Well 2016 is now here, the urge to write 2015 has nearly been stifled and as always complaints abound about how quickly another year has passed are common. It's strange returning to work because of how calmed and relaxed people feel after having a break from the frantic stress and strains of the pre holiday pressures. Further everyone from work had the opportunity to chill out so it's not just the odd individual who has a more laid back attitude. For the life of those who are working in pressurised environments this is a common feeling.
Those at the bell end of an organization who have swanky titles and earn big bucks are usually well out of touch with what happens at the lower end. It is a perpetual situation. It is clichéd to constantly hear the phrase "more for less" but this is a never ending blind comment frequently banded around by individuals who don't get their hands dirty and actually examine the systems in place. When I say examine I am not stating a cursory look over a hierarchy chart or a meeting in which one manager speaks to another. Getting hands dirty means getting on down with the real people and working with them and talking to them, this is where real understanding takes place. An additional reality here is workplaces are not ran by systems, they are ran by people who run the systems and some people choose to ignore those systems as well as run their sections in the way their personality fits the situation which may well not be to the advantages of the organization and may well be down right malicious. There most certainly are many managers like this.
But it is odd, because I find myself with an optimism I can't shake off. Like it has glued itself to me. Yes I understand things are worse than they every have been, the country is going down the pan, personal debt increases, available jobs are all zero hours and minimum pay yet I am lucky. I am fortunate because I have a job I like. Yes my employer is restructuring the Fish Factory by doing the most ludicrous of things possible and offering enhanced redundancy and retirement packages to those over 55 years of age, on management grade and with 15 years service. They expected a 100 percent take up and nearly got it. The ludicrous thing about this was offer was it did not allow for a planned restructure of departments, it assumed a cut in employees who cost the most would benefit the factory. Now in a department which has 11 managers there are 5 who have accepted the package. With a management structure which has dwindled down and down over the years this means those who are left will have to cover the work of two people. I don't know why but I keep thinking there is opportunity here. My workload is so high now there has not been a time in the last 4 years where I have actually been up to date with it. I have felt stressed and unable to cope with the amount of work I have but am doing my best to harvest an attitude of it is not the work but how I view my workload which stresses me. Yes there are always many pressing priorities which can have severe outcomes if they are not dealt with and I can not keep up with them, yes the open plan office is a disaster area for concentration, but I feel optimistic and hopeful. I am in a job and this job will always have plenty of work for me to do.
The good fortune of those who have been selected to take leave of the Fish Factory can give a bitter taste to those who are left behind and have to cope without them. I am so very aware how my workload will increase and how I will not be able to cope with it. It stands to reason being behind on my current work and being given more isn't going to mean I will miraculously be fantastically productive. However, I will say there is a little sweet pill of happiness because my boss is leaving. It isn't because she is an ogre I am happy, it is because I have disagreed with her views Often she has failed to listen to what I've expressed and not understood, she has made demands but not understood the demands of my job mean she is making it even more difficult to do. Further she has made disastrous decisions, ones which neither I or the entire team of people I manage have agreed. This means we have not committed to her decisions and been motivated to make them work, after a few months those stupid decisions are then swept under the carpet and ignored. No further response is heard. Put it this way, intelligent people will find a way not to do what stupid people ask especially when they ask them to do something stupid as well.
It is all about work, if you have work and your work is respectfully awarded in pay and recognition everything else falls into place in a happy and contented manner. If you are poorly paid and work is like cleaning out the toilets of hell then all would not be well with the world. It is indeed all about work.
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