AIBU to think unrealistic workplace targets should not come as a surprise

[Overworkedandknackered]

AIBU to think that if a company sets unrealistic targets for their workers then they shouldn’t be surprised when they don’t hit them.

I’ve worked for this company for 15 years and I can’t remember a time where we weren’t being told by management that performance was a concern and we need to work harder to hit targets, yet we rely on third party companies to hit these targets and the reality is that the targets only work in the best case scenario, if a client is slow returning something or there’s a delay outside of our control then we can’t hit the target and there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m fed up of hearing the same thing over and over again.

I used to work in call centres and there were targets for everything. How long a call takes, hold targets, upsell and retention targets, conversion targets right down to toilet break targets. Things we couldn't control were held against us.

The results are a high staff turnover and low morale.
Life's too short to be miserable at work, find something better!

not unreasonable but also life is too short to spend 15 years in a workplace that makes you miserable!

I’ve been looking around for something else but I’ve come to the conclusion that a) I won’t get the same pay anywhere else and b) other companies in the same industry are probably the same anyway 🤷‍♀️

Targets are given knowing they are unachievable so when pay awards are made, they are set to the minimum. That’s my view anyway.

I’m sure this is the case, I’ve got a feeling that 89% of our target is the actual target but you don’t qualify for a pay rise or a bonus unless you get 100%.

We’ve also been told that the company’s goal this year is to cut down the average time we take to complete the service that we provide, when I asked what they were doing to help us achieve this, more resources or better IT the answer was nothing, so I guess the answer is just work faster? 🙄