August 20, 2011

My Admin Hearings

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In my almost 2 years of being a kolboy (call center agent) in my current company, I already underwent 4 Admin Hearings. It all happened in 1 Account that I have (for a US Internet Service Provider).

1. No Documentation -- This incident happened during my first week on the Production Floor. My explanation was that, I'm very new to the tools and I'm still learning it. The HR personnel who conducted the Admin Hearing accepted my explanation.

2. Over Documentation -- My SME instructed me to make extra documentations. I blindly followed her without realizing it would be a big issue on my part. I explained to HR that I just followed an instruction from someone who supposed to teach us the right things. My SME got terminated. I was forgiven by HR.

3. Rudeness in a Chat and Refusal to Escalate -- Yes, that's two terminable offenses in one chat session. What happened was, customer is asking me to replace his power strip (extension)! I apologize and advised him that it's beyond my capabilities. Customer told me to advise my supervisor about his frustration about the issue. I advised him that I did as he said. I print screen his chat session and send it to my supervisor via instant messenger. It was frustrating that the one insisting that I was rude on chat was my Program Manager (the boss of my TL). Fortunately, the HR representative listened to my explanation. I was forgiven.

4. Sleeping While on Chat -- This time, it was another Team Leader who filed a case against me. He insisted that I am sleeping while engaged on a chat session. When the HR representative listened to my explanation, I advised them that I snore if I'm sleeping. I also asked the transcript of the chat sessions (because it has a timestamp) from that TL to show that my responses to my customer’s questions are within the allowable 2 minutes. That TL was not able to present concrete evidence that I was indeed sleeping on the floor so it was his words against mine. In the end, the HR accepted my explanations.

What did I learn from all these Admin Hearings? I learned that it's not enough that a person (a TL or a Program Manager) accuses you of something. It still boils down to presenting evidence during the Admin Hearing. Also, if you suspect that your SME or TL is asking you to do something illegal (like in my Admin Hearing #2), be prepared to screenshot/document everything. It would save your ass in the end. The HR who'll administer the hearing would still listen to your explanation and evidence at hand.

Do you have a similar experience of attending an Administrative Hearing?

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