It was a Monday morning. September 13, 2010.
My boss (team leader) approached us and required us to do something silly. Really silly, from my objective (duh) point of view. LOL
They asked us the “Risk of Loss” question: answer HIGH if you are already looking for another job, MEDIUM if you are still thinking things over, and LOW if you don’t have any plans of moving out. And then the supervisors will discuss the answers of the associates among themselves. Wow. They are just going to take note of those who are planning to leave and might not give them any opportunities for growth. Worse, they might even discreetly force you to resign when they don’t need you anymore, just like what they did to one employee before. Please don’t insult our intelligence; we were not born yesterday and the goal of this exercise is as bright and sunny as the sun.
Holy effin' freakin' CRAAAAAAAAP!
If I was not the breadwinner of the family, I would've printed my ready-to-submit resignation letter (the only thing to fill up is the date of resignation LOL) and filed it the same morning.
I am slowly losing my mind.
My life in NBS has been, shall I say, blissful for the first year. The team is wonderful; the pressure is manageable; the environment is very conducive for working; free coffee, iced tea, water & cold milo; it was a growing company with a promising future.
And now, it's my personal hellhole.
Reason #10: It all started with the Continuous fuckin' Improvement thingy.
Don't get me wrong. Continuous Improvement is a great thing, but I think too much of it is ghastly.
First, there's this DMAIC thing. It was cool, you get to introduce improvements on your daily processes & you get to improve efficiency.
And then the management grew greedy.
And now, each associate MUST have 1 GSTD as leader and 1 as team member to have an "Achieved" status in PE/PDG.
Several months later & a quarter before the YEAR END, they changed it -- you must have 2 OPL's per year.
Of course, as a dedicated employee, you won't settle for "Achieved" -- you will strive for "Exceeded Expectations".
So in effect, one MUST have 2 GSTD's or 4 OPLs. Nasty.
And you have to do it every effin' year.
Oh joy.
Reason # 9: The fickle-minded and greedy management
Nowadays, it is all about cost-cutting.
Not that NBS is alone in this advocacy; I think majority of the Shared Services Centers are suffering from this moronic management move (the disappointing job offers from 2 premiere Petroleum Companies that I have received for the past months have proven this conclusion).
But at least their big wigs had the decency to give them a "savings plan" so you'll have something to earn when you leave the company/stay for 5 or more years, they have better HMO benefits, medicine & optical allowances, car loans to boot, and a performance bonus that's worth three months of hard work and IS NOT dependent on your PE/PDG rating. Bonus per se, in every sense of the word.
Not the cheap HMO plan that will leave you disgruntled and discriminated by hospitals and a so-called bonus equivalent to HALF of your basic monthly salary. And the rest, as they say, is
Everything is about cost. Like when we've found a room for improvement in Dispute Management, they immediately turned down the proposal because of the cost. Oh, pardon my inaccuracy, not because OF THE COST, but because IT INCURS COST. Efficiency gains here, FTE savings there, cost cutting everywhere!!!
And as a result of that extensive cost-cutting, the insistent demands of the throngs of employees for certain improvements in salary & benefits still, up to this very day, after more than 3 years of operations, have fallen on deaf ears. Our efforts have proven futile.
Aside from that, this very bad excuse for a management also has this nasty habit of implementing certain rules or setting new objectives without fully understanding the impact of these abominations to the operations that’s why later on, when everything gets sooo fucked up, it’s the employees’ task to suffer the consequences.
Burden of proof? Ah, let’s see – c.p.w.e.r.x, Time Manager, Per Process thingy, changing of objectives a quarter before year-end, the “istorbo” DOR, etcetera.
Reason #8: Stupid Ergonomics.
Ergonomics. A must-have for companies, right? One of the petroleum companies that I have previously applied for also values ergonomics & its benefits. They have a program in their computers that counts the frequency & the speed of your keying in of characters in the keyboard, and when it detects that your movements have become somewhat erratic (signifying stress), the program will freeze your screen and will give you a few minutes to stretch and have a breath of fresh air. Also, their workstations are configured to give you proper posture and you can even move it up & down, left & right, depending on the position that you’re comfortable with. Very cool, right?
Guess how NBS implements ergonomics on its employees. Tada! Dancing. Oh STFU.
While dancing, in itself, is not entirely obnoxious (I am a frustrated dancer myself, I used to dance when I was younger however too much time spent brooding on Accounting problems and sitting behind my desk has rendered my body stiff and un-fit for dancing), the idea of professional employees dancing for ergonomics is somehow sinister and imbecilic to me. We sit behind desks for 8 hours, and I think a little stretching will do the trick. Factory workers, on the other hand, I think are more required to do the dancing because they do more physical things, therefore the need to shake off fatigue & stress is greater, hence the dancing is reasonable.
Reason #7: We don’t get treated as professionals. And nor do we feel valued and important to the organization.
We have this NCE thing. And because of this NCE thing we are required to do certain stuff such as DOR (which I believe is a total waste of time, as it can be done on a weekly basis, therefore saving your precious 15 minutes of the day to do something essential and fruitful), etcetera. We also have this Safety thing, which is okay if you’ll look at its end, however, the means are just plain dumb. And I was like, “ganito din ba sila sa NPI?” and a teammate of mine answered, “hindi. NBS lang saka mga DC at factories”. Woooooh. So now we are on the same level as the factories & distribution centers, huh? Don’t get me wrong, I am not belittling them – we owe it to their hard work that we have our most loved & most-needed products on the market. But the thing is, you are a professional, you have graduated from college with a 4-year degree, and you expect to be treated as a professional because you deserve it. Come to think of it, people from NBS and NPI are both professionals, how come we are not enjoying the same privileges, let alone treatment?
One time our head said "we thank you for the efforts and you are important to the company", and then the next thing I heard was “if you are not happy with the company, then you are welcome to leave”. Wow, so it was all just lip service. Have you not any compassion to the people who made you look good to the big bosses because of the wonderful results of the operations? Oh well, we’re not a big deal to lose to begin with anyway; you can easily find some other mediocre people to take our place and as a plus you will be paying them smaller compensation. A very tempting bargain.
Reason #6: Time Manager
Two words: HATE IT.
The Time Manager, as they say, measures and promotes efficiency in employees. I say otherwise, and I abhor it due to several reasons.
One, it is counterproductive. It totally negates the essence of the thing it wishes to promote because instead of promoting efficiency, it actually impedes efficiency because you have to be mindful of each and everything that you have to do and you have to input them one by one on this excel macro thing. Also, it is never a picture - perfect nor an effective tool because it will NEVER consider multi-tasking, as you can only input one activity per timeframe. Besides, isn’t it annoying to do multiple things and then input them on the TM tool simultaneously? Very tedious.
Second, I think it is just an avenue for them to check on your progress – whether you are slack or not. Come on, we know the deal. You’re just trying to see if some employees were slack so that you can have efficiency gains again.
Reason #5: We are watching you.
In our DOR, we see certain productivity measures everyday and compare them with previous performances. It is an abomination because you get measured for everything that you do. I wouldn’t be surprised if one they decided to stick their noses in on their employees’ height, weight or vital statistics. Your sitting or standing posture is being watched, you are observed if you dance in the ergonomics or not, you have to defend why your productivity yesterday as compared to the day before yesterday has declined, and the list goes on. Everything is measured and it is suffocating.
And another thing that has ruffled my feathers was the blocking of 90% of websites in the internet. The heck, why do they even bother to give us internet access? Yes, I get the point, the company PC is no internet hub for you to surf to your heart’s desire. But we are completely responsible professionals (well, not all but most) and we know when to surf and when NOT to surf. Why not give us the benefit of the doubt and check our performance later? If you happen to notice that the performance is declining, then remove the privilege. If we’re still delivering, then consider it as reward. You guys have no idea how refreshing it is to surf the net for a few minutes when you got your head boggled with numbers and addled with stress.
Reason #4: Cross-eyed focus.
They have been super anal about everything. To make matters worse, they have been too anal with the trivial matters as well. Like in the DOR, they are just so anal about following the order, the time, and the other minute details. I don’t mind if the big wigs became too OC with the results of the tasks – they’re paying us to do our job and they’re expecting stellar results. However, to bother with such insignificant matters is just moronic at best. Why not set your sights on substantial matters?
Reason #3: The ratings game.
If you think you can attain a 3/3 rating simply by being an excellent employee in all aspects by:
- Not being tardy
- Not using your leaves too frequently
- Getting praised by your foreign counterparts
- Having a stellar performance
- Impressing your immediate supervisor
Then, you are sooooooo WRONG!!!
Even if you have done ALL OF THE ABOVE, you can’t guarantee a 3/3 because only those who are loved by God (pun not intended, just an idiom for it) can get a 3/3.
That is, if you have managed to impress not only your boss but also the OTHER bosses.
Your immediate boss is the one whom you work closely with. He/she knows your strengths, weaknesses, your accomplishments, your failures, et al. Ergo, your immediate boss is the best person who can give you the rating.
However, that system does not work in NBS. First, your boss gives you the rating (that is, if you’ve managed to impress him & convince him to give you 3/3) and then he/she will divulge your grade to all sundry so that the other team leaders will deliberate if you deserve the grade or not. My two cents? WTF? What do these insufferable know-it-alls know about your performance? Are they aware that you’ve been able to settle a dispute between your customer & the market? Do they know that you’re a good conversationalist & you use that advantage when collecting overdue debts from customers? Do they observe that you have leadership skills? NOT. They are merely, as they say, third parties to the relationship and I strongly believe that they are not in the position to question your grade. You will often hear comments like, (speaking with the best L. Manding impression)“Ay bakit 3/3 ang grade nya, di ko naman sya kilala.” We don’t need to impress you, hag! You’re not even my boss! Clearly, from this system you will need to be too “pasikat” and too “pa-bibo” to get noticed.
I think they’ve adapted this system to lessen the salary increase and bonus (the salary increase and bonus depends on the rating). And I say this is unfair, why not give the employee what he deserves? If he has worked his ass out to get a 3/3, give it to him!
Reason #2: Favoritism and power-play
Oh this one is a bludger to the chest, mind you. And I had an issue with this one last April (the salary increase & bonus month).
It has come to my attention that only a selected few received salary realignment. And those were the favorites.
I’m not annoyed with the favorites; I am annoyed with the system.
And the very confession came from the horse’s mouth – my boss herself.
Teammate: Totoo bang may salary realignment?
Boss: Ah oo
Teammate: Wow, eh di across all streams yun?
Boss: Ay hindi, pili lang.
Wow. Why bother call it re-alignment if it is only given to a selected few? Don’t these guys read the dictionary?
Honestly, all of the bosses in this world have favorites. I just hope they don’t show it too bluntly.
Like giving all the important tasks and great trainings to the favorites.
And leaving the minor and not-so-pansinin tasks to the others.
Or by simply saying…
Boss: Ah gusto ko nasa gitna ako ni employee A and B. Kayong iba, bahala kayo kung saan nyo gustong maupo.
Such strong leadership skills. Impressive. *dripping with sarcasm*
Reason #1: Limited career and professional growth.
One officemate of mine said that he got attracted to the company because of the name. And that he was expecting that he was going to learn so much through trainings.
Sorry to disappoint you man, but there ain’t no trainings.
No trainings for computer programs, no trainings related to accountancy or tax practice, no trainings to improve you professionally.
Well, there are trainings – but these trainings are for the benefit of the company. To ensure that you comply to their rules and you deliver to their demands.
And there’s a very flat organizational structure.
And to think that due to “favoritism” and blatant “braso-han”, you can never reach the top unless you’ve got connections and an unbreakable bond with the most powerful supervisor to date (too powerful that she can easily sway the manager to agree to her whims).
Oh well, enough with that. I can actually go on like this forever and expand the list up to 100 but then some items are encompassing and I will be repeating myself over and over again. Haha
I know this is downright bitchy, you know, blabbing and complaining and all, but I just can’t help it. I’ll drive myself nuts if I don’t go blogging about it.
Labels: A CPA's Life, Atrocities, Dead Meat, Me-Myself-and-I, The Great Depression