Before I get started, I must say that to tell my story, I’m going to be vague. I’m not sure who reads the blog so I’ll change some names here and there. With all that being said:
Financial Institution pays incentive close to Nov 15. On Nov 16, mine did not arrive. I inquire with coworker who confirms it was actually paid Nov 5. Awww crap. For a few days I email my boss and his boss. Everyone is working to correct it, blah blah blah. I’m eventually told it will be paid Dec 9. Huh? Why the long wait? We get paid every 2 weeks, we’re “off cycle” and no one can get it done. It’s againt company policy to get an incentive check “off-cycle”. By Nov 29 I escalate this issue several times more. Eventually going to my boss’ boss’ boss. She says, “We have 60 days to pay an incentive per <such and such a document>.” So much for the human touch. Let’s just spew off company policy loopholes, shall we? “We’re a big company and there’s a lot of red tape to get a check off-cycle.” Did she just throw that card out at me? So what you’re saying is it’s a lot of work and you’re just not worth it? I was VERY unhappy. I walked away from her, red-faced.
I consulted with my friend Deanna and little can be done about incentive checks. I can’t believe laws, government or whatever only protects basic pay but they walk away from incentive, bonus, etc. Nice.
I went to lunch and discovered from coworkers that the same issue occurred with coworker Jane. She didn’t get an incentive check either but they corrected it on the Nov 25 check. I called Jane and verified the information. I was irate to say the least. Why’d she get hers and I didn’t get mine? I left work early in what I’d call a tizzy.
The next day (last Wednesday) I was off. I called Human Resources. The automated prompts were enough to scare an employee away. They were long with many, many choices per number. Any moment I expected to hear silly options like, “if you are an employee who pole dances on weekends dressed as a midget woman, and have a complaint, press 956.”
So, Edith from HR answers. I tell my story. She says, “I was out on leave for a while and I’ve been waiting for my pay for a month and a half.” Is she making this shit up? Am I supposed to give her a hug? Seemed unprofessional but I let it slide. I mean, who does an HR person complain to when they receive bad treatment? I continue on. In between my various statements, it sounds like Edith is doing the crying sniffle thing. You know, the holding back the full blown cry sorta thing. I continue thinking maybe she has a runny nose or something. I point out the fact the another employee, Jane, was in the same circumstances and that I was treated differently. Edith reminds me that I’ve made a very serious accusation. Damn right. I hear sniffling again. “Edith, are you crying?” “I’m so sorry, this is so unprofessional of me.” “It’s OK, no worries. Was it something I said.” “I’m so sorry, it’s just that you <something about an employee being wronged by a company>” I was flabbergasted. I got off the phone and called Jim. I felt guilty. What should I do now?
The next day I arrive at work and am asked to talk to my boss and his boss. Oh boy. I’m assured that there was no ill intent. Boss’ boss explains that she dropped the ball and didn’t follow the incentive schedule of events correctly and missed the deadline to rectify issues and that unfortunately an off cycle check wasn’t possible. I received many an apology as well on a personal level. Although my incentive check never arrived earlier than I was told, I retracted some of my complaints with HR. And no, I didn’t speak to Edith again.
Now for some good… I was informed Monday that me and several coworkers will receive early shifts. It’s another HR nightmare that I wasn’t a part of. You see, while being interviewed and in training we were told as people moved up, more desirable shifts would come available. So they hired a new class with morning hours and our “class” was upset that were weren’t offered that. We were told things like, “don’t worry, they won’t get those hours, they always post it like that.” We backed down and when the newest class completed training, they had the morning hours. We were again upset. A few months later, another job posting spoke of morning hours. Many in my class called HR and filed multiple complaints. The new class was given evening hours and we were told we’d have some of the morning schedules available to us but based on performance. Some of us were still upset while I wasn’t worried. My performance was very high and I felt confident I’d get the new schedule. A month later my boss’ boss held a focus group meeting and we were invited to voice our concerns, suggestions, opinions, if any. The schedule was brought up and we were told sometime in December but the spots would be limited. We’d have to “requalify” to be considered for it. Huh? I already qualified so now I have to make sure I remain in the top percentile to qualify. Ugh. Luckily, as I said, I received the new schedule and it’s effective this Monday! 9:00 to 5:30 with the same days off: Wednesday and Sunday. Still no weekends but a definite improvement. Jim and I will be able to enjoy dinner together once again!
My place sounds like an HR nightmare, I know. If you knew the other 5 stories I have, you’d wonder. They’re not all stories about my company, but of the individual screwed up people that used to work for us or still do. They range from how do they still work here to how’d they make it that far? Our class started with 17 or 18 and we’ve lost 6. I’ve made great friends from our class. I’m bummed some are gone and glad others didn’t quite make it. I feel compelled to break out into Lion King song with “Circle of Life”. Elton would NOT be proud though.
