A few questions surrounding the workplace.

[fio1981]

Hi,

I've a few questions and wonder if I could lump them together rather than have lots of threads.

I currently work a role that is highly competitive / productivity based to the point I don't feel really in a team just a group of people who are pitted against each other. I know I need a new job or this one might leave me soonest but I'm trying to cope in the meanwhile.

First question - is around overtime, sorry to be naive, if someone choses to do overtime given the nature of the role described of hitting productivity, do you think they could benefit their stats? where it looks like they have better figures for working longer?

I'm kind of really struggling with the next - I was always brought up not to write emails moaning or say anything negative out loud about colleagues but I caught one colleague on Monday going off duty with a whole load of forms pre-assigned to their name not worked on at time of them leaving off for the day as they left before me, when I was left really struggling to find/assign myself work to achieve productivity (it's company rule you are not allowed to unassign or 'pinch' others forms so it's equally frustrating) I just don't know am I best trying to mention this early on or if/when the company is trying to let me go over stats issue.

Another question, I've never really had to think about until these times is currently we don't have a fixed terminal or desk, the company supplied laptops to work off only (which we have to transport in and out of work each day) and there is limited powers sockets in our desk area currently, so getting them fully charged can be tricky - I guess the onus is really on the employee to charge laptop at home?

Hope this makes sense, it is just really hard to explain.

Hi, sorry you haven't had replies and your post was a bit confusing but I'll do my best to add my two-pennies-worth...

1. Of course it depends on exactly how the productivity stats are measured but yes I would have thought people who are prepared to voluntarily put extra hours in will probably do better in a lot of roles. Is your question whether this is 'illegal' / immoral / bad for business? I'd say it could potentially be discriminatory depending on what's done with those stats but it could be hard to prove and sadly this is the reality in quite a lot of industries that those who put in the hours are seen as higher performing (whether that's to get their stats up or be last out of the office or attend loads of client schmoozing events). I do think UK culture is changing a bit and there's a greater understanding of the importance of wellbeing and work/life balance in improving business productivity overall and therefore the drawbacks of explicitly or implicitly encouraging people to work all hours but I would certainly say it hasn't universally caught on esp in roles like sales where targets are king.
2. I think you need to clarify what exactly the rules and expectations around these forms are - do you have a manager you can speak to? You say the expectation is you won't 'poach' or reassign forms from others but what about doing what your colleague is and hoarding work for herself overnight, that may be perfectly fine in which case you can do it too, or it may not be OK in which case I'd probably politely point it out to her when you next see her (can be in a nice way, oh Jane I see you've got a lot of forms over there, can I help you out with them as you are finishing now, rather than an aggressive oi stop hoarding all the work), and/or raise it with your manager or supervisor. I wouldn't wait until you are pulled up for poor stats then raise it as a gotcha type thing, the trouble with these high expectation performance driven environments is if you haven't been there long is that they usually aren't interested in hearing that kind of excuse, all they want is your stats up, and you risk looking petty or defensive bringing something up much later you didn't mention at the time.
3. This sounds pretty crap, if the company wants you to work off laptops the least I'd expect is enough plug sockets to charge - again can you raise with your manager, is there another work area you can use if yours is full? Can you and colleagues do a rota for charging so everyone gets some juice? Would an extension lead be a simple solution or would that create a fire hazard?

Hope this helps!

Massive thanks for your advice and listening.

I have a trusted work colleague I can have a natter with but they are feeling depressed at the moment and if I'm bad overthinking, then it is ten times worse for them.

It's just hard as it's a company I'd class as the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.

We had a meeting today, and finally learnt we are getting a fixed manager in a week so maybe things can improve from here on in.

I did say something in a team meeting as my face gave it way, I managed not to give any name away or send the proof of what I'd seen start of the week, least I said something and will try to understand that when I ask for forms to be assigned it does end up slowing someone else down.

Ah maybe it's not a bad outcome, because they've hired to many of us and don't have enough room for laptop charging, they have now made working from home a half the month thing. (one time I've been glad my stats actually look better when I'm at home in this job) genuine thanks again.