Hi guys, I came across this email (thanks to a friend of mine who works here) that was forwarded to me as he thought I might like to see it ... Ignore the top bits of it and focus on the bit that has my name in the last few sentences. Where do I stand with this? I have already messaged the HR and gone above everyone's head (because they're ****s!) by doing so. It's not the first time this has happened either, it has happened to a few guys that work here, although no record has been kept of it. They've been implying that I am lazy for some time now, but I consistently put out some of the highest figures of the day/week/month/year. The guy who sits behind me literally spends 2 - 3 hours a night (with ease!) on YouTube and doesn't get blamed whatsoever. The only disadvantage I have is that I have a camera pointed at my desk (CCTV) which they are watching and picking me out of everyone that works in this room. I'm 99% sure they are trying to get rid of me by treating me like utter crap as they know I am leaving at the end of the year when my visa comes through, and there's already a new job application up on Indeed.co.uk as well.
The only thing that's lazy is Paul Smith's writing style. I'm also curious as to why there's a goat in your company and why it's having printing issues. I'd be tempted to confront him directly and ask him what he means by "doing a Brendan" but you were probably right to bring it to HR. However, if you are leaving and they know that you are leaving I can't imagine anyone is going to invest much time in terms of conflict resolution and what not. In which case, keep the head down and just plough through your remaining few months.
Not helpful but I wouldn't work for a company that was watching me on CCTV full stop. Then I would have him in a mediation meeting and have him justify the remark and be prepared with evidence to refute it. I like a good fight though, never helps me in the long run mind.
Goat is the nickname for one of the employees here, by his choice and not ours! He was having printer issues due to printing images to the label machine, which only prints basic tags for stock keeping purposes. I'm supposedly meant to help with IT issues on the nights, but I get nothing out of it from them. I agree with the sentiment that he cannot formulate a sentence to save his life. Nor can the upper management staff! It's pathetic. It may be a case of leaving it, but I am never inclined to do so. I always chase things that I disagree with and I always make sure my point is heard. Management here is bored of me as I am constantly correcting their mistakes - they don't even talk to me anymore. It's rather good. It has only recently been implemented. We were assured that they do not have the time to monitor it, and they "have better things to do" with their time. Apparently they do not... I will go as far as I can with this. It's one thing for a friend of mine to call me a slacker, that is okay in my books as I know them, but it is a completely different thing to have a colleague who doesn't even work with me say that about me to the rest of the staff. I don't know who started the rumour, but apparently it got out that I was the one breaking chairs in the office as well. That's something I found out months ago but I laughed it off when I heard it from the manager and I told him that I'd break their face instead, in a jokey manor, of course. Am I right in thinking that this is actually a form of harassment in the workplace?
Yes it is harassment, but so is telling someone in a jokey manner that you'll break their face. Monitoring systems are there for monitoring and will always be used as such. If you have a CCTV camera pointed at your desk, management will use it to monitor you regardless of what they have said. In essence you are working in a panopticon. Inept managers are quite happy to lie about such things as a change management technique. It avoids conflict and gets the change implemented without much hassle. It's much easier than being up front with employees, finding reasonable solutions to problems and just generally doing what a manager is meant to do.
I think you're making a mistake making all this public knowledge rather than blank out names etc, but that is your choice. Paul, although he favours speed over accuracy in his emails, appears to know you like to spend time doing other things to working, and it appears this is common knowledge amongst your colleagues. I don't see much wrong here ... Also, being confrontational to management will always get you nowhere in life. Being a good colleague and approaching situations in the correct manner will however do you wonders in life.
I understand that now, but never thought of it like that before. Darn. I guess everything in this day and age is some form of harassment. The implications that I am lazy is purely wrong. I am no such thing, as I said in the OP, I consistently have some of the highest figures every time. I haven't confronted anyone regarding the above. I have just sent something off to HR about it. I don't confront people until I know everything that I need to know to win the argument. No sense in starting an argument without any valid proof or a good counter to their accusation. To put it into perspective. They book in roughly 25 parts each on the day shift and I used to do over 60. The second I'm below 60, I'd have messages waiting, asking what I was doing all night. Even if it was 58 or 59. We've all given up now and have gone down to 40 at the most due to the way they're treating us. It's not right, no, but I refuse to be overworked and slated when I do everything I can to do my job. This has been going on for months, it's not a sudden arrival.
First thing I would do is take down that email pic. There are plenty of companies who make it policy not to make company emails public, you could be digging a hole for yourself. If you feel strongly about it and believe his comments are without merit, keep a copy of it and speak to him about it. If you don't get satisfaction from that, take it up with his direct superior or HR. Before you make a fuss, be damned sure you are in the right and not just ticked off because they caught you slacking off. It seems to be commonly held knowledge, the way he refers to it, so either someone is spreading sh!t about you or you're not quite as industrious as you might like to think.
I will not lie, I am not at 100% the entire night because that's completely insane to request that of night staff. I also appreciate that it appears to be like I'm tooting my own horn, but that's not the case. My supervisor cannot understand it either and he's happy with what I do. It's not a case of what I do during the night. I'm more annoyed by the fact that this is going out to staff that don't know me and do not work with me. If it were said in person, as a mate to a mate, I have no issue with that. However, via email, it comes off in a different tone and I do not appreciate the way it sounds. He's also not a mate, so there's that too. I've already heard back from HR and she will be in touch shortly. Pic removed. Probably a good idea given that a few of you have suggested it.
