anyone work just enough to get by to not get fired?

[Leros]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante

Originally posted by: Elstupido
BoomerD, yes, you get it, lot's here don't

I was vastly confused for a second because he didn't have the hippie avatar. And I totally agree, BoomerD. Even if you suck at your job (I sucked at my first job), always work when you're being paid to do so. After getting in trouble enough for either slacking off or just doing plain stupid shit when I knew I shouldn't have, I've developed a semi-decent work ethic: work when you're being paid/when you're in class, and have fun when you're not.

Don't need no Hippie Avatar no mo...

Change it back!

I usually see your posts and read them, but with the new avatar I completely skipped over it.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Leros

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante

Originally posted by: Elstupido
BoomerD, yes, you get it, lot's here don't

I was vastly confused for a second because he didn't have the hippie avatar. And I totally agree, BoomerD. Even if you suck at your job (I sucked at my first job), always work when you're being paid to do so. After getting in trouble enough for either slacking off or just doing plain stupid shit when I knew I shouldn't have, I've developed a semi-decent work ethic: work when you're being paid/when you're in class, and have fun when you're not.

Don't need no Hippie Avatar no mo...

Change it back!

I usually see your posts and read them, but with the new avatar I completely skipped over it.

heh-heh...no one remembers that I originally started on AT with this avatar, then changed it to the hippie avatar at the urging of several members because of my "hippie appearance."

 

[bobross419]

I've been the "work just enough to get by" guy. When I was in the Marines and totally disgruntled I did everything I can to get out of work. I was miserable and passed over for promotion more times than the word Diesel appears in OT. At the time I thought that it was my Warrant Officer's dislike of me that kept me from being promoted, but looking back I realize that I was a slack ass.

At my current job I bust my ass. More out of pride in what I do than anything else. I work at a helpdesk and regular post top numbers even though I go out to have a cigarette every hour. Plenty of people here are the "work just enough to get by" types and I regularly stand out just doing my job. This is actually a very skate job, but people just get complacent and lazy. I don't mind giving an extra 10% most of the time, but I'm not about to kill myself for a job that gives a 3% raise once a year.

 

[Mo0o]

It's all priorities. If you're ok with being a low level corporate grunt then keep up with it and enjoy your life outside of work. Others enjoy their work a bit more and a lot of their personal identity revolves around their occupation and how well they do at it, those people will naturally put in more hours.

Then again, maybe he's just much smarter than you and evyerone in the office knows it

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Barack Obama

Originally posted by: JS80
I always give 150%. When I stop getting promoted and not rewarded with bonuses I move on to the next company. I won't stop until I'm C-level.

What's c-level

Chief XXXX officer

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: slag

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
Work isn't important in life, work is what gets in the way of what's important in life. Fuck the job, it's only a way to get enough money and insurance to do what you really need to.

Advice to success from a successful individual.

Thats the problem. People measure how successful they are by how much they make or how hard they work at their job. Fuck that. Measure your success by how happy you are or by how much you get to do what you like to do.

:thumbsup: Unless I had created something at my job to help a great deal of people (I dunno, work on an application that revolutionizes something somehow, haha) my actual life outside of work would be way more important than life at work. I couldn't imagine "success" as "working hard all the time". Just ain't me... way way more to life than that crap.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Actually, unions ONLY set the minimum pay for the job. The company is free to pay the guy MORE than union scale under MOST union contracts.

Not at my job. The company was going to give the clean room crew a raise, due to the hazardous chemicals they deal with and the union said "no dice, unless you give the entire plant a raise". So the company said screw it, and NOBODY got a raise.

Also, at my previous job, I busted ass. I was one of the top reps in CSTS, call quality, call handling and so on - I got two raises while I was there and was going to be promoted to trainer if I hadn't quit due to stress.

That job rewarded that kind of mindset. My current job doesn't. If you excell, you attract attention, and not the good kind. They start picking apart your work thinking that you MUST be cutting corners and screwing things up in order to be able to do so well.

 

[mekon]

Originally posted by: Baked
It's called a government job. When you're working for the government, you've made it.

I agree with that on the majority of gvt jobs, but in my experience, I worked in IT for them in a 130 strong organisation that was reduced to 30 by the time it was done with us. They really hate functions with service delivery attached to it. We supported about 10,500 staff in approx 50 locations.

In the couple of years before outsourcing us, they outsourced the personnel dept which meant there was no one to talk at the biggest site, and changed the job search system policy so that approx 8 out of 10 jobs were only available to people in the redeployment pool (i.e. we were not eligible). The rest were unsuitable unless you were interested in reskilling in skills such as mechanical engineering or business management. With over 120 internal teams having people with those skills already available, that's a tough market.

My team willingly put in all the hours possible - 20 hr shifts in emergencies, and I got promotion to lead this server team, admittedly morale suffered when the outsourcing news hit home.

Almost everyone in my immediate team and the other teams supporting the IT function left to take any job going - most often to IT coordination jobs (i.e. ePencil-pushing for other teams, processing requests for software packages like Visio). If they left to industry then they often took their knowledge with them, although largely if they remained in gvt work, often they were happy for you to give them a call to be fair to them.

As far as service levels went, some concessions were made but there was still pressure to maintain service delivery levels whilst the experienced co-workers disappeared.

This is the thing though, I was concerned about my future but feel less sorry for myself than others because I was interested in an IT career which defended my decision to stay, but I feel really sorry for those IT people with skills that left to find a new internal government post. The same year of outsourcing (in the end I was the only remaining long-term member of my immediate team) I found out that all the people who moved into gvt jobs face 25% staff cuts in their organisation anyway, and they were targeting posts such as those taken up by people who'd moved into semi-skilled IT coordinator jobs where they were intending to combine them between project teams.

With one exception every techie I've spoken to who left to Industry has had a good experience outside in IT (not perfect, but at least better).

I'm sure there are other fields of work in government that suffer similar problems. The UK government continue to seek staff cost savings in this way because they can't currently afford to pay the pension plans. GVT job!=cushy in all cases.

 

[alchemize]

Sounds like you are a below average performer. Welcome to low raises and disgruntlement.

 

[mekon]

Please elaborate because I have done quite well actually, I have had a bonus every year since they introduced the new system (2001) and was nominated for a top ranking bonus last year, the assessment panel (who don't know me or understand my job) reduced it to a two instead of a three . I was very close to another promotion before transition because my boss wanted early retirement, he got it just before outsourcing and came back as a two day-a-week consultant earning a similar wage because we were so short staffed. He's gone now though and I do his job pretty much with less responsibilities because things have moved on. My pay rise this year will likely exceed the civil servants that left. Sad for them but true. How do I lose? At some point I think I will say fvck this and go contracting.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: alchemize
Sounds like you are a below average performer. Welcome to low raises and disgruntlement.

From the talk in this and other career threads, it seems many companies don't even reward good performance. The top people might get a cost of living increase that is less than inflation, and everyone else gets nothing.

I can understand why people might not be motivated to work hard if the top performers don't even receive any sort of compensation for their efforts.

I think you should at least be able to get a good reference out of it, however.

 

[mekon]

Thanks - the new company reward good performance but in different ways, if you've been with them for 5, 10 or 20 years they give you a gift. At five years you can choose for something like a backpack, at 20 years they pay for a meal for approx 20 people. They have an "Employee of the month" scheme (LOL) whereas the government didn't care how long you worked for them, but gave you a small reward if you did something well/important.

All that said I can't complain at all this year, my wage increase keeps me afloat (and I'm nowhere near top mgmt). I have a (comparable) gvt pension plan for the time being (it was = inflation, but now is up to 7% inflation limit year on year with shortfalls carried over to bump up further years if required)