To be absolutely dreading work tomorrow?

[TheCherryTree8]

I’m absolutely dreading work tomorrow. We have a cost cutting person (a member of the finance team from head office) in from head office doing a full audit of our site to find ways to cut cost, he’s already been at our site for 2 weeks and he’s here for another 3 weeks yet. I don’t understand why he needs to be here for a full 5 weeks to be honest, he’s already struggling to find ways for us to cut cost that aren’t completely ridiculous! They are sending the finance team around all sites to try and cut cost, not just our site. I’m the member of staff at our site though that has to deal with him all day everyday whilst he’s on site. He doesn’t understand how the business runs day to day either, his only focus is how to cut cost, most of the things he is suggesting that we do to cut cost are completely impractical and most of his suggestions would only save small amounts anyway and not a lot! He’s given us 25 suggestions already and only 2 are actually practical for us to put in place day to day and only 1 would actually save the business a significant amount of money!

He might even force us to put the completely impractical recommendations in place yet, it won’t be up to us. The report he is writing will go to head office and they will decide if we have to follow everything in his report, not us.

Some of the suggestions he’s made are also completely ridiculous! And some would only save the business a tiny amount of money already. He’s struggling to come up with many good or practical suggestions because our site is already run quite lean but he’s under pressure as the finance team have been to cut costs at all sites by a certain % which is probably not possible as we are already running quite lean!

I’m absolutely dreading work tomorrow and having to deal with him all day again. I feel like I could cry just thinking about it. He dismisses any suggestion that some of his recommendations are impractical or ridiculous as well, it’s like it’s his way or the highway!

AIBU to be dreading work tomorrow? I’ve cried myself to sleep every night for the past 2 weeks whilst he’s been at our site.

he’s already struggling to find ways for us to cut cost that aren’t completely ridiculous!

How do you know?

he is in the info gathering stage

you won’t know conclusions until all complete and final report done

Is an external?

I’m absolutely drained and I’m crying right now just thinking about tomorrow

Do you mean is the finance man external or in-house? Sorry just not sure what you mean. The finance man is in-house from head office, he’s not from an external company,

Yeah I work for my local council so ridiculous cost cutting exercises happen far too often.

I don't cry about it, I just get frustrated and vent to other frustrated colleagues.

It's not like it's going to change.

I already know some of it because he’s making suggestions to us as he goes and he is telling us what his recommendations are/what may be in his report as he goes. A lot of his suggestions so far are completely ridiculous and would save very little if any money though!

I’m crying right now just thinking about tomorrow, I’m dreading it. I feel like I don’t want to go to work tomorrow because of it.

It's happening in councils all over. DS doesn't know if he's going to have a job by July. The consultation has gone on for weeks now. He's just bought a house so not exactly welcome news.

Why are you crying though?

Do you need to see your GP?

Have you ever suffered from depression in the past?

Wish you good luck - it's a horrible situation to be in - the possible irony being that he may also be dreading it, and racking his brains to come up with something that he knows he's under pressure to find and report on. Kind of needs him to say 'f*ck this for a game of soldiers, I really don't know' 🤔 Just try to keep your calm, it sounds like it's been a horrible experience for you. Take care.

Sorry to hear this, hope he’s ok.

I don’t work in a council. No jobs are at risk in our company, they are just trying to look at every other possible way to cut costs.

Hope your DS is ok, congratulations on his house though.

Never had depression. I’m crying because I’m dreading tomorrow.

It’s been horrid so far! Most of his suggestions/recommendations so far are absolutely ridiculous and would only save very very little money if even any at all, he’s struggling to find ways for us to cut cost as it is!

Just start job-hunting elsewhere.

Op, so what if his suggestions are all unrealistic? Will you be responsible for implementing? Has he been critical of you?

and HO won’t follow recommendations without consultation as to feasibility

Why though?

It's annoying when ridiculous cost cutting measures are put in place, but you don't own the business and at least you've still got a job.

None of us know what the future holds.

Just try and treat tomorrow like any other annoying day you need to get through.

He’s just the messenger OP
he can’t be imposing anything

Crying yourself to sleep every night for 2 weeks and crying now is a bit over the top for the circumstances don’t you think?

People are being unusually harsh to the OP here, is it a different crew in on a Sunday or something?

It’s your management doing due diligence across several sites by the sounds of it that they’re not wasting money.

treat it as a good management exercise that they’re looking into things like this to protect the business and by association protect your job and salary.

take the emotion out of it. He’s not looking for failures or excuses from you personally. If his suggestions are ridiculous then his report will flag up there’s minimal savings to be made from your site and management will look elsewhere.

things good business practise surely?

Well, if there aren't any significant cost cutting strategies to implement, maybe you should suggest to him that he heads back to HO early, and makes himself redundant. That would save some money.

Please get a grip. All companies do these exercises from time to time. Most of us have to do it with our home finances now and again too. It's a completely sensible and normal activity.

Can you use the exercise as an opportunity to get some of the things that you would like or that you can see would improve the operation? E.g. If you had a new machine for X, the task could be done in half the time or for half the cost.

Finance people don't like spending money, but start talking cost vs. benefit and you're speaking their language. Make sure to document everything too, so you've shown that you've tried to contribute positively if (or when) the shit hits the fan and the finance guy's fantastic ideas result in more costs rather than any cost savings.

Do you give feedback on why his ideas are impractical?

But if the company are looking to cut costs this seriously, and they are going to all sites, then the company must be under financial pressure. You don't put this much effort into cutting costs for fun. If they find nothing sustainable, it might be jobs or even entire sites next. So put it in perspective. If you know of ways to cut costs that haven't been thought of, tell them.

I do appreciate that you are upset, but your reaction does seem somewhat over the top - you may not have suffered from depression in the past but it sounds like you may be now. Is this the only thing that is going on to make you feel down? Perhaps a trip to the GP or some time off sick to recover your balance?