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From: Hughes, Gregory J. (VCL) Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 1:43 PM To: VHACAN VCL Staff Subject: FW: Staff Productivity All, As we now have two months of silent monitoring data, daily responder level reports to review, and I have been at the VCL close to 6 months, I wanted to bring up the issue of staff productivity to all of you. What I have seen and what is confirmed through the reports mentioned above is that we have some truly outstanding staff here who are very committed to their positions. These staff have both a strong work ethic as well as great clinical skill. These staff are routinely handling 15-20 calls daily and their silent monitors reveal the quality of their calls to be excellent as well. These staff handle both core and non-core calls skillfully and their after call times reflect appropriate time for documentation and/or consultation. These staff take breaks according to schedule and their availability to take calls is always foremost in their daily planning. I want to thank all of these staff for the work that they do every day as they are the core of our program. I also want to believe that the paragraph above describes most if not all of the staff that we have here at the VCL. Unfortunately the statistics that we have been monitoring does not support that idea. While staff overall have been doing exceptionally well with silent monitoring, indicating that the quality of the service/intervention we provide the veteran is outstanding the call volume and average calls handled is not representative of equal and fair effort among all staff. What the data is showing us is that while some staff will take 15-20 calls a day we have other staff that are taking 1-5 calls a day and this cannot continue. This information takes into account other factors such as text, chat, white house letter or other assigned duties. What we have seen is that there are staff who spend very little time on the phone or engaged in assigned productive activity. As we move forward we will begin to actively work with staff that we identify as showing a pattern of low productivity. We will work with these staff to determine the cause of the issue and provide whatever support or training is necessary to attempt to improve productivity. The goal of this will not be punitive but instead supportive. However, if efforts to assist staff are not successful or are not met with active participation and cooperation on the part of staff then performance improvement plans or disciplinary action may ensue. The reason for all this is simple. To begin with as a leader it is only fair that I hold all staff accountable for the work they are expected to do. I cannot in good conscience continue to ignore the differences in productivity that exists as it is grossly unfair to those that work hard every day. In addition VCL’s mission is to serve Veterans and if we continue to rollover calls because we

have staff that are not making an honest effort then we are failing at our mission. Finally, under our new leadership we are receiving significant additional resources of equipment, technology, and personnel, and we have an obligation to Member Services as well as our Veterans to make the most of these resources. And as it stands currently; we are not. I hope that I can count on all of you to get behind the intent of this message in that we all need to be responsible, accountable and do our entire part to make the VCL a success and the national model for crisis intervention that we know we are capable of being. Thanks, Greg Gregory J. Hughes, LICSW Director, Veterans Crisis Line 400 Fort Hill Ave. Canandaigua, NY 14424 585-393-7990

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