What happens to the squeaky wheel where you work?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Does it get the oil or does it get replaced?

I am one of the most vocal people in my office when it comes to letting the big bossman know where the company’s stupid policies are shooting us in the collective foot. I often send email to my immediate supervisors (with whom we in the front lines are on a nicely amicable first-name joke-around nudge-nudge wink-wink basis) and I always cc: the center manager and the director because they are both in the same building as I, and I can usually engage them in idle chatter when we pass each other in the hallway.

It is well known here that I am probably the first person to speak my mind, and about half the time I actually get responses back from the senior execs such as “Great Idea!” or “Excellent Suggestion!” This helps me feel better about my outspokenness but I still wonder if I might be wearing out my welcome of unsolicited opinions. In past jobs I have been in management and can therefore understand why certain seemingly bizarre policies are enforced, even though us drones might not be happy about them.

Every office is different, with different politics. I received extremely high marks on my last anual review. My supervisor told me that he rarely gives out “ER” (Exceeds Requirements) and yet I got them in 7 out of 8 categories. So I feel I have a little bit of job security there.

Do you think it’s risky to continue being a little guy who speaks out for the little guys? I think that management would rather know the mood of the workers than get it through the grapevine. Do you express yourselves to your bosses & their bosses?

2

Try to keep the ratio of bitch:praise at 1:1

Imagine how you would feel if all you ever heard from a certain someone was negativity.

BTW, I’m not assuming you are being 100% negative, just trying to answer your question.

3

In my office, it depends on how squeaky you’ve previously been, and about what kinds of things. This doesn’t necessarily work for the best.

Case in point: I’ve generally accepted overtime work as graciously as possible, agreed to take on tasks that technically weren’t mine, and covered my boss’s ass any number of times. Most of my squeakiness has been in the form of memos to or brief discussions with my boss or whatever immediate group is involved with a given issue (usually our database, sometimes delays with our web site), and I’ve tried to be very diplomatic, avoiding placing blame even when everyone knew that some specific co-worker was screwing up.

On the other hand, many of my fellow staffers squeak whenever they are asked to do anything, and I say that without exaggeration. Constant complaining, constant conflicts with other employees, grievances filed with the union, you name it. Diplomacy be damned; it’s like a soap opera.

Recently, this has come to a head because I tried to refuse to be involved with a project that created a real conflict of interest for me; my boss actually said, “Well, who ELSE is going to do it, Rose?” Since then, she’s initiated several chats with me wherein I’m informed that I don’t show the initiative I used to, and I seem “disengaged.”

Basically, management here doesn’t want to deal with the excessively squeaky wheels, so while people like me may get a little more respect (I’m beginning to doubt that, actually), we are also the ones who end up doing more work. And consequently getting more crap if we do say no.

Attrayant, the way my office is run, someone like you would be absolutely bombarded with extra work. You’d be treated like a valued team player, until you encountered something you really felt you had to protest on a personal level. Then WHAM, you’d get a lecture about your attitude. Am I bitter? Gee, I guess I am :wink:

4

This is slightly scary…my mom was just talking about this like a week ago. Except she was complaining about the squeeky wheel, and she thought she originated the expression that it gets replaced on her own. It’ll be fun bursting her bubble…she has it as her signature on all of her work emails. She’s gotten a bit carried away…

5

I’m the one in my department. The highest compliment I was ever paid and it was paid, publicly, on two different occasions by different people: “I’ll say one thing about Joaquim, he’s the one person who will say the things the rest of us are thinking but don’t have the guts to say.”

This works far better in professional environments.
Unless your boss is an asshole, and God knows there’s plenty of them, polite, public disagreement backed up with facts will not get you into any trouble. If the boss cans you in response to your expressing your opinion he will send one message throughout the land; thinking for and applying yourself as best you can is fatal to your employment. By doing that, the boss will castrate himself; his ability to “govern” will come to a dead halt. The company, department, or whatever NEEDS the expertise each person was hired for. Management always floats ideas that should never have even been conceive; it also floats many good ones. I work in an IT department. The WAN & LAN people are the experts on the network. If management stifles their willingness to express themselves and point out the fallacy of that poorly conceived idea, disaster results.

If you have to, point this out to everyone in the presence of the management. Again, unless the person is an ass, you’ll probaly be pretty safe. Ostracized perhaps but safe.