Things at work have gone from bad to worse to terrible. I’m considered, it would seem, to be a trouble maker. Those who know me know that I am using my powers for good, not evil, but those who don’t and sit on the periphery, or those who have a different opinion than I see me as Evil Incarnate, Destroyer of Worlds, Harvester of Souls. Or so it seems.
I talked about the changes that were happening in June. I admit, I sat here at my desk, smug, self-assured and secure in the knowledge that I do a bloody good job. That I am successful and that the team I work on is instrumental to the commercial success of Orange Business Solutions. The job is Retentions. When customers want to leave we try to convince them to stay. Some you win, some you lose, but mostly we win. We, as a team, are responsible for a couple of million in revenue each year which would have been lost otherwise.
And they are getting rid of us.
People keep telling me that things aren’t so bad and “at least I still have a job”. On Tuesday in an impromptu meeting with my Arch-Nemesis I was asked, “Would you have preferred it if I had told you all that you had lost your jobs?”
YES!
- I can think of nothing I would like more, right now, than the offer of redundancy. We’re not losing our jobs but we are losing our job-role. We’re being forced into a position where we have no choice but to do a job that we did not apply for, did not ask to do, and we have been given no alternative. “If you don’t like it, there’s the door”, seems to be the New Orange Philosophy. Instead of being given the opportunity of a fresh start with a bit of money in my pocket I’m being told that I must do a job making outbound calls to customers (who don’t want to be called, but that’s another story).
I’m not the kind of guy who is going to sit back and allow myself to be screwed over by another individual or by this company. Yes, I have created a stink. I ask awkward questions and I’m not a “yes man” like some of the pussies around here. I won’t do as they tell me if I feel it is wrong and I won’t keep my mouth shut whilst they destroy the jobs of ten good people on a whim.
So no, I’m not just going to sit here. I’m going to ask the difficult questions, and maybe I am my own worst enemy, but it is getting me noticed by the wrong people in the wrong way.
I’ve gone past the point where I care. I’m confident enough and skilled enough to be able to recover from any negative reaction to my position as anti-everything-they-do. They can’t scare me with meetings with managers or senior managers or senior-senior-managers. I can hold my own against anyone they may wish to throw at me and I’m afraid that the only way they can get me to shut up is to fire me. I would prefer it to not come to that, but if it does I won’t go without a fight.
Currently, however, I am trying to put thoughts such as that out of my head and concentrate on reaching a solution to this problem which suits me and my colleagues. Several of us have asked for redundancy to be considered and my aim at the moment is to try and get them to consider this as a viable alternative to forcing us to do a job we did not sign up for. It’s probably easiest to explain the situation by showing you the question I asked of them:
My question relates to the decision to not offer redundancy to BCS Retentions based on a 60% job match with the new Outbound role. Please kindly explain to me how the leadership team reached a 60% or higher job match when comparing the Retentions Controller role to the AS YET TO BE DECIDED BCS Outbound Role. We have been told by at least two senior managers that we in Retentions will be able to help shape the Outbound role and job description. That leads me to believe that the job role does not yet exist and therefore I question the decision to not offer redundancy based on a 60% match.
I don’t think enough pressure is being applied regarding this point. I think it is our best chance of being taken seriously regarding a request for redundancy, by removing their justification for not offering it.
