Testing and Assessment Essay

Submitted By saedelm
Words: 1089
Pages: 5

In the collection business high turnover is common. What can be done to decrease turnover? What are the causes for it?

Having been a manager who had to assess others and an employee who was assessed I have been on both sides. Most agencies have their own criteria which is fairly consistent in the industry. They use supervisor, peer and self evaluations but rarely subordinate evaluations. One reason for this is most collection managers have proven their abilities over time and are trusted by the owners. Many employees still see it as unfair. Rank ordering is very common as most agencies have a board that collectors write each payment received on to show the office. Not too much is kept secret and everyone’s progress is visible to all. There is almost always a training period as collectors and the companies can be sued if the law is not followed. It is usually a few days to a week before they are sat next to a collector to learn. Situational judgments are asked in training such as “what would you respond with if a debtor said x or y?” Or what is the first thing to say when they answer to the last things before you hang up? Training is almost always paid and with high turnover this tends to lead to a loss of time and money. One way to help reduce loss is to train groups instead of individuals at first. Only after general training will they sit next to a collector. Personality is very important because there is much personal bias and favoritism in some agencies. If you do not get along with your manager it is very likely you will not last long unless you are a super collector. If you are a super collector it does not matter what your age, gender, religion or race is because you will be respected for doing the job. Collectors are under tremendous pressure to perform all the time. They must constantly be on the phone and breaks are few. Managers always need to know how many calls are being made, know many contacts are being made, is the collector following the Fair Debt Collection Practices Acts or any other applicable laws? The average base salary is about $30,000 per year plus bonuses and commissions. This is not much money and a person trying to raise a family will most likely be on a tight budget. If it turns out that a person can not make much in bonuses they will become frustrated and leave. However some collectors earn over $100,000 per year. Many agencies have medical plans but many do not have retirement plans. This shows little interest in the long term welfare of the employee. There is little flexibility in the schedules and managers are usually very tough on the employees almost as if they are speaking with the people who owe money. Employees may sometimes have a chance to voice their concerns and sometimes managers listen but most of the time things will not change. Each person much be judged individually while maintaining fair standards that are obvious to all. In many collection agencies if a collector does not hit their quota for two consistent weeks or months they could be put on probation or terminated. Management expects not only monthly and weekly requirements but daily and hourly requirements. If a person hasn’t collected any money by as early as 10 AM the manager may start ridiculing that person in front of everyone. This is of course highly embarrassing. Phone calls are monitored and a person could be called into the office at any time for an infraction. As a manger I did my best to make every employee I chose to hire as comfortable as possible. Some I had to let go the first day, the first week or the first month but some collectors were permanent employees who consistently did the work. In this particular company called National Credit Systems in New York City there was not retirement plan or other benefits so this caused many people to lose interest no matter what I did. Burnout was quick and common. Companies who