About Work

Alright, I've been here for about 2 weeks now, for work I might add, and I have yet to write about it. Here we go...

As you know, I'm here facilitating training. The group is small, about 9 people. I was supposed to have 10 but one person "fell ill" with Typhoid. It's a pretty serious illness- I actually had to be vaccinated for it. He'll be out of the office for a while, I'm not too sure how long.

Specifically, I'm training the group to take payroll calls. Payroll calls are difficult. Payroll calls are not: I need to enroll into my direct deposit or I need to change my tax elections. I mean, we do that once and we never touch it again, right? Ok, maybe you do something if you get married or have a kid or something....You never call your payroll department to say, "Hey, thanks for my paycheck this week. Well done. Pats on the back." Payroll calls happen when things go wrong- someone doesn't get their check, someone was underpaid, someones dog ate their check. Payroll is the end result of everything that can happen within the entire workforce. Pay Changes, Position Changes, Moving, Time Entry, Bad Commission or Bonus Data. You name it...what ever it is, it can have an impact to pay. So troubleshooting is huge part of this training. Luckily for the group, they have a kick ass trainer. One who has a passion for people to understand things as well as she does. :)

I've been working on this project (among others) since September. The project included opening up a brand new service center with existing tools and infrastructure. This group is part of the first multi process team in India.

Things are going awesome so far. Before they came to me, they were trained to take US benefits calls. That training included linguistics, where they learn to soften their 'mother tongue.' So much of their spoken English has a British influence so, I try to help them sound a little more Americanized. I said, "It's no secret that calls are being taken in India, but do you want me to point out a few things where you can give an American twist?" Of course, they were totally open to it, so I have an open door to help them with any pronunciation and phrasing flow. We're having fun with it- When I pronounce one of their names wrong, they call me out on it.

We spent the first week going over some basic HR and Payroll Fundamentals and this week we started to get into team specific pieces. Tomorrow, they will have their first knowledge check- a 60 question test. I reviewed the questions once, about 3 weeks ago. I just reviewed them again today to verify what they are being quizzed on was actually included in the training. They're going to knock it out of the ball park!

I'm lucky to have such a great group. They are so eager to learn and very competitive, yet helpful with each other. I've had to change how I manage a classroom a bit since in the US, when training adult learners (Do we call 21-25 year olds adult learners?!?) they aren't so eager to raise their hand. In the US it's like pulling teeth and here, I have to tell them to wait their turn. (For the record, a trainer would always prefer to have to tell the group to wait their turn. ) The entire BPO and Customer Service industry is booming here and they know they are with a good company. Their lunch time conversation today (without me present) was about the upcoming elections in the US as they have some elements of concern that moving work will stop. I told them not to fret.

I hope everyone is staying warm and healthy. I haven't worn a coat since I've been here but, it's too chili to get a tan.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that they do well on this test! After the test - in a few days - is real application on calls. The true measure of success.

Until later, Namaste.