Office Politics!!!

[cyclops 15]

In all my almost 12 years of working I hate office politics above all things. A bit of a background first. I started working here in my current job July 2005 and I got here because I was pirated by one of the managers there who used to be a co-worker in our previous company. My PA (performance appraisal) upon regularization (January 1, 2006) was 13 %. This might sound a lot already but our maximum was 20 %. I had no complaint when this rating was given by my boss because I really had a lot of points for improvement. Come October 2006 an employee was promoted to Supervisor. I acted on my weaknesses the previous year and was rewarded with a PA of 17 % on Jan 2007. Now this is were the ugly part of office politics surfaced. The employee I was talking above was being backed by another manager and sad to say but by our very own president. I heard a lot of "not so good things" about me which were actually very small and petty things. They were always saying behind my back that that employee was so much better than me. The thing that kept me going was the fact that my immediate boss knows the real score. Strike 2 happened because come Oct 2007 that employee received a PA of 20 %. I expressed my disappointment to my boss why that happened. She said the president did it because he was re-aligning the supervisor's salaries. I almost exploded with ire here because if you are going to align salaries then why did the more junior supervisor ended with the higher salary. At this point in time I have been working 11 years with 6 years as either supervisor or manager while the other guy is a first time supervisor. I have also worked for 2 of the largest corporations here in our country. Good thing my salary was adjusted again because the management decided to incorporate my Saturday overtime into my basic pay. But strike 3 happened just last February 15. My boss served my PA and it was only 12 %. I didn't complaint because it was my understanding that the maximum PA rating has been lowered from 20 % to 15 %. But as the popular saying goes "what you know can't hurt you" the information that my PA was downgraded by our president reached my ears. I talked with my boss earlier this evening and she confirmed that a downgrading did occur because of "monetary" value. Meaning it you reached a certain salary level your PA would be adjusted down if it is over the salary level. That would be no problem for me but once again info reached me a lot of people still received over the supposedly max of 15 %. I told my boss that I want to talk with our president because what he did was not fair. She said she will pass the info. I hope we can talk this week so that the issue would be closed while it is still fresh.

 

P.S.

 

Sorry for the long post guys but I just want to vent some steam!!

[Totalimmortal 0]

feel free to vent here... just let em have it. you seem to be in the right here. Good luck

 

-Total

[Genenut 8]

*hugs* politics should stay on TV and not in the workplace, but I know what you mean.

[Knuckles 904]

man that's tough Cyclops

 

I hope you get that meeting with the company president and it gets sorted out. I have never worked in a big company (unless you include the U.S. Navy) so I have never had to deal with office politics. Hope everything works out.

Edited February 19, 2008 by Knuckles

[locutus 1]

Have at it cykes...and give them "what for". Just be sure to be diplomatic but firm at the same time.

[Wankers 0]

Looks like your gettin bent over like I do every year come tax time by ol uncle sam .... on a serious note though I hope everything works out for ya

[Genenut 8]

Knuckles,,,, the US NAVY is the biggest purveyor of office politics ... *lol* trust me as a navy wife verteran of more than 6 years before they "broke" hubby and kicked him out disabled I KNOW this.... maybe your office kept it quiet but I'm sure it was on base ....

 

and lets not touch the gossip mill that most navy bases are .... :rofl: .... I've seen small towns in the US that didnt gossip as much

[Schot 407]

Ack, work place politics makes me dizzy. I really hope this all works out for you Cykes.

[Knuckles 904]

I actually saw very little in the way of office politics while in the Navy, same with gossiping...maybe I was the exception or maybe it was because I was always stationed at small commands. I never had more than 50-60 co-workers at any time. My job now only employs 15-20. So I have always been around a small close-knit group of people.

 

I had a good time in the Navy and if not for some personal issues probably would have stayed for 20. Sorry yours and your husband's experience wasn't very good Genenut.

[masteff 64]

Cyclops - my experience in my last job was somewhat similar. In an annual review I asked for metrics to achieve a promotion. The next year I documented how I'd met those. I was promised a promotion (which meant a 10% raise). Shortly after it was announced that our corporate headquarters would be moved to another city. The rumors slowly added up over time about personnel actions being denied at the old office. After a year and a half of not receiving my promotion and then being the target of "forced ranking" (like a bell curve, where someone has to be perfect and someone has to be horrible), I finally resigned.

 

I at least got back a little because I gave 2 months notice and they let me go a full 1.5 months early w/ full pay. So I was getting paid by them for an entire month that I was working somewhere else.

 

My advice is what you already know (I picked up on your three strikes)... if the pres doesn't put things right, then go find a different job where they'll treat you better. Not worth being unhappy and you've been there several years so a change won't look too bad on your resume... just portray it as "you wanted to get back into a supervisory role and your position wasn't really suited to that career path".

[Funkilicious 1]

Luckily Cycs you are moving to Australia soon, so not much longer to put up with the Polics.

[cyclops 15]

Luckily Cycs you are moving to Australia soon, so not much longer to put up with the Polics.

 

For those who don't know it yet I am indeed moving to Australia IF (and thats a big if) I am accepted as an oversea student by TAFE NSW. Am going to be sending all of the requirements to my Uncle living in Sydney this coming Saturday. I'm hoping for the best of course.

 

@ locutus : I've been thinking about what you said and I have a particular lesson I've learned from the very same president almost 3 years ago that I've put to heart and perfected but which he already seem to have forgotten. He said take time to listen to the "little" (meaning the rank and file employees) people because you might learn something from then. When I started working here almost all of the ranks do not like me but I have adjusted my leadership style and now I am the most well liked and respected of 4 supervisors here. Am thinking of a polite way to remind him that lesson without him taking offence of course because he is still our president afterall.

[gintukas 0]

start looking for another job, and when you will find it - just guit

 

because when those little things start happening, it means that they dont respect/appreciate you, or that other guy is more important because of things not related to job performance - and if you are better then that guy - they will find way to make your life/job very unpleasant to force you to quit

[OuttaTown 0]

Good luck cykes...

 

I hope there is no such thing as PA here in canada - because I find it very biased and discriminatory.

[Funkilicious 1]

I hope there is no such thing as PA here in canada - because I find it very biased and discriminatory.

 

Most large corporations here have Individual Performance Development Plan (IPDP). Most are paid a salary but the annual bonus is based is the IPDP and performance of the Company and can have a sliding scale of achievement reached. In theory it is good practice, but obviously as seen here can be problematic.

[cyclops 15]

My goodness I thought I have seen the end of office politics because I have already talked with my president a few days ago that I am just waiting for my visa and would be resigning in 1-2 months. How wrong could I get!! Yesterday we had a general meeting in the office and the first part was about work ethics issues. The next part which I did not join was a Q & A session presided by our president. One of the crew asked why some people are receiving low PA. I don't know what got into the head of our president but he used me as an example that not just crew but even supervisors are subjected to low PA. Actually he didn't mention me specifically when he said that a supervisor complained to him about low PA but the problem is that of the 4 supervisors I am the only one already rated while the other 3 to be rated this coming October. What irked me most was that issue was supposed to be only between the two of us. When a crew asked me about it this morning I felt blood rising into my head because of anger and disbelief. Even my manager was surprise that our president did that to me. I will wait until my visa is issued then I will confront him about it. Actually even my impending migration to Australia was made into an issue during the same meeting. Our president said that he will not leave the country because he still believes that the best opportunity is still from within and not outside.

 

PS

 

I forgot to add that me and the other managers discovered that our beloved president is having "an extracurricular activity" with a former sweetheart. He is lucky that I didn't tell his wife about it.

[Funkilicious 1]

Sounds like a definite personality conflict Cycs, not sure if that kind of thing ever gets resolved....one of you has to move on and that looks like it is going to be you.