evilcatbert knows all!

Bringing you the world from on high. As cats are curious, independent and sure they know everything, prepare to be enlightened.



5/18/10

Is keeping your word an event or a lifestyle....

I recently received an unexpected thank you card from an employee. Why? Because I told her I'd get back to her by the end of the day with an answer to her questions and I did.
Jane called me requesting information about her training pay, getting a locker assigned and help in accessing our payroll website shortly after she began work. Since I was in a the middle of a project when she called, I explained I needed a little time to get her the info she wanted and asked if it was okay to forward the information to her via email (because it was simplier for both of us to send the website instructions she needed in writing) by the end of the day.
I sent the email in the afternoon and within a few hours received an effusive email reply thanking me for my detailed and prompt response to her questions. While I appreciated her thanks, I was puzzled over its intensity; even more so when I received another hand written thank you note in the mail from her the following day.
Is follow through so unexpected these days that employees are surprised when they get it within their companies? If so, it makes me sad as one of of the few "entitlements" I strongly support in any workplace is the right of any employee to receive quick and accurate answers to their questions. If we expect employees to be accountable for their own performance, I hope we're regularly leading from the front of that pack.

5/6/10

Don't bite the hand that feeds you ....

I think the employment relationship is like any other relationship in your life, you get out of it what you put into it. If you value it, you take care of it. If you don't, you generally lose it and usually you don't even realize you've lost it until it's over.
Where does it start to go wrong? In our own heads. When we think our companies should treat us better than they do, when we think we're not getting enough recognition or pay, when we believe we are not being treated fairly, we plant the seeds of our own unhappiness.
Employment, whether we admit it to ourselves or not, is a voluntary activity on both sides. Either party can walk away at any time (barring an employment contract or agreement). So wouldn't it be more effective to leave if we are so unhappy and can't make our employer treat us the way we think they should than it is to complain while still taking their money?
I've spent the last day assisting a manager who is dealing with an employee who can't seem to stop himself from talking to the company's customers in a negative way about how the company operates. The company recently made an operational change that was discussed and agreed to in advance with the employees involved (including this employee). The first day the change was implemented this employee, instead of trying to make sure the change worked for both himself and his employer or even just waiting to see what impact the change would have on him, immediately started "sharing" his negative thoughts with "his" customers, coworkers, and even in an inappropriate way with other company managers. His manager, in response to the problems he was creating for the company by involving customers & coworkers, sent him home to spend his time off thinking about whether he really wanted to work for this company. How will it end? Badly unless and until this employee figures out that if he can't be trusted to back his company up in public (he can discuss his concerns behind closed doors with the management staff), he will not be allowed back to work.
Today's lesson? Disloyalty to your employer hurts you more than it will ever hurt them. You'll be gone and they will still be standing. So if you are truly unable to restrain yourself from acting against and talking badly about your employer while onsite and on the clock, it's probably time to voluntarily change your job before the choice is no longer yours to make.