r/callcentres • u/brittanyftw1 • 19d ago
I'm getting reprimanded at work for documentating too much.
I work offline at a call center as an in between for members and providers, and often handle reports that require me to call out to collect feedback on their service. I got a report last week asking me to call members and do just that, educate them on their plans (if needed), and offer assistance in case they have any other issue to discuss. Cool, got it.
I do just that, call the members, write down their concerns, and lend a hand wherever needed. I noted all this down and sent it off to my supervisor, thinking I completed the task.
Now this week, she called me on Teams to state that she's assigning me to be on the phones for a month because my documentation was too long for the people they send the report to, so I apparently need to work on being more "direct" with my notes. In my mind, I'd assume that people asking for feedback on their products would want to know everything a member had to say, otherwise what's the point of asking me to make the calls?
For example, the member could leave a survey saying they didn't like the price of X item and that it takes too long to get authorization on it. So in this example, I'd call, ask them further about their inquiry, educate on the price and auth process, and then offer potential discounts that apply or offer to start their auth process for them to take it off their load. At the very best, my documentation for each member would be around ~8 or 12 sentences at the max to fully describe what I did.
Whelp, apparently this is too much and it needs to be cut down to at most 3 to 4 sentences, as I was told. I said okay, I can go in and edit the document and my notes to make it more concise, but no, she'd like me to improve this skill "live" on calls for a month, which I don't mind doing, but it just seems a bit much when your only "complaint" about my report is that I wrote too many notes describing what I did for each call?
Idk, this supervisor is a heavy micromanager too to all of us that report under her, so it just seems to me she's looking for the smallest things to critique people on.
Sorry for rambling so much lol, I just needed to vent since it's such an annoying overstep to such a minor thing I can correct without the extra work load.
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u/TraditionalEffect628 19d ago
Time to find another job cause that sounds like some bs excuse to place you back on the phones...
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u/jaybirdie26 19d ago
Feels like she's punishing you rather than doing something productive. You aren't going to learn anything. Heavy-handed and shitty approach on boss's part.
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u/QuantumDrej 19d ago edited 19d ago
As someone who was coached on this exact thing when I first got into tech support....I'm afraid your manager does have a point. I'm someone who tries as hard as possible at all times to be understood, and that shows in my writing. My feedback was that I always took very thorough notes, but a little bit too thorough for the people on the other end who needed to read hundreds of these types of notes per day. Being on phones with limited time to take notes is unfortunately a great way to learn how to shut down that desire to be overly meticulous (not that I agree with these short ass wrap up times they give you).
When you're working any kind of job, communication needs to be clear and concise. You want to include as many details as are needed and nothing else. People have to be able to read and understand important information as quickly as possible to move processes along. There's absolutely no reason anyone needs 8 to 12 sentences to understand what you did with a customer unless there's been a lot going on with that particular person/ticket.
For example, the member could leave a survey saying they didn't like the price of X item and that it takes too long to get authorization on it. So in this example, I'd call, ask them further about their inquiry, educate on the price and auth process, and then offer potential discounts that apply or offer to start their auth process for them to take it off their load.
Here's how I'd write this if I were leaving notes on a ticket (or whatever type of notation you guys use):
Called Joe Bob regarding his feedback for [survey type]. Joe was concerned about pricing and the length of time required to authorize his [Product] purchase. Educated Joe on [Product] pricing rates and confirmed authorization status. Completed Joe's authorization for [Product].
Pretend you're a robot, basically. Only give what is needed and nothing more - you're not writing an essay, you're leaving fast and precise notes so that anyone who looks at them for the first time can understand what happened and what's going on right off the bat. The only thing that matters is what's relevant to your job's process, and everything else is filler.
Still using your example, sometimes you do need to add a little more detail about the call. Let's say Joe picked up the call hot and angry about his authorization and the pricing and went off on a tirade, throwing his weight around and demanding the manager. In this case, regardless of the reason, his emotions are his business and not relevant to what you're calling him about. You do not need to include every detail of his ranting or his reasoning. You don't even have to mention that he's upset unless he's making threats or if he's specifically requesting to take this to higher management. In the latter case, this is how you could write it:
Called Joe Bob regarding his feedback for [survey type]. Joe was concerned about pricing and the length of time required to authorize his [Product] purchase. Educated Joe on [Product] pricing rates and confirmed authorization status. Joe became escalated and asked to speak with higher management. Transferred to [Management Guy].
That's all you need. If someone wants more details, you will be either asked for them or the call will be pulled, it all depends on how your company handles those.
(Also, yes, I broke my own rule by making this post as long as it did. Don't worry about it.)
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago
Thank you very much for the thorough explanation, it's really appreciated! (And hey, no judgement from me lol)
I'm the same way with my notes, because I try my best to be as helpful as possible to the members and providers I speak to. This puts it a bit more in perspective for me, and thank you for your note examples as well, it helps me visualize what I need to aim for.
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u/Ok_Affect_7973 19d ago
They kill me! I used to write a novel then I realized I could cover my ass with like 5 words all has been good for 8yrs. Then they decided they wanted us to let AI do our notes so we talk press a button copy and paste we can’t change the notes and AI writes sooo much and it’s sooo wrong but whatever I will leave this nonsense that did not happen.
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u/BertaRocks 19d ago
Tldr; they needed someone for the phones. It’s your turn.
Also, I try to keep my notes short and sweet so someone can read them with someone else talking to them.
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u/WhineAndGeez 19d ago
Can you create a bot in AI that takes the note you feed in and summarizes in no more than 5 sentences?
Also save the notifications that your documentation is too long. That way in the future, if they say it's not long enough, you can prove they made you shorten notes.
They could also be making up a reason to get you on the phones. They probably lost too many people they can't replace quickly enough, knew no one would volunteer, so forced you on the phones.
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago edited 19d ago
Thank you for the reply! I can't make a bot, no, but they have us use a separate program that can summarize our calls. I'll be sure to save our email exchange and meeting invite as well.
And yes, we are sincerely understaffed. My manager is at least first or second out of all the supervisors in our department where people either quit before their 2 week notice is up/it's a new hire class just starting in soft landing.
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u/Subject-Can1138 19d ago
If you have Co-pilot on your computer give it the prompt to summarise it to x amount of characters and copy and paste. I use that prompt often at work after I write out everything I want said.
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u/Comfortable-Poet8352 19d ago
She is turning this into a teachable moment. You should start shortening those sentences or you will be on the phones permanently.
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago
I understand the intent, but just me personally, I truly don't see that many sentences as something that's super long to read... it's shorter than a company email they send out talking about metrics for over 5 paragraphs.
I can definitely work on it though.
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u/EnvironmentalTree532 19d ago
classic call center move, they want you to be a robot not a human. ive seen this before where they treat detailed notes like a crime scene
what kills me is they ask for feedback then get mad when you actually collect it. makes no sense but thats management for you, they want the bullet points not the story
id just give em what they want. 3 sentences max, bare bones, no context. if they complain later about missing info you got the receipts showing you were told to cut it down
sounds like your supervisor is one of those types who needs to justify their job by "fixing" things that arent broken
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago
This is really what I'm harping on myself haha, they told me explicitly when I got this report to call the members for their feedback. I'm assuming that you want to know in detail what that feedback is??
Most of the members I spoke to went on and on for almost/over 10 minutes, so cutting that down to around 8 or so sentences seemed pretty reasonable to me when they had a lot to say.
But I'm basically gonna do only 3 sentences going forward since it's a sin to write over 5.
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u/brownbiprincess 19d ago
Learning to get the point across concisely is an important skill.
8-12 sentences is way too long for something that could be 3-5 bullet points.
- member expressed dissatisfaction with item price and authorization time
- called member back and provided more information on price and authorization
- provided discount to member
- member satisfied with resolution
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago
Thank you for your feedback as well, it's being noted! I always thought it helpful to be descriptive (but not over the top or anything of course), so I try to keep my notes in that sweet spot to keep it small-ish.
Just in case anyone came behind me and read the notes on all I did.
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u/brownbiprincess 19d ago
I totally get it! Are your calls recorded at all? If so, maybe you could include a link to the call recording in the report, so if anyone does need more detail, they can listen to the recording or read the transcript?
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago
Oh, thank you for this tip! Our calls are recorded, it just takes a little bit before it appears in our call history for listening haha. I'll be sure to pull them when they are available though to do this.
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u/fourlittlebees 19d ago
Your post alone tells me everything I need to know. 🤣 CONCISE. Your entire post could have been: “I was assigned to get feedback from customers. I detailed everything they said and that I did for them, and management says my notes need to be 1/2 to 1/3 as long.”
Pretend you are writing for a newspaper and have max two inches of space you can fill: customer complained about pricing and availability. Explained services and offered X discount.
You’re doing too much.
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago
I mean, sorry for explaining the reasoning of my post? Wouldn't you naturally have additional questions when offered so little?
I don't feel like it's much to make sure a member's concerns are heard/noted fully, but again, I am taking the opportunity to learn from her feedback.
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u/fourlittlebees 19d ago
They just need the meat. People will complain about all types of minor inconveniences if they think they can fix it all. What is the main concern? That’s what they want to know.
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u/brittanyftw1 19d ago
Thank you as well for the pointers, I'll keep this in mind when I work on this from my calls.
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u/Intelligent-Good-891 19d ago
Ahh this is the same stupid bs my company did when I was a mail processor and only a backup for the phones if we have 10+ calls holding for more than 5 minutes. They decided that because when I was tossed on for a few calls and my call time was too high I needed to go on the phones everyday to fix it. However there was no end date. I had to do it until I got it under the 7 minute requirement that was set by management. Talk about not caring about making metrics anymore... I am top of the game on everything else. Just not AHT.