I cannot begin to extol the virtues of having good communication between staff in any job situation. It is so, so vitally important.
Having recently been in a situation where job expectations were not made clear, I feel I am well able to discuss this topic!
The partners of this particular operation clearly did not communicate between themselves, and were unable to provide me with their requirements for the job. I thought I was doing what was expected of me. I had interpreted from the staff that I was doing what the other people in my position were doing. This left me with much spare time on my hands! There were clearly other jobs to be done, but I was told by the staff that they were other peoples jobs, and really there was no need for me to do them. I always asked my employers when I came in if there was any jobs in particular that needed to be done that day. Any jobs left, I completed quickly and efficiently.
So yes, I became bored, yes I checked my personal email at work, yes I popped onto Facebook every now and again. I never let this interfere with any work that needed to be done, and I always made sure that customers were served promptly and phones were answered, orders put away etc.
Where does that leave me now? Without a job. When I was retrenched, I was told by the Partner B (who fired me) that it was not performance related, that Partner A needed some hours back to improve his cashflow. Days later I spoke to Partner A and conveyed my disappointment that he was unable to talk to me about the situation of needing more hours, even though he had many opportunities to do so. It then comes out that he was unhappy with my performance, unhappy that I was using the computer for personal reasons, and unhappy that I accessed files on their computer (explanation: was looking for a logo for some paperwork to promote the business and stumbled across much inappropriate material, which I deleted).
So there you have it... If I had a written job description right at the beginning, I would have known their expectations. If they had said "please don't use the computer for personal reasons" of course I would not have! I probably would have brought a book instead.
I had no indication I wasn't doing what was expected of me. No feedback whatsoever.
From this experience I have certainly learnt a few things.
1) Get employer to WRITE DOWN expectations on initiation of employment. This is not the responsibility of the employee, however if the employer isn't going to provide the info unasked, you might as well get it somehow!
2) Ask if using the work computer to check emails in down-time is acceptable.
3) Never take a job for granted.
So there you go, lessons learnt. I certainly hope that this helps ANYONE out there that may read this, employers and employees alike.
Any comments would be valued...
Over and out
Difficult situation that one. And one which is unfortunately very common. Most companies expect that their corporate policies are sufficient to inform employees of their expectations however these are very seldom kept up to date and adhered to. That is assuming they actually do exist. In an ideal situation new opportunities within a shareholder driven or public service organisation are backed by a business case stating the position details in addition to the financial implications. Obviously this doesn't extend to unlisted or private entities as it’s up to the owners discretion. The other "gotcha" is that existing positions where the employee is leaving have often grown organically which either places unrealistic expectations on the departing individual to do a "hand over" or it uncovers holes in the original job description which is often displayed as the new employee's inability to perform the role.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents worth.