A week in the life of... A week in the life of...
Andrew Thompson Support manager, Cintra HR & Payroll Services
Monday It’s 6.30 a.m., the sun is shining and I’m walking the dog round the fields behind my house. I know a spot where we can often find deer and today is a doozy: two deer a few meters in front of us. We give chase but they sprint off, leaving us behind. I wave them off and head for home. I’ve got a good feeling about this week. An hour later I’m at my desk and ready for action. Its approaching month end, the big Bacs are rolling in and the pressure is mounting. Every call is fielded first time if at all possible and everyone on the team is primed and ready. One of the benefits of our combined first- and second-line support team is that we have experts in every area of the spectrum: payroll experts, SQL wizards, costing gurus, network specialists and pension masters, but all of the team can answer a payroll call if needed. A couple of software upgrades to carry out, a server move to assist with. A steady stream of calls coming in and a few Bacs related issues all taken in our stride. My highlight: a manual (month 11) Scottish tax calc with the phone on the ear and only a notepad and calculator to hand: two calcs to the penny both times. Very proud. Tuesday We offer skeleton support from 6 a.m. I’m ‘Mr Tuesday’, and as a rule don’t mind the 4.30 rise and shine. I enjoy the few hours where the phone isn’t ringing to get on top of my list. But today starts with a calamity! My eyes open well over an hour before
my alarm; the clock is showing 3 a.m. and the chance of sleep is gone. A late-night bowl of cornflakes resulted in far too much sugar in the system to enjoy a peaceful slumber. I’ll not be doing that again. I double up on the under-eye moisturiser and head off to work early. We have a candidate coming in for interview today as one of the old-guard is retiring after fifteen years on the support desk. I always like interview time, as I find it a welcome challenge for the interviewer to give the candidate questions that they can really elaborate on. I jotted down a few thoughts last night: my new favourites are ‘tell me one skill that you possess that will make you fantastic at this job’ and ‘tell me something about yourself that isn’t on your CV’. If someone is going to work on the support desk, they need to be quick on their feet – we aren’t a cue-cards kind of outfit. Wednesday and Thursday Every Wednesday I meet with the developers to discuss the changes and issues from the last week. It’s a good chance to add a user perspective to the software – if it’s not clear how to use a part of the software then that’s on us and not the user. If a user rings in with a suggestion of how to make the software better, then we raise it with developers, and more often than not a release or two later it’s there. Our customers really feel a part of our Cintra family, and we really appreciate that they are as invested in the cause as we are. I have several weekly catch-up calls lined
up with some of our newer customers. I’m a payroll person at heart so can really empathise with our customers. In the past I’ve been the guy who has made every mistake in the book. There is great satisfaction in being able to help people avoid the pitfalls that have tripped me in the past. It’s a tough job to pick up new software and we find it helps bridge the gap between implementation and flying solo. Cintra’s ethos is all about building relationships with our customers and this approach really gets things off on the right foot. I offer an imaginary laminated ‘I’m new’ pass; any question, any part of the software, any uncertainty people can call me. Our customers know that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Friday It’s a funny old place, the payroll world. On Wednesday we closed over a hundred tickets and today we have a blissful less than half that. A chance to regroup and recover, clear up the outstanding tickets and get ready to do it all over again. We recently installed new support desk software which gives us the ability to analyse statistics and today I made (what I consider to be) a ground-breaking discovery: Thursday is typically our busiest day and on average we get 30% less calls on a Friday than we do on a Thursday. My conclusion: we are all human. It’s been another busy week here at Cintra Towers, time to go home, chase more deer with the dog and then head down to the local for a well-earned pint. o
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | June 2019 | Issue 51 48
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker