Brenda works for a large insurance company. She is a sales assistant and works on a computer all day. Her job is a combination of sales, computer wizardry, time manager, multi-tasker, and the list goes on. Brenda calls herself “a Swiss Army knife with a headset and computer.” We are a production environment and the customer is first. That usually means making very fast work of quotes, policy details, and service with a smile in her voice. It is her job to get things done no matter what it is.
Over the years, Brenda has seen people come and go. She says, “I have had countless managers. The good ones move on so quickly because they get promoted, leaving me to break in a new manager. It really isn’t a big deal but it is fun.” Brenda continues, “I don’t enjoy having to work with a less than competent leader. It puts the onus on me to pull up the slack. Well, me and a few others. But anyway, we just keep going.”
Brenda’s co-workers have also noticed that recently they are turning over poor managers faster than they have in the past. “We are growing which is really good and the company is focused on results, results, results.” Brenda says. Seems like the bad managers drag on the company performance. Corporate isn't accepting the status quo anymore. We were talking the other day saying the CEO has to produce huge results under pressure and this is the trickle down. Speaking of productivity, the girls all agreed that if they had faster computers they could do more.
Brenda illustrated the problem. “I have to wait for the next screen to come up. Do that all day and you see how you lose time to the computer. Could we not hire better in the IT area and get some computer geniuses on the response time? If they want things done faster, give us the tools to go faster.” Shelly, Brenda’s co worker added. “Can you imagine how many more quotes I could knock out and the time we could save if we had faster systems on the desk? It would be great to go home every day with a strong sense of accomplishment instead of feeling worn out about how much more needs to be done. We all know that we can’t keep jobs like this if we don’t keep up with the demands of current customers and potential customers.Seriously, we are waiting for the next screen to come up and there is dead air on the phone. I don’t know how many people in this company do my job, but dead air times 500 maybe fast moving sales assistants adds up real quick.”
Brenda summed up, “I like my job and my company. I like coming here and so I am thankful, especially in this economy. I just hope they can improve things and we can avoid cuts.” Just then Brenda gasped, “OK, gotta go! phone is ringing.”
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