Cons: 1) Not enough turnover. One thing I can’t stand to see at the workplace is personnel who’ve been around long enough to remember when things are good. When you bring in rabble to answer the phones, you don’t want them to know immediately that they are getting a raw deal. That knowledge should only be revealed when they are too broken in spirit to quit.
2) Not enough redundancy. When a staff member has the nerve to call out for, say an illness, or car accident or death, the management team too efficiently handles these requests by having the employee call the shift lead (on the current shift), then contact the lead (on the shift in question) and then the director of the department for permission. Very disappointing. You train performers by making them jump through as many hoops as possible prior to physical collapse. If the management team could find a way to have more of the team contacted for these requests, then this resolves two issues: 1) it creates enough fake work to have the leads busy enough to not help with the call volume and 2) it makes the staff request time off for dead relatives they actually care about. In a 24/7 call center, money never sleeps. Quote me on that.
3) Not enough cliques. I think the most effective element in the workplace is fear. An environment that creates paranoia produces the most effective results in keeping people in line – think of High School and Prison. What those two character-defining institutions have in common is a detriment to learning and cliques – an endless amount of gang formations. The employees should feel like guppies swimming through shark tanks, always in fear of being the next meal. Now, the cliques at Chewy are not so much like Bloods and Crips, but more like the Jets and Sharks – with slightly less dancing. But what they lack in physical intimidation, they make up in the ability to be judgmental and to ostracize new people. Now, clearly, that has my approval. I just worry that there still may be gaps of a humanity as available options that are just counter to the program. A full and silent break room of a staff in the fetal position is a picture worth a thousand words.
