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Workplace Drug Testing – Part 2

March 22, 2013
Answering Service
By Sam Carpenter

Part 2 of a 2 Part Series

In Part 1 of this series on employee drug testing, I suggested that a manager/business owner should ask this question: Notwithstanding all the positive attributes that contribute toward the success of my enterprise, am I sabotaging myself elsewhere?

So, without sounding like a public service announcement, drug abuse is a huge problem everywhere. An enormous percentage of the work force ingests mood-altering substances and virtually all of these substances fog the thought process. We always go back to the raw mechanics and that means a business is a system of systems, and in the strictest mechanical sense – and at the risk of political incorrectness and/or dehumanizing – the people who operate the business are systems, too. Marijuana, amphetamines, barbiturates, opiates etc. inhibit the thinking process of people-systems, and an inhibited thinking process is not an efficient thinking process.

If the goal is high efficiency, a great product or service, and enough profitability to take good care of employees and stock holders – and if people are the center of the business endeavor, which of course they are – why wouldn’t management seek out employees who have clear heads? I believe this question has a number of answers:

  • Management is in denial of the reality of a drug problem within the culture and therefore within the business. This is a matter of management not paying attention
  • Management has some kind of politically-correct notion that what someone ingests into their body is a human right and therefore any questions about this are an invasion of privacy. Maybe it is a human right but management has the human right to not have to hire drug users.
  • By performing drug tests on the entire staff, management is afraid of the loss of a major portion of that staff because of multiple positive test results. They are concerned that there will be no one to do the work the day after the drug testing. There is a good chance this is true.
  • Probably this is the most prevalent reason: Management isn’t seeing the business entity as a collection of linear operating systems and therefore has not taken the entity apart piece by piece to analyze the components, the most important of which are the people-systems who operate the enterprise.

Whatever the reasoning or non-reasoning, here’s the mechanical fact: If the primary system is to operate at peak efficiency, all sub-systems of that primary system must operate at peak efficiency. For too many businesses it is an incredible oversight to neglect and ignore the efficiency of the most important business sub-systems that exist: the people who do the work.

The people who work at Centratel can think. Do they drag bad moods and problems to work? Of course they do, but they deal with their problems quietly, straight-up and with backbone. They deal with it. My partner and I have enormous respect for our employees, not just for the near flawless work they do, but because they have elected to march through life unadulterated and unafraid. They do what they have to do for themselves and, no question, this is a very good thing for Centratel. Forgive the worn out parlance, but it’s a win-win.

With a big emphasis on monthly bonuses for personal performance, we pay our excellent employees very well and so they get very good at what they do and they stay a long time.

Here are the bare essentials of how we manage drug testing at Centratel:

  • When we advertise for a position on the internet, it is stated plainly that drug testing will be done. From our internet job posting: “…an initial drug screening test and subsequent random tests are given. If you use illegal drugs and somehow get through initial testing, your tenure with Centratel will be short as we drug test frequently and unannounced.
  • We use an in-house saliva test. It’s about $11.00 per test
  • We do unannounced tests on select groups, three to six times per year. The groups? It could be everyone in the office, those who started work within the last 90 days, those with names within a certain alphabetical order, etc.
  • If someone tests positive, we verify the positive test with a second urinalysis screening at a local urgent care facility. If that test comes back positive there is no recourse: the individual loses his or her job. For the employee, the risk/reward ratio is not favorable and the end-result is that we seldom get a positive drug screening.

There’s much more, of course, but the over-arching thought process that led us to drug testing is the simple-mechanics perspective of the Work the System methodology. We see everything as a system, including the overall business….and this obviously includes the thinking process of each of our employees.

Know this: There are LOTS of terrific people out there who, in exchange for high wages and great working conditions, will work hard, stay clear-headed, be loyal and give 100%.

So, the secret of our success is in not allowing our best efforts to be sabotaged. By screening out fuzzy-thinkers, we’re left with clear thinking straight-shooters who operate the machinery of the business with super efficiency.

Taking the Next Step

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or if you have questions, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed below.)

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, take a moment to review one or more of the key points listed on the right.)

 
Terms of Service

Why Choose Centratel

BY SAM CARPENTER
December 1, 2024

1.CENTRATEL’S UNIQUE 30-DAY FREE TRIAL

Why is this important? Because it will provide you a truly accurate estimate of cost (we bill monthly), it will demonstrate our quality, and it gives both sides of this equation—you and Centratel—the necessary time to refine and perfect operational details.

Here’s a testimonial from a new medical client that had just finished their 30-day trial: “Of course, I love the cost as it is close to the amount I was allowed by the president of the company. I told him that if we did not continue with Centratel, I would resign as the Director of Customer Service, and I meant it. It’s a great fit. We have had NOT ONE complaint from a patient or in-house which, as you know, we received daily with our former answering service. I love you, Centratel, and the price. I’m ready to sign whatever documents you require. Thanks for the great service, and the free month! To a great partnership! -KB, Phoenix“

2.STATISTICALLY, THE BEST IN THE U.S.?

Answering service quality is 100% dependent on human action and reaction, and in the course of a single day a multitude of human decisions are made by the people who process the calls: Telephone Service Representatives, or TSRs. (Some answering services refer to them as “agents.” Others, “operators.”)

Like any other answering service, at Centratel we’re dealing with real live human beings and so human errors occur. But within this labor intensive service industry that is historically known for marginal quality, Centratel’s error rate is light years ahead of established standards. Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (July through September, 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 6,077 message transactions processed. That statistic is unmatched.

There’s no artificial intelligence manipulation, we do not offshore calls, and we were founded and have always operated within the United States. (Note that since early 2020, the COVID six-foot social distancing mandate drove thousands of small-to-medium sized answering services out of business. Large, foreign-owned multi-nationals, often disguised by the name of the local answering services they acquired, now thoroughly dominate the industry. Hence, an even further decline in general service quality. See this analysis.)

3.CUSTOMER SERVICE EXTRAORDINAIRE

Your concerns and requests will be instantly acted upon. It’s a work ethic that stands out in stark contrast from the general quality decline in human-to-human business-customer communications. You’ve seen it yourself, all around. At Centratel you will know the customer service people you’re working with by name, appreciating their special listening abilities as well as their take-action-now comportments i.e. see the testimonial in point #1 above. ‘Nuff said!

4.GETTING STARTED: IT’S SIMPLE AND FAST

Getting your new Centratel answering service 30-day free trial started is accomplished within 24-48 hours. From the start, your “onboarding” customer service representative will be with you every step of the way, listening carefully to your concerns, answering questions, and offering suggestions.

5.NEW TO USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE?

A majority of our current answering service accounts switched to us from another service because of quality problems. However, if you have not used a service before, you are not familiar with the options, benefits, and pitfalls. As noted, our 30-day free trial provides you—and us—plenty of time to precisely refine your desired message-taking and delivery protocols; to get things exactly the way you want them to be without any financial risk, undue pressure, or obligation. 

6.PRICING

Starting at $89 per month, our rates rank in the mid-range of the industry. For call processing, we charge by the “transaction unit” rather than the duration of time spent handling calls. Large “mega-services” operating in the U.S. prefer time billing because it ensures the company is compensated for lower-paid/high-turnover — and thus slower — agents. No matter the quality or how long they keep your callers on hold, they still make a profit. And yes, it can get expensive.

In any answering service, it takes a long time for a new agent to become fast, efficient, and stable. At Centratel, we pamper and reward experienced agents (via higher pay and great benefits) and therefore have extremely low staff turnover. Needless to say, experienced agents make fewer errors than trainees who learn on-the-job.

7.ACCURATELY COMPARING ANSWERING SERVICE PRICING IS COMPLICATED

It’s apples and oranges. There isn’t an industry standard for billing, and each answering service has its own formula. Also, as noted above, some services charge by agent “time” while others charge by “work units.” Some others combine the two. At Centratel, we charge for the work we do, not by the time we spend. The raw truth is that the only reliable way to determine monthly cost for a new service is to use that service for a solid month. Most answering services offer a 7-day free trial or no trial at all.

8.BEWARE: MONTHLY OR 28-DAY BILLING?

Important! At Centratel, we use a “monthly” billing cycle in which invoices are compiled from the first day of a month to the last day of that month. When soliciting quotes from other services, be sure to ask if the base-rate charges are billed monthly or on a “28-day billing cycle.” There is no good reason for a 28-day billing cycle! It’s bait-and-switch: customers billed on a 28-day cycle actually receive thirteen billings per year and therefore the overall cost is higher.

9.NO CONTRACT AND SIMPLE TERMS OF SERVICE

We do not require a yearly contract for service because we believe you should have the opportunity to evaluate us real-time, without restraint. Our terms of service are simple and straight-forward.

10.VALUABLE FREE GIFT FOR CONTACTING US

If you take the time to discuss answering service with us, on the same day we will ship you a hardcover copy of Sam Carpenter’s bestselling book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now in its 5th edition. We’ll send you a copy just for contacting us. (Sam is the founder and President of Centratel. December 1st 2024 marks his fortieth year of ownership.)