Tough to train employees

[fellspointer]

I am a trainer in a call center with about 30 employees. I was hired to be the trainer due, in large part, to poor performances by certain employees, whose defense was they were never trained properly to do the job.

I developed a 2 week initial training class, and 5 employees were in the first class. One particular employee was the one whose performance was borderline and insisted it was due to lack of training. (She has been in this position for 4 years).

In the classroom, her behavior was disruptive, but we got through it. Now, 2 months after the training has ended, she demonstrates no difference in her performance. She is still making the same mistakes as before training.

When confronted with concerns, she a) blames various health problems for lack of concentration ( none of which is documented)
2) blames the computer.

I am not qualified to determine if her health issues are valid. (She claims sleep apnea), or if this is a passive aggressive person who is content just sliding by.

How can I address/assist this person?

Thank you for your insights.

[rome123in]

fellspointer,

How was her performance during the training period. As in, did you have regular assesments and test and did she perform well.

You can have a one-to-one with her. Ask her now, to identify areas she needs help and coach her. Monitor her daily and give feedback. Spend as much time as possible.

Do it for a week. Tell her that this week she will be on review and you expect results, set the benchmark and expectations in advance and communicate that to her.

Remember, as much as we believe in training people, at the same time we do not want to carry along excess baggage.

At the end of the day we are running a business and are answerable to the client and end-customer.

[jgannon]

Sounds like expectations haven't been clearly set and subsequent corrective action put in place to remedy the situation. I agree with the other response that we are running a business and #1 job is to satisfy the customer. If she is unable to provide the level of customer service following clear expecations and corrective action, then you have the opportunity to release her and backfill with someone who could. Put the owness on her to provide the medical documentation if she can. Make sure you are working very closely with your HR folks. Good luck!

[headsetguy]

My experiance to this problem is cut them loose. We are a small company with some of the same problems. Sales reps saying they were not trained properly, computer issues and anything else that could be used as an excuss.

What we had done was document everything for 1 quarter, give the people who were problem childred 1 month solid training on products and people skills and let them "Earn" their chair. As expected, they failed for lack of effort on their part and we let them go after the quarter was up.

The whole point. Don't fall in love with the notion that weak sales reps will improve over time. You end up wasting valuable dollars in terms of lost sales, lost customers and wages. This sounds strong and mean but the truth is we all have a job to do and we can't let weak desires bring weak results.

We wasted time and money on these people, re-training long term reps when we should have just cut the lose and invested the wasted dollars on new employees who could be trained.

In my opinion, I believe weak reps are identifiable in the first 90 days. I hope the advice and insight helps with your case.

Tony

[NBosch]

When someone is doing the same job for 4 years, and she blames "training" for not delivering, than that is a farce.

Willing and able agents, would have been able to learn the work themselves ( plenty of info to find everywhere; internet, books etc. ).

Therefor I think this is much more a motivational issue. From the described personality, I can also imagine, that she is quite popular among the other agents (who probably don't see her results).

My advice would be to put pressure on her from 2 sides; management and peers. Publish the agent results on a weekly basis so that everybody can see that she is underperforming. Openly discuss the impact bad performance can have on the centre as a whole.

If this doesn't help.... sorry, but you have to let her go.

[fellspointer]

Thank you all for taking the time to share your experience and insights with me. Attached please see the email I sent to the employee in question:

Good morning.....(name),

This is a follow up to our conversation on Friday, September 24th, in regards to training.

As we have discussed, there are still issues that training hasn't seemed to resolve. For example, (examples given).

During training, you and I had discussed your performance in the classroom, and you felt that there were physical issues which were impeding your progress. It this is still the case, I strongly recommend that you get documentation from your physician.

Since the training class did not seem to impact your performance, I would like from you specific directives on HOW you need to be trained and HOW you learn. There is no sense in retraining you in the traditional training methods if they are not condusive to your learning style.

When I receive this from you, we can then discuss the options for further training possibillities. We can also discuss how to document your performance for effectiveness.

Please think about this carefully and respond in writing no laster than close of business on......(date).

Again, I need to know:

1) if you have physical limitations which impede learning (with physician documentation) .

2) HOW you need to be trained.

3) HOW you learn effectively.

Thank you.

(name)

cc: supervisor, manager

[Kupa]

Fellspointer.
I would not be addressing this issue via e-mail.
This is an area that needs to be addressed one on one as is sensitive.
If you have not undertaken performance counselling in the past seek advise from your HR reps.
The expectations / KPI's need to be spelt out to her and then provided in writing. The discussion should also be documented with a copy provided to the representative.
In regards to her health issues. You need to advise her that you understand and empathise with her, but that her performance is below competent and if continues to remain that way formal performance reviews will follow - through to termination if need be.
She has an opportunity to provide her case and you yours.
Through out all of your discussions you will need to offer support - but also ultimatums if actions are not followed.
Just for further clarification - if you are the trainer and not her direct manager, I feel that this is no longer your responsibility. Good luck though with this - my experience has proven that illness combined with poor performance is tricky to handle. Document everything to ensure unfair dismissals do not ensue.