Working Hours or Time Zone to not effect our STATS
I know it's a 24 hour world we live and work in, but sometimes the clock needs to be respected. I have had several projects now come in in the middle of the night, that I may not get to for 7-8 hours... A guy's got to sleep, right. BUT those 7-8 hours can reflect negatively on my STATS page.
Ideally, we as talent should be able to define our "working hours." Or, you could even set a default standard according to our local time zone where the hours between say 10pm - 8am don't impact our STATS.
As I frequently say, when all we have is one page as a representation of our reputation, every negative mark is like tattooing the word FAILURE across our faces.
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I agree and I have voiced my concern about this issue directly to Jun Loayza, their Chief Growth Officer. So far I have had no response. I work for other agency sites that allow you to set your work day and also allow you to "check out" for a few hours during your work day.
As i understand it right now if you set yourself on vacation clients are blocked from submitting a booking to you for consideration, meaning they will likely go elsewhere. I suggested to VB that the client be told that the person they want is not available right now but give them the date and time they will be available. They should be allowed to submit a booking with that knowledge that the talent will see it when they return. No telling how many jobs I've lost because of the current system.
I could not agree more!!! if you're australian like me Christopher we are disadantaged by our time zone for the reasons you listed but also because voice bunny is not staffed 24 / 7!!!
our stats are affected unfairly!!
Absolutely in agreement! By not allowing a pro post or select their available hours, working hours,
Hours/Time Zone, etc. is a disservice to the client and the pro.
Hello, everyone! Thank you for sharing your comments with us on this thread.
I do understand your positions in regards to this topic. We strive to make our platform as handy and productive for our Pros as possible and all the feedback you give to us is vital for us to implement these changes.
We've received similar comments and it's important that you know that we're looking into them. Having a group of Pros from all over the world and Clients who can ask for projects virtually anytime can be inconvenient for some users. However, we're discussing this feature and the possibility to implement it in upcoming versions of our website. For this, it's very important that you let us know about it (and any other ideas you may have for our service), so we can bring forward the functions that would improve your work as a Pro.
Thank you for taking the time to post on our Community site! All of your comments are more than welcome.
With respect Maria, the "we're looking into it/we're discussing it" line has been fed to me for the entire what, 3 years that I've been working with VoiceBunny. It's time to either do it, or stop paying us lip-service and just say, "we're not going to do that." Stringing us along is pretty patronizing to us, and it's disrespectful and insulting. You can do better than that.
If the well-being of your Professional Talent is a priority for you, make this happen. If the speed at which OUR clients, the people that pay us for us to voice their projects, receive their work is a priority for you, make this happen. If clear, consistent, unambiguous understanding on when Our clients will receive our work is a priority for you, make this happen.
ANY OTHER WORDS OR ACTIONS is simply saying that all of those statements above, are just Not a Priority for VoiceBunny. Is that truly the message you want to send to your Professional Talent?
Other ideas:
A "Chat" feature between actor and client to get direction when we need it, instead of when your intermediaries have time to get to it. - If you are so afraid of us talking to our clients, then make it moderated by your "Support" staff. Very easy to do, and saves us Talent a TON of time and effort.
A "How many versions would you like" box on your project submit form so that clients understand that they need to pay us for extra work. Simply paying us once (at VB's discount rates) and asking for 2 or 3 or 4 takes (as I have been asked for) is unbelievable and shows a lack of understanding on the client's part or a willingness to take advantage of Talent by both client and VoiceBunny. I, for one, am tired of having to email support and have my pay increased before submitting the job. You are always gracious and understanding to do that, but making me ask is rude, and it makes the client wait longer than necessary. A very simple fix, adding that "How Many" box eliminates all those issues.
Get rid of the "Revision Fee needs approval" process! It wastes my time and delays delivery for the client. I have a tight schedule most days. When I stop and squeeze in a Revision, I need to be able to do it Right Then or move on. Having the Hurry-Up-And-Wait or the "Approval Process" really Sucks!
Stop with the "Reward" name. We're not being rewarded by voicing our projects, we're doing our jobs. It's not a "Reward" it's a payment or a commission. We don't need a cutesy name, we need a bigger paycheck.
Create a tiered commission structure based on # of projects completed and Feedback Rating. Why should a first day newbee get paid the same as someone who has 400+ jobs with a 4.9 star rating? We should be paid according to the quality, longevity, and consistent client satisfaction our work provides to the people you are billing for our service.
I have many more quality suggestions. Feel free to ask for more once you've completed the tasks above. Perhaps if Alex spent his time and money on improving this for us Talent, instead of skiing and snowmobiling with Tania as his recent LinkedIn Post shows, maybe this would have been done already.
Thanks for your time,
Chris
Chris,
Thank you for your response, and for the other suggestions as well. We'll take the time to review them too.
I understand what you mean, and we consider this as an important feature that would improve the way our talents work in VoiceBunny. In order for us to implement these changes, we first have to study how can this feature fit in our current program and check any blockers that could prevent it from working. Also, we must make sure that when implemented (and this happens with any other features on the site) this doesn't clash with what is currently live there.
This also happens with the "chat" between Clients and Talents: this is something that is currently being studied as we must come up with the best solution that works for all parties involved.
Maria,
Christopher Byron is right...it's time to either make the changes we have requested or tell you won't. Stringing everyone along as you have is complete bullshit. I first discussed this issue with Jun Loayza years ago. We need to have the ability to set our working hours so the clients know when we will get to a booking...and the client needs to be able to book a job with us when we are not on the clock instead of them getting a message that we are "on holiday" and not available. I have had numerous conversations with Jun and others since then, yet NOTHING has been done (look back on this thread to June of 2015 as an example) Don't give me the runaround again about needing to make sure it's possible to do, because I know for a fact it is. I sent Jun screenshots from another agency I work with that gives talent the ability to set their hours and schedule time off so that clients knows well in advance what's what. There is absolutely no reason you can't do the same, unless that is you really just don't want to. The "we're still looking at it excuse" would have been ok for a few weeks or even a couple of months...BUT IT'S BEEN YEARS SINCE I FIRST BROUGHT THIS ISSUE TO YOUR ATTENTION AND NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE. If your IT staff can't make it happen, just say so. I would then suggest you fire your IT folks because they obviously don't have the skills you need on your team.
As Chris pointed out, chatting with clients when we have questions is very important. The same agency I referenced earlier allows me to email the client directly through the company website so their customer service folks can see the exchange and both the client and talent don't see each others email addresses yet we are able to communicate quickly without needed to go through your office, which often times drags out the communication for hours longer than it needs to.
-Bill Cooper
VoiceImage NW/Beaverton, Oregon
Hi BIll and Christopher.
I am Angela, Head of Talent Management, and I apologize for taking long to get to this thread. I was out of office due to a personal calamity and couldn't get to this topic sooner.
I do acknowledge that some of these fixes have been on cue for a very long time. We HAVE worked on prototypes and brainstormed many ways to have these developed for you guys. However, there are several blockers and/or priorities that prevent us from releasing said fixes.
Developing new features is no easy task and different from your comments, deciding what to develop and what not to is challenging as we have limited bandwidth to work on everything at the same time. Right now, we are working on stabilizing the system, reducing the number of bugs and analyzing other business opportunities. The focus of our company shifts constantly to adapt to the market and there's where we are now.
Right now, we are working on stabilizing the system, reducing the number of bugs and analyzing other business opportunities to expand our scope and improve how we offer our services. The focus of our company shifts constantly to adapt to the market and sometimes that comes along with the necessity of changing how we approach certain concerns.
Having said this, I have to let you know that more likely these features won't be developed this year. I don't want to promise anything to you guys and that's why I tell you this straight right now. I am working on some other projects to expand the platform and bring more predictability for you guys, but these specific features you are requesting here are out of our current scope. Keep in mind that these, as I have mentioned before in various opportunities to Christopher, are very big features and require more resources than the ones available right now.
I hope this clears the situation and allows you to understand a bit more about why this has taken so long and why we're in this situation. I know this may cause some discomfort and I won't ask you not to be frustrated, but I wanted to explain this and give you a clear answer.
I am here now to answer any question you may have regarding this situation and I am open to whatever comment you may have as well.