Work vent, advice welcomed

[Sam_2.0]

Starting from phone...

[Sam_2.0]

Ok, so I can only start threads from my phone. Weird...

Anyways. Work is really frustrating me right now. Management keeps saying we need to cut budgets, save money, and improve processes (like every company tries to do). So we come up with ways to save money. And I am not talking chump change, we came up with a process that would save about $30M/improve cash flows. Awesome! Except we can't get IT to do anything!! All of our requests fall into the black-hole of a "prioritization list" - basically meaning its not going to happen. We can't fix this without IT help.

So what they are saying (words) is that we are important, our ideas matter, and we need to save money. What their actions are saying, is basically shove-off. We don't give a crap about you.

I can't make what I do anywhere else around here (trust me, I keep looking). Its just frustrating to me to keep going to these meetings, to be on team after team trying to fix our big issues, and getting no where. After three years of this, I just don't care anymore. I used to LOVE my job. I used to feel like I made a difference every day, and that my work mattered. Now, not so much.

I just need to win the lottery....

[busymom]

Hiya Sam,
If no one above IT has the guts to make any changes (including firing or disciplining IT personnel), then you're right, nothing is going to change. Welcome to current corporate America. Because upper level management is mostly insulated from painful financial cuts, job losses, etc., no one has the guts to follow thru & do what needs doing.
You can do a lot of this , find a new job, or start your own company. If you can do your job on your own, maybe it's time to start working on your own business part-time, 'til you're up & running & can escape your company. I've seen this too often in big companies. It's always easier to trim a few jobs & strip a few budgets, rather than deal with bigger problems. Good luck, and I feel your pain.

[Sam_2.0]

Yeah, what I do can't be done outside (consulting or on my own).

Oh well. I will keep putting in my hours and answering questions with the expected responses until DH's salary catches up to mine and I can take the mommy-track to retirement. Any illusions I had of wanting a career have been thoroughly dashed at this point.

Hmm...maybe I can start up a daycare

[busymom]

At least you'll be the main decision maker....


(I stayed home when my kids were real little too. I've worked for some major companies, & watched them do some really dumb things... It IS frustrating....)

[cameragrrl]

Would management allow you to hire folks for these projects? Maybe you could have a group created that is dedicated to process improvement? If they won't do something as far-reaching as that, maybe they'd let you bring on contractors to do the projects

[Wisconsin Beth]

Does your IT infrastructure support your proposed changes? We turn down a lot of requests because they require licensing at $400 a computer or because we'd have to rebuild the network, firewalls, etc. and we don't have the equipment or personnel to do it. Or because the Dept. that controls access to what we need isn't helping us and we can't do it without them (I can think of 2 instances here in the last category.)

[Sam_2.0]

Message deleted by sam814.

[Clever Username]

First off, how big of your job is this process improvement?
When I worked corporate, there was a continuous improvement process going on.
But it was less than 5% of my job.

I understand how IT resources are sometimes unavailable.
You may be right that fixing the code is one solution.
Another would be use USPS instead of private courier.

They can start production when you email them the details.
The special paper copy is probably not a rate limiting factor.

[Sam_2.0]

First off, how big of your job is this process improvement?
When I worked corporate, there was a continuous improvement process going on.
But it was less than 5% of my job.

Its tied to our goals - about 50%. So failure to make progress means failure to meet EOY goals, which affects bonuses, pay raises, and promotions.

As for the paper orders, I asked about scanning & emailing over the paper. They have the high-volume scanners right there next to the paper orders. That was shot down. And they have to work the orders paper-in-hand (I tried seeing if we could work the orders, update our system, and mark the paper as received. No-go).

Oh well. I have a date tonight with a bottle of wine And with a three-day weekend, I don't have to think about this place for awhile.

[naggie1972]

Funny H was talking about something similar last night. Some accounting that you have to save so much but it can't be more than this and it has to be in the calendar year and can't be used in years to come and can't be taken over 10 years and you are screwed if the upfront cost is more expensive the first year but less expensive in perputuity and bla bla bla. Basically the incentive is for you to game the system, what kind of accounting is that shite.

Oh and all this to supposedly get a 300.00 bonus!!!! It costs them more than that to figure out the rules.

[naggie1972]

OMG printing and toners, the toners that supply got actually costs the IT department because it fuxx up printers therefore demanding a lot more of the IT staffs time than it was worth the money saving on the toner. Had they got with IT on which toner that works well with these printers then it could have been prevented...Oh no they went with this toner because they are saving money elsewhere (paper supplies etc). Everybody is in everybodys pocket..

They need to get what they know ie hospital supplies and leave the rest to the dept that has to deal with the clean up should they make they wrong decision.

[Sam_2.0]

Ahh, but naggie, that would require people to talk to each other and analyze things before making changes! Purchasing could have thought "ooo, we spend a ton on toner, and we found a way to save. No need to get anyone's input, let's just change it up and call it good." Instead, they should have said "this is what we propose. Any objections?"

Except I can't get anyone to answer my questions to even know if making a change would be a good idea. Don't tell me I need 10 other departments to approve an actual change. Just tell me how much coding & time is involved before I start to seek out the approval.

[formerroomate99]

Sam, I once worked for a company that, like yours, did things in incredibly inefficient ways, because of issues with IT infastructure. A big part of the problem was the fact that IT people were last hired, first fired, and never got promotions, raises, or even the tools they needed to do their jobs because the overgrown frat boy MBA bunnies who ran the company tended to view folks with technical skills as something less then human and had absolutely no interest in investing in hardware, software or training. As a result, pretty much everyone in IT was demoralized, most were incredibly overworked, and the relationship between IT and the other departments was pretty much like what you described.

Other than finding a new company to work for, I would try to foster relationships within the IT department, find out what the heck is going on there to make them so unresponsive, and see if there is anything you can do to make them more responsive. At some bigger companies, connections and "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" is the only way anything gets done. Not all companies are team environments.

[formerroomate99]

First off, how big of your job is this process improvement?
When I worked corporate, there was a continuous improvement process going on.
But it was less than 5% of my job.



Its tied to our goals - about 50%. So failure to make progress means failure to meet EOY goals, which affects bonuses, pay raises, and promotions.

It affects YOUR bonuese, raises and promotions, and not necessairly those in IT.

[naggie1972]

Exactly Formerroomate, unless a person works for a strictly tech company that attitude is still prevalent even in this day and age. It is funny that the government is mandating electronic health records as they obviously see a need for them but HR and marketing and the business offices still don't get or don't want to get that IT is here to stay and IS keeping things going, that is what I can't understand. The government mandates EMR which means hardware, software, IT people to implement it and they STILL don't get that IT is important.

[formerroomate99]

Sam's ability to solve this problem does depend heavily on what is going on in IT. If they are just barely treading water, due in large part to a lack of training and old equipment, then there isn't much she can do. But if they are just demoralized, a little ego stroking and quid pro quo could get a lot done.

[Deleted]

$30M? You don't mean they are ignoring a 30 Million Dollar savings project? $30K maybe?

$30K cost savings that took more than 6 hours of IT time would never make the radar screen where I worked. Anything under $100K better require no IT intervention to get it done!! IT was working on the $1M-$4M dollar projects!

[Clever Username]

Feb 17, 2012 14:24:32 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

First off, how big of your job is this process improvement?
When I worked corporate, there was a continuous improvement process going on.
But it was less than 5% of my job.

Its tied to our goals - about 50%. So failure to make progress means failure to meet EOY goals, which affects bonuses, pay raises, and promotions..

Sounds like you need a meeting with your direct manager and someone high enough in the chain to demand the support of IT.

As other post pointed out IT is only following the priorities that come down from their managment.

Plan an A / B presentation with full costs fleshed out.
If they choose the status quo, accept that result and move forward.
Maybe if they do, you can understand where their priorities lie.

From that persepective, it'd be a bit of a waste of effort to accomplish a goal they don't care about.

Good luck.

[mizbear]

When I worked for a large company (something I have always tried to avoid) we always had trouble getting department A to play well with Departments B,C, and D unless someone from higher up interceded.

Good luck.

And don't let this eat at you too much.

[Deleted]

Are you plans really workable for IT? Or, something on paper that might make sense but not able to be implemented in a real way? Or, maybe your cuts are too sweeping. Have you tried doing smaller cuts to enlist their cooperation?

As for you "loving your job", i really think people think they should "love" their job. I don't get that. I like the work i do, i like the income it provides and i like doing my job well as it is personally satisfying. But "love"? Nah, i save my love for my DH, kids and a family. If my job disappeared today, that would be a bummer but life would go on. I would suggest stepping back and looking at the pros of your job. The good things and what it provides. Yeah, there are times that are frustrating and annoying but that is part of any job. And, at work, you can only control what you can control. Do your best and then you can't get caught up in what everyone else is or isn't doing. Yeah, there are some depts you have to work with so that is what you need to do and you might need to start with baby steps to get them on board.

[buystoys]

Do you have someone from IT on your project team? A lot of times, it's easy to think "It's only a line of code" that needs changed, but that line of code may run through dozens of programs. I see it at my current job all the time. We're on old systems that have been monkeyed around with for YEARS! Something that seems to be a simple change could actually run through the main program and all the supplemental programs that were "home grown" to support the business. By having someone from IT on your project team, they have a better view of what you're trying to accomplish and can give you better direction for solutions.

Just a thought!

Feb 17, 2012 17:33:04 GMT -5 formerroomate99 said:

A big part of the problem was the fact that IT people were last hired, first fired, and never got promotions, raises, or even the tools they needed to do their jobs because the overgrown frat boy MBA bunnies who ran the company tended to view folks with technical skills as something less then human and had absolutely no interest in investing in hardware, software or training.

I see a lot of this as well. It's not as though IT is really doing anything difficult, after all. They're just there to keep everyone's computers running. We all do that at home, so it's not that hard, right?