Q: Does our owner have the legal right to tell our sales and service staff that they must make a certain number of calls per week to be employed?  Can we fire someone for not following this rule?

A: If it is written in the job description along with what will happen should the number of calls not be met on a weekly basis and the employee fully understands what the job description is, then yes.

However, if it’s not written then you cannot terminate. It would be recommended to have a policy put in place for your current sales staff to have each of them sign stating what the policy is:  (for example) 100 calls will be made each week. It should also outline what corrective action will be taken should 100 calls not be made.

It’s also recommended to include that it is not an immediate termination if by chance there is a week where 100 calls are not made.

If your employee is working 5 days a week- that’s 20 calls a day.
If your employee is working 6 days a week- that’s roughly 17 calls a day.
If your employee is working 7 days a week- that’s roughly 15 calls a day.

That’s not factoring in the hours.

Bottom Line:
Your policy should outline attainable goals/ objectives. It would be a good idea to give a recommended time that you would like to see your employees getting their calls made, though it may not work out that way every day. This will help to avoid employees asking, “When am I supposed to make 100 calls?”

All expectations of a job need to be put into writing with a signed acknowledgment of some sort from your employee before terminating.