2009 OPS Employment Survey
Most staff members at FRO were scared to complete 2007 survey the way they really felt it should have been because of they were haunted by the vindictive attitude of FRO managers. While we believe that the surveys are secure and confidential, it is also true that managers would be nasty to anyone if they knew about his/her comments against FRO office abuse.
The many emails sent from management to staff encouraging them to complete the 2009 survey is an acknowledgement that people are really scared.
FRO must establish a sense of confidence and security within staff before asking them to voice their opinions.
It is sad to work in a hostile environment, but the onus is also on the staff to counter this attitude. So please complete the survey and when you get to the last page of it, leave an explicit comment to whom it may concern.
Remember that Frontline blog is always the best option for you to express yourself, but please keep it clean. We have rejected 39 comments since Jan 14 !
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
FROntline blog on the frontline.
Why is this blog moderated now?
Quite a few members have submitted this question and here’s the response from the FRO blog team:
This blog was intended to be open to all comments regardless of their origins or content and we had it open for almost 4 months until messages became extremely dirty from current and a former FRO manager. These messages include filthy terms like pu**y, di** heads, a**holes and other well inspired “F” words. It is amazing how the language used reflects the users’ minds.
We have also received some equally dirty messages from some FRO managers’ cheerleaders, threatening to “kick the hell of the Moderators’ a**s.
By using foul messages, managers and their little bunch of cheerleaders attempt to make this blog shift to a different direction and steer away from its main purpose, because this blog does indeed reveal the true nature of FROntline staff problems, which so far, nobody has been able to bring up for discussion.
FRO management is so concerned by this blog to the ridiculous extent of spreading words among staff that the police have launched an investigation to find the users of this blog so they can prosecute them. This is an attempt to scare people away from using the only tool they have to express themselves without risk of confrontation.
A year ago, while we were preparing to create this blog, FRO blog team consulted with some legal and admin experts, some of which are senior staff in the OPS. We were advised of our rights and obligations to run this blog. A recent consultation showed that there was nothing illegal about FROntline blog. In fact, we understand that attacking moderators or users contravenes the applicable law.
Managers and their cheerleaders were particularly angry at some users who named names in their comments because the people named had families. Well, they must understand that those staff members who have been denied promotions have families too. Those who’ve been intimidated and humiliated because they spoke their minds have families, too. Those who are singled out because they refuse to play the usual immoral game have families, too.
If managers were really concerned about their families, then they should have at least kept their perversion away from the workplace. All managers who fool around with FRO female staff at work or outside are all married and have kids. At the end of the year, they probably receive some appreciation certificates for their contribution to solve family issues in Ontario!
So, instead of investigating this blog, which is nothing but a communication tool, let FRO investigate staff’s concerns outlined within and put an end to the ongoing immorality within FRO.
We have received an email from an anonymous staff who said that around March 08, a letter was sent to the Deputy Minister regarding misconducts at FRO. She was urged as the Ethics Executive in the Ministry to intervene, but apparently she didn’t even care.
This staff said that the ADM email encouraging staff to solve their issues with managers or other internal committees showed how she was unaware of the inefficiency of these committees or tha she was simply too appalled by the news that FROntline blog brought to her regarding her senior staff. Maybe she found herself in the midst of a real brothel and didn’t know how to handle it.
We have decided to continue blocking all messages that contain dirty language and we will let all other postings go through regardless of opinions expressed within.
Why is this blog moderated now?
Quite a few members have submitted this question and here’s the response from the FRO blog team:
This blog was intended to be open to all comments regardless of their origins or content and we had it open for almost 4 months until messages became extremely dirty from current and a former FRO manager. These messages include filthy terms like pu**y, di** heads, a**holes and other well inspired “F” words. It is amazing how the language used reflects the users’ minds.
We have also received some equally dirty messages from some FRO managers’ cheerleaders, threatening to “kick the hell of the Moderators’ a**s.
By using foul messages, managers and their little bunch of cheerleaders attempt to make this blog shift to a different direction and steer away from its main purpose, because this blog does indeed reveal the true nature of FROntline staff problems, which so far, nobody has been able to bring up for discussion.
FRO management is so concerned by this blog to the ridiculous extent of spreading words among staff that the police have launched an investigation to find the users of this blog so they can prosecute them. This is an attempt to scare people away from using the only tool they have to express themselves without risk of confrontation.
A year ago, while we were preparing to create this blog, FRO blog team consulted with some legal and admin experts, some of which are senior staff in the OPS. We were advised of our rights and obligations to run this blog. A recent consultation showed that there was nothing illegal about FROntline blog. In fact, we understand that attacking moderators or users contravenes the applicable law.
Managers and their cheerleaders were particularly angry at some users who named names in their comments because the people named had families. Well, they must understand that those staff members who have been denied promotions have families too. Those who’ve been intimidated and humiliated because they spoke their minds have families, too. Those who are singled out because they refuse to play the usual immoral game have families, too.
If managers were really concerned about their families, then they should have at least kept their perversion away from the workplace. All managers who fool around with FRO female staff at work or outside are all married and have kids. At the end of the year, they probably receive some appreciation certificates for their contribution to solve family issues in Ontario!
So, instead of investigating this blog, which is nothing but a communication tool, let FRO investigate staff’s concerns outlined within and put an end to the ongoing immorality within FRO.
We have received an email from an anonymous staff who said that around March 08, a letter was sent to the Deputy Minister regarding misconducts at FRO. She was urged as the Ethics Executive in the Ministry to intervene, but apparently she didn’t even care.
This staff said that the ADM email encouraging staff to solve their issues with managers or other internal committees showed how she was unaware of the inefficiency of these committees or tha she was simply too appalled by the news that FROntline blog brought to her regarding her senior staff. Maybe she found herself in the midst of a real brothel and didn’t know how to handle it.
We have decided to continue blocking all messages that contain dirty language and we will let all other postings go through regardless of opinions expressed within.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Moderators, please post this for discussion.
AGENTS MANDATE LIMITATIONS:
According to the job specification, FRO agents are not social assistants, nor social workers. Their main task is to enforce provisions in the court orders that pertain to child or spousal support. In other words, they are collection agents, just like other collection agents working for banking institutions for example. Collection is a very technical process that may be carried out according to the training, the resources and tools provided to the agent.
What happens at FRO is that enforcement agents are under huge pressure from both clients and management to also act as social workers, legal advisers and many times, as clients’ babysitters. There are tons of mad clients out there who need assistance of a different nature, which FRO agents are not mandated nor trained to deal with.
Management, however, wants us to assist with any problem that clients may arise on the phone. So we find ourselves dealing with some lunatic behaviors without the option to not even terminate the call even when the client becomes insulting to us and that's what happens when clients can’t solve their FRO unrelated problems. Some clients use discriminatory remarks especially when the agent has an uncommon name or an accent, no matter how clear and eloquent his/her language is.
FRO managers never listen to agents when a call is escalated because these managers are so unfocused and unqualified. They are scared of escalations because it means to them calling the client back, which they don’t know how to handle. They don’t have the professional or moral courage to pick up the phone and tell the clients about FRO’s mandate and agents’ enforcement limitations.
I have not heard of any manager at any level who stands by the agent when an issue is escalated because the client has been abusive. In fact, they ask the same agent, who’s been abused to apologize to the same client and provide direct line for future reference!
So here are some questions:
Why don’t managers follow up with the clients who abuse agents on the phone? In other OPS services like MOH, there are signs that warn clients from abusing clerks.
Why doesn’t FRO work on ways to educate clients on agents mandates and limitations by posting memos in thefro.ca
Why do managers continue to download escalations on agents and get away with it?
If FRO wants its agents to become social workers, why don't they provide proper training by professionals in this field and change agents' titles?
By a group of agents.
AGENTS MANDATE LIMITATIONS:
According to the job specification, FRO agents are not social assistants, nor social workers. Their main task is to enforce provisions in the court orders that pertain to child or spousal support. In other words, they are collection agents, just like other collection agents working for banking institutions for example. Collection is a very technical process that may be carried out according to the training, the resources and tools provided to the agent.
What happens at FRO is that enforcement agents are under huge pressure from both clients and management to also act as social workers, legal advisers and many times, as clients’ babysitters. There are tons of mad clients out there who need assistance of a different nature, which FRO agents are not mandated nor trained to deal with.
Management, however, wants us to assist with any problem that clients may arise on the phone. So we find ourselves dealing with some lunatic behaviors without the option to not even terminate the call even when the client becomes insulting to us and that's what happens when clients can’t solve their FRO unrelated problems. Some clients use discriminatory remarks especially when the agent has an uncommon name or an accent, no matter how clear and eloquent his/her language is.
FRO managers never listen to agents when a call is escalated because these managers are so unfocused and unqualified. They are scared of escalations because it means to them calling the client back, which they don’t know how to handle. They don’t have the professional or moral courage to pick up the phone and tell the clients about FRO’s mandate and agents’ enforcement limitations.
I have not heard of any manager at any level who stands by the agent when an issue is escalated because the client has been abusive. In fact, they ask the same agent, who’s been abused to apologize to the same client and provide direct line for future reference!
So here are some questions:
Why don’t managers follow up with the clients who abuse agents on the phone? In other OPS services like MOH, there are signs that warn clients from abusing clerks.
Why doesn’t FRO work on ways to educate clients on agents mandates and limitations by posting memos in thefro.ca
Why do managers continue to download escalations on agents and get away with it?
If FRO wants its agents to become social workers, why don't they provide proper training by professionals in this field and change agents' titles?
By a group of agents.
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