Further to the USU notice on 13 July 2018, regarding correspondence sent to HCF requesting information on the use of ACW, the USU has received a further response from HCF.
In correspondence dated 3 August 2018, HCF have advised the following:
“Two employees have requested further about the ACW code from HCF, one of which was in the course of a counselling discussion in which you were involved. Both employees have been provided with the information they requested.
The purpose of the ACW code is for selecting disposition codes in the dialler and then leaving relevant notice, specific to the call that the Member Care Consultant (MCC) has just had with a member. ACW is to be used following an actual connected phone call.
There is no ‘target’ in the scorecard for outbound calls, however it has been communicated to employees that talk time needs to be higher than ACW and should only be used following a connected call. Any further follow up that is needed should be done in the appropriate Auxiliary code, which requires a member number.
Inbound calls have an ACW target of less than 60 seconds.
It has been HCF’s experience that MCCs have been using ACW outside of the above guidance, including using it following zero second phone calls (meaning that the call did not connect). Any notes from a zero second phone call should not take more than a few seconds, and should certainly not take more than 60 seconds.”
This is in addition to correspondence from HCF, dated 13 July 2018”
“To the extent any of your members have any questions regarding the After Call Work (ACW) code including its meaning, its proper and acceptable use, its monitoring and the circumstances in which its improper use may give rise to disciplinary or counselling procedures they are welcome to raise those issues or questions with their leader or manager. HCF is surprised that you refer to ‘multiple complaints regarding disciplinary proceedings’ as disciplinary proceedings regarding the ACW code have not been instituted against multiple employees. To ensure that there is no misunderstanding about the ACW code HCF will arrange for the team leaders to run a short refresher session on the ACW codes and its use at the call centres.”
If you have any questions on the use of ACW, or other Auxiliary codes, please contact your team leader or manager.
