Employee Disengagement

Tales from a Toxic Work Environment #2

  Based on recent behavior patterns, I'm guessing that one of our newest hires may be on his way out.

It became apparent two weeks ago that he had disconnected from the job; showing little interest in learning or expanding his knowledge base, spending far too much time sitting by the machine oblivious to his surroundings, and just this week he has called out two days in a row.

 We only work three days this week, so that's a lot.

 If I had to guess, I'd say that he has burned his limited vacation days, and started in on sick days,  because he wasn't planning to be around much longer.  That's the obvious first step when someone has disengaged and no longer cares about the job, the team, or the company. In my experience the pattern is fairly consistent. 

 I am further qualified to spot disengagement because in my three years here I have gone from proud to be here, to why am i still here, because I stopped drinking the Kool aid over a year ago. There was an incident prior to that point, and that put me in the frame of mind to notice deeper issues, and that's when the realization occurred to me that I no longer really cared about a culture that doesn't actually care about me.
 I had essentially allowed all the joy to be sucked out of my work. That actually hurt, because when I started, I genuinely liked my job for the first time in...forever?

 This plant is less than two years old, so being here for three means I am a member of the founder's club. The original group of twenty people, of which I am a member, has been whittled down to about 13 now. Some have quit, some were let go, but that's par for the course at most companies. But for a company with a reputation for higher retention rates, it should be alarming.

 I've been on four teams in those three years. My first supervisor became a friend, and then she quit to move home to Chicago. She was my first (and last) career coach. We still share a text on occasion.

 My second supervisor was the subject of a prior post, Tales #1, and in the six months that we worked together he managed to say exactly 9 words to me. Once. I was tolerated, and he didn't hide it well.

 My third team was my favorite because my supervisor was an intelligent, down-to-earth ex-cop who actually looked me in the eye and spoke to me like a human. He was respectful, fair, and honest and I respected the hell out of him for it.

 But, I moved once again to a newer line so that my prior line experience could make their startup easier. I get it, but it's not ideal. And like I said, I disengaged a long time ago so at this point i'm just showing up, and those rare positive moments are the only things keeping me sane about it.

 One of the issues that led to this state of mind is all the attention being placed on the glass ceiling here. Being a new plant, there is a lot of room for overhead growth. Both middle and upper management slots waiting to be filled, lots of shuffling going on, and this quickly became a full-time preoccupation for every manager at every level.

 So much so, that it became clear to us on the floor that we were basically alone here. Our support was non existent because it was off brown-nosing and training for the next promotion.

You couldn't get anyone's actual attention because not one of our supervisors were engaged themselves; none wanted the job they had, but were instead sniffing for the next level job they wanted. They simply needed you to make them look good so they could leave you in their wake.

 That went on heavily for about a year, though it has started to slow a bit by now.

 Engagement is still an issue however, so obviously the problem runs a bit deeper than just a group of non-committed managers. Maybe it's a general feeling that the work doesn't really matter. That impression is inevitable when everyone is focused on the career ladder.

 Maybe it's a general feeling that you don't really matter. Certain managers have a way of conveying that message regularly, despite the best intentions of  upper management or policy.

 Maybe it has to do with being treated like idiotic children instead of like thinking, rational adults.

 For example, management has recently started littering the plant with these moron signs, like the one at each trash hopper that says, " This is the cardboard hopper. Only put cardboard into the cardboard hopper". It has pictures. Of cardboard. In the cardboard hopper. In case you're really stupid.

 The walls of every hallway we use are plastered with childish posters depicting aspects of the safety guidelines. From outside, the building is a work of art. The main lobby is tastefully appointed with integral works of art. But when we walk the halls, and it looks exactly like an elementary school. It's quite embarrassing, TBH. They don't rotate or change, so you quickly stop seeing them, but they do increase on occasion. Maybe they're breeding.

 In any event, the filthy undercurrent of discontent that began years ago before the plant was even built has never been addressed, and has therefore grown into an underground movement. Lots of grumbling going on; Lots of unhappy people planning an exit strategy while simultaneously giving this plant a black eye in the form of an employee retention rate that rivals the local 7-11.

The Dehumanizing Treatment of Employees

 Tales from a Toxic Work Environment #1

 Now that we have reached the so-called Age of Enlightenment, wherein socially conscious managers would never dream of forcing arcane rules or personal whims on their underlings, it is considered by most people to be at the very least morally wrong for a supervisor to intentionally create a hostile work environment for personal or emotional pleasure.

 This is exactly the type of behavior I have witnessed on multiple occasions at the P&G Tabler Station plant however, regardless of plant, company or corporate policies. 

 Because to be blunt; Policies don't mean squat in the day-to-day, minute-by-minute operations of a manufacturing plant when people with little to no proper management training are making the little decisions that will affect the lives of their team members.

 In one recent example, a low-level (bottom rung) manager of only three team members with a reputation for constant sexual harassment of female employees set his sights on a newly hired young lady on his team.

 He asked her out repeatedly, and she was placed in the awkward position of needing to explain that she was not only engaged but also not really interested in him, while at the same time preserving his fragile ego so that her new career would not be jeopardized by making an enemy of her new boss.

 Being a friend of a friend, I was allowed to follow this drama through first hand sharing and second-hand followups. She was a sweet kid, and I have a grandfather vibe, so we talked on occasion. 

 Because she was an adult, I didn't presume to stick my two cents into another adult's story.

I never notified HR or anyone who maybe could help her because I tend my own garden.

  Anyway, she seemed to be taking it fairly well in the early stages, and showed a solid sense of humor about the whole thing in general. That is until a few weeks ago when she decided that he had gone too far.

 Because he was the first approval for requested vacation days, she had submitted a request to take her birthday off so she could spend it with her fiance.

 Her request for the day off was denied, despite it being a valid request in every sense. She was disappointed but mature about it, until her boss took that same day off himself. She was convinced that he was exhibiting a childishly spiteful abuse of power, and rubbing her nose in it to boot.
 {if she was nicer to him, he might be nicer to her...}

 She then requested a transfer to another line, any line, in the hope of starting fresh with a fair manager. This request too was denied. Her boss was also an excellent underling, and held in fine regard by all of his supervisors (middle management) because he tells them what they want to hear and appears eager to learn. 

 In my experience, this usually means an ambitious and hungry jackal has his eye on his next promotion, but that's not my problem. The point is, he had their collective ear and if he wanted autonomous control over a team member it was a simple matter of placating his own bosses with some well crafted bullshit.  

 So, feeling trapped with a childish and vindictive drama queen of a boss, this young girl with aspirations of a career with Proctor and Gamble simply quit her new job to seek greener and less painful pastures.

  Her friends suggested an exit interview, so that at the very least someone from HR would listen to her reasons for leaving, even if she chose not to pursue proper recourse.  I don't know if that meeting ever happened; We rotate shifts regularly, so I came in one day and she was just gone.

 It's a shame that stories like hers rarely get told, and maybe that's why I bothered to write it out here for you to peruse. Maybe her life is much better now. Maybe she is reading this with you and smiling at the wasted tears she allowed some saddle-sniffer to extract from her.

 Maybe you or a friend are in a similar situation, and shedding a few tears of your own, and hoping for encouragement. The best advice I can offer is to speak up and speak out.

 Don't allow dark intentions to remain in the dark.

 Drop by the HR office, or just drop an email asking for some advice on how best to correct any misunderstandings you may have with your boss.

 Shedding some light on small miscommunications or outright mistreatment has a wonderful way of bringing the sun out again. 

 And you deserve a bit more sunshine in your life, don't you?

Confusing Selection With Results

The Swimmer's Body Illusion

  A common delusion that critical thinkers must be aware of involves mistaking fate, natural gifts, and logical selection with actual tested results.

 Known by many as the "Swimmer's body illusion", which refers to the popular task of choosing a target body profile as your weight loss goal.

 Long and lean, professional swimmers possess the most coveted body style according to poll data. The problem that eventually unfolds is that swimmers don't look like that because they swim; Swimmers swim because they look like that.

 They didn't so much choose the sport as the sport chose them. They had the aerodynamic profile that made becoming a professional swimmer likely, and the balance between proper training, natural talent, and nature made it happen.

These facts escape the average person looking to improve their profile however, and every year gym and YMCA memberships explode with folks seeking the impossible goal of a swimmer's body.

 A similar example is the beauty magazine model.

  She doesn't have perfect almond eyes and high cheekbones because she uses the makeup in the ad, but instead she is in the makeup ad because she possesses these features.

 She was selected to become the face of that makeup company based on her natural talents, and the mildly deceptive ads simply allow fragile young women to assume that the makeup alone is the model's only secret.

 Once you accustom yourself to deciphering selection and choice from results of actual testing and experimentation, your critical mind will begin rooting out lots more examples as your natural cynicism creates a new category under the fraud heading.

JB PopRox Stran