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Cultural Nightmare
Life in Workforce Management
Cultural Nightmare
Share your stories of workforce-management success in contributing to your business' bottom line, as well as your tales of business bloopers and blunders.
Ok Professionals, it's me again. Your Advice is greatly appreciated. I have been in my position for approximately one year. When I accepted this position I thought that I would be doing challenging wo
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Forums » Topic Forums » Life in Workforce Management » Cultural Nightmare
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Cultural Nightmare
posted at 11/15/2004 4:56 AM EST
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Posts: 25
First: 7/26/2004 Last: 11/23/2004 |
Ok Professionals, it's me again. Your Advice is greatly appreciated. I have been in my position for approximately one year. When I accepted this position I thought that I would be doing challenging work and have an opportunity to advance. I have found that I'm over qualified for this position. My boss wants me to continue to work with him being that I'm going back to school for my Masters in HR, but there is no advancement for me in that department nor tuition reimbursement. I have been working on HR tasks such as writing job descriptions and employee evaluations among other things. The HR tasks that I have successfully completed were tasks delegated from the HR Director who could not accomplish them nor does she have any education. When I was hired I was also asked to help turn the office around and make it a more professional environment. To my dismay I have been recently told by my boss that the office will never change. After working very hard to accomplish this goal, I have been told to stop working on HR task and just continue to do other administrative work. I have also been told by the HR Director that I'm too corporate. This is a non-profit organization that is very unprofessional and lax. Policies aren't followed within the office and they are also changed on a regular basis to justify one's own personal agenda. I feel that I do not fit well in this type of environment and I also feel that I cannot function as a professional that I am within this organization. There are 11 of us in the office, the moral is very low and has been for years. I have decided not to participate in this years Xmas party being that it's "Let's pretend that we're happy for the day" then afterwards go back to being unhappy and complaining constantly about our jobs. Another reason is because alcoholic beverages are also on premises. I did not participate in the gift exchange. Since then there have been a problem with employees treating me differently. I do not want to attend the Xmas party which is in the office for the afternoon. My boss has a problem with me not wanting to attend. I feel that I'm a hard worker and positive individual. Since working here has been depressing and emotionally draining, I feel that I'm losing a part of my professional self and skills. I have no desire to express my opinion when it's needed and now I'm being questioned about that, being to quite and not participating. Isn't it illegal to force a co-worker to attend a Xmas party and punish them for it if they do not attend? I would have to use PTO if I do not stay on premises and probably get written up for it. This is a very strange environment for employment, I have never in my entire employment had such an experience. |
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Cultural Nightmare
posted at 11/15/2004 5:26 AM EST
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Posts: 8
First: 2/6/2004 Last: 1/11/2005 |
It sounds like to me that you are working in a very inconsistent company, and are getting conflicting instructions from your director. One minute, you are told to make the office atmosphere more "professional", and in the next breath, your director complains that you are "too corporate"! No wonder you are going crazy!
This is probably NOT what you want to hear, but your best bet is to stick it out until you can find a company that is more inline with your own values. If the top management in your company cannot stick to one policy or maintain a professional environment, then the unfortunate truth is that it is never going to change, until the top management moves on. As far as the Xmas party goes, I have never heard of this being mandatory. The workplace I work in has a diverse workforce, and we have a "Winter Dinner" in which we serve food. Actually, the idea of serving alcohol at work is not a good idea, since Muslims and some devout Christians do not drink. I do drink, but still wouldn't think that I should do so at work... There are many good companies out there that DO offer tuition reimbursement, and encourage thier associates to grow and advance. I don't want to tell you what to do, but if I was in your situation, I would be actively seeking another job, but would take my time to make sure that I found a better fit next time. I am not in HR, but work very closely with HR in the course of my job, and the HR director for my company has told me that the SHRM Another area that would concern me if I was in your situation is that you were hired to be in the HR department, but instead they are trying to use you as an administrator. I don't know how long you have been in HR, but at any career level, you would likely want to get as much experience in the particular area of HR that you want to specialize in, and the administration is not going to be helpful. I was in kind of the same situation, with a ironic twist. I was hired as a shift superintendent, to oversee operations and the technical group. Instead, the company used me as an off-shift HR person! |
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Cultural Nightmare
posted at 11/15/2004 5:48 AM EST
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Posts: 3870
First: 2/12/2002 Last: 11/2/2009 |
It's time, even past time, to move on. Start looking actively. Since it's the holidays, it's also a great time to start networking at HR association holiday events, calling friends/past classmates to wish them happy holidays (and by the way do you know of any HR openings?), etc. Make the most of the holiday season.
I'm not quite as sure that I'd find something else before looking. It's not that bad of a market out there. Stick it out as long as you can, but don't get too hung up on having another position first. You've got a good reason for wanting to make a move. |
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Cultural Nightmare
posted at 11/15/2004 7:11 AM EST
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Posts: 25
First: 7/26/2004 Last: 11/23/2004 |
Thanks Jenniffer33 and Nork3 for responding so quickly. I have been actively looking for 2 months now. I felt that it would be wise to complete a full year here which is in December. My title here is Executive Assistant/Strategic Development. My boss refuse to put HR in my title being that we have a HR Director and HR Assistant, but I'm doing all of the more difficult task of in trying to make this establishment more professional. It is really weird working here, sometimes I feel like I'm in the twlight zone. But, I continue to keep a positive attitude as much as possible. Thanks Again. |
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