Our management team over the past year was tasked with finding out why our entire department reported being exceptionally unsatisfied with our jobs. Everyone has the same complaints – overworked, underpaid, and no possibility of advancement. Their first initial response? They held a little virtual rally and basically told all of us, “we hear you, but here’s why you’re wrong and why the company is actually awesome!”
When that shockingly didn’t work, and the responses to their supposedly anonymous surveys got even worse, management was directed to again find out why that was, (surprise – everyone still had the same complaints) and this time create a little plan to improve things. Their solution? More virtual meetings so we all feel more included, bare minimum increase in the base starting pay for new hires (having no effect on anyone that has been there for years of course), try to create a structure for advancement, and the best part – a competition to increase our monthly numbers… even though we repeatedly told them we were overworked, and were now understaffed due to the number of people that had left since all of this began.
At this point I pretty much threw in the towel. I’d been trying to advance for a few years now, but after such a tone deaf response I had no faith in the company, which is sad because they did at one point actually show some promise of being the type of place that would be amazing to work for. I began looking for other jobs with no luck. In the meantime, someone I greatly trust within the company told me to hold on a little longer as the “advancement plan” was in the final stages and would soon be implemented.
Lo and behold everyone recently got an email saying they were excited to announce the new structure which would allow advancement within the department. The new structure? A “new role” crammed in between the title everyone currently has and the team lead position. There’s only a few spots open however, and you can’t be promoted into the position- you have to apply for it. At this point in the email I’m thinking, okay fair enough. And then I get to the job description.
It’s word for word what I and at least a dozen others have been doing-
For the last. Five. Fucking. Years.
Are you kidding me? I lost my shit. And to top it all off there’s rumors it doesn’t come with any bump online pay. It’s like they actively disdain their employees, cause there’s no way you fuck up trying to fix things this badly. All that said I’ve decided to apply anyways. That way if I do get turned down, I can tell them everything I’ve been doing is no longer in my job description and to move all that work away from me. Unreal.
TLDR: company is trying to implement a new position after employees complained among other things that there was no room for advancement. The job description for the new role is what I and a dozen others have already been doing for the past 5 years, there’s only a few spots, you have to apply for it, and it might not even pay more.