> "Nurses fear that having long calls can lead to bad performance reviews"

> A company spokesperson said, "Kaiser Permanente does not use Average Handle Time to assess agent performance"

So uh, average time wasn't raised as a concern, calls beyond a certain threshold was. I wish this semantic discrepancy was better highlighted in the article.

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BeetleB 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I have some inside information (but not much!)

They claim they do not use average handle time, but it is very common to get called into meetings to discuss why they spent a lot of time on some calls. The nurses get defensive (by definition - they have to justify the time used - it is a defense).

They also do get called into meetings if their average handle time is large.

It may still be true they don't use it for evaluating performance, but they absolutely do utilize it to "coach" the nurses.

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Broken_Hippo 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It might not be a written metric, but do you actually believe that someone isn't being evaluated partially based on how many times they've had to talk to them about issues?

I highly doubt it. If this is the reason your manager knows who you are, you are absolutely going to be judged on it. It doesn't really matter what the policy says.

And the nurses absolutely feel like they are being punished for it. Just like having to consistently remind HR that your "absence problem" is due to covered FMLA leave - they know who you are because they've had to talk to you about absenteeism. In a call center of 500 people, it isn't likely they remember that you had issues because of their faulty systems.

	▲	BeetleB 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> but do you actually believe that someone isn't being evaluated partially based on how many times they've had to talk to them about issues? This is true for any job. I was unfairly fired from a job because somehow the manager got a perception of me being incompetent, because he often talked to me about problems in my work - most of those conversations ended with him saying "Oh, now I see why you did it that way."

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munk-a 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah, I didn't even want to lean out that far but I'm sure average handle time is incorporated in some manner.

But, just purely semantically, the statement Kaiser gave in response was worded in a precise smug corporate America style to dodge the main concern raised. I think it's important to call out weasel words.

	▲	BeetleB 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> the statement Kaiser gave in response was worded in a precise smug corporate America style to dodge the main concern raised I know nurses. And I know their unions. Kaiser can be extremely clear and tell the truth, and they'll still say "We don't believe you!" without any evidence other than being called in to talk about it. I'm not anti-unions - I've benefited from them. But it's well known that distrust goes up when you have (or need) unions. It typically degenerates from "We" to "Us vs them". Let me ask you this: Are you saying they shouldn't monitor the time at all? Again: A tidbit of inside information: A number of Kaiser patients get such long wait times that they're issue isn't addressed when they try to call (i.e. they are told they'll be called back, and they're called back some other day). I don't know the percentage - likely small - but from a healthcare standpoint, it's unacceptable. Another bit of information (likely not inside): Kaiser has a serious budget problem. They already pay amongst the top salaries for nurses, and they can't simply solve the problem by hiring more. So: How would you solve it?

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toomuchtodo 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Are these nurses currently represented by a union?

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BeetleB 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes.

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toomuchtodo 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Tremendous.

	▲	BeetleB 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It helps with their pay ;-)

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Terr_ 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There's definitely a lot of room for weasel-wording there, where the metric really being used isn't the mathematical mean, but punishes people just the same.

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monknomo 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

balls, that's the metric line managers use to figure out who's out of whack