|
|
About iOps
iOps
is a newsletter for BPO professionals in India. Its mission is to
enhance the operational capabilities of the Indian BPO Industry through
dissemination of
knowledge and sharing of best practices.
|
|
|
|
Last Issue
The last issue
of iOps was on Removing Monotony. This
article shed light on the fact that BPO jobs are considered monotonous.
It followed on to talk about how every job can become monotonous.
Finally, the article explores some ways to remove monotony in BPO jobs.
|
|
An iOps Tip
"The
significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking we were at when we created them" -Albert Einstein
|
|
Performance Appraisals and Salaries
Employees often relate performance appraisals to salary revisions. While it is true that there will be some revision
(at least these days), performance appraisals are not "salary
appraisals". Salaries are determined not just through appraisals.
Companies need to take many other factors into account. These
expectations need to be continuously set throughout the year with the
employee. Doing this at the time of the appraisal may not be the most
optimal strategy.
|
|
|
The
Grind of Performance Appraisals
Aditya's perspective
Aditya is an
associate at a well-known BPO company. He joined the company
about 8 months ago and felt that he was doing very well. For example,
everytime he got an accolade (rave) from the client, his team leader
would appreciate him during the team briefings. Once in a while, his team leader also told
him that he was doing a good job (though he did not
exactly tell him why).
A
couple of days
ago, the team leader called Aditya and scheduled an appraisal for the
next day. This was the annual appraisal that was held in March every
year at the company. Aditya was excited as he was expecting a raise
and, possibly, a promotion (or atleast some new responsibility).
During
the
appraisal, Aditya got a shock to learn from his team leader that he was
not performing well. He was infact, below average in terms of
performance. The team leader also spoke of numerous complaints that
other team members had against him. Aditya was also rated low on
parameters such as “team player”, “extra
miler”, “initiative” etc.
Today,
Aditya put
down his papers and is quitting the company. He feels that his team
leader and his company have treated him unfairly.
Team
Leader's perspective:
Aditya
is a bright person with a lot of potential. He shows flashes of
brilliance sometimes, which earns him some rewards. But he is not
consistent. He would do very well on some days, and poorly on others.
The team leader told Aditya on many occasions to keep track of his
performance scores.
In
other areas,
Aditya was just an average person. He never took initiative to do
anything extra. There were times when Aditya did not turn up for work
because the company transport did not arrive. To top it all, Anjali and
Michael complained that Aditya was quite arrogant and boastful.
The
team leader
decided to take the opportunity to inform Aditya about all of these in
the performance appraisal. Afterall, that’s what performance
appraisals are for. At the end of the appraisal, the team leader
thought he did a good job in communicating this to Aditya. He also got
a commitment from Aditya that he would work hard this year to correct
these problems. Considering this, Aditya’s resignation was a
shock.
Why
do such incidents occur during performance appraisals?
Most
companies do a good job of informing team leaders about the company
rules and regulation for conducting appraisals. This includes dates of
appraisals, appraisal format sheets etc. Still, team leaders seem to be
unaware of the importance of appraisals, how to prepare for them and
how to conduct them. The matter is further complicated because many of them may have never experienced a
good appraisal themselves, and hence don’t know how to
conduct one.
Conducting a good
appraisal is not rocket science. It just requires
understanding of the appraisee’s mind, expectations and a
good amount of preparation. At the heart of the appraisal is the fact
that someone’s career and livelihood is being discussed.
Therefore, it is an important event that deserves thorough preparation.
The team leader should prepare to the extent he expects his manager to
prepare for his (the team leader’s) appraisal. Here
are some pointers for the same:
-
Year Round Data Gathering
Many team
leaders tend to get ready for appraisals at the time their company
announces the appraisal dates. This means they get anywhere from a week
to about a month’s time before conducting the appraisals.
This is not enough time to gather the complete annual data about the
agent. In any case, human beings suffer from the
“recency” effect. Team leaders are likely to
remember the most recent events vividly and hence their mind gives more
weightage to these events. For example, an agent may have been an
excellent performer through the year. However, he may have done one
blunder about a month before the appraisal. This fact may weigh heavily
on the team leader’s mind, leading him to give lesser
weightage to the excellent performance of the agent for the prior
eleven months. Alternatively, an agent may have performed poorly for
the 10 months. However, he has shown substantial improvement in the
last two months. The team leader may give favourable ratings to this
agent purely based on the last two month’s
performance.
The way to get around this issue is to maintain a file for each agent
in the team. The team leader can spend about 10 minutes every week to
update these files. The files will contain all information about each
agent as regards their performance, initiatives taken, team work,
complaints etc. i.e. anything that will affect their performance.
Before an appraisal, the team leader can refresh his memory about all
the incidents through the year so that the agent can be fairly
appraised for the whole year, and not just for the recent past.
-
No
Negative Surprises
The team leader has ample opportunities to inform the agent about
his/her performance. There opportunities come in the form of coaching
sessions, monthly reviews or even during breaks/lunch/dinners etc. When
the agent walks into the room for the appraisal, he should already know
what to expect. The worst thing that can happen is for an agent to
think he is good, and get a diametrically opposite message from his
team leader during the appraisal.
Many team leaders feel that agents have access to their performance
data, and hence they ought to know how they are performing. While this
may be true, agents may not be able to appreciate the effect of this
data on themselves in terms of their performance appraisals. Taking an
analogy, many people are aware of how much they earn. However, they may
not know the impact of their earning on the taxes they have to pay, the
savings they have to make, or even what should be their financial
goals. From an agent’s performance perspective, this type of
visibility is available only to the team leader, who must discuss the
agent’s performance metrics, its impacts on the
process/client/company/agent, and possible consequences (good or bad)
at every available opportunity.
-
Plenty of Pre-Work
Before
starting any appraisal, team leaders need to ensure that they have
spent sufficient time reviewing the agent’s data. This is
very similar to preparing for an exam. The same importance should be
given here. The team leader needs to review performance metrics,
agent’s files, previous reviews, progress on action plans,
execution on extra responsibility, attendance records etc. Just
gathering this data for each agent can take more than half a day
(assuming the data is available). Studying the data, analyzing and
arriving at conclusions can take a few more hours. This time is worth
it because, as mentioned earlier, it’s a person’s
career and livelihood we are talking about. Even if the agent is not
serious, the team leader must be very serious about this activity.
Another aspect of pre-work is to keep all documentation ready before
the appraisal meeting begins. If the team leader interrupts the meeting
to fetch any document that is missing, then continuity is lost. The
team leader then has the overhead of bringing back the continuity.
-
Collaborative
Sessions
Unless
scientifically proven, most people like to go through their own
experience before they decide on a course of action or buy into a
solution provided by others. An appraisal is no different. While it is
very easy for the team leader to tell the agent about his performance
and what he should be doing next, the agent may not be convinced unless
he is given a chance to air his views. Therefore, appraisals should be
collaborative sessions where the agent and the team leader discuss (or
even argue) issues.
The end result of appraisals could be something that is not favourable
to the agent in the short run. If the agent has to buy into this end
result, he must be encouraged to talk and air his views. This means,
even before the appraisal session begins, the agent must be given
atleast one week to prepare for the event. He should even be coached as
to how the appraisal process will be conducted and what his role will
be. This process will ensure 2-way communication thereby resulting in
greater chances of agent buy-in.
-
Career
Planning
The appraisal
process is also an opportunity for the team leader to help the agent
plan his career. This could be for the next role as well as for
long-term career goals. This process is often left out in appraisals
with agents. Part of the reason, as mentioned before, is that team
leaders themselves may not know how to be career counselors (they may
not have gone through this exercise before). There are many career
planning tools that team leaders can use. Companies need to acquire
these tools and train team leaders on how to use them.
The appraisal process is a time for not just looking at past
performance, but to also look at the future. If the agent sees that the
current job offers a path towards his career objectives, he will be
more inclined to stay with the company and would probably be more
satisfied with his current job.
-
Physical Environment
Last but not the least, the physical environment in which the appraisal
is conducted must be conducive for the event. Physical environment
includes the following:
- Conducting the appraisal in a room in a
one-on-one setting rather than conducting it in a public setting.
- Ensuring that the table is clear of all clutter.
Only appraisal related documents should be placed on it.
- Ensuring that the chairs are comfortable. Damaged
chairs, squeaky chairs etc. will serve as distractions.
- Ensuring that there is water available. If an
agent gets emotional, this will come in handy. Consumption of water
calms down people.
- Ensuring there is sufficient stationary (pens,
pencils, blank papers etc.)
Conducting
performance appraisals can be very unpleasant of one is not prepared.
The above mentioned points can go a long way in making an appraisal a
positive experience for both the team leader and the agent.
OnTrac Internal Staff
|
|
|
How Ajay (a BPO Ops manager), found his calling in life at OnTrac)
Ajay was an
Operations Manager at a reputed BPO company. He worked very hard for 5
long years. He managed multiple teams, worked in multiple processes and
even managed to get a management degree inbetween. While he did many
things, what he enjoyed most was training his team members for success.
He started to seriously think about his real “calling in
life” and that is when he met some people from OnTrac.
The more he learnt about
OnTrac, the more excited he became. He found that OnTrac had an
interesting team whose goal was to make people successful in their
careers. They did this through training programs that they delivered to
their top-notch clients in the BPO industry. Best of all, their values
matched his. Well, one thing led to another; he joined OnTrac as a
trainer and today, he has made many people successful. Needless to say,
his job satisfaction is at an all time high.
If you can empathize with Ajay, call OnTrac at
080-51261274 / 75 or email them at join@IAmOnTrac.com.
|
|
V&A Trainers
OnTrac is recruiting for its stealth StartSmart program. Apply only if you (still) think you can change the world.
|
|