sgperkins,
Thanks for spending the 2 hours on the phone last week trying to get this fixed. I’m sorry that it didn’t work out.
We may be wired alike. It’s something I felt compelled to do, too … but resisted. The employees who answer the phones for those kinds of calls so often don’t have the power, control, or authority to fix things like that, and (sadly) they are often apathetic about fixing things, too.
I was employed for decades by a huge company with a very cumbersome HR/Benefits department. During the last decade of my time there, “Team Members” relied on emails and online forms only. Employees in this huge company were not permitted to speak on the phone to employees in the HR/Benefits department when encountering any type of problem (payroll or 401k or annual benefits enrollment, etc). All outgoing emails were signed with only “Team Member,” such that the employee with the problem had no idea who they were “talking” to. Continuity in problem solving was non-existent, as different Team Members got involved in the mix but did not know the accurate history of the problem or its solution so far. And employees in HR/Benefits seemed to have no individual accountability, given that those they were serving (or not serving) knew each of them only as Team Member!
Upon receiving an email or online form from an employee with a problem, the gatekeeper would assign a case number, the problem to somebody in the HR department, … and then immediately close the case.
Case Closed simply meant that the gatekeeper had assigned the problem to somebody!
There was little follow through on anything. And when the employee contacted the department later on, to follow up on their unresolved case, the answer was nearly always, “That case was closed. We thought it was resolved.”
Your post resonated with me. Sadly, It seems like a lot of companies work this way now.
