I am mad-a work rant About This Page:

[KMB733]

I don't blame you for being upset! I know once I clock out of work, I'm done. No way am I going to sit around waiting for the phone to ring so someone can make an appointment at 8pm! Do you not have an answering machine/voice mail at work?

[minemoz1]

Yes we have a machine, but they are running a marketing campaign and believe many people will call after office hours and we need to answer the phone


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[Cam22]

Ridiculous!

[GATechGal]

I have to agree that it should be done on a work only cell phone or they should pay you for the time you are using your personal cell phone. And what if your cell phone is BUSY? Will the patient be sent to your personal voice mail? I know mine isn't set up to sound professional. And are you expected to be in a place that you can immediately answer a cell call? What if YOU have an appointment/event that would preclude your answering? This isn't a great answer to your office's problem. They really should hire a service or set up web appointments if they REALLY think they're losing business when the office is closed. Personally, when I call the dentist after hours I'm happy to leave a message unless it's an emergency.

[HollyH]

I'd be mad too . Here are the two big issues I see with their plan:
1. They expect you to be available to make appointments without compensating you for being "on call". There are a variety of things that you could be doing on your own time that would preclude you from being able to answer the phone. If they expect you be available to answer the phone, they need to pay you for your trouble, not just pay you if someone decides to call. Most of the time, the person is given a set amount for being "on call", i.e. making yourself available to work if needed. Additional compensation is usually added when you are actually "called on".
2. They are expecting you to use your own phone. I imagine that no one considered that these business calls could potentially go to personal voice mails or that you could potentially incur additional costs with the additional call volume to your phone. They should provide a phone for the purpose of answering these calls, or compensate you for using your own phone in addition to compensating you for your labor.

It sounds to me like they are looking for a cheap way out and taking advantage of their employees in the process. There are plenty of other options available -answering services, on-line appointment systems, etc.

I would ask about these points and see what they say. Good luck.

[Teresa]

I'd be very mad. I'm paid a nominal fee for being "on call". Being available to answer a phone and respond to the call at a moment's notice means NOT being places you might want to be where answering the phone is a hassle, more so when you're supposed to schedule people. You can't go to the movies, out to sporting events, etc. Considering you might need to be near a computer, I'd assume they don't expect you to leave your home. You'd have no life. None.
Maybe you could suggest a rotating schedule of being on call. Each person would only take a night or two, being paid a nominal fee for the inconvenience and then more so if they actually take calls; i.e.: paid $2 an hour for NOT going out and for being available, then your regular hourly wage for answering calls.

[Huntermom]

Adding to Teresa's comments. I take calls int he evening all the time (I am a self employed attorney and I bill my regular rate, and sometimes more for the calls). I am clear to my clients I do not answer the call if I am in the market, eating dinner and it is not convenient. I will get back to them. For me the issue is not only the impact on me, but the fact that I do not want confidential information overheard, something that is easy when using a cell phone. Your company needs to set boundaries with the clients/patients.

Another question I would ask is if the patients cannot make a call during your business hours, does the corporation expect that your office will increase hours to accommodate them. I know there are people who cannot make a call during work, but they still have breaks and lunch hours and many are out at 3:30 or 4.

I set strong boundaries about calling me on my cell. I am also now charging 1 1/2 my rate for non emergency after hours calls. When clients see that 6 pm call cost them a minimum of $30.00 for ten minutes, they think about finding time during the day.

[HiddenMickey]

So, OP, what is happening at work? Is everyone all grumpy?

[CinderAbby]

Am I the only one who thinks it's wrong not only to expect the OP to use her own phone but also her computer??? What happens if her personal computer gets a virus or vise versa? I know it's a dentist office but there is still info that should be kept quiet and confidential and if someone (or a bunch of someones) can access that at home when their family or whoever might be in the house is present and might see it, isn't that a violation of HIPPA laws (or is Mass the only state with them?).

I just think it's wrong in a lot of different ways. The number one being if a service is going to be hired to forward the calls, they should be paid just to take the call in the first place and not play middle man.

[Huntermom]

Hippa is federal but not nearly as restrictive as people have made it. I know my DDin law and many other docs who log onto the hospital website with their home computers. DDin law also uses her personal phone to answer pages, although her pager is provided by the hospital.

I think the issue is more why the company just doesn't hire someone to be an after hours call person. Or ask employees to volunteer and be paid a good wage. I would guess that the corporation doesn't want to spend more than they have to and doesn't anticipate there are that many new patients/clients that will be lost due to calling after hours. Really how are they going to attend this appointment they made if they can't call to make it during regular hours?

[KMB733]

Originally Posted by minemoz1

Yes we have a machine, but they are running a marketing campaign and believe many people will call after office hours and we need to answer the phone

I still think this is ridiculous! I really don't know how many people they think are going to call at 8pm to make an appointment. Anyone with common sense would realize that their dentist office is closed at that time of night, leave a message and then expect a call the next day.

[minemoz1]

Well we all stated our case and complained that we didn't like using our personal phones, thought it was an intrusion into our private life, didn't feel compensated for doing this, should have been offered as something you could volunteer for instead of being something we MUST do, etc. And yes, we have to do it. But, if we are not available, we don't have to answer. We do have to change our voicemail and call them back within an hour. I am not doing that. How many people answer unknown or blocked numbers late at night??? I let them go to voicemail.

After the first week they are going to review what happened and see if we need to be on call after that week. There are 2 more weeks that the ads are dropping. So far, I have one day in week 2 as the other one she wanted me to do this was my birthday. I guess I have to just go see a movie on the day that I'm supposed to do this. Sorry, something came up.

The corp person was floored that we felt that way. She was very uncomfortable with our reactions. She said she lobbied for us to be part of this "great" program and depending on how this goes, they can justify the funding for a permanent call center. "Wouldn't it be nice to come in and have a full schedule and you don't have to call."

I love Huntermom's comment - Really how are they going to attend this appointment they made if they can't call to make it during regular hours? -- That hits the nail on the head. Our office is open late 3 nights-one at 8pm and 2 at 7pm. If they won't call during that time, how will they make their appointment?

There are other things going on at the office too, so I found another office within minutes of my house (I drive 45 min now) and submitted a resume on Tues. It's a small 1 dentist office in need of a front desk person to run everything. I'll see what happens.

[joelsmom]

Well, best of luck with getting the new position. Your corporate rep sounds sooooo corporate. We thought you'd want to be part of this great new program...really? I'd ask her how she'd like to do it. I'll bet she'd think again about this great idea!

[Her Dotness]

Corporate Woman was laying the big guilt trip with that "lobbied to get all of you into this great program."

How could you tell the corporate rep was lying? Her mouth was moving.

Yep, time to move on when the corporate decision-makers have lost touch with reality that much.

[HollyH]

Originally Posted by minemoz1

Well we all stated our case and complained that we didn't like using our personal phones, thought it was an intrusion into our private life, didn't feel compensated for doing this, should have been offered as something you could volunteer for instead of being something we MUST do, etc. And yes, we have to do it. But, if we are not available, we don't have to answer. We do have to change our voicemail and call them back within an hour. I am not doing that. How many people answer unknown or blocked numbers late at night??? I let them go to voicemail.........

There are other things going on at the office too, so I found another office within minutes of my house (I drive 45 min now) and submitted a resume on Tues. It's a small 1 dentist office in need of a front desk person to run everything. I'll see what happens.

for the first part of this post. They actually think they can tell you to change the voice mail on your personal phone for their business purposes!?!?! What about the people who need to get ahold of YOU who will now think they have a wrong number and won't leave possibly important messages? And then they have the nerve to tell you that you HAVE to call callers back within an hour?!?!?! I'm with you, I wouldn't change my voice mail and I wouldn't call the callers back. If you do, they now will have access to your phone number via caller ID. Nope. No way. I would simply ignore calls from any number I didn't know. To h-e-double-toothpicks with Ms Corporate and her "great" program.

Good luck with the application for the new job. I hope you get it! I think you're making a good decision in looking elsewhere.