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(DISCLAIMER: Sorry, long post, but I encourage you to read and discuss)
My co-worker and I were a bit frustrated at the end of the day today and we were venting to each other and he made an interesting point that I both agree with and feel like sharing.
Apparently in his interview, one of the managers interviewing him questioned what appeared on his resume as some job hopping. The truth of the matter is he was laid off, then took a position that he had intended on using only to get established in a new location. She had questioned his loyalty, or apparent lack thereof, and wanted to know what would be stopping him from leaving this position if they rolled the dice on him. Fair enough. He responded that there were no guarantees, but as long as there remained opportunity within the company, that he'd have incentive to remain loyal. Pretty good answer.
During the interview, the manager posed a question that is probably on a lot of employer's minds today. Why should we take the gamble on you? Why should we invest in you? These are fair questions to be asked, don't get me wrong. But here's the point that my co-worker made that I agreed with. Employers today are forcing more and more on their employees and giving less and less in return. For example, our team has had 50% turnover in the past six months due to people being let go or people moving on to new positions (internally and externally). Despite the turnover, our management team has refused to back fill the positions. Therefore, each of us has taken on significantly more work. They are currently running a pilot program that has people in our positions working on additional duties that are typically handled by another team. There has been rumors going around that they are planning on incorporating these additional duties into our roles over time.
As it stands right now, our responsibilities push us to the absolute limit. Each of us on the team handles the entire life cycle of a sales order (from procurement to invoicing) and we support up to 10 different account managers, each who have 2-4 major accounts. At any given time, we can have 20-40 open orders we are working on, each with their own issues and set of requirements. And now they are hinting that they might add on an entire new set of responsibilities to our role. After taking on all the accounts from our co-workers who parted way, do you think we got any sort or raise? Not at all. Do you think we'll get a raise when we are expected to take on these additional responsibilities? I highly doubt it.
My co-worker also mentioned that he had recently reached out to a former co-worker and inquired about how the company was doing. Apparently, since my co-worker had left there, the company had eliminated several positions and dumped a load of new duties onto the employees in addition to what they were already responsible for. My co-worker said that it was already intense with the workload that they had, but that the additional duties being dumped on them would have been absolute madness. People were working easily 14 hour days (8-10 on their normal duties, and then another 4 doing the administrative duties back at their hotel room).
Employers today are pinching every last drop of productivity out of their employees and then some. They often times give some vague description of what your duties will be in a job description. I looked back at the job description that was posted for the job that I took a year ago, and it was literally four bullet points. What it forgot to mention is that the job would be a balls to the wall stress case on a daily basis. BTW, I actually had to seek medical treatment during the first four months of duty due to the extreme stress incurred with the new position.
It baffles me that employers don't realize that they are responsible for chasing off their own talent. I'm sure I was hired with the intent of keeping me around for a long time. One of my interviewers even said, "This is a place where people stick around, don't leave," indicating that there's opportunity for career development and growth. Well, as a matter of fact, I have one foot out the door already. I had a phone interview today for another position outside the company, and it has been about 1 year since I started this job. I wanted to quit six months ago, but I decided to at least give them a year. Anyway, here are some common problems shared by employers today (including mine):
1) They have created an extremely high stress environment for their employees by tacking on massive amounts of work that most people can't finish up within an 8 hour day. So many people end up working countless hours of unpaid overtime or taking their work home with them.
2) Managers have poor managerial skills. Yes, it's true, not everyone is destined to be a manager. My manager in particular is an extreme micro-manager. I don't thrive with that type of management style, but how do you go about telling that to your manager? She has made my life at work a living hell by constantly monitoring and following up with me even though I am one of the top performers (per the metrics) on the team.
3) More for less. Employers have no shame in adding more responsibilities to your job while not increasing your pay. When's the last time you asked your cable company to provide you with more channels, but you didn't want to pay for it? When's the last time you went out to eat and said to the waiter that you want double portions of food, but you don't want to pay for it? That stuff doesn't happen in the real world, but it happens quite frequently in the labor world. You may as well consider it taking on more work for free, something considered blasphemous among most capitalists.
4) Bait and switch. My employer offered me a pretty generous PTO package of 20 days + 3 floating holidays + 5 days that can be carried over from the year before. Also, we get something known as "Summer Fridays", which means half days every other Friday. Oh, but btw, every couple weeks you will be required to work and work late because of some of our vendors' year ends. And you can't take off month ends or quarter ends or year ends. That means you miss Christmas/New Years with the family if you live far away. Can't go home to celebrate mom's special birthday or the parents big anniversary since it falls on a vendor's quarter end. And you have so much volume, that you're afraid to take more than a few days off at a time.
Look, this might appear to some that I'm on some anti-business tirade. Trust me, it's not. I'm as much a capitalist as Adam Smith. I'm just putting this out there, for awareness purposes, that these are BIG reasons why employees will not remain loyal to an employer. There are plenty more, I'm sure, but these were the big ones that stuck out to me. I'm rather excited to have the possibility of taking my skills and experience that I've gained over the past year to a new employer. And I will continue to be excited to do that for as long as it takes me to find an employer that actually appreciates their employees and shows it. It doesn't necessarily have to be a huge pay increase, I realize some businesses are operating on paper thin margins. But for crying out loud, show some appreciation and commitment to your employees. Going into work should not be your employees' most dreadful occurrence in life. In fact, this is an employer's moment to shine. In a labor market that is heavily in favor of employers, this is an opportunity to let your employees know that you're not about taking advantage of them. This is your moment to say "Hey, look. Other employers are treating their employees as disposable cogs. But here at XYZ, Inc., we appreciate you and we want to show you." Employers need now, more than ever, to capitalize on sticking out as bright beacons that employees are attracted to.
I anticipate that I will get plenty of support on this from those considered "down and out", but I also anticipate that I will get some lambasting by those "employers" or employer advocates that feel that I don't understand their side. That's fine, share your thoughts. I don't mind, but be civil about it. Let's just stay away from the emotional responses meant to attack one another. We're all in this together.
I agree with some of your points in there. The reality is that this is an employers market. Employers know that people are hesitant to leave because of the current market, and many take advantage of the situation by lowballling salaries combined with increased workload, for zero extra compensation. Such is the life for salaried, non-unionized employees. Eventually it will come full circle, and the companies guilty of this will see a revolving door of disgruntled workers leaving and costing the company time and money, but for now we have to( and I really hate saying this) suck it up BUT keep your eye on other opportunities. In this market, networking( there's that infamous term again) is of greater importance than ever.
I have been under the wrong assumption that having a solid work ethic and being productive was all you needed to succeed. I see it in my office every single day; the good workers are rewarded with extra work, while the brown-nosers with the gift for gab take the afternoon off to play golf with the boss. Everything I've heard as a complaint about the corporate culture, happens at my place of employment. I find that the best way to deal with this is to make my life outside work fulfilling. Hobbies, exercise, whatever you do for leisure and pleasure, go into work and give it your best effort but mentally have in the back of your mind that its a means to an end, nothing more.
Yes, employers have figured out they can do 'less with more' by draining every bit of life out of their current employees.
Cracking the whip ~ working more and more hours for less money ~ my loyalty (along with everyone else's) has been destroyed. Every single employee worth their salt - has a resume and is frantically looking to get out.
Every day more stress-filled than the next. For what?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Most employers are still struggling to make it, so when someone leaves and the position is not filled it's saving someone from being laid off. Yes, that can mean more work for those left when it does get busy, but often that's not every day, as in the OP's case vendor year end. Employers cannot afford to staff for the busy times and have pay people to sit around when it's quiet. Unfortunately that does make it hard on us to get the work done, with added stress. If the economy does improve dramatically, there will be those employers that lose good people because they felt treated badly during these lean years, but to an employer that is still preferable to going under from a payroll higher than their revenue.
Tekkie I agree with you for the most part but it's only an employer's market if you let it be. Noone forces you to stay with a company. If a company doesn't make it worth it for you to stay with them then you just start applying to other places and tell them where to go. In the end the company will suffer because if they can't keep good people...that means the companies they are competing with are getting and retaining the good people. Usually if a company is worried about a job hopper to me that is a red flag. To me that means they are looking for people that they can take advantage of and not treat well. Why would anyone stay with a company if it isn't worth it? Why would anyone stay with a company that doesn't pay squat? I have a ton of responses to any interviewer that asks me why I left my last job..I love it when I get asked that. Also you have to put things into perspective. I'm willing to put up with more if the company is paying a good salary. I just laugh at these companies that want to pay 11 bucks an hour and expect you to sell your soul to them. Show me the money!
Then start a company of your own. No one is forcing you to work for someone else, but at long as you do, you play by their rules.
So because their "rules" are broken, I should go to the extent of starting a company of my own? Why do that when I can go to another employer that will treat me better? I'm not whining, I'm just pointing out things that they could easily improve upon. Besides, it costs them a lot more than it costs the employee to replace and train someone new after they leave. You'd think they'd want to avoid those extra costs.
Tekkie I agree with you for the most part but it's only an employer's market if you let it be. Noone forces you to stay with a company.
Indeed, wanderlust. That goes along with the point I was making; that some employers are doing a great disservice to themselves by allowing their talent to be forced out.
Most employers are still struggling to make it, so when someone leaves and the position is not filled it's saving someone from being laid off. Yes, that can mean more work for those left when it does get busy, but often that's not every day, as in the OP's case vendor year end. Employers cannot afford to staff for the busy times and have pay people to sit around when it's quiet. Unfortunately that does make it hard on us to get the work done, with added stress. If the economy does improve dramatically, there will be those employers that lose good people because they felt treated badly during these lean years, but to an employer that is still preferable to going under from a payroll higher than their revenue.
True, plus employers are generally being paid LESS today to do more than sya, 15 years ago, forcing them to cut costs in traditional ways (layoffs) or creative ones (lack of backfil). They are not fond of the siytation, either.
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