In recent months I’ve found myself and others I work with increasingly at the mercy of what can only be described as management bullies who use the threat of redundancy and/or sackings as a way of getting people to agree to working condtions they may well not have done without the current crappy economic outlook… Is it just my (private sector) employer or is there a general re-awakening of post Thatcherite middle management gits?

What are your experiences?

My employer is grand, couldn’t be happier.

they got any jobs going?

Is it just my (private sector) employer or is there a general re-awakening of post Thatcherite middle management gits?

It happens all over the place these days, I’ve been on the end of it, several of my mates have been on the end of it too. Even worse right now is that I lost my 3rd job inside 2 years a few weeks ago (it’s tough out there I can tell you!) and am now coming up against potential employers that are offering 1/2 what you would normally expect to pay people of my skills and experience, cos they know there is an excess of skilled people out there on the dole at the moment!

I wouldn’t be surprised if of the 2.5million people on the dole at the moment, a vast proportion are skilled people, that were on a decent wage. All those I know that have been redundant or are redundant at the moment have been from a similar position, I don’t know any that are on a fairly basic wage that have lost their jobs!

Or you could look at it another way. Business are fighting for survival and you are being asked to make sacrifices.

Been happening for a good few years now.
Union membership is unfashionable among the young and a climate of fear is prevalent in many workplaces.

And never, ever underestimate the ability of employers to jump on the recession bandwagon – once people are conditioned to believe that things can only get worse, it’s easy to fulfil that prophecy and make it so.
Whilst many companies are currently struggling to survive, many more will use any excuse they can to maximise profit at the expense of the employee.

Train fares/gas prices/council tax/cost of bike bits/food prices rising more than seems logical? Of course they are, there’s a recession on and times are hard don’t you know!

thankfully we’re at the other end – paternalistic employer
it helps that there’s work to do, a few people have moved on, employer having to do the right thing to stop others leaving
other parts of the business haven’t been as fortunate though, our business unit is a small part which is seen as having a lot of potential for growth

Public sector just as bad. I’m just at the point of getting out of my part time play-job (I run a small business but kept on my student job to get me out of the house and speaking to people!).

It’s a council run facility – a public service rather than a profit making business. Recently though, a trouble-shooter was brought in to rouse the troops. The initial meeting made it clear that if any staff weren’t willing to play by the new rules, they might as well walk there and then, because otherwise they’d be found out and squeezed out of a job.

The workplace is now really unpleasant – the middle-management (twatts at the best of times) are being pressurised into bullying the under-stafflings who then get horribly stressed, under-perform and shrivel in a horrible work atmosphere.

That’s why I’m getting out.

Business are fighting for survival and you are being asked to make sacrifices.

So you don’t agree with the government’s stated belief that there will be a big expansion in the private sector which more than make up for job losses in the public sector ?

Tell me why you think the government isn’t telling the truth buzz-lightyear, and why you think “business are fighting for survival”.

All point’s I recognise…. I guess what I really want to know though is has a certain ‘style’ of managment made a come back? For my own part I’ve had a recent change of line manager, who has done away with team briefings, and brought in bollockings in front of the office for lateness and not getting expences sheets in early. Basically we’re managed like naughty school boys… Has that sort of petty bollocks clearly aimed at building up a dissmisal case against the less favoured employees become more prevelant for others? I don’t think the ‘for the good of the company’ defence really covers some of the management behavoiur I’ve seen lately.

My missus works for local government, while they are under similar presures, it seems her managers are keeping them more informed.

“big expansion in the private sector”

Why was the private sector waiting to begin its expansion? Labour red tape holding it back? Public sector sucked up all the decent employees?

I don’t see a big expansion about to happen. All I see is businesses contracting as customers cut their spending.

cookeaa – Member

“All point’s I recognise…. I guess what I really want to know though is has a certain ‘style’ of managment made a come back?”

I’ve no idea if it’s widespread but it’s commonplace with my shower. I think it’s a barely-competent-manager thing rather than a cultural thing, no better tools at their disposal than school playground tricks. Which is quite fun sometimes because they have no idea what to do when it doesn’t work, but it’s really crap for the folks in my office that can’t or won’t stand up to it, and generally creates a pretty unpleasant atmosphere- the fact that I can take them to bits doesn’t mean I like having to do it. I’ve seen it spreading, gaps in the structure mean the last lot of bullies get promoted, then they promote likeminded people under them.

And no, definately not “for the good of the company”, it’s cost them experience and goodwill at every step for no obvious gains.

AGE OF THE BASTARD
SPAM JAVELIN
STAIRWELL NONCE BASHING

@ The Ferret & Spatula, Union Street.

£5 On the door / £4 Advance/NUS Card

I don’t see a big expansion about to happen. All I see is businesses contracting as customers cut their spending

So you are completely at odds with the government’s view of the situation then.

Interesting, because a central pillar behind the justification for the immediate reduction of the deficit is that the private sector will fill the jobs gap as the country continues to emerge from recession.

Without that belief, justification for an immediate reduction of the deficit falls apart.

Well I have to say that I tend to agree with you buzz-lightyear. Which I find rather surprising, as I always had you down as a bit of a Tory.

Still, good for you for finally seeing through the Tory nonsense……..and welcome aboard 😀

they got any jobs going?

Nope, sorry! Also under some considerable funding problems, but lower staff are fairly well shielded from the worst of it I suppose. Well, apart from it being pretty normal to have to re-apply for your position every 1-3 years and justify your existance pretty much constantly.

Look at how they treated London fire service, take it or leave. We’re getting the same, Rotas changed, more weekends, more nights, same money. If we don\t like it we can leave!

You’re lucky if you work somewhere comfy and cosy at the moment. We’re currently going through an ‘efficiency’ drive – but it really means cost savings.

Sadness comes in all shapes and sizes. Sad that it affects people. And sad that it means, as a company, we now need to cut corners to get the work done (can’t do the same job with fewer people).

But, if it keeps the majority employed than it’s hard to argue with.

always plenty of ‘hardnosed’ management in big old engineering firms but with a bit of intelligence you can work around it. Great fun.

I think it’s just a reflection of current society and community.

Lots of management grew up or had their first jobs in the thatcher years and I think that comes through strongly. It’s all about ‘me’.

It’s like why people put dog poo in a bag and put it in a tree – there is no sense of community. A bit of a tenuous link but true!

In recent months I’ve found myself and others I work with increasingly at the mercy of what can only be described as management bullies who use the threat of redundancy and/or sackings as a way of getting people to agree to working condtions they may well not have done without the current crappy economic outlook..

That simply wouldn’t work with me. I’d just call their bluff. If there’s one thing that gets my back up, it’s bullying like that.

If you want to experience bully-boy tactics, the try running a small business. In the present climate, big companies are having a field day

The average brief tends to be

I would like you to produce the moon on a stick
I would like it completed by….. erm…. yesterday
I don’t actually want to pay for it. But I could stretch to 27 pence
Halfway through the project I will try and negotiate further discounts
When the work is completed, your invoice will dissappear into the black hole that is our accounts department. You may actually get it paid in about 6 months

And while you’re doing all this, could you please look suitably grateful for being the recipient of my largesse. Run along now

Binners – sounds like a bike shop.

partner works in the (scottish) public sector and gets bullied into rubbish shifts… this has only come about recently too.

weirdly we have just been given the green light to recruit 3 more staff, public sector an all!

Currently off sick after months of agro, freaked out at a team meeting and internal disciplinary charges for abusive and threatening behaviour when/if I ever go back.

Final straw was being told we could no longer have a kettle, seems minor, but straw that broke the camels back after changes in hours, pension and generally being treated like a piece of shit

My place is OK. The wife’s (University of Manchester) seems like a den of ####s.

my job used to get rates of anywhere between £25 – £45 an hour

been out of work for years now and the jobs that I’m seeing advertised are paying between £7 and £15 🙁

My job is sweet, crap cash but hard work and a good crack, although more cash would be nice. Right has anyone noticed the almost inconceivable amount of illiterate fat rubbish on the Bike Radar Forum? Never used it before but, my god! What a bin of cun1s. The age of the bastard has come, they communicate using Bike Radar.

I would like you to produce the moon on a stick
I would like it completed by….. erm…. yesterday
I don’t actually want to pay for it. But I could stretch to 27 pence
Halfway through the project I will try and negotiate further discounts
When the work is completed, your invoice will dissappear into the black hole that is our accounts department. You may actually get it paid in about 6 months

I don’t run my own business but that pretty much sums up being a contractor in the construction industry right now!

Tijuana Taxi, they can’t remove the kettle as the wonderful welfare regs require a means of making a hot drink. Not buying making!!

Public sector is not a nice place to be right now. First there was a consultant bought in to reshape the directorate.new contracts, worse conditions but a case of sign or walk. Now they’re looking at job cuts but because of the restructure, redundancy packages will be the bare minimum. Scheming management? Nope, not seen any of them. Unless you mean the consultant who now has a cushy number at the top of the tree.

plenty of them in health service. Not sure if i am just more awake to it after 2 years of playing at people managment (didn’t like it, eased myself nicely back into my old 100% clinical job just in time to miss a new wave of restructuring horrendousness, phew!)

I will be really contentious and wonder out loud if some the extra money spent in health by the last government was incorrectly spent on lower/middle managment and fancy conferences, hence the seemingly higher proprtion of ‘bastards’? I wonder if a lot of them are like this cos they got promoted too quickly and are striving towards the next pay band or latterly just keeping their own jobs?

Thing with squeezing public services is that you lose all the ‘talent’, who are either crushed or just leave, and all you are left with is a bunch of bastards managing a bunch of stubborn and inefficient old battleaxes. Great.

i do see and hear a succession of people complaining that,
they “are losing jobs”/”cant find work” that,
requires no real skill, intellect or qualification/experience,
yet offers short hours, long holidays and a salary well in excess of the national average + benefits, for little/no discernable output.

You can only be bullied if you let yourself… MTFU.

soobalias – Member

i do see and hear a succession of people complaining that,
they “are losing jobs”/”cant find work” that,
requires no real skill, intellect or qualification/experience,
yet offers short hours, long holidays and a salary well in excess of the national average + benefits, for little/no discernable output.

Is that due to the public sector not hiring so much due to the ‘down turn’? 😕

“Well I have to say that I tend to agree with you buzz-lightyear. Which I find rather surprising, as I always had you down as a bit of a Tory.”

Ooops. I’ve always voted Liberal. But I’m on the “right wing”.

Re. cutting budgets: I think this is more about maintaining the confidence of the IMF vis-a-vis our mountain of national debt. The government can’t make the recession go away, only the markets can do that.

My company seems to be going out of its way to be nice to staff, lots of team building days, just had my notice period extended. So not all companies are tightening the thumb screws….

Sadly the MM are being bullied by higher managemnet to keep their jobs, remember the Ful MOnty where the obnoxious pit manager ended signing on with the workers, sheer genius and oh so good a feeling if it happens to you as a worker.

MM = midle management

I’d say middle management is the area of any organisation most vulnerable to cuts so they are probably all bricking themselves.

So how will the private sector “fill the gap?” Where will these magic jobs come from?

Methinks someone has a little too much faith in the government.

What are your experiences?

Sadly, much the same as you. For me it’s not a new phenomenon. This has been my experience pretty much throughout my entire working life! I worked in an industry that was continually being squeezed, so there were continual threats of redundancy as the business contracted.

There are very few decent people managing teams. Out of the 7 or 8 companies i’ve been employed by in 29 yeas and the 250 odd different locations i’ve worked in, i’d say this style of manangement is pretty much par for the course. I’ve met a few good people, but not usually one’s that I have had to report to. WHen you get a good manager, it’s bliss.

They don’t need to be nice to you, you are only there to make them money, end of. What you have to learn is to keep schtum, shut out their bullshit and learn to appear not to respond to it too much.

I hope you don’t get made redundant!