INAPPROPRIATE ATTITUDE IN THE WORKPLACE

Summary
Nishant is part of the Operations team at NeedHelp, an IT start-up focused on healthcare. His
team is dedicated to booking appointments and handling customer support for patients.
Confident, outgoing, fluent in English and other majorly spoken vernaculars, Nishant is one of
the best employees in the department. The ease with which he handles patients on call is
admirable. He has been awarded the Employee of the month thrice in his work experience of 7
months, which is some achievement. This case is proof to the idea that being qualified and
technically competent isnt always enough.

Introduction
The ABT, Appointment Booking Team and CST, Customer Support Team are the two teams
forming the backbone of the Operations Department at NeedHelp. Consisting of 57 employees,
they handle close to 1500 appointments/ day and ensure the implementation of one entire
segment of the company mission. A typical cycle goes like this: a patient looks through the
website and selects a doctor after relevant filtering based on locality and specialty, he/she dials
the number provided for booking an appointment and is directed to the ABT/CST, the
appointment is booked and the recorded voice call is then monitored by the QS, Quality
Surveillance team. The QS scans the calls to check if they meet the required standards in terms
of call duration limit, call script, and other protocol. It is not possible to stick to the call script a
100%, but it is advised to not go below a certain level. Nishant is a star performer. He is known
to have handled difficult customer issues with ease. But he is a difficult employee and has
conflicts with almost all members in the team. Excerpts from a very typical day at work:
Pallavi: Nishant, I need your assistance with a patient call. He is comfortable speaking only in
Telugu. I have tried conversing in Hindi and English. Can you please take this call for me?
Nishant: Pallavi, I have served my 8 hours for today. I am working on some personal bank stuff.
Im sorry I cannot help you right now.
Pallavi: Dude, it is for the team! We cannot leave a patient unassisted like this.
Nishant: Pallavi, you need to chill. One patient here and there, how does it matter? You will
obviously fulfill your daily threshold, with or without this patient.

Problem
Well, Nishant isnt exactly a team player. It doesnt end there. He also doesnt believe in sticking
even slightly to the call script or taking positive feedback from the QS team. Aakanksha, the
team lead of QS has warned Nishant at least 4 times till now. It started with her politely
reminding him of the rules there, explaining to him why a call script even exists and why it is
important to standardize the quality of calls. Nishant was too sure of himself to bother about QS
reports. He knew he was talented and was better than most others in a very effortless way.
Helpless and frustrated with Nishants behavior, Aakanksha writes to him:
Hi Nishant,
I see no change in your call pattern in spite of repeatedly reminding you to do the same. No part
of the call script is being adhered to and the stipulated call duration is also blatantly being
ignored by you. Please let me know if you have an explanation for this, I am sure we can work
this out. If this continues consistently although, Im afraid I will have to think of an alternative
and take necessary action.
Regards,
Aakanksha

Nishant is furious upon reading this mail. It hurts his ego and sense of superiority. He is the star
performer of the team. Do rules apply to him, he thinks. He hates Aakankshas guts for writing
this mail to him. Complying by it would just mean giving in. Instead of taking this feedback
positively and scheduling a one-to-one as suggested by Aakanksha, he loses his temper and
directly goes to the VP, Operations. He is carelessly verbal about how Aakankshas criticism
annoyed him. He even threatens to leave the department if this continued. According to him, he
doesnt see a reason why he needs to adhere to a call script, considering how well his
performance and delivery has been so far. He impulsively reacts and resorts to using of verbiage
not very appropriate. He forgets he has bypassed an entire management level and is directly
speaking to the VP.

Impact
Nishants behavior is frowned upon. His absurd reaction to a very justified and appropriate mail
by Aakanksha is seen as an act of immaturity and completely uncalled for. He is strongly
criticized by the Head, Operations for having behaved so impulsively in front of the VP without
even informing him. It is also brought to his knowledge that rules are above everyone and
everything and no one is going to be an exception to that. Nishants ratings fall drastically. The
management starts giving more emphasis to his conduct and his performance gets side tracked.
He is viewed as an example of how not to be.