life in!!!!
Published on May 20, 2004 By uncivilcivilservant In Welcome
Its another gr8 day. More staff joining all the time(so much for the 40000 that are going before 2008).Wouldn't be so bad if the work load had picked up, theres still only about enuf for 10!!! Shouldn't moan I spose, but I'm a tax payer too! Wonder if this is another version of 'BIG BROTHER' see what happens when you collect a load of people together and give them crap training and bugger all to do.

Would be more interesting if any of the higher ups seemed to have a clue, they all go to meetings all the time, but if we suggest ideas that may actually help this place function properly, guess what gets done --------Thats right Bugger all! Well we got through the week only to come back and find out that despite doing the bloody job everyday, the couple of us that applied to take on the dreaded line manager roles were rejected out of hand. Not so much as an interview between us. Well lets hope they've found some better candidates than the last one they sent us. Just doesn't make sense, draft in new people for us to train so that they can manage us. Manage us to do what? Oh well. The personal details forms have been doing the rounds of the office over the last couple of days, seems to be the way of the world too busy to actually talk to each other but can find time to type the conversation into a computer, so bloody impersonal. A bit like this I guess, but isn';t that the nature of all written communication 'impersonal' ? Next kick in the face is the pay award everyone has been hearing about and waiting for, you guessed - WE CANT HAVE IT!!! We haven't been hear long enough. So we can do the job better than those drafted in to supervise us, we are better qualified than those drafted in to supervise us, we have more experience than those drafted in to supervise us, but what we don't have is time served in the dept lickin arse!!! well here we are again! I've been moved, serves you right, you all say. Not far you understand just downa couple of floors. I get to check all the imputs and errors made for this NEW performance appraisal system, thats causing all the problems in the Dept. You know all those strikes. Believe me there are thousands of entries and even more mistakes thats what you get for letting process do things. I get to find out all the office politics here which is cool, never knew there was so much going on behind the scenes. My buddies upstairs still pop in and say hi, sounds like they're having fun too, the systems have gone down and now they're being bollocked for trying to solve the problems by routes other than those that are approved. What a load of tosh if I have a problem that needs fixing I'd want someone to fix it not tell me the systems are down, just so me mates in process can have a bit of time to catch up. Wonder if the reps meeting with our new HEO will have told about the COMMUNICATION problem that everyone has with the invisible TL? Need to be careful folks you'd be surprised at how many people out here think she's the bees knees. Shows what a crap system we work for when they can't even pick out an absolute tosser and get shot!! Take care I'll report soon from the mystical PDA team.

Comments
on May 20, 2004
Yeh we agree so much for an environmentally sound office, there is enough paper round here to re-decorate the sistine chapel. So much for a call centre (calls may be a start) oooooohhhhhhhhh hey and if by chance you do get a call or don't get paid, don't try and talk to your TL as they prefer the e-mail touch * No we're all mice in a very big maze who'll get the cheese...............I reckon the higher up with the merc!!

on May 20, 2004
Know what you mean, some are really good but most seem to be so far up their own a*** they cant see the daylight. Probably why they spend all their time tucked up in little corners with their backs to the masses. Would be better too if they didn't pretend to know what they were doing. In at 7:45 out at 15:15 be interesting to check how many words were actually spoken to the staff in a normal day. Certainly the normal human pleasantries seem to be missing. Good morning.
on May 26, 2004
Well........................we've just bean told off for goin out on arrrrrrrrr breaks wee're not allowed!! We are old enough to smoke, drink get laid have children own our own homes and work but we're not mature enough to be treated with either respect or courtesy.............Well I'm out.....If I could step back in time I'd never have taken this job and hopefully I won't be here for long the treatment of staff is horrific we are treated as infants with the responsibilities of adults!! I have no problem with them treating me as an infant but god damn it give me the workload of an infant, happiness of an infant!!

Moan Over!!

We hate our job!!!
on Jun 01, 2004
Thanks for the extra input nice to see things going from bad to worse. The magic LM has been out all morning so far, no buddies till 11am so yet again you know where the load falls! And we're daft to enough to pick it up. Theres some more vacancies showing on the Inet today, about bloody time. Also sent that last piece of daftness about not going out in your breaks, to the union, see what they've got to say. I don't think it stacks up, they don't provide snacks/cafe or any help at all in that way so I don't think they can enforce workers staying on site through their breaks. Lots of red faces here after the warm weekend, some more after the staff night out midweek too. Well B****r me she's just come back in 12:15 that means she only has another 3 hrs to go before leaving, sorry only 2 hrs , must have lunch! Aussie buddy is back from hols full of the joys of spring or whatever else she was up to whilst away. Oh well back to the application forms.
on Jun 08, 2004
add on to the rest. Now we have just got back the sift reports from our attempts to get promotion. What a joke, we are supposed to be using a competency based system as it ensures a greater level of consistancy and fairness in appointments. IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS!!! It so happens I sent off two different application but they has several mirrored competencies, scored by my lIne manager from 3-4(out 0f 5) the sifters returned them from the first application with the same levels. Score 1 for the fairness you would think,(I didn't get an interview, and didn't expect one for this post as I had nothing on my record to suggest I had any expertise in the area to bring to the post). The next job was returned with levels at 1- the lowest, all of them. Now I smell a rat! This job I was able to show a good range of expertise and experience to bring to the post. If one score had been 1 maybe, but all of them, I don't think so!

Not a wonder thsi department needs to lose 40,000. Start with whoever was doing this sift and the people that supposedly checked its accuracy!

Its not helping that its BLOODY HOT!! in the office, even with all the windows open and fans on. Air conditioning? this is the UK man it don't exist, especially in this piece of ancient history passing for a government department.

Welcome the revolution, and when are the rest of our mob back, from their school hols, alright for some.
on Jun 30, 2004
Well here we are in the mystical PDA team. I'm now told this is the single most important high profile thing going on in the centre! Kinda like they told us when we opened the call centre??? All I know is that it is bloody hard work and boringggggg! Trying to keep a check on some 12 AA's who only seem interested in fiddling their flexi, checking that the HRBP's know what they're doing with the stuff they send in, we know all about how much HRBP's know already, don't we?? We seem to have a project manager, always at meetings, an assistant project manager, just back from holiday and spending a day reading his emails too busy to help, 2 band d's both of whom have done something similar before, but don't have a clue about what goes on in the centre and what people could do to help them - they're going to set up a help line coming directly thru to them!!! a band C from Rebus who doesn't know anything about Famis, so he spends his time sorting out probs for the Rebus folk, talking about his drinking, football and cricket. and trying to make up management information stats from data that doesn't exist. That leaves me to sort 80% of the probs before anyone else gets to see them. Sound familiar???

Had an interview yest, entertaining or what. I got there without a clue as to what the job entailed. Tried looking on their website, well you know what the intranet is like, this is worse- Partnerships division. Anyway I had fun and interviewed them. They seemed a bit flustered by this approach. Obviously doesn'y say what to do about this in their case studies. So lets see what today brings, will they won't they offer me a job? I'm not holding my breath.

See you soon
on Jul 06, 2004
another bright day in the PDA, still waiting for the results of my last interview, about a week ago now. They promised an answer by the next day. Things don't change. Had a visit yest from an upstairs pal, she was not a happy bunny. Her visit coincided with another prattish email from you know who in the corner. Incorrect gudance issued and corrected by us to have still more incorrect guidance issued. She clearly doesn't understand what shes doing, whats being said to her, how dim can you get??? Some upstairs friends came to play yest. So now they're sitting down getting on with more boring tasks, but at least they're busy - and being treated like adults. Go to breaks and lunch when they want, work the hours they want, all they have to do is get the job done. Simple really isn't it. Human nature says treat people like adults and by and large they will behave as such, treat them like kids and you get our call centre. I've still got some great office clips to show so visit soon.
on Jul 14, 2004
We are all having to fill in call sheets detailing who called and how we logged it at the moment! Each sheet is then checked via database and CMS to check you are telling the truth! And we all have new stickers on our computers stating - Have I Logged this Call????????!
They have now decided that due to the number of people who have moved sections recently the rotas are not working at lunchtime, and have started to complain that people are going for lunch when there are people in the queue. I pointed out that if you are going to subject someone to a rota you cannot then tell them they cannot take their break/lunch at their rota’d time! Its either one thing or the other - not both!
A SMALL GRIPE FROM BIZZY!!