New Jobs Created Under Stimulus Bear Scrutiny

As one of the literally thousands of Americans over 40 looking for work in prior fields of experience and endeavor, it has been interesting, to say the least, in my quest for employment in this depressive U.S. economy and viewing just where most of the stimulus monies have gone, and for what purpose.

Most of the states received and accepted huge amounts under the stimulus, and apparently those sums have gone primarily to creating more government positions and jobs, and increasing benefits for the existing work force in the public sector.

A great deal has gone to buying more and more computers for local public sector employees and departments, and also in establishing "workforce centers" throughout the country so that the unemployed at least have the tools now required by this progressive agenda (a computer) in order to seek viable employment.

On one such day I visited the local workforce center in this community, over 75 computers were full and an overflow room of 25 was also humming. Although some of the computers were not operating due to an overload on the server which meant many were also waiting their turn to browse the few jobs available for those former secretaries, retail sector employees, and college graduates whose degrees and monies went toward getting re-educated during the 90's or later but whose former careers also have been hard hit during this economic tsunami.

Throughout the center there were also flyers by a local university which also received grant monies in order to "study" the unemployed or underemployed in order to "get their story" for their graduate study program.

For a short time when I was at the end of my own personal resources during the winter here, I ended up answering a mass call for customer service representatives for a third party contractor for one of the major cell phone companies which involved five weeks of training, eight hours per day, six days per week for $10.00 per hour. If you missed more than one day of training during that time period, the next trainee would be assigned your computer for their training.

This company was a "minority" business created or expanded under that stimulus, although its "contract" for its provision of its outsourced contract was "negotiated" between this business and the major cell phone company which retained it in order to provide bodies to answer all those calls from mostly disgruntled customers.

From my short time working there, I truly would have loved to meet the lawyer that "negotiated" that contract, and I suspect those monies which were handed out to this major global corporation had many, many strings attached which were then passed down to the third party global corporation which eventually was retained to provide for those customer service needs.

It appeared that this "government" contractor's contract provided those sums based on the number of hours and people trained, the weekly then "coaching sessions" which were then given during call monitoring by supervisory and quality control staff (who were "let go" two months into my employment there for "budgetary reasons") and the amount of calls handled by those agents.

There was a "scientific formula" for handling those inbound calls and five step process and pattern to providing "good customer service." Deviating from the script at any time involved intervention from supervisory personnel, who were monitoring 12 agents sitting in open bays surrounding the supervisory station. An interruption in the pattern could throw an agent off their call matrixes and stats by the customer, and made it difficult then to get back "on track," for the remainder of the call.

Call times and transfer rates were the largest concern of those who had jobs in "workforce" - people who walked the bays and floors with walkie talkies, and if you were on a call longer than the seven minutes proscribed to handle that call, a tap on the agents shoulder while on the call was the workforce "reminder" that calls were waiting to be "handled."

Transfer rates were to be kept at less than 7% of calls handled, which meant that trouble shooting calls were meant to be handled by the agents of this third party contractor, and not transferred back to the "tech support" people directly employed by this major carrier for such tasks.

In effect, if agents were attempting to carry out their jobs and priorities according to the "transfer rate" matrix, their then call handling time went up, which was then also brought up at the next "coaching" (critiquing) session.

No quarterly or bi-annual reviews of work performance here, but WEEKLY simply due to the terms of that "contract" for those stimulus monies which were to be received through the major cell phone company and its taxpayer handout.

An "audit" by the major carrier was held earlier this year in which for a week representatives of the "government contractor" major cell provider visited the site, and went through procedures, and stats.

During this time policies were initiated that called for "clean desks," (only two personal items per desk), and putting all the agents through additional background checks and drug testing, because apparently the drug testing which was conducted prior to training did not include sufficient data, although no agent was informed of the results of the testing in my training class or suspended during the time they were in training.

Over 350 of the 600 hired for a holiday ramp up were let go based on the results of these investigations, which also precluded even those with misdemeanor traffic offenses from working at the call center represented by the third party contractors as a provision of this government contract.

Since it would appear that the older a worker is, the more likely they are to have had at least one misdemeanor or offense due to the increases in simply the amount of state and federal laws which have been passed this past twenty years seems it just might preclude a great many Americans from holding on to those positions long term. Or even our youth who most likely have had one traffic violation or another during their "learning curve" driving years. Or youth, even though crimes committed years and years ago but not automatically expunged from records after the punishment for the "crime" was fulfilled were also solicited for these checks.

But no matter, since in my experience it didn't appear that most of the boomers or the over 30 generation were cell phone addicts, or ceased to be after their initial experiences with a great many of these devices for their communication needs, and marketing appears to be mostly targeted at those under 30 in all those television ads, or miss the mark in their marketing and product line for the over 30 crowd.

Or focused on the "toy" aspects of the phones in games, books and apps that can be added, at greater cost, of course, as "all in one" portable computers, with the actual phone provisions secondary or even thirdly relevant with the cameras now included.

The "holding company" for this third party contractor is a "global" corporation that provides call centers throughout the world, many located in India also. Although do wonder if those in India are "drug tested" to the degree those in the U.S. are, or if there are "background checks" for misdemeanors, including traffic offenses or victimless misdemeanors, in that country?

All call times and clocking in and out are done through the computer system, and monitored by "workforce" for violations of the break and amount of hours agents are to be on the phone, and does take the agents about 15 minutes per day to simply log into the "system," a system for which during my short time there "went down" numerous times, and during which time agents were expected to answer calls but inform the callers that the "system was down" and to call back if their question was one in which their account information was needed.

During my months there, not once did the Human Resources Director or staff ever visit the floor, or solicit employee concerns of either the matrixes used in order to evaluate their performance, the working conditions, or even so much as got on the phones themselves to actually be able to relate to the tasks assigned under that "contract." Nor most of the "area directors" whose job it was to supervise the supervisors.

Each pay period there were at least half the workers with pay issues, either not being paid for time worked, or not receiving a check at all. And the payroll was also "outsourced" to a payroll providing company which employees had to monitor also through their system and correct prior to the end of the payroll period during those lunch, break or down times.

The second month there, I appeared to fulfill my commitment and time on the phone handling those customer calls, and was told due to "call volume" I was being given a VTO (Voluntary Time Off) without pay. I worked the 2nd shift, so had the afternoon and evening off although still had those rent and bills to pay. And some outstanding medical bills. And upkeep and expenses on a 16 year old car after having moved four times in the past five years from my former home state of Arizona after the National Guard was called out in 2006.

This coincidentally also occurred during the "audit" by the major cell phone carrier when it appeared there were many "not needed" during the audit period.

I was then informed I could file for unemployment for the lost hours under my own "contract" by the Human Resources Department.

Of the six hundred hired during the winter holidays, fewer than 200 remain and yet with the economy still in the tank, the training classes are full and at last report, ongoing.

After all, it is the training that is the bread and butter of those third party providers, not job satisfaction or employee retention of the existing personnel. Or shifting call volumes to other regional centers if one isn't performing under those matrixes satisfactorily to also then meet those contract requirements passed down by the government under those stimulus monies and terms.

These are the jobs provided under that much disputed stimulus, before they too are outsourced to India as "jobs Americans don't want."

And seems overall, most of those sums are remaining at the top, since even of those training dollars far less than half was actually being paid to those agents being trained since it was represented during training that each agent represented $4,500 in "investment."

Or those workforce centers and their double dipping state workforce and career counseling soon close due to lack of funding, leaving those public employees to join the private sector ones on those breadlines eventually since recently there were notices posted also there to support the extension of those sums for the centers to state representatives.

The number of jobs which have been either outsourced, or lost due to this "technology" focus and those government contracts is imploding this country from within. Computers are now actually hiring or screening America's workforce, and those most qualified for the few jobs remaining clearly aren't getting them, or the standards and qualifications bear no relevance at all to the actual jobs and finding suitable or qualified candidates.

Even those Americans working for the companies which received those monies in the billions, headed by minorities which then in turn sold those companies to global corporations.

While gasoline is now over $3.50 a gallon in most areas of the country, in order to "stimulate" Americans to purchase those hybrid automobiles to save money on gas - at a cost of over $30,000 per car for these "technically and environmentally" superior forms of transportation.

And the number of jobs in banking, insurance, and a host of others are now filled by HAL.

This "Space Odyssey" turned nightmare is breaking America progressively.

Text your Congressman or Senator, if you agree, on their government contractor provided cell phones.

The ones made in China, mostly serviced by those centers which are booming in India, whose workforce have lower costs of living, and different hiring standards, or different matrixes for agent performance.

Standard text messaging rates apply.