Time Again

I'm starting to grow frustrated with my training duties at work. It's just become so monotonous; I do the same lecture, testing, grading, and paperwork experience every week (twice, most weeks).

Training usually runs something like this. The night before training, if I'm working, I'll put all the trainees' information into the computer. I'll make sure there are enough manuals, sample job briefs, and quiz instructions for everyone who's scheduled. This takes care of most of the preparations.

On training day I'll arrive between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m., depending somewhat on how much I was able to get done the previous night. I finish up anything I didn't get done before. Then I'll get the training room set up, make sure there are enough chairs and that the computers are working, that sort of thing. And I wait for the contestants to show up. We generally have about 60-70% arrive, though I've had everyone show up on a few occasions. I've also had no one show up. You never know.

Once the trainees arrive, I give them their login information and their manuals. Training starts right at 3:00 p.m.; anyone who arrives late is encouraged to reschedule (and to show up on time next time). I tend to be a real stickler about arriving promptly. The single biggest ongoing problem we have with our employees is attendance. We let them pretty much set their own schedules, but a large number of them still can't seem to get their butts to work when they say they're going to be there. The way I see it, if they can't even get to training on time, the chances that they're going to be reliable in the long term are not good.

The first part of training covers policies and procedures. I think of it as the "Thou shalt not" part of the training. This typically lasts until about 4:25, at which point I take them on a tour of the place. I give them a short break, and we usually get back to business around 4:40.

The second part of the training deals with the job itself. We talk about the fine art of telephone interviewing and collecting accurate, reliable data. We talk a lot about techniques and do a little role-playing to reinforce the important concepts. Then I introduce them to one of the two computer programs used to do the job, our electronic time card. I show them how to sign in and out for the day, how to change the project they're working on, and how to sign out for break. By this time, it's usually about 6:15, and I give them a ten-minute break.

The third and final part of training involves the interviewing program. It's actually pretty helpful: it dials the phone, brings up a script for the interviewers to read, and gives them a way to record the respondents' answers. It basically does everything except carry on the conversation for them. I show them how to set it up for practicing and for making calls, and I teach them how to disposition calls: refusals, answering machines, callbacks, and so on.

Then we do a practice survey together. They take turns asking me questions and recording my responses. I try to teach them some problem-solving skills in the process by throwing them a few unexpected responses. I tell them that the practice survey they do with me will likely be harder than any real survey they ever have to do.

Then comes the skill test. It's done on the computer in the form of a survey; they simply click on or type in the correct answer to each question as it comes up. We give them 30 minutes to complete the test. It's 24 questions, and it's open book, so that doesn't present much of a problem to most trainees. The pass rate is 90% or more. Those who pass are offered employment and given new hire paperwork to fill out. Those few who fail are informed that we cannot offer them employment at the present time, but they are welcome to try again later, generally in six months. Those who pass are usually done with the test and filling out paperwork by 8:00.

As the new employees finish, I review their paperwork and take copies of their identification. Then, once everyone has finished the paperwork and left, I start organizing their files and getting their information into the computer. Depending on how many I've hired, I generally get done anywhere between 9:00 (on nights with small classes) and 10:00 (like last night).

As I said, it's pretty monotonous. All you've done is read about the process, and you're probably thinking it's monotonous too.

The monotony is the biggest part of the problem, but there's a new issue to consider now. The owner of the company has established a couple of new standards for the coming months:
  1) Hire 20 new employees a week, and
  2) Start cutting back on the time spent in the training process.
So now I'm feeling pressure not only to hire more people—which probably means training twice a week for the foreseeable future—but also to spend less overall time doing so.

I've always felt like I could take as much time as necessary to make sure the new employees are as well-prepared as possible for the job. And the other managers and supervisors have generally been happy with the job I do. I've had a couple of them tell me specifically how much better the new employees are doing now that I'm the one training them. So at least in my mind, it's been worth the time I've been spending.

All of a sudden, I've got deadlines.

Of course, I can do the training a lot quicker. When I act as Overlord, I train our new temps in about an hour. But all I show them is how to use the software. And really, that's all they need. They don't need to know about our attendance policy, or how to ask probing questions, or what makes an effective introduction. Basically, they just need to be there. The training is adequate for the need. And if one of them really screws up, well, we can always order another temp to replace them. They're disposable that way. With our own employees, though, not really so much.

So I can do the whole thing quick and dirty, if that's really what the power(s) that be think is important. But I don't think that's the right way. Maybe that's my problem. Maybe I just need to change my thinking, stop worrying about getting them trained 'right' and worry about getting them trained fast, and we can deal with anything they've missed along the way. We do that last part anyway. To be honest, I feel like half of what I try to teach them never really sinks in. It's amazing how often I use the phrase, "We covered that in training, remember?" I guess you can lead someone to training, but you can't make 'em think.

So what do I do? I guess I'll try to reach some sort of compromise: find a way to do the training faster while retaining the most important things in the lesson. In fact, I've been trying to move things along speedily the last couple of weeks—with exactly the same results. Last night, for example, we were about 15 minutes ahead after the policies and procedures. Yet somehow we lost that extra time somewhere along the rest of the journey, and finished up right at 8:00. I don't know how much time I can cut and still teach the newbies what I think they need to know.

This whole business reminds me of a sign I saw in a mechanic's shop once:

I can do it quick.
I can do it cheap.
I can do it well.
Pick two and call me back.