Tag Archives: cubicle land

Daily Scribble

Indian bonding

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The visiting VP is taking the team out for dinner tonight, thank us for the hard work during the project. Business with your boss, your boss’ boss and your boss’ boss’ boss is usually timid and boring, you can’t talking freely as you are with your own friends. The topic of conversation is kinda general and vague in the beginning, we carefully talk things related to the project. We bashed the IT department, circulate anecdotes about our customers, while trying not to complaining too bluntly about the poor management of the project. Somehow the conversation slowly shift to our Indian experience. All but one colleague at the table went to the Bangalore tour of duty. The VP started with his Indian experience and we all have funny stories to share.

There are some common theme in our Indian experience. After we come back to Canada, we really appreciate the clean air and quiet living that we take for granted. We all wonder whether the highway between the guest house and the Bangalore office is still under construction. We have many stories of the India super inefficient labor intensive way of task management. Anything that we use computer or machine to automate, they use extensive man power in India. Construction workers chip gravel from a big rock with sledge hammer instead of power tools. The page number of engineering lab book is hand stamped instead of machine printed. The Indian experience connects everyone and light up the atmosphere as we recall how our trip to India. Usually you would want to end this kind of business dinner as soon as possible, but we sat at the restaurant, chatted and laughed for almost an hour after the dinner.

Daily Scribble

Greener grass

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My colleague sit next to me just resign. He quits his job to start his own business. My first response is congratulate him getting out of this hell. The executives find new ways to lower the employees’ morale every week, it’s just a matter of time before someone said that’s enough. The current economy downturn and the lack of opportunities in Vancouver hi-tech industry in may silence some complaints, we are all realist after all. The colleague who quit is the one whom the VP asked his where about last weekend when I am working overtime. I would be really funny if I know he is quitting last weekend, so that I can tell the VP why he is not working overtime on weekend. I really want to see the look of the VP upon he hear the response.

I wonder is it just the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I envy my colleague who have the guts to make such a bold decision. As we know feeling is unreliable, decisions should be made with rational proofs. Six Signs It’s Time to Move On is a good article with useful guidelines to examine my career growth in the company. Here is the six guidelines:

1. You’re treading water, not swimming forward.
2. You’re not learning anymore.
3. You find yourself watching your back.
4. The future is fuzzy.
5. Your boss isn’t boss material.
6. The intern fits in better than you.

Daily Scribble

Weekend overtime

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Weekend overtime only means one thing, the incompetent of the management. This weekend I have to work overtime. It is not just checking emails or dealing with unexpected emergencies. I was asked to come into the office and work like a work day. A block in the project is really late, so I am parachuted to help out in the crunch time. When I was in the office, our VP came by and check who is working overtime. He even ask how come the guy sit next to me is not in today! Gee, didn’t he realize it’s a weekend. He sounds like I should work overtime because the project is late. I bet it never come across his mind that the project late because he made some bad decision 6 months ago.

The block I am working on is a very complicate block and it is understaffed since the beginning. The management only assign two engineers working on it, and ignore their screaming for help since day one. Two months before the project deadline, they suddenly wake up and realize the block is on critical path. So they pile 13 people to work on the block. A task requires 1 man working 2 months won’t get done with 8 men in 1 week. It takes 9 months for a woman to give birth to a baby, 9 women won’t give birth to a baby in 1 month. It seems the management never learn important the lessons of mythical man months and the employees have to pay for their mistake by working work time.

Daily Scribble

How to demoralize your employees

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My company just make a perfect demonstration on how to demoralize your employees. The economy is bad, everywhere is cutting jobs or costs, our company is the same. However, there are two ways of cost cutting, the smart way or the stupid way. Other than usual cost reduction deals like cut down the travel budget, lay off some employees and box Kleenex, the CEO just inform us there are two unusual cuts. The first cut is the company RRSP contribution, the retire fund, which roughly equal to 5% of pay cut. This one is understandable, we are unhappy about it, but doesn’t cause too much grief. The second cut is like dropping a fire ball into the crowd.

According to BC law, employees who got laid off get about 1 month per year of employment in severance package. It is quite expensive for the company to lay off anyone here. The CEO want us sign a new contract, limiting the severance to 2 weeks per year and capped at 6 months total. The new contract is so far so good if it is given enough incentive. However, the only benefit for signing the new contract is we are allow to keep our stock options, which is worthless anyways. Anyone with a right mind will not sign the contract. You forfeit half of your severance package for virtually nothing!

The new contract on its own is just plain stupid, but the CEO’s Q&A session make it out-outrageous. It is obvious we will ask why should we sign such as stupid contract. The CEO replied that the cost of doing business is too high in Canada. He threaten us that too expensive to lay people off will make the company stop having further investment in Canada. He pull up some statistic citing it is really too expensive. If we read the number, the Canada is about the same as other developed countries, like UK, Germany, France, Japan, the only exception is US. The most outrageous part is that the CEO present it in such a way that if we sign the contract, we will have better job security, but it doesn’t make sense at all. How can you get more job security by making the company easier to lay you off?

I think his threat is just a bluff. The investment decision won’t affect by whether or not we all sign the new contract. The new hire has to sign the new contracts. US is cheaper to lay people off, but more expensive to hire. Most employee in our Silicon Valley office is already laid off. Our cost is still too high comparing to India or China even if we sign the new contract If we are really too expensive, the jobs will go to India or China regardless whether we sign the new contract. Signing the new contract will only the cut happen sooner than later, if the cut is inevitable.

If the company really want us to sign the new contract, they should give us some incentive, say a buy out of $1000 per year of employment. Treating us like idiots and try to use an empty threat to make us sign the new contract really hurt the moral in the company. I guess the lost of productivity is already more expensive than the saving they could even get from the new contract.

Daily Scribble

Box Kleenex is gone, what’s next?

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In a recession market, it is understandable for a company trying its best to cut its budget in order to stay afloat. However, cutting the supply of box Kleenex to the employees is way too cheap. Not only the box Kleenex won’t save the company much money, it also send the wrong signal to the employee. There is a fine line between financial conservative and simply stingy, cutting the box Kleenex definitely had crossed the line.

Now box Kleenex is gone, what’s next? I am pretty sure the company is seriously considering cutting the toilet paper. Maybe that’s why they send us to India, prepare us for a paperless toilet. Instead of having toilet paper in the toilet, they will put a small bucket in each stall like in the Indian office. After you done your business, you can fill up the bucket with water and then use it to clean your bottom. Then maybe they will cut the utensils in cafeteria. Why waste money on plastic forks or money to wash the metal forks. We can eat with our hands too! The only thing that you have to remember is the left hand is the toilet hand, the right hand is the eating hand. Don’t mix up!