FILL IN THE BLANKS.

EXERCISE 1
(BULATS PREPARATION)
I. READ THE FOLLOWING REPORT AND FILL IN THE GAP WITH A
WORD.
Report on Staff Turnover in Kingsley Helpdesk Operation Submitted
May 14, 2013

Introduction
This report ____ written at the request of the Chief Financial Officer in order to
investigate the high turnover rate amongst employees in the Kingsley Helpdesk
Operation. The information in the report is based on a weeklong investigation
into the matter _____ three members of the Human Resource Department. The
threemember team interviewed staff, checked administration records _____
observed working conditions. Recommendations are made in _____ report on
how to decrease the high rate of staff turnover at the centre.

Background
The Kingsley Helpdesk Centre has been in operation ____ four years. It employs
100 personnel ______ work comprises mainly of handling telephone enquiries
from the general public regarding our range of telecommunication services.
Although situated in an area with high unemployment, the annual turnover
______ been between 50 and 55% every year since it opened. The average
annual turnover for the helpdesk/call centre industry is 33%, already
considered high compared to _______ industries

Findings
One of the first things ______ the team noticed was the lack of training of the
personnel in handling a call. Each employee had their own system of dealing
_____ an issue. Where a process needed to _______ explained, different
employees would provide different steps. In many instances, the employees felt
frustrated ___________ they had not been trained how to handle an issue and
were merely guessing at the solution.
When the staff survey was carried _______, it was found that the ________
common complaint was about the working environment. _____________ a fifteen
minute break every three hours was promised, in reality the long queue of
callers on hold meant that a break was impossible, especially during peak
hours. The lunch break was usually shortened _______ the same reason.
The employees work in teams of eight, supervised by a team leader. The team
leaders were observed to criticise and correct the employees when they made
mistakes, but never to praise the employees when they did well. Interviews

with the team members confirmed this.

Finally, many employees
complained that there was ______ chance of decent career progression. Team
leaders are paid only very slightly more ________ the team members and have
_______ work slightly longer hours. The centre is run by three managers,
___________ were sent there from headquarters rather than being promoted
from amongst the ranks.

Conclusions
The main issues that we found were as follows:
1 _____ lack of training leads to employee frustrations and disillusionment.
2 The hectic working environment, due to understaffing, means employees
cannot socialise and do not enjoy ________ work.
3 Employees are reprimanded _______ never praised, leading to employee
disillusionment. 4 Employees _____ not perceive that they are able to
better themselves by remaining in this organisation.
Recommendations
To address _______________ four main issues, we recommend the following
steps be taken:
A team of three full time training officers __________ be hired by the
centre. These officers should ________ tasked with organising a proper
training session for all incoming staff. The staff must be trained ________
company procedures as well as basic and advanced customer service
skills.
Ongoing workshops could also be held. In these workshops, the
employees could share their experiences and help ________ other to
address common issues.
In addition, whenever a new product __________ service is rolled out, all
personnel need to be fully trained on how to answer customer enquiries
regarding _______.
II. Complete the sentences with the missing words.
1. Image counts when _______ comes to advertising and promoting your business.
Too many advertisers do not work to build a consistent image, and they _______
missing the chance to make ______ impression on prospective customers.
2. Wal-Mart US CEO Greg Foran has spent a _______ of time visiting the company's
stores _________ he took the helm eight months ago.
3. Some of the stores recently opened in our opinion are not quite ______ good as
ones that we had opened _____ previous years.
4. Nowadays, technology companies are gaining scale and value much ____ rapidly
and at earlier stages in their lifetimes, so to speak, than ever ______.

5. Building a company website is ______ of the most important parts of creating a

successful business. There _____ cheaper ways to establish your company
online, and Wix.com stands out amongst ______.
6. Making profitable marketing pages can ______ boiled down to a few must-haves:
quick squeeze pages, mobile functionality, social media presence, _______
converting high numbers of visitors.
7. Training is directly related _____ the skills, knowledge, and strategies necessary
to do a particular job. ______ can include teaching staff members new skills,
exposing them to unfamiliar ideas, giving them the chance to practice and get
feedback ______ particular techniques or styles of working _________ people, or
simply encouraging them to discuss their work with one another.
8. Training for new staff should clearly be conducted as _______ as possible after
they're hired. Deciding who will conduct the training is simpler _____ deciding
who will control it.
9. As a customer, you want to know ______ you're being serviced _______ a provider
who has great customer service. So how can a small company appear bigger
_____ it is?