Consumer clarity on ‘conformance’ measure

BT December 20 2019

A robust CWU response to the unagreed rollout of a new productivity measure has led to BT Consumer agreeing to review the target, which tracks how much time is spent dealing with calls against company expectations.

The introduction of the so-called ‘Conformance’ measure sparked an angry response at many of the division’s contact centres last month after compliance targets of 98 and even 99 per cent were suddenly announced – with some advisers even being warned that anything less could affect their bonus payments or lead to the application of the performance management policy.

Linked to the new IEX scheduling tool, the CWU had previously been assured that ‘Conformance’ was a “background measure for team leaders” – and that the union would be properly consulted on any wider use of the measure before it was deployed further.

However, ‘Conformance’ was deployed in multiple areas without warning.

“The national team has now met with twice with BT on this and it has been accepted that the target did not take account of the agreed break arrangements or the agreed log-on/log-off process,” explains assistant secretary Nigel Cotgrove.

“In addition, it did not allow for coding problems , which have resulted in inaccurate results.

“As a result of these talks it has been agreed to review the target and also to ensure that ‘Conformance’ is only used as a background measure, and that there are no individual targets for advisors. This news will be welcomed by the many members across the UK who had raised their concerns with the union.”

Nigel emphasises that in three key areas there should be no changes applied to advisors as a result of ‘Conformance’.

“There has been no change in long-established rest break, comfort break or lunch break arrangements. There is no change to the log-on/log-off agreement, so advisors are only required to be at their workstation and ready to commence logging on at the beginning of their attendance. And finally Conformance is categorically not linked to bonus,” he concludes.