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Lowness 72
Jul 19, 2006
BUTTS LOL

Jade Ear Joe
All this talk of hours would be more helpful if people posted whether they were salaried or not. I'm genuinely curious about this.

I've been salaried since I graduated and the norm has been 45 hour billable work week, not including lunch, coffee, shits etc. Typically translates to 10 hour days or so.

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Keetron
Sep 26, 2008

Check out my enormous testicles in my TFLC log!

The hours I work, I can set more or less myself. There is a contract somewhere that says I should work 40 hours and the timesheets cannot be filled beyond 40 either.
On most days, I am in at 7:30am and I leave around 5:00pm, this includes half an hour unpaid lunch. The reason to never work beyond 5 is because I have to pick up my son from daycare. Nobody dared to complain about this. On Fridays I look at my hours for the week and fill up to 40 after which I run off and enjoy the weekend. Nobody complained about my hours, we just had a small bit of drama some time ago when the work was tapering down a lot and many people would spend one or two days "working from home" which meant looking at your email and phone a few times and watching tv / doing groceries / playing wow on company time.

ladyweapon
Nov 6, 2010

It reads all over his face,
like he's an Italian.

Lowness 72 posted:

All this talk of hours would be more helpful if people posted whether they were salaried or not. I'm genuinely curious about this.

I've been salaried since I graduated and the norm has been 45 hour billable work week, not including lunch, coffee, shits etc. Typically translates to 10 hour days or so.

I'm not, but they plan on making me salaried in a couple of months. My coworker said she's worked maybe a couple hours of overtime in the 8 years she's been here. I'm effectively a salaried employee since my boss doesn't deduct hours if I leave early/come in late. I don't do either, naturally.

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005

Poop Cupcake posted:

Out of curiosity, how high is the turnover rate? I can't imagine people would be staying there long term due to burnout or getting fired as punishment for not being a robot.

It's really variable by job function within pharma. Pardon the long explanation. :) I'm sitting muted on a lunch-time phone conference, eating a sandwich while people talk about poo poo that doesn't matter to me at all.

First, you have the minimum turnover rate which is usually two years at earliest. This exists because of mandatory repayment clauses in employment contracts. The companies often offer to move the new employees out there with terms that they'll repay the relo costs if they leave before 1-2 years (varies). That makes sense, but the part people don't expect is for those costs to be so inflated that it's effectively a 2-yr penalty contract. To give examples: my first employer invoiced almost $33,000 in costs from movers to take my box of textbooks and beanbag from Long Island to Connecticut. If I left before my relo period was up, I'd owe $33,000 back to them for guys putting a beanbag in a truck and driving 140 miles. That's the most extreme example, but the costs do tend to be super-inflated.

If it's a reasonable R&D role, you might not have too big a turnover yet. If it's crazy, it'll be much higher. My current employer has a very high turnover rate, but my first employer (in spite of that $33,000 crazy bill) had a very low voluntary turnover rate until near the end because it really was a nice work environment for a long time. Things just went to poo poo in a hurry there.

If you're in manufacturing engineering / process engineering / anything with on-call stuff, 2-3 years also tends to be your burnout period. If you haven't been promoted out of it by 3 years, you quit and find something else. The worst hours I've ever worked were in manufacturing process engineering, where I had a 108 hour shift one week. I quit once they made it clear that they would not permit me to ever see my family at Christmas and that they required me to stay within an hour of the work site at all times, vacation or not. (My family was 1,000 miles away.) My department (10 people) went through eight engineers in a four year period (I was #8, departing after 1.5 years) and lost two interns to completely different fields due to the crazy work schedules.

The next turnover period comes at the 4 year mark at most big pharma companies. Year 5 is when you're vested in the pension plans (if still offered). This turnover period typically isn't the employee's choice, needless to say. How/if the company does it varies greatly.

If you've made it to the five year mark, thanks to low internal raises, your salary now greatly differs from what the industry will pay you if you go somewhere else. You now jump ship to regain parity with industry pay grades and start the whole cycle over again.

Speaking of unrealistic work schedules, someone just put a meeting on my calendar for 7:30-9:30PM tonight because 'he had a schedule conflict and couldn't make the usual 3:30-5:30 timeslot. Declined.

quote:

All this talk of hours would be more helpful if people posted whether they were salaried or not. I'm genuinely curious about this.

Salaried for mine.

EDIT: Actually, that $33,000 might have been $23,000. It's been a while and my memory might be adding numbers now. Definitely one or the other, though.

Sundae fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Jul 30, 2013

good jovi
Dec 11, 2000

'm pro-dickgirl, and I VOTE!

Jesus, this thread is depressing. I'm salaried, working nominally 9-5, but I certainly don't have anyone keeping tabs on that. I usually show up around 9:20 or so, earlier if I've been getting a lot of sleep. Once in a while we'll have some kind of after-hours deploy or maintenance window, but if we're needed, it's expected that we'll show up late or skip out early the next day. Also, it's not a problem to take a few hours off here and there for doctor's appointments or kid stuff or whatever. That's life.

I don't mean to be all "gently caress you, got mine", but you know, companies run by people that aren't psychopaths do actually exist.

Bookish
Sep 7, 2006

80% sexy 20% disgusting
As crappy as having a government job is, at least I am guaranteed a one hour lunch and two 15 minute breaks per day, which we are not allowed to spend at our desk. We work 8-5 and very rarely ever have to work overtime. I think I've worked over 40 hours maybe twice in almost 8 years.

Poop Cupcake
Dec 31, 2005

Sundae posted:

First, you have the minimum turnover rate which is usually two years at earliest. This exists because of mandatory repayment clauses in employment contracts. The companies often offer to move the new employees out there with terms that they'll repay the relo costs if they leave before 1-2 years (varies). That makes sense, but the part people don't expect is for those costs to be so inflated that it's effectively a 2-yr penalty contract. To give examples: my first employer invoiced almost $33,000 in costs from movers to take my box of textbooks and beanbag from Long Island to Connecticut. If I left before my relo period was up, I'd owe $33,000 back to them for guys putting a beanbag in a truck and driving 140 miles. That's the most extreme example, but the costs do tend to be super-inflated.

...

If you've made it to the five year mark, thanks to low internal raises, your salary now greatly differs from what the industry will pay you if you go somewhere else. You now jump ship to regain parity with industry pay grades and start the whole cycle over again.

Thanks for such a detailed explanation! That moving thing is complete bullshit, good lord. That must be really awful for employees to know that they can't leave a job when they have financial ruin hanging over their head. Sounds like a situation that's ripe for managerial abuse.

We see a lot of stupid contracts in the IT consulting field too, usually in the non-compete agreements. It's a hyper-competitive field, and the client company knows they can always find some other consulting firm to agree to whatever their insane terms are. poo poo like you can't work for another company in the same field that's within 100 geographic miles for a period of two years blah blah blah. I guess they expect people to go on unemployment or move while they wait out their two year NCA clause! :rolleye: A lot of them are so unrealistic that they're non-enforceable. That kind of crap is super common in the tech industry. I wish it would go away forever, it's so predatory and worthless.

This is the second time in two years that I've been laterally promoted (more responsibility, fancy title, no raise). :sigh: The jumping ship thing is going to be an option for me at the end of this year. There's a lot of good things about this job but the pay/responsibility disconnect really bites.

Kim Jong Il
Aug 16, 2003
Officially I work 9-5 and that includes a 30 min lunch. Usually that's just a ten minute lunch at my desk and back to work, but we can go out and take longer if we really want it. Fortunately no one really pays attention at all to this, but we went for the old trick where everyone has laptops, which is a not so subtle message to work at home. Which is very frequently asked for, mainly because our management knows nothing about resource allocation or opportunity cost, frequently overpromises to clients and takes on way, way more than we can ever possibly handle.

MajorBonnet
May 28, 2009

How did I get here?

Sailor_Spoon posted:

Jesus, this thread is depressing. I'm salaried, working nominally 9-5, but I certainly don't have anyone keeping tabs on that. I usually show up around 9:20 or so, earlier if I've been getting a lot of sleep. Once in a while we'll have some kind of after-hours deploy or maintenance window, but if we're needed, it's expected that we'll show up late or skip out early the next day. Also, it's not a problem to take a few hours off here and there for doctor's appointments or kid stuff or whatever. That's life.

I don't mean to be all "gently caress you, got mine", but you know, companies run by people that aren't psychopaths do actually exist.

My job is the same. Sometimes I'm not in till 10ish and then I'll stay late of my own accord. No one watches my clock. As long as the work gets done, my boss is happy. There are other departments in my company that have people regularly pulling 12 hour days, but I think they're people who have trouble saying no.

Magic Underwear
May 14, 2003


Young Orc

Poop Cupcake posted:

Thanks for such a detailed explanation! That moving thing is complete bullshit, good lord. That must be really awful for employees to know that they can't leave a job when they have financial ruin hanging over their head. Sounds like a situation that's ripe for managerial abuse.

You think that invites abuse? Try being on an H1B visa. If you quit or get fired there is no grace period to find another job. That means you must (technically) go back to your country of origin immediately, and try to get sponsored again from there. That isn't for two years, that is for as long as you remain in the US (or until you get a green card). This is on top of being paid a poo poo wage because employers themselves get to define what "prevailing wage" means and the DOL never questions it.

Magic Underwear fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Jul 31, 2013

cyberia
Jun 24, 2011

Do not call me that!
Snuffles was my slave name.
You shall now call me Snowball; because my fur is pretty and white.
I am paid hourly and am expected to work 37.5 hours a week (:australia:). Most of the department works 7:00am-3:00pm but I'll come in as late as 10:00am and work til 6:00pm if I've been up late the night before. Right now it's 5:00pm and I'm the only person in the office. In theory we get 2x paid 10 minute breaks and an unpaid 30 minute lunch break each day. The reality of it is that almost everyone eats lunch at their desks but half the office will go on 5-6 cigarette breaks a day and / or 'go for a coffee' in the morning which takes them 30-45 minutes.

As long as we're seen to be busy (read: lots of piles of paper on your desk, harried look on your face, ideally always be on a phone call when someone comes to your desk to talk to you) we are pretty much left alone by management. It normally takes me about an hour in the morning to clear my email and do my work then for the rest of the day I browse the forums or read twitter on my phone.

I've never understood why companies offer 1 hour lunch breaks or why anyone would want to take one. It doesn't take an hour to eat lunch but it's also not long enough to leave work and do anything meaningful (especially because every other drone in the area will be on their lunch break at the same time so good luck trying to go to the post office or bank or whatever). I remember when I worked in call centres and there'd always be people clamouring to be allowed a 1 hour lunch and all I could think is I'd rather have a 10 minute lunch and get to leave earlier.

Also, reading people's posts about having to work 8:30am-5:30pm or being encouraged to come in early and stay late so you're seen as a 'team player' makes me so angry. I can feel the tension headache behind my eyes just thinking about it and I hope I never end up in a company that has that expectation from me because I would not be able to stop myself from being very uncivil if those requests were made of me. Like a few people have said in this thread, I work the hours I am paid for. Want me to work 10 hours a day? Then you better be prepared to compensate me for those hours. I'm only on this earth for one lifetime and I'll be damned if I spend a second more than I need to in this beige wasteland of an office.

Solkanar512
Dec 28, 2006

by the sex ghost
I start my shift around 5:15 or 5:30 am and roll out of work usually before 3 or 4. Normally I would leave right after 8.5 hours, but the project I'm on right now is rather intense. I am paid for overtime though and the project is a big deal, so I don't mind so much.

During the day I'm pretty much given whatever freedom I need to get my work done so long as my bosses get their metrics on time, and I'm able to respond to anything emergent that comes up. Lunch is a half hour whenever I take it, usually at my desk.

Dukket
Apr 28, 2007
So I says to her, I says “LADY, that ain't OIL, its DIRT!!”
8 to 5 with a hour unpaid lunch. I would skip lunch if that meant I could leave early, but I can't :( and they've cracked down on the OT. I eat my lunch while I work and then usually go for a walk during my lunch break. I can take that break at anytime which is nice, and I often wait until 2 or 3. They will never ask me to work off the clock, my boss IS a psychopath, but not when it comes to hours.

Radio Talmudist
Sep 29, 2008
I mentioned this earlier in the thread but it got buried...Hopefully someone can lend some insight.

I'm working at a bank on a temporary basis, through a recruitment firm. I'm here to replace another worker due to leave on maternity leave late this August. I may be offered a full time gig in October, if the company grows enough.

Basically, I don't have a desk. From 8:30 to 3:00 I have to squeeze between two other workers. I don't even have a recess to slip my legs into. It's cramped and annoying. From 3 on I can borrow someone else's desk.

Should I talk to my boss and insist on a desk? Isn't this an OSHA violation or something?

Poop Cupcake
Dec 31, 2005

Magic Underwear posted:

You think that invites abuse? Try being on an H1B visa. If you quit or get fired there is no grace period to find another job. That means you must (technically) go back to your country of origin immediately, and try to get sponsored again from there. That isn't for two years, that is for as long as you remain in the US (or until you get a green card). This is on top of being paid a poo poo wage because employers themselves get to define what "prevailing wage" means and the DOL never questions it.

I work for a consulting company that places consultants/designers/engineers/etc. with clients and most of them are on H1B visas. They are our employees but they work at client locations; we bill the client for the hours they work. Most of the assignments are only 3-6 months where they need a worker temporarily. The contracts usually have limits on them for 40 hours a week max and no overtime allowed, but a lot of clients make the consultants work overtime and then fudge their time sheets so it looks like only 40 hours. The 'no overtime' clause in the contract is complete bullshit, and consultants who refuse to work unpaid, undocumented overtime are sent back to us as 'insubordinate' or 'poor team players'. We know this is not the fault of our employees but is unfortunately the result of predatory business culture and unethical/illegal labor practices.

Most of our consultants are paid around $60k plus a generous per diem and we offer health insurance, but the industry as a whole is really hosed up and abusive. Like I said in a post before, it's enough to have its own thread.

EDIT:

Radio Talmudist posted:

I mentioned this earlier in the thread but it got buried...Hopefully someone can lend some insight.

I'm working at a bank on a temporary basis, through a recruitment firm. I'm here to replace another worker due to leave on maternity leave late this August. I may be offered a full time gig in October, if the company grows enough.

Basically, I don't have a desk. From 8:30 to 3:00 I have to squeeze between two other workers. I don't even have a recess to slip my legs into. It's cramped and annoying. From 3 on I can borrow someone else's desk.

Should I talk to my boss and insist on a desk? Isn't this an OSHA violation or something?

OSHA I don't know about, but would is it interfering with your ability to do work? Sounds like a disruption to have an extra person squeezed in where there's no space. Saying "I'm uncomfortable" to your boss is a lot different than saying "I'm having a hard time working". I temped for a while too so I feel your pain about asking for accommodations.

Poop Cupcake fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Jul 31, 2013

rolleyes
Nov 16, 2006

Sometimes you have to roll the hard... two?
And so meeting booking failure continues.

Someone tried to book me in for a meeting, whilst I was already in a meeting, and the time they requested was over the meeting I was already in. Bonus: they didn't send the request until 10 minutes after their requested meeting time.

*sigh*

Problem!
Jan 1, 2007

I am the queen of France.
How long do you have to sit in front of a dysfunctional computer before it's acceptable to say "gently caress it" and go home and back to bed?

It's been an hour and IT was like "lol I dunno" and our resident computer dude also can't figure it out. Until someone figures it out I can't do anything.

sbaldrick
Jul 19, 2006
Driven by Hate

Lowness 72 posted:

All this talk of hours would be more helpful if people posted whether they were salaried or not. I'm genuinely curious about this.

I've been salaried since I graduated and the norm has been 45 hour billable work week, not including lunch, coffee, shits etc. Typically translates to 10 hour days or so.

I work for the government so I'm neither salaried nor hourly we have our own special system of hell in that we are basically salaried but have required hours but get overtime (not in 4+ years) and special things like that.

I went out for coffee yesterday and I had a moment where all the stupidity and things of my job went away. I ran into a bunch of call centre workers who where all in suits and ties and stuck up a conversation with one of them in line. They where suits and ties into work every day to answer phones, and had rushed out so they could get coffee on there timed break. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and could take my time due to "vacation month". All the horrible crap from my job went away in that instance.

Radio Talmudist
Sep 29, 2008

sbaldrick posted:

I went out for coffee yesterday and I had a moment where all the stupidity and things of my job went away. I ran into a bunch of call centre workers who where all in suits and ties and stuck up a conversation with one of them in line. They where suits and ties into work every day to answer phones, and had rushed out so they could get coffee on there timed break. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and could take my time due to "vacation month". All the horrible crap from my job went away in that instance.

Perspective does wonders. I once worked in a factory where I spent the entire day on my feet. We had a half hour lunch break and were beyond exhausted - physically - at the end of day. Compared to that even a lovely desk job fares well.

ladyweapon
Nov 6, 2010

It reads all over his face,
like he's an Italian.

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

How long do you have to sit in front of a dysfunctional computer before it's acceptable to say "gently caress it" and go home and back to bed?

It's been an hour and IT was like "lol I dunno" and our resident computer dude also can't figure it out. Until someone figures it out I can't do anything.

As long as they pay you for? I had a similar issue eat up half a day where I just puttered around and looked busy as I could. :shrug:

martyrdumb
Nov 24, 2009

pants are overrated

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

How long do you have to sit in front of a dysfunctional computer before it's acceptable to say "gently caress it" and go home and back to bed?

It's been an hour and IT was like "lol I dunno" and our resident computer dude also can't figure it out. Until someone figures it out I can't do anything.

Sleep at your desk. Or read a book. Enjoy it while you can.

Problem!
Jan 1, 2007

I am the queen of France.
Took 5 hours to resolve. Problem was the the IT idiots uploading the wrong software license file. Again.

Taliesyn
Apr 5, 2007

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

Took 5 hours to resolve. Problem was the the IT idiots uploading the wrong software license file. Again.

I was informed today that it will probably take IT approximately 6 months to come down and install the software I need to do my job at my new place of employment. That's what it took for the last person the department hired, anyway.

Problem!
Jan 1, 2007

I am the queen of France.

Taliesyn posted:

I was informed today that it will probably take IT approximately 6 months to come down and install the software I need to do my job at my new place of employment. That's what it took for the last person the department hired, anyway.

It took them close to three weeks to get me a functional email address when I first started. I only got this one resolved in a day because I knew who exactly I needed to call instead of calling the general helpline. If I'd left the ticket sit with the regular help desk it'd be several weeks at least till it was resolved I'm sure. They get real pissy if you call them back and ask for the status of the high priority ticket you put in days ago, I even got hung up on once.

NPR Journalizard
Feb 14, 2008

Taliesyn posted:

I was informed today that it will probably take IT approximately 6 months to come down and install the software I need to do my job at my new place of employment. That's what it took for the last person the department hired, anyway.

If it makes you feel better, my old company used to provide services through a second company, using their software platform. For the last 10 years we have been in their top 3 largest clients. About 7 years ago we got them to program a specific function into the platform, which when then proceeded to use, and rely on, heavily. At the start of this year, they put out an upgraded version of the platform that basically broke this function. This was a required upgrade. After we upgraded, they did something that means the previous version is gone and can never be used again. The next update to this version will not happen for at least another 12 months. Thats bug fixes as well. I used to send in weekly bugs, that often involved an entire system crash till I stopped bothering because all I ever got back was "Thanks, this has been passed onto the technical team." They have flown high ranking managers over to meet with us, and one of the courses of action they were looking into was how easily we can transfer our entire clientbase over to a competitor.

Mola Yam
Jun 18, 2004

Kali Ma Shakti de!

Radio Talmudist posted:

Perspective does wonders. I once worked in a factory where I spent the entire day on my feet. We had a half hour lunch break and were beyond exhausted - physically - at the end of day. Compared to that even a lovely desk job fares well.

Yeah, this. The job I had immediately before my current (white-collar, nice office, nice part of the city) job involved me literally being coated in a thin film of human excrement each day. Literally. So even though things have been slow recently, and the mood looking ahead is grim, it beats being caked in poo poo by a mile.

Keetron
Sep 26, 2008

Check out my enormous testicles in my TFLC log!

On IT loving up, I love the story where at an account firm the two DTP guys who after a year of nagging their boss for a computer with enough memory, harddrive and GPU to be able to do their job, had the hardware disappear from storage after it came in and before it reached their desks.
When I heared this story, we were working on a Windows 7 migration for which we bought new desktop hardware that was meant to go to the company partners so for two of the partners who were on the road almost all of the time we gave normal desktops and the DTP guys got the super fast ones. Never seen people be so grateful for this level of subordination.

The Berzerker
Feb 24, 2006

treat me like a dog


Sometimes a part of my job involves installing a potential partner's software to take a look at what it can do. The organization updated its IT policy so that nothing can be installed on a machine without a form signed by my immediate supervisor (and her supervisor) and then it can take two weeks. So every time I need to check out a new piece of software I have to build 2 additional weeks into my planning process.

Also, my office recently bought some tablets because we have three locations and we're always bouncing around so it made sense to have something portable. IT told me they would need to take it for 1-2 weeks to install Microsoft Office on it.

It's really frustrating because I work in academia where everyone is 90 years old except for my office so we're constantly asking for "help" from IT on issues that we could fix ourselves if we were allowed.

Threadkiller Dog
Jun 9, 2010
So there is this super important deadline tomorrow, or Monday. Whatever.

Instead we all decided getting pissed is an extraordinarily higher priority. And also I apparently came out to 3-4-5 of my colleagues, at least one of which is Sr. gossip extraordinaire.

But then I bailed and am apparently :barf:

Expecting nothing too different tomorrow its Friday after all and I'm a prusw. Thanks spell check.

Keetron
Sep 26, 2008

Check out my enormous testicles in my TFLC log!

Threadkiller Dog posted:

So there is this super important deadline tomorrow, or Monday. Whatever.

Instead we all decided getting pissed is an extraordinarily higher priority. And also I apparently came out to 3-4-5 of my colleagues, at least one of which is Sr. gossip extraordinaire.

But then I bailed and am apparently :barf:

Expecting nothing too different tomorrow its Friday after all and I'm a prusw. Thanks spell check.

You know a thread is hitting peak when people drunk posting their coming out.

Threadkiller Dog
Jun 9, 2010

Keetron posted:

You know a thread is hitting peak when people drunk posting their coming out.

Oh, it's like just another goddamned office intrigue at this place. At least my former manager might stop trying to set me up with random women! (like she's tried constantly for the last two years).

Crowley
Mar 13, 2003
Oh office gossip. :allears:

Back in 2000 I had just started at my former job, and was given a tour of the buildings by my boss. When got near the front desk he poked his head around the corner to see which of the receptionists was a work. Then he told me about "Kirsten", and how she was a huge chatterbox who would catch any rumor about anyone in the organization and run it into the ground. "I'm setting her up." He told me. "I made a fake phone call when she was within earshot the other day, mentioning you have a prosthetic leg, so just make one leg a little stiff when you walk past and let's see if she'll run with it.". I nodded and did my best to fake a not-too-obvious prosthetic.

Behind the front desk was a small windowless room used mainly for storage and a patch panel for the phones, so we went behind the desk to go into the room and have a look at the panel. By accident my boss opened the door a little too fast when he unlocked it and bumped it loudly off the tip off my shoe. He apologized and I replied something like "No worries, it's not like I can feel anything any way.".

7 months later summer had arrived and I was wearing shorts at work. When I passed the lobby Kirsten and the other receptionist on duty looked at me wide eyed, and the other receptionist blurted "Crowley! But.. You don't have a peg leg?!". Confused for a second I replied "No, why would I have one?". Then I recalled my first day at work, excused myself and walked off to tell my boss about what had happened. When I turned my back I could feel Kirsten staring hard enough at my legs to drill a hole in them.

My boss roared with laughter, and at the Christmas party that year every receptionist and beancounter drunkenly told and retold how Kirsten had told everyone how well my fake leg was fitted, but that she could still see it was fake because she could "spot those a mile away".

E the Shaggy
Mar 29, 2010
Re: Work Hours, I work from 8 to 5 with an hour of unpaid lunch (which are boring as all get out, even with other people, so I'll usually just work through it)

A few folks in my office work from 6:30 till 3:30, and I've been mulling over whether I should ask for that schedule as well. It would reduce my commute by a lot I'm sure, but I'm not a morning person at all and that would take some getting used to.

modeski
Apr 21, 2005

Deceive, inveigle, obfuscate.
Does anyone else have nightmare coworkers or team members? I recently inherited a team of about 15, one of whom is a major pain in the arse. I'll call him Bob. Bob takes a contrary position to any change whatsoever, argues all points to death, circulates group emails that either rile people up or piss them off, and generally is a time suck.

What prompted this rant is that it's currently annual review time. Bob got 5/5 for a particular KPI last year (before I came on board), and I gave him a 4/5 this year for the same KPI, because he was out-performed by about half the team in the same category. I ran the scores and comments past my boss as I always do, and he agreed a 4/5 was fair. Not Bob, though. Holy poo poo, he went ballistic. He's currently written about 8,000 words in emails trying to convince me to bump up his score. It'd be funny if it wasn't so tragic. So I called him on Friday and he's threatening to file a grievance against me if I don't bump up his score. I told him to do whatever he felt he had to, knowing my boss and his boss have my back.

Bob is convinced we're out to get him. Ironically, all his acting up is jeopardising his position far more than if he just calmed down and did his job.

grillster
Dec 25, 2004

:chaostrump:
Some corporate safety rules are ridiculous. I once had the HSE manager/quality guy tell me to put on my safety glasses in an inactive sample preparation lab (nothing worse than squeeze acetone bottles sitting around), after hours. At least the job gave me experience in the industry.

CCKeane
Jan 28, 2008

my shit posts don't die, they multiply

grillster posted:

Some corporate safety rules are ridiculous. I once had the HSE manager/quality guy tell me to put on my safety glasses in an inactive sample preparation lab (nothing worse than squeeze acetone bottles sitting around), after hours. At least the job gave me experience in the industry.

Eh, it's understandable; it's way easier to make safety rules that are absolute (if in the lab, wear safety glasses) then to get bogged down in a case by case basis, especially if it's something as benign as putting on safety glasses.

Problem!
Jan 1, 2007

I am the queen of France.
Sometimes we wear our safety glasses on our heads and just pull them down onto our face if someone who would care comes in. But most of the time we feel silly wearing safety glasses when looking at a piece of paper describing something that hasn't even been built yet. Of course we wear them if we're supervising any actual construction activity.

As for pain in the rear end team members, we have a girl who will tell what everyone else has been doing in team meetings where we all say what we've been working on that week, but never says what she personally has accomplished. She got called out on it the other day and couldn't come up with anything she'd actually been working on :downs: She's just dead weight.

Higgy
Jul 6, 2005



Grimey Drawer

Aquatic Giraffe posted:

She got called out on it the other day and couldn't come up with anything she'd actually been working on :downs: She's just dead weight.

Sounds like your future boss.


I just spent a week on business travel doing some "assisting" (consulting) for one our performers by my program's HQ. I got time to spend with three very bright project controls folk who are way more experienced then me yet were doing everything about project scheduling rear end-backwards because the guy that originally set up their project schedule had a PhD and program management at this place didn't want to rock the boat.

I spent 2 hours basically telling them how they could make their lives easier, do things faster and turn around the sour reputation this performer has gotten with HQ. My next step is to get some top-down pressure on the management there to actually do it the right way if they want to keep getting funding.

Still have to scan in my 2 taxi receipts and fill out an expense report and hope I don't get yelled by my admin for not providing "sufficient justification for work related travel."

Kreeblah
May 17, 2004

INSERT QUACK TO CONTINUE


Taco Defender

modeski posted:

Does anyone else have nightmare coworkers or team members? I recently inherited a team of about 15, one of whom is a major pain in the arse. I'll call him Bob. Bob takes a contrary position to any change whatsoever, argues all points to death, circulates group emails that either rile people up or piss them off, and generally is a time suck.

What prompted this rant is that it's currently annual review time. Bob got 5/5 for a particular KPI last year (before I came on board), and I gave him a 4/5 this year for the same KPI, because he was out-performed by about half the team in the same category. I ran the scores and comments past my boss as I always do, and he agreed a 4/5 was fair. Not Bob, though. Holy poo poo, he went ballistic. He's currently written about 8,000 words in emails trying to convince me to bump up his score. It'd be funny if it wasn't so tragic. So I called him on Friday and he's threatening to file a grievance against me if I don't bump up his score. I told him to do whatever he felt he had to, knowing my boss and his boss have my back.

Bob is convinced we're out to get him. Ironically, all his acting up is jeopardising his position far more than if he just calmed down and did his job.

It sounds like this guy's a pretty toxic influence in general. Can't you get some disciplinary stuff going just based on that?

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Initio
Oct 29, 2007
!
I work from home most days, so all of my meetings are teleconference calls. My fiancee has managed to identify quite a few of them from their voices. I've got to admit its pretty interesting hearing someone else's opinion about your co-workers - because the observations are usually spot on. My top 2 favorites:

'The girl who hates everything' - It doesn't matter who you are. If you're asking for anything at all that will affect her, she will (when she's talking to someone else) give a dramatic sigh, and complain how <whoever> 'always gets their way'/'will just complain to management if we don't agree'/'takes up too much of our time'/'doesn't give us enough detail'/'makes too many requests'. I've learned to take anything she says with a grain of salt.


'The guy who repeats everything about 5 different times'. He's my boss. Expect any meeting he attends to take an extra 30 minutes. Most of my team kinda developed a defense mechanism where they just won't question anything he says just so they can get on with their work.

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