We knew January 2 something was up. Since my department started in June of '02, we’ve been getting monthly financial incentives based on our collection performance. Without getting into the specific dollars, we got paid for collecting balance in full on accounts along with some other incentives. This generally added up to a bump on my monthly income of at least 10% and in most months more like 15% and sometimes as much as 20%.
January 2 the database we use to log incentives changed without notice. Gone were the fields for everything other than customer’s name, telephone number and dollar amount. Management was not forthcoming with an explanation, so the rumors flew.
Finally they’ve let us in on what we already figured out. Effective immediately the incentive program is over. They’re doing a couple of payouts over the next six months to ease the transition, then that’s it.
Oh, and the same day we were notified of the loss of our incentive, we got an email from a VP congratulating us on our stellar efforts in meeting or bettering all of our departmental goals for 2003, and another from the department manager congratulating us on our department’s $6 million contribution to retiring the company $36 million debt. We all felt the love.
You know, I’ve tried to think of something upbeat to cheer you up, but have drawn a blank. Sorry, man, that sort of logic-defying corporate politics just makes me angry. Very angry, indeed. (Insert Marvin the Martian smiley here).
Otto, this company seems intent on jerking you around as much as possible. Your previous Pit threads bear this out.
Do you have any other employment alternatives readily available? You’re just not getting the recognition (nor, it seems, the satisfaction) that you should be.
Nothing immediately lined up. I loathe looking for work and, really, this job is no worse than any of the other shitty, dead-end jobs I see advertised. Besides, getting the payouts is contingent upon being employed on specific dates (one in February and one in July) and the payouts aren’t insubstantial so I have no intention of leaving voluntarily before then. After that, screw any loyalty to this place. I have none, and I don’t feel any dedication coming from the other side either (it extends all the way down to pettty shit like, last Friday was my two-year anniversary with the company and I didn’t get taken to lunch the way everyone else in the department was on their anniversaries). At least one other guy is planning on quitting after the second payout date.
Your company sounds like they’re cut from the same cloth as my ex-company, Otto. In the accounting department I’m leaving (as of next Friday :D), they have three full-time people doing the work of about 6 people. Now that I’m leaving, it’s not looking like they’re going to replace me. You see, accounting is not a revenue-generating department, and the sales numbers just aren’t there to justify hiring. Never mind that we’re trying to process 4000 invoices each month for ONE account.
Oh, talking about petty shit - I had to buy my own date stamp for the new year. And my own pens. And my own stapler. This company is making me feel like Melvin. I’m going to try not to burn the place down.
It’s “Milton”, not “Melvin”. And I can’t even conceive of working for a company where you have to buy your own pens and supplies.
While that sucks that Otto’s company is loosing their incentives, is it really a surprised since the company is $36 MM in debt? At least they are keeping your job around. That’s the problem with bonuses and incentives - people begin to expect something “extra” just for doing their job.
What “defies logic?”. Should the company pay out bonuses with money it doesn’t have? Are you all of a sudden going to quit? Probably not. You’ll gripe and groan like everyone else and conntinue to do your job. Even if you do quit, most corporate jobs automated and compartmentalized to the point where you are easily replaceable.
Sorry to not sound simpathetic but I’m kind of sick of hearing people complain about work. My girlfriend complains about her job that lets her work from home once a week. My lawyer friends complain that lawyers are a bunch of self absorbed arrogant pricks (which makes me wish I went to law school, instead of B-school). My trader friends complain that their bonuses are merely “exhorbitant” instead of “outradgeous”. My friends in “industry” (consultant-speak for people with normal 9-5 jobs) complain how stupid their co-workers are compared to their former consulting and I-banking collegues and I don’t hear my consulting and I-banking friends complain at all because they travel 5 days or work 100 hours a week.
In fact, since I’ve become unemployed for the second time this year, I’ve become the happpiest guy I know. Too bad that’s all going to change when I start my new job Monday.
Oh, hush, ms mith. I remember a Pit thread you started in which you bitched and moaned about a job for which you were recently hired. Allow Otto, your gf, your lawyer friend, your consultant friend and your invisible friend to do the same.
The company is not $36 MM in debt. The company was $36 MM in debt going into 2003. The company is now out of debt, due in no small part to the multi-million dollar efforts of my department. We certainly don’t take credit for the turnaround entirely but since 20 people were reponsible for retiring one out of every six dollars of debt I think we have reason to be upset that our efforts are being rewarded by the termination of the incentive program that was established as part of our department. Those of us who joined this department with its founding joined in part because of the incentive program. It was presented as part of our compensation for the job, not something “extra.” If it helps, don’t think of it as “incentive.” Think of it as commission. We used to get a commission on every account we got paid in full and now we don’t. We’re doing the same amount and level of work for 15% less money. Sorry if it sounds whiney to you but personally I can’t help but think it sucks.
Or as Drew Carey said (more or less): “You hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. IT’S CALLED EVERYBODY! THEY MEET AT THE BAR!”
That was completely different (mostly because it was me doing the bitching).
Although I did leave that last job after some…unpleasentness.
I agree that it totally sucks. Personally, I can’t stand the “we’re all in this together” crap. ‘We’ are in this only so long as I can’t find a better job or the company decides to have layoffs.
Ooh, can I join in the work bitching too? We’re a high tech company. We make cutting edge products, such that we have only a handful of competitors. Yet our backend support is horrible. When a customer requests what should be a relatively simple account change, all too often I have to get the attention of one of our overworked engineers to manually hack various databases, because there aren’t automated tools in place or they are buggy. Other companies we are partnered with are constantly fucking our shit up and telling our customers the wrong information, for which we get the flak. And the head honchos have decided to expand into new types of hardware. For now we are “staying on top of the wave”, as the CEO likes to say, but I fear the board is made of popsicle sticks and a much larger wave is coming to crush us. Apparently the company almost died in the .bomb before I started working there; maybe they should have taken the hint.
