Rise of remote work

[jamil]

I really do not know how to work at home. One thing that I notice more than ever is that as a customer, the customer service has grown awful.

I wait on hold, for long periods of time, I finally get an auto attendant that tells me they are behind and to leave a message,no one calls back. Call back the next day, same deal, someone calls me back three days later and says ok, That is handled by another department, then I get switched to hold again, and then leave another message. This is with two insurance companies, a hospital and a Doctors group.

Of course, in person at the Post office does not work either. I was heading to see friends by Camp Lejeune for 10 days. Went to the Post office on Monday to stop the mail Wednesday. Filled out the form, had a clerk look at it and turn it in. There was mail in the box Thursday. Went to the Post Office, talked with a supervisor, hope for the best. I fill out a 3rd form and leave it with a note in my mail box for my letter carrier. Get back to town, my mailbox is hanging open, stuffed with mail, and letters the wind blew out were wet on the curb. I am still missing stuff, like insurance paperwork as in the first example.

Billing departments are fouled up too. Send a check on the 2nd, they cash it on the 10th. On the 18th I get a crappy letter that I am late. Send then a photocopy of the cashed check, they say ok, that the department is behind. Next bill comes, they want to charge a fee because I am over due. Please wait on hold....

I think a lot of customer service people "working at home", really are not.

I’ve had an insurance claim. The claim adjuster I talked to did a fantastic job. I didn’t even know she was working from home until her dogs started barking, which she apologized for. So there’s always good with the bad.

 

[Leo]

I’ve had an insurance claim. The claim adjuster I talked to did a fantastic job. I didn’t even know she was working from home until her dogs started barking, which she apologized for. So there’s always good with the bad.

Glad to hear it. Maybe my luck with change.

I am on hold with IU Health billing department right now, and have been for the last 15 minutes........

 

[KLB]

I think a lot of customer service people "working at home", really are not.

Companies watch call center people like hawks. Everything they do is watched, recorded and analyzed.

 

[KLB]

Glad to hear it. Maybe my luck with change.

I am on hold with IU Health billing department right now, and have been for the last 15 minutes........

That is all about staffing. They don't want to pay enough people to get better coverage.

 

[WebSnyper]

I really do not know how to work at home. One thing that I notice more than ever is that as a customer, the customer service has grown awful.

I wait on hold, for long periods of time, I finally get an auto attendant that tells me they are behind and to leave a message,no one calls back. Call back the next day, same deal, someone calls me back three days later and says ok, That is handled by another department, then I get switched to hold again, and then leave another message. This is with two insurance companies, a hospital and a Doctors group.

Of course, in person at the Post office does not work either. I was heading to see friends by Camp Lejeune for 10 days. Went to the Post office on Monday to stop the mail Wednesday. Filled out the form, had a clerk look at it and turn it in. There was mail in the box Thursday. Went to the Post Office, talked with a supervisor, hope for the best. I fill out a 3rd form and leave it with a note in my mail box for my letter carrier. Get back to town, my mailbox is hanging open, stuffed with mail, and letters the wind blew out were wet on the curb. I am still missing stuff, like insurance paperwork as in the first example.

Billing departments are fouled up too. Send a check on the 2nd, they cash it on the 10th. On the 18th I get a crappy letter that I am late. Send then a photocopy of the cashed check, they say ok, that the department is behind. Next bill comes, they want to charge a fee because I am over due. Please wait on hold....

I think a lot of customer service people "working at home", really are not.

Damn, sounds like you are still in the 80's.

Most of that stuff can be done online from your house, so much easier...

 

[WebSnyper]

I've been working mostly remote for the last 13 years. I would go to customer site to see people before the pandemic , but didn't have to, and never had any real reason to go into my company's office. The difference is now most everyone from my customer works more like I do, so there is even less reason to go in "to see people", and things are actually even more efficient from my standpoint.

My brother who is in another state and works for another company has worked from home for like 20+ years.

 

[Leo]

Damn, sounds like you are still in the 80's.

Most of that stuff can be done online from your house, so much easier...

All the insurance and hospital business is online and it is perpetually screwed up, and has been since 2019. That has not proven easier. I could have filled out the USPS stop mail on line, but I do not think it would have changed the outcome.

I do no banking electronically. I have not used an ATM card in 20 years. I pay my Auto and home insurance in person. Same with property taxes. I am not the kind of person that whips out a card or a funny money account on the phone to buy a sandwich or a tank of gas. I pay cash. I figured I was limiting exposure. My Bank account was hacked and someone got the information on their phone and started using digital checking at walmart and other places. That took most of January and all of Feb to straighten out with many trips in person. Like I told the bank, I never signed up to access my money via a telephone, so the fault is 100% theirs. Their "convenient feature" left the vault door open to thieves and then they want me to absorb the losses.

If people want a hand held phone to access their entire life, that is up to them, but I should not have to submit to the electronic "service". The places that give me no other choice, are the ones that are screwed up.

Ain't much trouble a man can't fix with $1100 dollars and a 30-06

 

[Leo]

Damn, sounds like you are still in the 80's.

I am not in the 80's, I am in the 70's <grin>

<grin> counted as an emoji when we ran 360 baud acoustic modems for bulletin board services on monochrome 8088 machines running basic. <smile>

 

[WebSnyper]

I am not in the 80's, I am in the 70's <grin>

<grin> counted as an emoji when we ran 360 baud acoustic modems for bulletin board services on monochrome 8088 machines running basic. <smile>

I did similar, working on some great old OS's with just a bit faster modem at 1200 baud on an old VT terminal directly connected to it, back in past life.

 

[WebSnyper]

If people want a hand held phone to access their entire life, that is up to them, but I should not have to submit to the electronic "service". The places that give me no other choice, are the ones that are screwed up.

Good luck with that. Many times being the one to put something directly into a system is better than going through an in person rep or phone rep who misunderstands something and then inputs that into the same system.

It is good to be able to get in contact with a real person when needed for sure, but only when that person is actually helpful and typically not the outsourced to the cheapest bidder call center in some other country.

 

[wtburnette]

Good luck with that. Many times being the one to I out something directly into a system is better than going through an in person rep or phone rep who misunderstands something and then inputs that into the same system.

It is good to be able to get in contact with a real person when needed for sure, but only when that person is actually helpful and typically not the outsourced to the cheapest bidder call center in some other country.

The main problem with customer support is the same issue with help desks, companies pay them peanuts, treat them like and expect the world. No wonder those positions are extremely high turnover. This is what first opened my eyes to the fact that the company doesn't care about you, no matter what they say.

 

[Leo]

The main problem with customer support is the same issue with help desks, companies pay them peanuts, treat them like and expect the world. No wonder those positions are extremely high turnover. This is what first opened my eyes to the fact that the company doesn't care about you, no matter what they say.

I just got off the phone with a CS rep from one of the insurance companies. Sounded like he was Paki or in India. My name is nowhere on the policy, and my wife has a name that any English speaking person would know is a woman's name. I have a deep voice. The guy asked if I was my wife's name, as he could only help the policy owner. I said yes, and he accepted that and helped me with the information and straightened out the error.

From now on I will try that masquerading as my wife first, it saved a lot of hassle.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I just got off the phone with a CS rep from one of the insurance companies. Sounded like he was Paki or in India. My name is nowhere on the policy, and my wife has a name that any English speaking person would know is a woman's name. I have a deep voice. The guy asked if I was my wife's name, as he could only help the policy owner. I said yes, and he accepted that and helped me with the information and straightened out the error.

From now on I will try that masquerading as my wife first, it saved a lot of hassle.

 

[wtburnette]

I just got off the phone with a CS rep from one of the insurance companies. Sounded like he was Paki or in India. My name is nowhere on the policy, and my wife has a name that any English speaking person would know is a woman's name. I have a deep voice. The guy asked if I was my wife's name, as he could only help the policy owner. I said yes, and he accepted that and helped me with the information and straightened out the error.

From now on I will try that masquerading as my wife first, it saved a lot of hassle.

That's the other things companies have done that's horrid. Not only do they show their employees how little they care by treating customer service and helpdesk people like crap and pay them badly, they then send those jobs overseas to people who can barely speak English to **** off the employees who lose jobs and the customers who hate dealing with them. Ugh. Oh well, my rant for the day...

 

[bwframe]

Mark Zuckerberg’s new return-to-office mandate is a clear problem, says Harvard expert: It’ll cause a ‘huge amount of distrust’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg used to be pro-remote work. His company's backtracking reveals a serious leadership problem, says a Harvard University expert.

www.cnbc.com

 

[wtburnette]

Mark Zuckerberg’s new return-to-office mandate is a clear problem, says Harvard expert: It’ll cause a ‘huge amount of distrust’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg used to be pro-remote work. His company's backtracking reveals a serious leadership problem, says a Harvard University expert.

www.cnbc.com

Well, yeah. Another blatant slap in the face that companies do not care about their workers. Forcing workers who have been successfully working from home back into the office isn't something that's done to benefit the employee. You can easily tell because companies are making everyone do it, not just the low performers or areas that distinctly benefit from working face to face.

 

[KLB]

"Bosses need to take the time to consider why employees aren't excited about returning to work, and get to the root of that."

How about, people don't want to waste 2-3+ hours of their day traveling to and from the office, nor incur all of the expense.

 

[wtburnette]

How about, people don't want to waste 2-3+ hours of their day traveling to and from the office, nor incur all of the expense.

Especially when they know that they've been doing as good or better work from home as gets done in the office. Not to mention, when things slow down when I'm working from home, I can get a task or two of personal stuff done, instead of walking around the building or chatting with coworkers, or sitting and surfing the net wasting time. That way when the workday is done, I have less tasks that need to be done before I can relax for the evening.

 

[wtburnette]

I think a lot of the glee about remote workers having to go back into the office is jealousy. People who work jobs that have to be in an office can't work from home, so they're happy to hear people who can work from home have to go back into the office. Reminds me of when jeans became day to day work wear in my organization. We're not meeting with customers and just work in an office all the time, but, if we went into a hospital, we couldn't wear our employee badge because they didn't want hospital staff to see us in jeans. Absolute garbage. First of all, if you pick the healthcare field you expect to have to dress a certain way. Secondly, a lot of hospital staff wear scrubs, one of the most comfortable things it's possible to wear. If you want to wear jeans all day and/or work from home, go into a career that supports that and stop your belly aching...

 

[Vodnik4]

How about this perspective:

(Almost) Any job that can be done from home can be done by an Indian teenager for 10% of pay and no benefits.