Corporate Culture

I had wanted to write this earlier when I was at work, but considering what it's about, I decided against it.

I've worked at the 'B for a long time. It's been my one "real" job for pretty much ever. Sure, I've held down some other jobs, but all pretty much short term, considering. But I've been full time at the 'B for 8 years. And before that, I've been part time (summer help, while at college) for maybe another 7.

So I've seen a progression of a corporate culture there. Basically the difference came down to a difference in idealogies between our last two CEOs.

The evolution I've noticed is that of what I call the 'B becoming a "real" company. The change is one of becoming more business-like and less....casual? I don't know if that the right word. The vibe at the 'B used to be almost one of a family run business. Which makes sense since it was nepotism central for the longest time. (Not that I'm complaining, becuse it got me a job.) More like, "Eh, we show up, do our work, status quo is fine for us, no need to pursue anything new."

It was relaxed, but admittedly stagnant.

Then the new guy came in. With new ideas. Progress. Evolution. Pushing forward. And of course that's not bad. Coming up with new ways to service our customers. New products and services can translate to new sources of income. More profits. Sounds great.

But that progress also demanded a new culture. Becoming more like a standardly run business. And agin, not bad. So by now you're probably starting to wonder why I didn't want to write this at work.

Because while all this is good on paper, it has been a lot less so in reality.

Firstly, these new products propelling us to new profits? Hasn't really happened. There's some sort of nebulous 5 (or so) year plan where expanded profits should be appearing, but this plan seems to have been in effect for twice that long. And while we're showing marginal gains, it's apparently not enough for the board of directors. So some ways that we've increased revenue?Raise freeze one year (which also had to do with some fault in our retiremnet plan, I guess), decreasing workforce, and selling the building and moving in two years.

Also, becoming a real boy workplace means coming into line with other businesses in terms of what we offer in terms of benefits. Sounds great, huh? Not quite. That means cutting education budgets, amount of personal/sick days, amount of vacation time that can be carried over, and a reduction in medical benefits.

Well, at least we're getting paid relative to what comparable positions in "real" businesses get paid, right? Uhhh.... This I can speak to intimately. A few months back, I took a look around online at what the average salary for my position was in the location where I work. And I found that the average, based on a basic job description, (which by the way was less than what I actually do), was $8,000 more than I made last year. I'm at the minimum for my pay grade in a job I've been in for 3-4 years now. As my boss said, "If you hadn't progressed past the point where you'd be making the minmum after that amount of time, then you should be fired." And, with all humility, I feel I'm an above average employee. Maybe not by much, but still above average. So, at any rate, I am now part of a small team rewriting our job description in hopes of getting closer to where we belong, pay-wise. (I say "closer", because I'm a realist and know we won't get to what we probably deserve.)

But here's the kicker, the thing that kicked off this rant of sorts. We have a forum by which employees can ask questions of the CEO anonymously, that then get answered on our Intranet in a Q & A article form. Increasingly, the questions have been increasingly questioning, increasingly concerned, even sometimes hostile in tone. But even when the tone is more placid, if they question a company policy or decision, somewhere within the reply is a statement somewhere along the lines of: "If you're unhappy here, perhaps you should consider leaving."

Not in such strong terms, but that's definitely the message. And that's what seems incredibly insulting to me. These are people that have dedicated many years to this company. That have, in my opinion, earned the right to at least question policy without having their jobs essentially threatened. That seems a piss-poor way to repay the loyalty of people that have given years of loyalty to you.

This may not seem like much to those who have worked at "real" companies already, but it's a pretty sharp decline to me from the company I started working for. I'll be curious to see how this job description rewrite project works out. If it's to little or no avail, after all the work I've put into it, I'll be curious to see how (or if) it affects my desire to stay there. I like the job well enough, I like most of the people I work with, but eventually there will come the straw that breaks the camel's back and that pile's only getting larger.