Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Festival of Consumerism.
Okay, so here we are with this year's Festival of Consumerism. Christians call this period Christmas and shopkeepers call it the Last Chance Saloon. Across the country people are celebrating, all people whatever their religious beliefs. It is the time to be merry and to be thankful for our place in the world. Many people give others gifts to show how much they value their relationship with that person. Gifts are given between family members and close friends. Gifts are also given by employers to their employees to demonstrate just how much they value the work they have put in over the year.
Gail's boss asked her what she would like to drink and gave her a 1 litre bottle of Southern Comfort. My boss gave me a Christmas Hamper which has a lovely selection of high quality goodies to eat and drink. His covering letter stated..."may we take this opportunity to thank you for all your hard work and continued commitment during 2008 - a year which, in many ways, has been both exciting and challenging. We hope you enjoy your Christmas Hamper, offered as a small gesture of our thanks and appreciation for your continued hard work and support."
This means a great deal to me, being thanked in this way by my boss. I feel that he is thanking me as a person, not viewing me as an expendable, replaceable wage number.
However, I have a letter from the nationwide company who we work for under-contract. This letter has a completely different tone and states..."without doubt, 2008 has been one of the most challenging years for xx.xx. Despite that, everyone has worked extremely hard to help further develop our business and I am pleased to have this opportunity to write and thank you personally for the support and dedication you have shown during these past twelve months.
However, the increasingly difficult financial conditions within the UK over the past six months have created difficulties, not just for xx.xx, but for a whole range of UK companies. Within the xx.xx coach business you will be aware that we have previously been able to distribute a small number of shopping vouchers to you over the Christmas period. I am sorry to have to advise you that I will not be able to repeat that distribution this year."
What a difference in the two letters. The first letter really appreciates staff, thanks them for their good work and loyalty, then motivates them for 2009. The second letter acknowledges the good work of the staff but basically say's tough, you lot are not worth a penny more. We all know that coach drivers throughout the network have made the best of a bad job and have worked professionally. We can only work within the limitations that management have built into the infrastructure of the business. Any problems within the business are the result of management action and the collective conscience of the drivers is clean. A quantifiable thank you from management is missing here. This letter does not motivate staff towards 2009 and leaves you with the impression that no matter how well you do your job, you will just be taken for granted and thought of as an expendable, replaceable wage number.
I am happy with the work I do, driving a coach on this nationwide network. However, we have a roster of 27 drivers doing this dedicated work at our depot. There are only 4 other drivers who have been here longer than I have, which demonstrates how low staff morale can be working under-contract for this nationwide company. This latest letter does nothing to encourage morale among the 27 drivers and I am sure this feeling is reflected throughout the network, where staff turnover can be even greater than our depot suffers.
Okay, so here we are with this year's Festival of Consumerism. Christians call this period Christmas and shopkeepers call it the Last Chance Saloon. Across the country people are celebrating, all people whatever their religious beliefs. It is the time to be merry and to be thankful for our place in the world. Many people give others gifts to show how much they value their relationship with that person. Gifts are given between family members and close friends. Gifts are also given by employers to their employees to demonstrate just how much they value the work they have put in over the year.
Gail's boss asked her what she would like to drink and gave her a 1 litre bottle of Southern Comfort. My boss gave me a Christmas Hamper which has a lovely selection of high quality goodies to eat and drink. His covering letter stated..."may we take this opportunity to thank you for all your hard work and continued commitment during 2008 - a year which, in many ways, has been both exciting and challenging. We hope you enjoy your Christmas Hamper, offered as a small gesture of our thanks and appreciation for your continued hard work and support."
This means a great deal to me, being thanked in this way by my boss. I feel that he is thanking me as a person, not viewing me as an expendable, replaceable wage number.
However, I have a letter from the nationwide company who we work for under-contract. This letter has a completely different tone and states..."without doubt, 2008 has been one of the most challenging years for xx.xx. Despite that, everyone has worked extremely hard to help further develop our business and I am pleased to have this opportunity to write and thank you personally for the support and dedication you have shown during these past twelve months.
However, the increasingly difficult financial conditions within the UK over the past six months have created difficulties, not just for xx.xx, but for a whole range of UK companies. Within the xx.xx coach business you will be aware that we have previously been able to distribute a small number of shopping vouchers to you over the Christmas period. I am sorry to have to advise you that I will not be able to repeat that distribution this year."
What a difference in the two letters. The first letter really appreciates staff, thanks them for their good work and loyalty, then motivates them for 2009. The second letter acknowledges the good work of the staff but basically say's tough, you lot are not worth a penny more. We all know that coach drivers throughout the network have made the best of a bad job and have worked professionally. We can only work within the limitations that management have built into the infrastructure of the business. Any problems within the business are the result of management action and the collective conscience of the drivers is clean. A quantifiable thank you from management is missing here. This letter does not motivate staff towards 2009 and leaves you with the impression that no matter how well you do your job, you will just be taken for granted and thought of as an expendable, replaceable wage number.
I am happy with the work I do, driving a coach on this nationwide network. However, we have a roster of 27 drivers doing this dedicated work at our depot. There are only 4 other drivers who have been here longer than I have, which demonstrates how low staff morale can be working under-contract for this nationwide company. This latest letter does nothing to encourage morale among the 27 drivers and I am sure this feeling is reflected throughout the network, where staff turnover can be even greater than our depot suffers.
Comments:
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Last year the nationwide company didn't allocated shopping vouchers, instead chose to set-up an online gratuity account for each of its owned and contracted employees, to which points to the value of £50 were credited per employee. Additional points for commendations et al were also awarded to this account. I had, at one point, £75 on this account (7,500 points).
Have you ever tried logging onto claim any points that are rightfully yours? The website is continually down and when you do access it you are expected to pay p+p on any item you choose with the exception of shopping vouchers.
Being particularly stingy I don't see why my bonus should go towards paying postage on any purchase so claimed Argos vouchers.
Herein lies another problem: I cannot claim shopping vouchers to the value of £75 as they are only issued in multiples of £10. This is complete nonsense and very frustrating. Admitedly this is more the problem of the company paid to administer the site on behalf of the nationwide company, but if they just gave us the sodding vouchers in the first place this would be avoided.
I suppose that this year the fact that money/points is not being issued at least prevents this situation from perpetuating.
Have you ever tried logging onto claim any points that are rightfully yours? The website is continually down and when you do access it you are expected to pay p+p on any item you choose with the exception of shopping vouchers.
Being particularly stingy I don't see why my bonus should go towards paying postage on any purchase so claimed Argos vouchers.
Herein lies another problem: I cannot claim shopping vouchers to the value of £75 as they are only issued in multiples of £10. This is complete nonsense and very frustrating. Admitedly this is more the problem of the company paid to administer the site on behalf of the nationwide company, but if they just gave us the sodding vouchers in the first place this would be avoided.
I suppose that this year the fact that money/points is not being issued at least prevents this situation from perpetuating.
# posted by 
: 29 December 2008 at 22:50
: 29 December 2008 at 22:50
I have not looked at the website but Gail has, she had no problem on that day but workmates have moaned about it big time. Remember the fiasco when we had to send the vouchers back when the firm went bust!
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