This is my first column in OSP®'s TALK BACK. I plan on covering issues that I run into while training technicians in the field on provisioning and maintaining the copper infrastructure. I train field technicians in the RBOCs and independent telephone companies nationwide in the U.S., in Canada, Guam, Saipan, Mexico, South America, the Pacific Rim, and Europe.

By far the biggest complaint is that commonly called "jobs in eight" by many companies. Whether you know that term or not, you do know what it means: how many jobs can a field technician complete in an 8-hour day? The person behind of the program forgot only one item. He forgot to add the word "successfully" - as in "successfully completed."

I understand that the purpose of "jobs in eight" is to increase productivity and provide a performance metric for the technician. However, I don't think companies or technicians are getting useful information out of such a program.

When dealing with an installer, splicer, or a lineman, the performance can easily be tracked. How many new installs can be made by an installer, how much cable can be placed, how many poles can be set, or how many terminals or pedestals can be installed by a lineman, or how many cable pairs can be spliced by a splicer in an 8-hour day - all can be monitored and tracked.

When it comes to the task of monitoring cable technicians on installs or repairs, measuring performance is a different ball game and it is one that doesn't include or measure the value of proactive maintenance. In "jobs in eight", restoring service is king even if it's not done correctly or causes another trouble call down the line.

An installer repair technician could chase down a terminating problem in a pedestal or terminal, and possibly make a repair that would decrease future truck rolls, but the "jobs in eight" scenario forces him to transfer the customer to another circuit (cut-to-clear) because that's the quicker fix. Now he can move on to the next job and get more jobs done on his shift.

A cable technician may find a 400-pair cable splice taking on water and should rebuild the splice, but he is forced to fix his pair and then move on even though it likely means that future truck rolls will increase exponentially.

These cable technicians are also moved into the load and eventually become glorified installer repair technicians, and they also cut-to-clear to restore service rather than identifying and repairing the root cause of the service interruption.

The demand for "jobs in eight" encourages the field technician to fudge the time sheet to make the quota, which in turn builds a corrupted data base for clearing times. Job scheduling goes out the window, because splices are not repaired and cables are not replaced in a timely manner. Eventually 80% of the repair forces are working on the effect of the problems, not the root cause.

I agree that a program for monitoring repair employees is necessary, but the program must include quality which in return will result in customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction.

What are your thoughts?

Don trains field technicians in the RBOCs and independent telephone companies nationwide in the U.S., in Canada, Guam, Saipan, Mexico, South America, the Pacific Rim, and Europe. He is the OSP Expert columnist for OSP® Magazine, providing tutorials and training information for the telecom professionals and techs in the field. Don McCarty's expertise spans more than 40 years. He can also be reached via his website www.mccartyinc.com, via email dmccarty@mccartyinc.com, and telephone 831.818.3930.