OT - my work situation

On Sep 25, 9:16*am, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


*I do realise that the new government intends to slash their budgets by cuts
in local government spending here in the UK. *I had not realised they were
going to try to do it all in one go.


Not just local government- no-one in the NHS feels safe, Where I work
at the moment if anyone leaves the business manager has to make a very
strong business case to a "star chamber" to get them replaced- we have
probably 5-6 vacancies and so far they've only agreed to fill 1 our
reception team is so short the manager had to sit on one reception
desk last week because he had no staff to cover at lunchtime. I've
had to sit on the desk in one clinic even through I am not trained
just so the one receptionist who had been left on his own for a few
hours needed the loo and someone had to cover the desk. Our workloads
are going through the roof- I can tell from my audit sheets that since
the same time last year my typing output has gone up by about 35%
never mind that I've been allocated a 6th doctor/ to raise income one
of our specialist clinics is organising a study day- or to be more
exact the docs decided to have it and guess who is organising it?/I'm
dealing with the fall out as one of my consultants is retiring (and no
this does not reduce my workload and may even increase it as I will
still be covering his clinics and the new docs may produce more work
for me!)
Oh and we're in the midst of a pay freeze.....

Tweed you are certainly picking about the best time EVER to get out of
the insanity!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"Adrian" wrote in message
...




Will you get redundancy pay?

Yes. but it's not a great deal.

Also will you be able to collect your works pension?

Yes, it's a huge £69/week

It may be a good idea once you have left to go to the CAB and get a
benefits check, you could be surprised at what you're entitled to. I get £2
per week income support, it doesn't sound much at first but it entitles me
to other benefits including free prescriptions and a reduction in council
tax.

We have a welfare rights service where I work and I've run my case past
them. My paddock not attached to the house puts me out of everything like
income support, I'm expected to sell it to fund myself. I'm not going to do
that, I shall use it as an allotment to grow vegetables to support myself.
Interestingly, had it been part of my garden i.e. attached to my house,
those rules would not have applied.
I bought it years ago as I lost my rented place to keep my goats. It cost
half as much as my house did, it was a struggle to afford the two mortgages
and it seems a shame that I am now penalised for it.
Ah, well, that's how it goes when you try to provide for yourself.




Good luck with your retirement, I bet you'll work even harder now.

--
Adrian (Owned by Bagheera & Shadow)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

On Sep 25, 9:46*am, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
, I'm expected to sell it to fund myself. *I'm not going to do
that, I shall use it as an allotment to grow vegetables to support myself..


Swings and roundabouts then- with your work pension and your
redundancy you probably wouldn't have got a penny in income support
anyway but you have space to grow your own veggies, which will save
money on food and you will now have time to grow them and if it's a
large paddock maybe a surplus to sell on to supplement your income?

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Lily and I wish you a happy retirement!

Lily & her mama

--
Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time.

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...
Sometime ago I said I might be losing my job. For those who don't know I
work for a child protection team that is funded by our local council. The
old name for it is "Social Services"
With our new government in place who are determined to cut 9 million from
our budget, I've decided to ship out as the re-structuring that is having
to happen I want no part of. I consider it unsafe.

Unfortunately I am not old enough to retire and get a state pension, so
I'll be living on my savings for the next 3 years. I know I will be OK, I
can do frugal. I will probably have to cancel my Save the Children Fund
subscription but I did tell them when I signed up it would depend on my
circumstances.

What I will like is how thrilled Boyfriend will be to have his meowmie
around all the time and I might, at last, be able to tackle my huge garden
which has got quite out of control while I waste my time working..
I finish after 21 years at the end of October. I will lay on the settee
watching the TV for the first 2 weeks at least.
My colleagues are already worried about losing my expertise about "do we
cover this area?? and what do you know about this person?" and want to
phone me when I am gone. I say they can, but consultancy fees will apply.

Tweed








--
Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time.

"Lesley" wrote in message
news:89073aa4-e52e-4d2e-8f53-
This is all good advice- I don't think as I am reading it (Correct me
if I am wrong Tweed) that you are taking redudancy


Yes, I have taken it, voluntarily.

(If you feel you
are being forced to leave because of the re-structuring you might have
a case for constructive dismissal) but you could sign on (if you leave
voluntarily then your benefits gets stopped for a while) if nothing
else it gets your NI stamps paid so when you reach retirement age you
don't get any reduction in that and as Adrian says any income support
automatically entitles you to free prescriptions, dentists, glasses
etc- my mother when she was widowed managed to fall just above the
income support level and was worse off because she had to pay for
things like that

No, it's OK, Lesley, I could not wait for the opportunity to get out from
what will be a car crash. I was not forced out, i chose it.
Some of my colleagues are also shipping out.
It will be brilliant for myself & Boyfie. He mopes when I am at work and
retires to his bedroom until I get home then he reappears with a big smile
"where were you until now?"

Tweed

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...
(snip)
I'm so looking forward to being at home soon (Boyfie does not know about
this yet..he'll be thrilled) as he so does like to have his meowmie in the
place she should be. In his house.
Tweed


Yes, it's wonderful you have come to a decision that Boyfie can live with!
Karla

On Sep 25, 10:11*am, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
.. *I was not forced out, i chose it.
Some of my colleagues are also shipping out.

Sounds like other people are equally concerned about the unsafe
situation- brilliant cuts aren't they? Experienced staff being
replaced (if indeed they are) by inexperienced (but cheaper) staff- an
accident waiting to happen only it won't be an accident

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"Lesley" wrote in message
news:152419c9-f553-419d-8413-
Tweed you are certainly picking about the best time EVER to get out of
the insanity!

Yep! I've made a good decision, Lesley.
Tweed

On 26/09/2010 2:34 AM, Lesley wrote:
On Sep 25, 9:16 am, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


I do realise that the new government intends to slash their budgets by cuts
in local government spending here in the UK. I had not realised they were
going to try to do it all in one go.


Not just local government- no-one in the NHS feels safe, Where I work
at the moment if anyone leaves the business manager has to make a very
strong business case to a "star chamber" to get them replaced- we have
probably 5-6 vacancies and so far they've only agreed to fill 1 our
reception team is so short the manager had to sit on one reception
desk last week because he had no staff to cover at lunchtime. I've
had to sit on the desk in one clinic even through I am not trained
just so the one receptionist who had been left on his own for a few
hours needed the loo and someone had to cover the desk. Our workloads
are going through the roof- I can tell from my audit sheets that since
the same time last year my typing output has gone up by about 35%
never mind that I've been allocated a 6th doctor/ to raise income one
of our specialist clinics is organising a study day- or to be more
exact the docs decided to have it and guess who is organising it?/I'm
dealing with the fall out as one of my consultants is retiring (and no
this does not reduce my workload and may even increase it as I will
still be covering his clinics and the new docs may produce more work
for me!)
Oh and we're in the midst of a pay freeze.....

Tweed you are certainly picking about the best time EVER to get out of
the insanity!

Its not just the NHS - this sort of madness is in private companies all
around the world.

Two years ago, at the first hint of GFC, they slashed numbers.

They slashed far too many 'workers' and not enough 'managers' IMHO, and
I'm certainly not the only one saying it.

Suddenly those left have had to take on alot of the roles of the
"support staff" and the "technicians" which effectively means that if we
want something typed, we do it ourselves. If we purchased something for
work that wasn't in the standard purchasing system, we have to do the
paperwork ourselves (which, unless you do it for a living, will take
literally 4 hours to get one claim through). And many people who have
been office people for decades have had to come out of their offices and
go down to the labs and do their own grunt work. (Alas, there's no-one
to train them to do the grunt work /properly/ - it isn't unskilled
labour). Whilst we're all busier than ever doing these extra jobs that
other people used to look after, we still have the same amount of
administrivia to attend to. I still have to go to the same number of
group, team, and safety meetings. I still have to do my timesheets. I
still have to do the same number of compliance reports etc etc. We've
all had to take on much more work, but its the work of those further
down the ladder, and many *many* people are grumbling we've effectively
had a demotion - those with 20 years experience and/or PhDs shouldn't
*have* to be in the labs, doing the grunt work.

There's also been a hiring freeze, a pay freeze, they refused to pay our
'performance bonus' despite the fact it was actually our best year in
terms of performance ever, and there's been no promotions for 2 years
and it looks like that will go for 3 years. When one enquires about
promotion, the answer is 'well, you have to demonstrate skills that
would justify one'. And we have to question "well, if the bulk of my
work is now taken up by doing the role of a position several ranks below
me, how am I *supposed* to demonstrate these superior skills."

Apparently HR was truly surprised and shocked to hear that moral had
pretty much hit rock bottom. My response to that is *well D'uh*.

The truly ironic thing is that people are leave because of the poor work
conditions, which just adds to the misery of those that are left, and
therefore more people leave.

Sometimes I really do have to wonder who the heck is running the place.

Yowie

hopitus wrote:
On Sep 25, 6:11 pm, Yowie wrote:
On 26/09/2010 2:34 AM, Lesley wrote:



On Sep 25, 9:16 am, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
I do realise that the new government intends to slash their budgets by cuts
in local government spending here in the UK. I had not realised they were
going to try to do it all in one go.
Not just local government- no-one in the NHS feels safe, Where I work
at the moment if anyone leaves the business manager has to make a very
strong business case to a "star chamber" to get them replaced- we have
probably 5-6 vacancies and so far they've only agreed to fill 1 our
reception team is so short the manager had to sit on one reception
desk last week because he had no staff to cover at lunchtime. I've
had to sit on the desk in one clinic even through I am not trained
just so the one receptionist who had been left on his own for a few
hours needed the loo and someone had to cover the desk. Our workloads
are going through the roof- I can tell from my audit sheets that since
the same time last year my typing output has gone up by about 35%
never mind that I've been allocated a 6th doctor/ to raise income one
of our specialist clinics is organising a study day- or to be more
exact the docs decided to have it and guess who is organising it?/I'm
dealing with the fall out as one of my consultants is retiring (and no
this does not reduce my workload and may even increase it as I will
still be covering his clinics and the new docs may produce more work
for me!)
Oh and we're in the midst of a pay freeze.....
Tweed you are certainly picking about the best time EVER to get out of
the insanity!
Its not just the NHS - this sort of madness is in private companies all
around the world.

Two years ago, at the first hint of GFC, they slashed numbers.

They slashed far too many 'workers' and not enough 'managers' IMHO, and
I'm certainly not the only one saying it.

Suddenly those left have had to take on alot of the roles of the
"support staff" and the "technicians" which effectively means that if we
want something typed, we do it ourselves. If we purchased something for
work that wasn't in the standard purchasing system, we have to do the
paperwork ourselves (which, unless you do it for a living, will take
literally 4 hours to get one claim through). And many people who have
been office people for decades have had to come out of their offices and
go down to the labs and do their own grunt work. (Alas, there's no-one
to train them to do the grunt work /properly/ - it isn't unskilled
labour). Whilst we're all busier than ever doing these extra jobs that
other people used to look after, we still have the same amount of
administrivia to attend to. I still have to go to the same number of
group, team, and safety meetings. I still have to do my timesheets. I
still have to do the same number of compliance reports etc etc. We've
all had to take on much more work, but its the work of those further
down the ladder, and many *many* people are grumbling we've effectively
had a demotion - those with 20 years experience and/or PhDs shouldn't
*have* to be in the labs, doing the grunt work.

There's also been a hiring freeze, a pay freeze, they refused to pay our
'performance bonus' despite the fact it was actually our best year in
terms of performance ever, and there's been no promotions for 2 years
and it looks like that will go for 3 years. When one enquires about
promotion, the answer is 'well, you have to demonstrate skills that
would justify one'. And we have to question "well, if the bulk of my
work is now taken up by doing the role of a position several ranks below
me, how am I *supposed* to demonstrate these superior skills."

Apparently HR was truly surprised and shocked to hear that moral had
pretty much hit rock bottom. My response to that is *well D'uh*.

The truly ironic thing is that people are leave because of the poor work
conditions, which just adds to the misery of those that are left, and
therefore more people leave.

Sometimes I really do have to wonder who the heck is running the place.

Yowie

LOL in an entirely different and far-away ballpark (hospital HR
depts)
"surprised" and "shocked" (shock and awe?) is the order of the day
when confronted by any show, overt or subtle, of dissension among
the drones (workers) at the Mothership. Some of the dumbest people
I have ever known during work life have been bigwigs in HR depts.
I believe it is vital to their *job security* to report to
administration
that hppiness reigns supreme and serenely among the unwashed
who are busting their butts to keep the place going. *Their* job
security
not the unwashed.

I once worked in a place in which the management hired a consultant team
from Toronto, no doubt at vast expense, to examine working conditions,
worker morale, etc. The team was reasonably good - but of course, what
they came up with was nothing more than anyone who'd had any contact
with the workplace could have told management for free - the constant
reorganizations and infighting over office turf and subsequent
uncertainty as to whether or not one (and everyone reporting to one)
would have a job at all had caused morale to hit rock-bottom.

I think they organized a team spirit day or something that everyone had
to attend.

--
Cheryl