So, 70 % of Americans are "disengaged" at work?

[nightflameauto]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/money/jo ... hecked-out
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegall ... employees/

I honestly woke up this morning thinking a new job might be in order. Then got beat over the face with this the second my morning fog started to lift. Which reminded me of some things.

I've got a small circle of "in real life" buds. Some of them have attempted to switch jobs over the last year or so. All of them have been even more miserable at the new job. Some of them have went back to the old one they were so miserable at their new one. I remember a time where you at least had a month or two of relief when you took up a new job. Now it seems like meat grinder to meat grinder scenarios abound, and most of it centers on managers not having the slightest clue what to do with themselves, let alone their employees.

So, anybody here but Loop feeling good about their job? Outside of the fact I know mine's pretty much locked in, I don't. And at this point that feels more like a tie-down than a good thing.

Dear HR,
If you read this it doesn't mean I need another set of company logo glasses to drink my whiskey from. Nor do I need a cheerleading session involving the company president and his closest henchmen. And like the article says, free soda in the cafeteria doesn't do it either. I need a manager that will allow me to do my job, and give me direction when I admit to him I have none. Not that laughs and says, "yeah, I hear ya," as if we're buds sitting at a bar drinking together.

__
Dear god,
Lotter win anytime now. K thnx, bye.

[Schweezly]

I don't hate my job...but I'm here posting this reply and just read an article about electric vehicles. Does that mean I'm disengaged? You could say someone who doesn't put 100% in at full speed for 8+ hours per day is disengaged...but it's not easy to do.

My bigger thing is that I work in a younger company, in terms of business cycle, and I'm not sure where we will be 3-5 years from now. So I have the opposite problem...I like my job but don't know what's going to happen.


I definitely hated my job. I dreaded waking up during the week. That's part of why I know how much better I have it now.

[ovid9]

My job is ok. Some days I like it, some days I hate it.

I honestly don't understand how the people in charge keep their jobs sometimes, nor do I always understand how we actually have customers. But, the lights are still on, the paychecks are still coming, and its better than the last 2 places I worked.

Granted, working for car dealers usually gives you an idea of what Sisyphus feels like.

I certainly don't hate it enough to look elsewhere. I casually keep my eye open, but the openings all suck worse right now.

Oh, and as the the disengaged part. I'm posting here cause I'm currently 95% caught up with the only things to do not pressing. Some days I'm swamped all day, I don't post here, don't read the news, don't do any of that stuff.

Other days, its all I can do not to beat myself senseless for something to freaking do that's meaningful.

So, yeah, I'm disengaged to a degree, but that's mostly due to the nature of my job (and the fact that being TOO exemplary an employee just gets you more work for the same money....I've yet to figure that one out.)

[nightflameauto]

ovid9, my one bud should chat with you. He's a parts running for the biggest auto-dealer in the area right now. show city from what he's said.

And like you, every opening I see looks like it would suck worse.

[sleewell]

i love my job. doesnt bother me at all going in early or staying late bc i know i am making money and have seen that the harder i work the better i do. i also get calls and emails from people i have sold homes to thanking me for the opportunity to own their own home and saying how much i have helped them. i love having assitants to give the grunt work to and there are enough different aspects of the job to keep in interesting.

life is way too short to hate what you do every hour or every day. sometimes you cant make it change overnight but at least get on a path to making it better.

[GuitarBilly]

The amount of traffic we get a GAB between 8-5 is a clear sample of how much we give a shit about our jobs.


My job is ok, but I've been here for 7 years and I am burned out, plus my benefits are shit and I have the worst health insurance plan ever. I would love to find something better but there's nothing out there, so I am staying here for the time being.

[KCTigerChief]

I love my job 95% of the time...the other 5% is really easy to get past when I know better days are around the corner.

I have no complaints, other than the health care crap the government has pushed is affecting the great health care I already had, but that's a topic for a different thread.

[TurboPablo]

I have the most secure job in all of society. It's impervious to the economy. If I am getting laid off, you're all dead already.

I hate it. Shift work, seniority. I get completely offended by the fact that I am one of the best operators/wrenches in the building and that counts for nothing in the long run. A motherfucking Juggalo who walked through the door two weeks before me holds sway over my life.

4SRS.

I treat water so you assholes don't get dysentery a keel the fuck over. Want some Typhoid????

I'd rather be chasing and manipulating high voltage.

Think about that.

I'd rather work with high voltage.

Rant done, off to see my trainer and stare at her vag.

[rock flag and eagle]

I've been at my current job over 6 years, I used to love it and I enjoyed coming in. I no longer enjoy coming in and I've checked out. I just don't care anymore.
Upper management isn't all on the same page, so you hear one thing from one and something different from another. They spend too much time making our quality system too big and complicated for a company so small. It's bad management and they listen to the advice of other bad management.
I have total job security, the only way I could get fired is if I were to steal from the company. I know that if I went in and handed my resignation, they freak out and bend over backwards to make me stay. Management is clueless, it doesn't help that most of management is in Canada almost all the time and the site manager we have here doesn't do anything about this stuff. I've told him several times and he just agrees and does nothing - it's his job to do something about it. I'd say 70% is correct, as that's about the amount of people in this building that aren't happy - the other 30 are the ones making the most money who don't do shit.

[nightflameauto]

I treat water so you assholes don't get dysentery a keel the fuck over. Want some Typhoid????

Yes please. Anything to break the monotany.

Rant done, off to see my trainer and stare at her vag.

Oh, that'd work too. For a little while anyway.

[Lloyd Blankfein]

Well, I love my job. Pretty much do whatever I want. Everyone I know hates their life and would leave if they had another lillypad to hop towards.

When my work is blowing out, it can get hectic, but that's only twice a year. Otherwise I'm just hanging out, talking on the phone, emailing people, and being a gangster. I have had a lot of shitty jobs though before I started my current one. What really makes or breaks a company is the leadership.

I think right now every company is afraid to take risk and have gotten themselves so tied up in SOP's that there's no rom to breathe or even offer a differing creative solution to anything.

The companies that are shaking and moving are the ones where companies are letting their workers off the leash. Inspiring them to be the best and creating an environment that's conducive to growth.

One company I'm talking about lets people walk around barefoot. When I went there to talk with their VP, he had a fouler mouth than I did. It was actually pretty fuckin' refreshing.

[ovid9]

Well, I love my job. Pretty much do whatever I want. Everyone I know hates their life and would leave if they had another lillypad to hop towards.

When my work is blowing out, it can get hectic, but that's only twice a year. Otherwise I'm just hanging out, talking on the phone, emailing people, and being a gangster. I have had a lot of shitty jobs though before I started my current one. What really makes or breaks a company is the leadership.

I think right now every company is afraid to take risk and have gotten themselves so tied up in SOP's that there's no rom to breathe or even offer a differing creative solution to anything.

The companies that are shaking and moving are the ones where companies are letting their workers off the leash. Inspiring them to be the best and creating an environment that's conducive to growth.

One company I'm talking about lets people walk around barefoot. When I went there to talk with their VP, he had a fouler mouth than I did. It was actually pretty fuckin' refreshing.

Its not the only thing but its probably the most important thing. Now, granted, managing/owning a dealership is different than running a huge company, but a rule of thumb is "If you don't understand how your business makes money, you're probably in for rough times."

Judging by the inane changes my owner wants to make, that make him no more money, its mind boggling.

It doesn't help that raises are rare, at minimally functional levels, and he just upgraded his plane and his helicopter.

It wouldn't be so bad if he'd made this from the ground up, but no, daddy bought him into the dealership so he didn't even earn it.

But, oh well. I keep getting my paychecks and they like the work I do.

[Dickarms]

im right in the middle. there are things i despise, there are things i love, and most of it is just monotony that i survive via GAB and art blogs or doing 3D design which is what i SHOULD be doing professionally instead of what i do.

pros/cons of working for a megaconglomorate semiconductor manufacturing entity in one of the most high-tech manufacturing facilities on the earth:

cons
-you are expected to change everything, you are allowed to change nothing.
-there are 8,000,000,000,000 ways for you to fail, and people are watching and waiting for you do any one of them. so just keeping a good reputation is a constant tightrope.
-several authorities, 10,000 rules and regs. must follow most from memory.
-12 hour shifts. (CWWm partly a pro)
-CLEANROOM SUITS/masks
-buttcrack of dawn either arriving or leaving, depending on shift
-cafe food sucks
-pc tasks are split amongst about 30 different software programs which behave differntly and you have to learn the tips/tricks/pitfalls on each
-expected to perform extracurricular tasks of people 4 paygrades above you just to maintain your job, let alone hope to get a raise
-very slow promotion
-micromanaged extremely

pros:
-benefits are really good
-quarterly bonuses (though not even half of what they were for my first year)
-PTO
-predictable schedule
-non-manual labor
-seated, air conditioned
-FAIRLY stable (there are layoffs occasionally, known to be a volatile industry though...)
-3-4 days off a week

[endofall]

I am a X-Ray/CT Technologist. I like my job. I work PRN, but get plenty of hours, so I make great money without it really messing with me practicing, playing shows, or recording/hanging out with other bands. Sure there are days when it sucks like when something goes all to hell in the OR and a surgeon is freaking out, but outside of that, its really not bad at all.

[ovid9]

I am a X-Ray/CT Technologist. I like my job. I work PRN, but get plenty of hours, so I make great money without it really messing with me practicing, playing shows, or recording/hanging out with other bands. Sure there are days when it sucks like when something goes all to hell in the OR and a surgeon is freaking out, but outside of that, its really not bad at all.

Welcome aboard man! IIRC correctly you're a canadian who plays amazing tech-deathy stuff. I might be misremembering but I'm pretty sure that was you! Anyway, welcome to GAB!

[endofall]

Thanks man! Im in North Carolina, but I did play in a metal/death/grindish band called End of All. It was a while back but we put an album out with Tribunal Records, Im not sure if thats the same thing you where thinking of or not.

[ovid9]

Thanks man! Im in North Carolina, but I did play in a metal/death/grindish band called End of All. It was a while back but we put an album out with Tribunal Records, Im not sure if thats the same thing you where thinking of or not.

Ok, I remember you now. Sorry, I had you confused with another HCAFer.

But, now that's cleared up I do remember you.

Sorry about the mixup!

[nightflameauto]

Thanks man! Im in North Carolina, but I did play in a metal/death/grindish band called End of All. It was a while back but we put an album out with Tribunal Records, Im not sure if thats the same thing you where thinking of or not.

Dude. D00d. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!

memories.



Welcome aboard!

[racerevlon]

The trouble is plain old greed. There's no money for a raise for YOU, but check out MY new Audi. Upper management has the golden parachutes and multi-million dollar bonuses whether they succeed or not, and the rank and file has to fight for a 1% increase or, as noted, perform at a level far beyond their current job description to even receive a bonus. No bonus? Well, if only YOU had worked harder to earn it. Now get out of the way of my new Bentley. The 99% exists to funnel money up to the 1%. That's it, plain and simple. If you're performing in your current job at a high level, and you've gone more than two years without a raise or promotion, your company is just bleeding you dry.

It has been said people don't leave companies, people leave managers. If your management is inept, it doesn't matter how profitable the business is, those profits are going to upper management, not you. They will never promote you or cut you in as that would reduce their, "slice of the piece." Too many people listened to Gordon Gecko and lost all respect for humanity. You're starving? It's because you're lazy... But check out my new mansion...

[hwy1]

I'm firmly in the disengaged category. We've had two rounds of layoffs already this year and guess who has to pick up the extra work. The crappy economy combined with idiot management is a bad combination.

[The Anomaly]

I'm utterly and completely disengaged. It is bad because there isn't much out there, and my skill set is pretty limited.

[Devin]

I am a X-Ray/CT Technologist. I like my job. I work PRN, but get plenty of hours, so I make great money without it really messing with me practicing, playing shows, or recording/hanging out with other bands. Sure there are days when it sucks like when something goes all to hell in the OR and a surgeon is freaking out, but outside of that, its really not bad at all.

Welcome aboard man! IIRC correctly you're a canadian who plays amazing tech-deathy stuff. I might be misremembering but I'm pretty sure that was you! Anyway, welcome to GAB!

You're thinking of Sacha Laskow.....aka 'enditol'. Dude is fucking amazing

His band Divinity kicks so much ass

[indienoise]

I remember reading about Netflix and their whole policy of not having policies about stuff. No set working hours, No limitation on PTO so long as jobs are done, good benefits, etc. etc. I know every industry doesn't have the flexibility to work that way, but still, I can definitely see how that would encourage the sort of environment you'd want in the workplace.

I'm personally very happy in my job. Family business, so it's a really laid back atmosphere. The only limitations really imposed on us are just a necessity of our industry. Otherwise, I don't have to tick off how many days off I have left, I don't have a dress code, etc. I naturally just want to get my job done because that's just who I am, so I always have all my stuff I need done before lunchtime. Afternoons, I pretty much surf the web or goof off as long as we don't have customers in.

[nightflameauto]

I am a X-Ray/CT Technologist. I like my job. I work PRN, but get plenty of hours, so I make great money without it really messing with me practicing, playing shows, or recording/hanging out with other bands. Sure there are days when it sucks like when something goes all to hell in the OR and a surgeon is freaking out, but outside of that, its really not bad at all.

Welcome aboard man! IIRC correctly you're a canadian who plays amazing tech-deathy stuff. I might be misremembering but I'm pretty sure that was you! Anyway, welcome to GAB!

You're thinking of Sacha Laskow.....aka 'enditol'. Dude is fucking amazing

His band Divinity kicks so much ass

Shit, exactly who I was thinking of too.

[Johnny'sGotTheBlues]

I like my job. A lot.

If I ever think that I don't like it all I have to do is think back to when I was in school and worked on the kill floor at a slaughterhouse all summer long to pay for my tuition. THAT job sucked.