Kenny was recently hired as a telemarketer for a large company. The six telemarketers contact automobile repair shops to sell them replacement car parts. On his first day of work, Kenny arrived at 8:00 a. m., made 10 fairly successful phone calls, and then stood to stretch and take a short break at about 11:00 a. m. Upon returning to his seat, Kenny’s supervisor informed him that there were no morning breaks. Employees are expected to work until lunch at 1:00 p. m. As Kenny sat down to call more customers, he asked the worker next to him, Helena, how many calls she normally could make in a day’s time. Helena, who has been with the company for two years, said that she’d called 45 customers already that morning, and she usually had 120 calls in by the end of the eight-hour day. Kenny was amazed. He had been on the job for three hours and felt he was doing a fairly good job. After all, each call required him to give a lot of information, and then it took a great deal of time and concentration to record customers’ orders properly. However, compared to Helena, his productivity level doesn’t seem so impressive! As he started to dial the next customer’s number on his list, Kenny wondered how much he is expected to do.
What factors may be hurting the telemarketing department’s productivity?

How could productivity be increased?

What is Kenny’s productivity level?

What is Helena’s productivity level?

Explain why a new employee such as Kenny might not be as productive as someone like Helena, who’s been with the company for a longer period of time.

Why should Kenny’s company measure its telemarketers’ productivity?