Jobs that Suck

Disclaimer: I am not referring to any specific company. Actually this can relate to many different companies. I am also not referring to any specific industry. This can also relate to many different industries. I do realize that many companies are great and treat the employees wonderfully however some are not and treat the employee very badly.

You have probability heard of the red flags that your relationship is in trouble. How about some red flags that your job really sucks. 

1. They have these overly optimistic attitude poems posted everywhere. A problem is just an opportunity etc. this may indicate a morale problem, not just people who complain to much but people with a good reason to complain. Beside them you may have some nasty note from management. We have a problem with absenteeism. Anyone absent will face disciplinary action.  Of course the real problem is that they are working everyone way to hard and they are just tired not to mention sick.

2.A really really high turnover rate. You have 14 people in your department. All the names and jobs are listed on a white board. Almost everyday someone has to wipe off a name. and add a new name. Sometimes they wipe of a couple names and add a couple more. You wonder who is this person. Sometimes you don't actually see them because they stayed a whole hour and quit. Hardly worth writing their name on the board.

3 Nobody gets any real training. with such a high turnover there is no point. Someone may take an hour or so to tell you the basics but you learn mostly by trial and error and making mistakes and learning from them. The next meeting may be about how everyone is making too many mistakes and something needs to be done about it.

4. Is your job really dangerous? Almost everyday you hear about someone who was taken to the hospital. The ambulance is always at your work place. Then these accidents hit close to home its your friend of someone you work beside. You wonder when you will get hit by a forklift, or a skid will fall on you, or when you will loose a finger, or how long before you get really sick. Some guy just got fired for daring to start a safety committee. THEN your manager suddenly comes out with all this safety stuff. Safety this and safety that. A safety committee, notices on the bulletin board, safety meetings. I guess workman's compensation is on their case that would be my guess. However the place doesn't get any safer. Its all an illusion. Like a rabbit in a hat.

5. Is your job gross and disgusting. You work in a food industry and there are mice all over the place, birds and turds. mold. Finally you see the health inspector and you think its about time. Suddenly everything has to get cleaned up. or hidden. Then things get back to normal again its just as disgusting as before but we managed to fool the health inspector. another illusion like the safety thing.

6. Wages. Do you get paid very little. Do you sometimes find that you worked 80 hours and got paid for 60. A mistake that happened to many others besides you and this is not the first time either. Seems to be a lot of mistakes.

7 Weird hours. Sometimes you work 10 hours a day 6 days a week. or 12 hours a day 5 days a week. They have mandatory overtime and mandatory Sunday work. Then they push you to do more and more and go faster. They even have a list posted of how many widgets each person produced in an hour on the wall. They also have a list of how many mistakes each person makes. This is actually posted. ( I am not kidding). They have 4 am start times and 1 am start times and it just gets crazy.

8 They give you something which isn't much in the first place, then lord it over you and threaten to take it away. Lets say you work in a place that makes pizza. Now every day people order pizza that they don't want or can't pay for etc so it just goes in the garbage. This does not bother the company at all. It bothers you because you think about all the hungry people . Then they decide to give the employee free pizza on Wed night. This comes with lots of rules. such as you only get pizza on Wed no other day. You only get to pick from the pizza that is offered. you must only have the pizza on the way home. You can't eat it on the premises.  This free pizza (yes its the pizza that normally goes in the garbage) is considered a perk or an employee benefit. In the job ads they say work for us free pizza. Or sometimes a big boss from Toronto comes out. He decides to treat the employees better so maybe he gives out free bottled water in a really hot plant in the summer. Then they decide it costs the company to much so they stop that. In the lunch you room you read that the company head has generously donated 1 million dollars to some art gallery. oops someone took that off the bulletin board, it's gone now.

9 Union or no Union. Some of these really bad places and unionized some are not. Does it make a difference I don't know. Many people think all a union does is just take your money. If you have a grievance the union rep will come and talk to you and you will go around in circles and nothing will happen. except that the company will think of you as a trouble maker and make your life miserable.

10 Language. They use the word team a lot. You are a team player, and team leader. You are letting down your team who depends on you. Sometimes people go around saying fire me, fire me, or they reach a point that they just don't care the zombie phase. Sometime a manger will say we have an attitude problem  If you don't like it you know where the door is. This is kind of sort of like telling an abused spouse to leave. The company has a lot of power over you. They pay your mortgage, health care, food, bills etc. They may give you a really bad reference so you have trouble getting another job. When you get another job they ask for references. When you apply for a job why can't you call up a list of employees or ex employees and ask them questions about the job BEFORE you come and work there. I am sure some people would be happy to add their name to a reference list.

Now you may think any company that treats its employees badly will not thrive. uh uh you are wrong. You may find your company in the Forbes or fortune list of the top 500 money making companies. Your company may be near the top too. The man or woman who started the company is very rich. Now someone should write a book.

How to succeed in business by treating your employees like crap. That would be a best seller for sure. I for one would hurry right out and buy this book Because I would like to know the answer to that question.

links

 

http://www.reallybadjobs.com/

interviews that suck