Sad Truths About Today's Work Environment

General General Discussion
1

I have discovered some things that are unfortunately “more often than not” true throughout my working life, and that’s why I now run a ranch instead of punching a time clock:

  1. Ass kissers get promoted faster than hard workers.
  2. Hard workers don’t get raises, promotions, or more vacation time: they just get more work because the boss knows they will suck it up and do it.
  3. Being related to, or socially involved with any boss trumps all of your education, experience, good reviews, and value to the company
  4. Knowing something you can hold over a supervisor’s head is the most valuable thing you can possess. But be careful you don’t know something so damning that it gets you killed instead of royal treatment.
  5. Where you start is where you finish: whatever they started out paying you, you will never advance very much beyond that. All of your raises over time will just be evolutionary, not revolutionary.
  6. Big boobs or a shapely ass are more important to your future with the company than all the skills and knowledge you might ever bring to the table.
  7. Having the management fear you is way more useful than if they respect and love you.
  8. Co-workers are the enemy. They will always sell you down the river to further their own careers.
  9. Everyone is expendable. EVERYONE.
  10. There is no such thing as seniority. Assholes get let go before popular people. Don’t think for a minute that you have a lock on your job because you are so good at it. If you are good at your job AND popular, then you may have something, but , oops, you’re overpaid so that wipes out the other two.

Thoughts?

2

I would say you are pretty much spot on with your list. I recently have admitted to myself that I have fallen into #2 and there is probably only one solution.

3

Pretty much… and a good reason why people who define themselves by their careers are (for the most part) dumb asses wasting their lives. The exception being the fortunate few who get paid to do what they love.

4

Long term workers typically suffer from salary compression; i.e., new hires for the same or similar jobs making more than the current employee. I saw it happening to me, so between the ages of 21 and 50 I worked for 4 different companies and moved 6 times, including 1 major interstate move. I realized could play that game also!

5

All of this is dependent upon who you work for, if you work for a guy who is loyal and observant you’re going to be miles ahead. Finding and working for a guy like that is rare and worth some of the other BS you’ll have to put up with. Unfortunately if your supervisor more interested in his career and his bonus than the reality of what is going on around him, your kinda screwed.

6

100% spot on.

Since I graduated college in 2007 I have had 6 jobs. I left my first job after 9 months and got a 30% raise. I worked at firm 2 for 2.5 years with no raise and was laid off when the economy went south. Got a new job after sitting on my ass for half a year [I did start taking my licensing exams tho]. New job was a 15% pay increase over the one I was laid off at. Spend 12 weeks at job 3 until my old boss head hunted me into a new company he joined. Company 4 was a 6% raise over company 3. Once I got my license Company 4 promised me a big raise. I got a giant middle finger. Sent out resume, a week later I got an offer for 36% more pay. Hated working in the city, so after 11 months I found a new job in NJ for the same pay. No travel costs, so I consider that a raise, and it is 1/2 mile from my house. In 4 years here, my pay is 11% more than when I started. Not complaining.

Point is, changing jobs seems to be the best way to increase your pay and usually level of happiness as well.

7

You described my work place to a “T”.

Just this morning I was informed I have to give special treatment and work absurd OT so a snowflake can get all their requested vacation in the next four weeks. The boss was “sorry” that I won’t be able to get mine at the end of December due to being short-handed (as we are at the moment… and will be further at the end of the year when I’m outta’ here).

8

No matter how good your management is, pay compression still happens. I have to really spin it to get an employee a 6% pay raise, and it will only be one person out of 12.

Andy

9

I would say very accurate and it’s been that way a ----long---- time.

I’ve been self employed for 35 years but have from time to time consulted in that environment and had friends family etc. Same thing across the board. I’ve worked where people were being down sized and people are just like cattle waiting for their day. People sitting in their cubicles crying. It’s crazy.

Also the private sector is not immune to some of that mentality. I had one client . Huge top 5 bank. That was one client and basically a nice salary from that one source. Well the CEO woke up one morning last year this time and shut the mortgage business down. They laid off 1100 people and I was simply one vendor in one town in one State and they are nation wide. Never got a phone call , email, nothing. Some outsider sent me a web page posting from TX that had the announcement. So basically thousands of people lost entire salaries with from all I could see was no warning what so ever.

But yeah, everything you describe is exactly what I have seen. Not to say there are not some good possibilities out there.

10

My experience has been the complete opposite with every point posted.

Maybe I just got lucky.

  1. Ass kissers dont last
  2. Hard work and skill/talent/knowledge gets you raises and promotions
  3. Relatives are held to the same standard as others
    4.NA
  4. I doubled my pay in 4 years, others have also had promotions/substantial raises
  5. If you dont bring $ value to the company, your replacement will
  6. N/A
  7. If you are not a team player, your replacement will be
  8. See point 6.
  9. If downsizing, thise who bring the least value go first

Sample of 1.

11

Agreed, but I have only been in the Civilian workforce for a little over four years. I have had worked for three companies… first two for about 6 months each… and the third for the rest of the time. Hard work and dedication have given me four promotions in the last three years and I am now an Executive. The reason for that is I work hard and I can be counted on to complete the task no matter what it takes.

12

I was a subcontractor forever and got paid for performance, period !
When the job was completed, I was paid, thanked and advised to keep in touch.
Some contractors I liked, some I did not, it mattered little unless they were total assholes,
if they were I went somewhere else, and usually for more money.
I was a specialized welding contractor in the energy industry and traveled where my expertise
was in high demand, it still is !

13

I don’t for a minute think that all places are a joy at which to work or that pay is across the board great, because I know it isn’t.

I think today’s workforce is more willing to move if things aren’t to their satisfaction whereas a decade or so ago folks were more prone to stay in an area because of family ties and children. Folks today are more likely to wait to start a family, or not have children at all. Additionally, many younger folks are saddled with immense college debt, so there is greater pressure to get better jobs to get that debt paid down and get on with life.

All that, plus social media that tends to isolate us from our neighbors, yet allows us to keep in close contact with our friends and families, tends to make younger folks less averse to motion in their employment.

Currently I don’t imagine there are many folks starting employment that believe the company they work for will be the one they retire from. They are willing to accept changing jobs 3, 4, or 5 times. Often times, as a result of this and other factors, employers aren’t as dedicated to working to keep employees.

It is what it is.

I was lucky enough that I stumbled onto something that kept me happy for my working life. I never felt underpaid for what I did, and was lucky enough to have a boss that saw to it our wages were market adjusted when it was warranted.

If you enjoy your work, make enough to live, your family is happy and you enjoy your time off, then you are blessed, be thankful.

If you aren’t there yet, or want more, be thankful that you have options, others may not have as many, or none.

14

OP, have you ever been employed at Boeing perchance?

15

LOL. No. But I’ve had that list for decades. I’ve worked for the government and private enterprise. I’ve worked for family businesses and publicly-owned corporations.

It’s funny that no matter when, where, or how often I bring up that list, someone always says, “Geez, you and I work for the same organization.”

:lol:

I worked more than 18 years at my last job. It was a family-owned franchise where the “owners” of course favored lazy good-for-nothing family members over educated, hard-working entrepreneurs that were really the ones keeping the doors open. The ass-kissers got promoted quickly. Those who worked hard just got extra assignments. The bastard that ran the place was the embodiment of Ebenezer Scrooge: I literally think if he could have gotten away with it, we would have all worked Christmas Day. He HATED people taking off. One co-worker deliberately scheduled a Friday morning to get all four of his wisdom teeth taken out so he’d have the entire weekend to recover from it. The manager literally asked him just before he left for his appointment, “But you’re coming back this afternoon, right?”

The owners seriously discussed firing a lady who had cancer just because she missed so much work for chemo. The poor lady died wondering if she’d have a job much longer.

The main owner/manager’s only management technique was to fire people. He loved to woo people away from successful careers elsewhere, only to fire them six months later if they weren’t just spittin’ images of this owner’s personality and work ethic. The guy would come in on evenings and weekends to do extra work, and he expected everyone to sacrifice their free time without extra compensation. A friend of mine remarked, “Sounds like he just doesn’t want to be with his wife and kids.”

He was riddled with medical issues that made him miss a lot of work, but two of his employees with medical issues got repeated lectures about how “patient” he was with their problems, and how much of a burden their missed time was on the company.

I honestly wonder sometimes how the guy didn’t get knifed in the parking lot.

Frankly, before I left I got to the point that I didn’t do any work unless that owner was actually in the office. I was so disgusted with him that I became “passive-aggressive” and took every opportunity to rebel against him and his policies. I don’t know how I lasted over 18 years there. I could have just quit and gone somewhere else but my attitude toward him didn’t even rise to the level of mere hatred, and I decided if I left then he was basically going to win. Only a better deal got me to leave.

One of my co-workers who had his confidence told me one day that the main reason I kept my job is because he was afraid of me–afraid I’d sue him if I was booted out.

16

#2 rings sooo true. “The pathway of least resistance” is a hallmark of science and nature…as well as the workplace. It is much easier to dump on someone who actually does what they are supposed to than make the POS who is responsible do their damn job! It is frustrating as hell. I’ve seen it over and over. That is why I will always do my job completely and thoroughly, but refuse to pick up someone else’s slack. I work in the medical field so the cop-out is “But it’s for the patient” or “It needs to be done to help the patient”. Sorry, that plea wore off years ago (not talking emergent life or death situations of course, like if someone collapses in front of me I don’t say “Sorry, this isn’t my area”). Go lay that crap on the lazy incompetent SOB who is supposed to perform that function, not me.

17

Pretty much my company… especially number 3. my 19y.o. daughter and 22y.o. son work for my company. We’re a small outfit with 20 employees. I dump far more shit on my kids than I do my other employees. My kids’ jobs in the company are based solely on the education they currently have and the value they bring to my company. They have excelled in their jobs and their performance reviews by their supervisors (not me) have been stellar. I will admit that when the chips are down and something HAS to be done, my kids don’t say no at 2am.

  1. I won’t tolerate non-team players. It has no place in my business.
  2. We don’t play the seniority game. Everything is earned. If you’re an asshole you won’t be around to build seniority anyway.
18

I understand this is the reality for some folks in the workplace. If you experienced this, sorry to hear it, and I genuinely hope things go better working on your ranch and working for yourself.

This has not universally been my experience (a few jobs have been this way, but not all or even most), and I’m thankful for that. Will go point-by-point.

  1. Exact opposite. Where I work and have been for nearly 20 years, it’s a meritocracy and while I won’t deny there are PC politics that I dislike in a Fortune 100 company, in general it’s still true that hard work, innovation, good character, and performance will get you ahead.
  2. Exact opposite.
  3. Our company has ethics policy against nepotism and conflict-of-interest scenarios, and they enforce it rigorously.
  4. Knowing something useful that can improve the life of our customers, save the company money, or drive meaningful innovation is the most valuable thing you can possess.
  5. I have experienced excellent opportunities to grow my career, both as an individual contributor, and in management roles.
  6. Suppose those things never hurt anyone’s cause :-), but not the deciding factor where I work. Men who do their jobs, including me, can still do fine.
  7. Exact opposite.
  8. We restructured the whole company, rewards, and promotion system a few years ago to encourage collaboration. I highly encourage and reward that on my team. It really makes it a nicer place to work as well as making the team more effective.
  9. Not what I’ve experienced. I’ve been through a couple of extended health crises requiring disability leaves, and I have ongoing things that probably cost them a lot in their insurance. I have never felt blacklisted or anything like that, quite the reverse actually. And have seen them treat fellow employees in similar situations really well.
  10. So this one I can see, it’s probably just reality in a globally competitive, fast-changing marketplace. Long-term economic relationships are increasingly rare, so workers need to keep developing useful skills and experiences, rather than relying on concepts like ‘seniority’, or knowledge of the bureaucracy in an organization, to get ahead in their careers. The only place that concepts like ‘seniority’ will still hold much sway is in places like govt jobs and universities, but even they will be increasingly pressured by economic reality IMHO.
19

On:
“3. Being related to, or socially involved with any boss trumps all of your education, experience, good reviews, and value to the company”

I think it’s safe to say that social ties and networking are important in any organization.

My role puts me in contact with people working in a broad range of disciplines across a number of programs.

This year my manager had to defend his rating of my performance compared to another manager in my grade (there could only be one “best” in our grade).

All but one of the senior managers in the room knew me, had worked with me and had a favorable impression. Maybe 3 of the 10 had ever met the other candidate.

Did it matter? Probably not. He did an outstanding job managing 7 employees supporting 1 program. I managed 12 employees (4 of whom earned superior ratings) supporting a wide range of products and services for 9 programs.

Plus my wife says I have a shapely ass (see number 6).

Andy

20

You bring up a good point. Visibility is key. It doesnt matter what you do, it matters what people KNOW you do.
When they are sitting in a room figuring out who to lay off, they all know Bill, what he does, they see him every day, working hard and paying for himself, Bill stays.

Jack sits in his office, busts ass, but makes no contact with people. “Who is Jack”.
“What does he do?” No one knows, so Jack gets laid off.