Change may be inevitable but it can make us very uneasy. At present, Reliant Energy HL&P is a company soon to be renamed CenterPoint Energy is in the midst of massive change because of deregulation of the electric industry. Employees that found complacency within the organization now experience a risk environment because of uncertainty of the future. The reduction in workforce is evident at all levels. For one, supervisors are placing greater demands on their staffs and have very high expectations.
Employees are trying to adjust to major reorganizations, including downsizing, increased hours, cross training and survivor guilt for those who were retained. Reliant Energy HL&P and Reliant Energy Entex have merged their call centers into one. At the present time, only a few employees from the electric side have been cross-trained for both gas and electric inquiries. The explanation for this is that these employees were picked because they have the skills, knowledge, and ability. This decision has placed an undue burden on these employees resulting in feelings of being overworked and burned out.
The rest of the employees are resisting the training and do not want to change the status quo. The top management is positioning the company and empowering the employees to be flexible and quickly adapt to change, explore new ideas, increase their skills, and be productive. However, this has not been communicated well. All the employees hear the whole day is complaints from unhappy customers. Most of the time they are caught between what the customers wants and company policy. They are not sure whom they are supposed to keep happy.
Misinterpretation in the midst of changes in the company has been a major cause of employee dissatisfaction and customers have been inconvenienced due to the transmittal of inaccurate information. The manager will have an enormous challenge motivating the employees with all the immediate concerns not resolved. A large part of the managers job is to solve problems. Motivational strategies can be derived from performance, goal setting reinforcement and rewards. Motivation has always been a problem in this department, due to lack of concern and understanding by upper management.
The need to succeed and develop a career sense is great in most organizations. Reliant Energy itself is changing, giving the company a chance to offer an enormous amount of personal development to its employees. Growth and development manifests as the company restructures. Its goal is to ensure that employees and the company are stable and growing. Our goal is to achieve consistency with the organizational mission and boost employee moral. The workload needs to be evened among all employees in the customer service department. Modification of staff behavior and training of all personnel is required.
The objective would be to have all employees trained within one year. Implement programs to help relieve stress and burnout among employees (Jones). Evaluating effects of job burnout and stress Studies show that stressful working conditions are actually associated with increased absenteeism, tardiness, and intentions by workers to quit their jobs. All of these effects have a negative effect on Reliant Energy HL&Ps bottom line. In past 20 years, many studies have looked at the relationship between job stress and a variety of ailments.
Mood and sleep disturbances, upset stomach and headache, and disturbed relationships with family and friends are examples of stress-related problems that are quick to develop and are commonly seen in these studies (NIOSH). The problems with Reliant Energy HL&P and Reliant Energy Entex merging their call centers into one have caused certain effects. Supervisors are placing greater demands on their staff and have very high expectations. This causes some employees to be over worked. Employees are trying to adjust to major reorganizations, including downsizing and increased hours.
For this reason, stress is highly recognized among the group. The fate of the individual as a wholenamely, the integrated and coordinated personality results in frustration. Tempers tend to be a little short at times as frustration builds up. Worst of all, due to the cause and effect of these problems, some employees are experiencing family problems. The stress at work is carried over to the home. Therefore, resulting in unfavorable family matters. In an effort to seek out alternative solutions, it is suggested to cross train other employees within the department.
Only a few employees from the electric side have been crossed trained for both gas and electric inquiries. Another alternative solution is to have the manager conduct weekly meeting to discuss issues that need to be worked out. All of the concerns from the employees and the manager can be brought to the table. Cross training will relieve the over flow of work from the over worked employees. Positioning all of the employees in the call center to be flexible by increasing their skills will influence a more productive work environment.
There will be less stress because the work can be allocated more evenly. Short tempers will not flare as much because everyone will be on the same skill level. They can help each other when needed. Weekly meetings will eliminate the frustration when issues cannot be solved. The manager as well as the employees can give comments and feedback on certain issues that have been troubling them. This will improve better communication amongst the department. The implementation of weekly meetings will commence on Tuesdays. The meetings are to be held first thing in the morning.
Time towards the end of the meeting is to be put aside for open discussion from the employees. Cross training is going to be a requirement and not an option. The rest of the employees who are resisting the training and do not want to change their status quo will no longer have that luxury. All of the employees within the call center department are to be empowered with flexibility and will be forced to adapt to change by increasing their skills. Overall job descriptions will be put into place. All of the existing positions will be looked at and revisions are to be made where needed.
The tier practice is to be revised. It is more logical to implement a monetary value for the tiers. Employee job dissatisfaction and lack of motivation will rise above the clouds with the development of career enhancement, goal setting, and monetary rewards. The PMI chart is a simple technique of deliberate pro and con identification. It is a graphic representation of alternatives or points involved in a decision. In one form, it can be a list of positive and negative attributes, and all the interesting points surrounding a particular choice.
The PMI chart has three categories in which plus or good points of the idea are listed, then all the minus or bad points, and finally all the interesting points such as consequences, areas of curiosity, or attributes that are not important to view as good or bad at this point. This last category also allows exploration of the idea or choice outside the context of judgment. Drawing up such a chart insures that both the positive and negative aspects of each direction or decision will be taken into account.
After studying the PMI chart and came up with a list of positive and negative attributes to each alternative, the team has concluded that to implement weekly meeting to discuss dilemmas, point of views, and a better understood of employees concerns and feelings is vital. Whenever an employee is asked to do things differently, a disruption in the individual way of doing things occurs. Some people thrive and change; others do not. Considering those employees who are more ready for the change can influence others who are less ready during open discussion and meetings.
Open discussions allow this process to occur. It also help change leaders to understand better to employees, and do not over-react to behaviors of people who, at times, seem to be behaving in mysterious, non-adaptive ways. When employees refuse to accept change in a corporation, it is necessary to identify change leaders among employees that are able to influence, help to communicate, and restate the organizations visions and goals; while reminding employees that there is a new course, and that the new course will remain.
After listening employees point of views, concerns and expressing support during rough times, manager will be able to enhanced his/her position, and call for an easier change. So, cross training will be better accepted for employees who have been refusing to learn new technology systems and denial to the new change at HLP. Beside that, incentives, recognition and rewarding for short term success will help to motivate employees to work hard to accomplishment not just personal, but also personal success.
