Do your employees complain about feeling overworked, never having enough time, or being stressed out from constant interruptions? Fight the madness by establishing a daily quiet time in your agency, and make sure it's effective. A quiet hour can increase productivity, efficiency, and quality of work, and will boost company morale.
Some businesses find that the first hour of the day works well as quiet time. But for others, it's not practical. Employees may not be getting much done. The typical employee might be a few minutes late. Then he or she might walk over to their desk, turn on the computer, run to the bathroom, get a cup of coffee, and chat with a few co-workers on the way. By then, only a few minutes would be left before that precious quiet hour was over.
Another way to organize 'quiet' is with blocks of time. Instead of every employee taking the same quiet hour every day, designate different time intervals. Maybe one person in Commercial Lines has quiet time on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Another can have quiet time during the same period on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Afternoons may work better for your situation. Blocks of time give employees a chance to organize and work more efficiently, according to their preferences.
Once you've established quiet time, make sure it's quiet. Forward calls to others or have messages taken. Of course, there should be some flexibility-for example. when a client insists on speaking with a particular employee-but respect the time as much as possible. Inform all employees of everyone's quiet hours by written memo. Explain the importance and benefit of the new policy.
Because producers are the ones who bring business into the agency, they may think they're the exception to the rule. Avoid problems by having each producer establish a time to meet daily with the CSR. Reps can then work their quiet time around this schedule. If producers aren't available for the dailly meeting at the specified time, it's their responsibility to set up a new meeting and inform the CSR when, either in person or by phone. This way, all assignments and questions are given at one time. Producers might not be too happy at first, but once they realize that every item is not critical, everyone will work more calmly and efficiently. Again, there'll be that moment when something absolutely can't wait, and that's OK..
Don't feel that you have to set the quiet time policy in stone. Try it for one or two weeks, make adjustments if necessary, and see if you notice a difference in attitude and productivity.