the course with my office job.


I very rarely log off on time anyway as nothing finishes exactly to the minute I'm due to leave. I don't stop mid way through and upsticks and leave. And I also don't get to 5 mins before I'm to leave and think 'well I won't do that as it'll take longer than 5 mins'

Mika134

What about ending up working past your finish time and getting nothing?

Same as everyone else has said - in most jobs you will end up doing this. I've worked 12 hour shifts and had to write a report afterwards which could take another hour, and not been paid for that hour. I've worked bar shifts and waitressing shifts which involved an hour or two unpaid cleaning afterwards. It really is just a common thing in the working world and is something you should just expect and accept if you want a job these days - just like how you don't expect to be paid for travelling time.