What's up with treating people like *insert your own word*
To start off my very own live journal I will be ranting like the good little English girl that I am.
So, five years ago I started working for the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) or POD (Pensions and Overseas Directorate) as it was back then. I work(ed)in a call centre dealing with pension queries. I loved my job back then and the people I worked with were fantastic, even the management. I should (well maybe I shouldn't, but I will) explain the tiers of authority within my department.
Back in 2000:
AA - Clerical staff (sort the post, clear the printer, make sure the stationary is stocked up)
AO - Telephony and processing staff (my job back then)
EO - manager of a telephony or processing team
HEO - Managed the whole department.
so, four teirs of authority and the department ran pretty well, everyone got on with their job, the customer was happy 99% of the time, staff morale was good and targets always got met without the need for 50% of staff to go on long-term sick with stress.
Skip forward 2-2 1/2 years and the people who get paid to sit in offices thinking up new ideas all day, have a brainwave. They decide the department needs more management. So, here is the teirs of authority as it stands today.
AA - Same as above
AO - same as above
EO - same as above
HEO - We now have 5 HEOs who all run a little bit of the department each
SEO - yes, a new level of management who manages the whole room (isn't this what a single HEO did 2 years ago?)
Has any one heard the saying "too many cooks spoil the broth"? or ice cream if you're Dawn ;-)
So, now we have 5 HEOs to run a little bit of the department each, where one HEO was sufficent 2 years ago. Oh and yes, an SEO who manages the whole department including the HEOs. This I might add costs the tax payer an extra £160,000 per year (£25,000 for each HEO and £35,000 for the SEO).
Once the department got so many managers everything started to go down hill. You know how it works, no one agrees on one single way of managing, information is cascaded incorrectly and over time the place fell apart. Fast forward again (if we may) to 2005 and the government announces that they are to cut 100,000 civil servant jobs and the first teir to be removed will be the HEO tier (yes, those extra HEO people that they just brought in!!!).
So all that has happened over a 2 1/2-3 year period is: more managers brought in, staff moral lowered, fighting among the management team, customer service affected...and then they realise what they've done is stupid and they start to reverse it.
Now to where the story gets personal
After 2 years as a telephony advisor I decided I wanted a change and I became a trainer. I trained staff for a year and then took a promotion to join the Quality Support team (responsible for various things but mostly to ensure the quality and accuracy of advisors work remains in-line with government guidance). My promotion was temporary (you can't get a permanent promotion until a promotion board comes around) with the understanding that a promotion board would come around within a year or so and I would be made permanent. The promotion board never materialised and now because of the job cuts it never will and so for the past 3 years I have been a temporary manager. This basically means I get the extra money (about £2500 extra a year) and the extra responsibility but if at any time they want to put me back to my permanent contracted grade, they can do.
Annnnnd what have they decided to do now that they don't need me anymore, now that I have done all their work for them, dealt with all the complaints for them, had my head chewed off every day by customers shouting down the phone complaining while senior management hide in some pokey little room making decisions on how to run a department that they never spend any time in? *drum roll* Yep, they've decided that they no longer need me as a manager, they've used me for the past 3 years to set up a customer service team that (not that I'm blowing my own trumpet) runs like clockwork, I've worked out all the creases that comes with setting up a new team and now I am to go back as a telephony advisor. It's not that I mind the job, I loved the job when I first started but I've been there and done that, I've worked hard for the past five years to work my way up the ladder a little bit at a time and now because there was no promotion board to make my position permanent I am to be thrown aside and treat like the piece of crap they've just wiped off their shoe.
*wanders to job search sites* Is this just the public sector or do private sector companies treat you like this too?
So, five years ago I started working for the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) or POD (Pensions and Overseas Directorate) as it was back then. I work(ed)in a call centre dealing with pension queries. I loved my job back then and the people I worked with were fantastic, even the management. I should (well maybe I shouldn't, but I will) explain the tiers of authority within my department.
Back in 2000:
AA - Clerical staff (sort the post, clear the printer, make sure the stationary is stocked up)
AO - Telephony and processing staff (my job back then)
EO - manager of a telephony or processing team
HEO - Managed the whole department.
so, four teirs of authority and the department ran pretty well, everyone got on with their job, the customer was happy 99% of the time, staff morale was good and targets always got met without the need for 50% of staff to go on long-term sick with stress.
Skip forward 2-2 1/2 years and the people who get paid to sit in offices thinking up new ideas all day, have a brainwave. They decide the department needs more management. So, here is the teirs of authority as it stands today.
AA - Same as above
AO - same as above
EO - same as above
HEO - We now have 5 HEOs who all run a little bit of the department each
SEO - yes, a new level of management who manages the whole room (isn't this what a single HEO did 2 years ago?)
Has any one heard the saying "too many cooks spoil the broth"? or ice cream if you're Dawn ;-)
So, now we have 5 HEOs to run a little bit of the department each, where one HEO was sufficent 2 years ago. Oh and yes, an SEO who manages the whole department including the HEOs. This I might add costs the tax payer an extra £160,000 per year (£25,000 for each HEO and £35,000 for the SEO).
Once the department got so many managers everything started to go down hill. You know how it works, no one agrees on one single way of managing, information is cascaded incorrectly and over time the place fell apart. Fast forward again (if we may) to 2005 and the government announces that they are to cut 100,000 civil servant jobs and the first teir to be removed will be the HEO tier (yes, those extra HEO people that they just brought in!!!).
So all that has happened over a 2 1/2-3 year period is: more managers brought in, staff moral lowered, fighting among the management team, customer service affected...and then they realise what they've done is stupid and they start to reverse it.
Now to where the story gets personal
After 2 years as a telephony advisor I decided I wanted a change and I became a trainer. I trained staff for a year and then took a promotion to join the Quality Support team (responsible for various things but mostly to ensure the quality and accuracy of advisors work remains in-line with government guidance). My promotion was temporary (you can't get a permanent promotion until a promotion board comes around) with the understanding that a promotion board would come around within a year or so and I would be made permanent. The promotion board never materialised and now because of the job cuts it never will and so for the past 3 years I have been a temporary manager. This basically means I get the extra money (about £2500 extra a year) and the extra responsibility but if at any time they want to put me back to my permanent contracted grade, they can do.
Annnnnd what have they decided to do now that they don't need me anymore, now that I have done all their work for them, dealt with all the complaints for them, had my head chewed off every day by customers shouting down the phone complaining while senior management hide in some pokey little room making decisions on how to run a department that they never spend any time in? *drum roll* Yep, they've decided that they no longer need me as a manager, they've used me for the past 3 years to set up a customer service team that (not that I'm blowing my own trumpet) runs like clockwork, I've worked out all the creases that comes with setting up a new team and now I am to go back as a telephony advisor. It's not that I mind the job, I loved the job when I first started but I've been there and done that, I've worked hard for the past five years to work my way up the ladder a little bit at a time and now because there was no promotion board to make my position permanent I am to be thrown aside and treat like the piece of crap they've just wiped off their shoe.
*wanders to job search sites* Is this just the public sector or do private sector companies treat you like this too?