Those of you who expected Christmas in February will be disappointed in me.
There will be no presents tomorrow. I have to work on a court filing which has a due date next week.
I may get another Public Service Announcement video in yet this weekend, but don't hold your breath.
My
former employer, O'Neil & Associates, Inc. of Dayton, Ohio
(ONA) still hasn't paid the Netherlands court judgment. The amount goes
up in 5 days, so they should hurry and send the $.
The
next ONA Public Service Announcement video will highlight Dutch court
proceedings. How ONA tried to smear my name in court. They are such nice
people, but I can't recommend them to anyone who's looking for
employment.
Remember, only you can prevent wage slavery.
Don't work for nothing! Get what you're worth!
Have a great weekend!
Showing posts with label Employee Tactics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Employee Tactics. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2017
Saturday, January 10, 2015
New Plans for the New Year
I've been following the news about our current employment situation, not only in the USA but Europe and other countries of interest.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to notice that there is growing unrest amongst the working people of this world when it comes to employment rights, conditions and wages.
These topics will be covered in the coming months by the various media outlets and political commentators.
It will be interesting to see which of them understands and explains the developments in the business culture both national and worldwide.
Don't expect it to be a boring year.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to notice that there is growing unrest amongst the working people of this world when it comes to employment rights, conditions and wages.
These topics will be covered in the coming months by the various media outlets and political commentators.
It will be interesting to see which of them understands and explains the developments in the business culture both national and worldwide.
Don't expect it to be a boring year.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Wages OR a Percentage
So, what are you worth?
Does your hourly rate reflect your contribution to the company's bottom line?
Should you be paid a percentage of the company's profits?
How about a base pay rate, plus a percentage?
All questions which you should consider, in light of the fact that the current wages in this country have stagnated now for over 30 years.
The people who are at the top haven't seen this decline in buying power. But then again, they do set the standards and wages, don't they.
"Those who have the gold, make the rules."
Until those who do the work, change them.
Does your hourly rate reflect your contribution to the company's bottom line?
Should you be paid a percentage of the company's profits?
How about a base pay rate, plus a percentage?
All questions which you should consider, in light of the fact that the current wages in this country have stagnated now for over 30 years.
The people who are at the top haven't seen this decline in buying power. But then again, they do set the standards and wages, don't they.
"Those who have the gold, make the rules."
Until those who do the work, change them.
Monday, May 10, 2010
The NEW WAGE ORDER
Welcome to the New Wage Order.
You can work yourself to death, just don't die in the lunch room.
Otherwise, don't worry, be happy. You should be glad we let you slave here.
You too, can be hired to work for 10% of your true, employment worth. That's right, get in on the ground floor and stay there, by being a New Contract Worker of America!
Get downsized, right-sized, laid-off or just plain FIRED. Then be rehired for less benefits, less security and more, free STRESS. You're gonna love working with your old co-workers, who might still be on the 'full-time employee' list, but they shouldn't be too smug.
After all, in most states in this great United States of America, you can be fired without cause, or reason. Some call it "Employment at Will", others "Right to Work" there are different, polite sounding phrases which all boil down to this:
You're gonna get canned when the man decides he doesn't need you any longer.
Keep telling yourself that it's not that bad. After all you could be one of those poor drones who works for government.
Where everyone is guaranteed a pension, health care, benefits and some even have shopping privileges!
BE ADVISED: THE ABOVE IS IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM A COMMENT ABOUT OUR MILITARY. YOU SHOULD HAVE HALF THEIR GUTS!
THEY DO THE JOBS THEY DO WITHOUT GETTING THE SUPPORT THEY SHOULD RECEIVE.
So, keep working at being the nice person in the office. They usually fire them last. It doesn't hurt to rat out your co-workers. Never know when kissing up to the boss will come in handy.
Just expect the same to happen to you. What goes around, comes around.
Don't worry, it won't be in your contract.
You can work yourself to death, just don't die in the lunch room.
Otherwise, don't worry, be happy. You should be glad we let you slave here.
You too, can be hired to work for 10% of your true, employment worth. That's right, get in on the ground floor and stay there, by being a New Contract Worker of America!
Get downsized, right-sized, laid-off or just plain FIRED. Then be rehired for less benefits, less security and more, free STRESS. You're gonna love working with your old co-workers, who might still be on the 'full-time employee' list, but they shouldn't be too smug.
After all, in most states in this great United States of America, you can be fired without cause, or reason. Some call it "Employment at Will", others "Right to Work" there are different, polite sounding phrases which all boil down to this:
You're gonna get canned when the man decides he doesn't need you any longer.
Keep telling yourself that it's not that bad. After all you could be one of those poor drones who works for government.
Where everyone is guaranteed a pension, health care, benefits and some even have shopping privileges!
BE ADVISED: THE ABOVE IS IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM A COMMENT ABOUT OUR MILITARY. YOU SHOULD HAVE HALF THEIR GUTS!
THEY DO THE JOBS THEY DO WITHOUT GETTING THE SUPPORT THEY SHOULD RECEIVE.
So, keep working at being the nice person in the office. They usually fire them last. It doesn't hurt to rat out your co-workers. Never know when kissing up to the boss will come in handy.
Just expect the same to happen to you. What goes around, comes around.
Don't worry, it won't be in your contract.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Listen to Your Body
It’s not obvious. You can hear what the interviewer is saying, but when they ask you the questions or answer your queries, something doesn’t feel right.
A job interview is much more than just a question and answer session about wages, benefits and qualifications. It’s a chance for you to get a feeling about how the company you are about to join affects you. In more ways than one.
It’s normal to be nervous, especially if you haven’t done an interview in a long time or if it’s your first one. Anxiety is part of the game. Your body though may pick up on things that your eyes and ears might miss. Those subliminal messages could be the most important of all.
I’ve been through my share of interviews. Quite a few more than the average person. One of the best jobs I ever had, the interview went well, even though I wasn’t completely ‘smooth’ in my responses, at least from my point of view. No one is perfect and you won’t be either. If you do come across as if you’re replies are a pre-recorded tape, someone might wonder if you’re faking it.
My ‘dream job’ interview is another example, at the other end of the spectrum. I’ve always wanted to write for a living. An opportunity to interview for a technical writer position came up. At the time, my body was screaming at me, but I was too enthralled with the idea of getting the job to notice.
Rather than the typical nervousness, I was literally sweating bullets. So much so, that the personnel manager asked me if I was OK while we were walking around the cubicles where my future co-workers were laboring away. I assured him that I was fine, just a bit nervous. Talk about ‘fight or flight’ response, I should have been running out the door.
Although I loved doing the work, the company and the job turned out to be one of the biggest headaches of my life. I learned a great deal, but the downside was just as steep. When they terminated me, I was a physical wreck over worrying about the job. They could have cared less.They had another body filling my position in no time. Who was ready to quit in two months.
Which is why you have to look for the signs. If few people, if anyone at all is smiling and in a good mood, you should wonder about the atmosphere.
It might be toxic. Take a deep breath and get out of there.
It’s not the only job in the world.
It is though, the only life you have right now.
A job interview is much more than just a question and answer session about wages, benefits and qualifications. It’s a chance for you to get a feeling about how the company you are about to join affects you. In more ways than one.
It’s normal to be nervous, especially if you haven’t done an interview in a long time or if it’s your first one. Anxiety is part of the game. Your body though may pick up on things that your eyes and ears might miss. Those subliminal messages could be the most important of all.
I’ve been through my share of interviews. Quite a few more than the average person. One of the best jobs I ever had, the interview went well, even though I wasn’t completely ‘smooth’ in my responses, at least from my point of view. No one is perfect and you won’t be either. If you do come across as if you’re replies are a pre-recorded tape, someone might wonder if you’re faking it.
My ‘dream job’ interview is another example, at the other end of the spectrum. I’ve always wanted to write for a living. An opportunity to interview for a technical writer position came up. At the time, my body was screaming at me, but I was too enthralled with the idea of getting the job to notice.
Rather than the typical nervousness, I was literally sweating bullets. So much so, that the personnel manager asked me if I was OK while we were walking around the cubicles where my future co-workers were laboring away. I assured him that I was fine, just a bit nervous. Talk about ‘fight or flight’ response, I should have been running out the door.
Although I loved doing the work, the company and the job turned out to be one of the biggest headaches of my life. I learned a great deal, but the downside was just as steep. When they terminated me, I was a physical wreck over worrying about the job. They could have cared less.They had another body filling my position in no time. Who was ready to quit in two months.
Which is why you have to look for the signs. If few people, if anyone at all is smiling and in a good mood, you should wonder about the atmosphere.
It might be toxic. Take a deep breath and get out of there.
It’s not the only job in the world.
It is though, the only life you have right now.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Teams Work or Don't: A Chapter from the Ordeals File
Teams are the big thing. Major buzz word in business. It’s easy to say, much harder to put into practice.
While an employee of Ordeals, I got to hear the sports jargon bandied about, cheer leading for the drones. On Sunday they watch a game, on Monday, they play the game. All rah, rah, rah for the old coach/boss/gypper, but performance? That might be another matter. Sugaring up the boss doesn’t count as work, nor does it appear on the bottom line. It does keep incompetents in their jobs.
The irony is that the concept of a ‘team’ is really rooted in the basic social structure, that of the family. Everyone needs to be able to work together, whether it’s to keep the house running or the business booming.
How well the specific team ‘performs’ is due to the management. Doesn’t matter if it’s a mom and pop shop or a Fortune 500 behemoth, bad management, bad decisions, usually equal bad return on investment. Failure is in the future.
To keep things going, you have to have all the team players buy into the goal. You get a slacker in a key position or a glory hog, whoops there goes the ball game!
How many people have you met that say they do a lousy job? Probably few, if any. Everyone tells about how hard they work, what rigors and trials they go through.
We all do it. Part of it’s recognition, the old ego-feed, having others acknowledge our work. Which is OK, as long as we don’t get obsessive about it. The other is self-satisfaction, knowing that you did a good job, without the need of public or company recognition.
No problem on either side. The problems come in when you have office politics. People saying, doing or creating situations strictly for their own advancement. Team first? Hah, not if they can figure out a way to make themselves look good. Who cares if it sinks the project?
They might, in the long run, when the client packs up their wallet and takes the job to a competitor.
An example of how dysfunctional a team can get, from the Ordeals File.
I needed a printer due to the volume of work I was churning out. When I used the office printer, it would bog down the work of the 30+ engineers in the office. Printing out a small 30 page manual wasn’t too bad. Cranking off a 300 to 400 plus page book could tie up the printer for an hour, if not longer.
After checking with my boss in the USA, I was given the OK to look for a new printer. Found one that would do the job, priced it and told the company. They balked, someone came up with the idea of shipping me an old printer from the USA. I was told to check with the local service company, find out what I would need to use it in the Netherlands.
The printer service rep told me that he wouldn’t touch the printer. It wouldn’t work, due to the different electrical configurations in Europe. I double checked it on the Internet. He wasn’t kidding, even the printer company website said it was a ‘no go’.
After relaying this info back to my boss, including the Internet link, I figured that I would receive authorization to get the new printer.
Nope, not going to happen. They wanted me to find out about getting a transformer to run the 110 volt printer on the 220 volt European system. They didn’t want to hear about the 50 and 60 Hertz difference. Which makes all the difference. Not to mention that the transformer was only about $20 less than the new printer.
Fast forward about a month. A large box is delivered to my desk. Inside is a ratty printer, stuffed, literally, with plastic peanuts. Whoever had packed it, probably the IT department, had not wrapped it in plastic and had gone so far as to stuff plastic peanuts into the delivery tray and into cooling slots.
My Dutch co-workers shook their heads in disbelief. For the next two hours, I took the printer apart and cleaned it up. Thanks for the ‘help’, computer support group. All enabled by cost defective management.
About 6 weeks after this, my boss and the project manager arrived for the annual ‘Spring Tour’. This consisted of meetings, eating, shopping and sightseeing. Rubes on tour, with maybe a little business thrown in, to make it a 'business expense' write-off.
After a meeting one afternoon, my project manager wanted to see the printer. He asked why it wasn’t hooked up and working. I was using it as a fifty pound paperweight and storage shelf.
My project manager stared at me and demanded, “You haven’t been saying bad things about our company, have you?”
I looked him in the eye and told him, “I haven’t said a word. People around here can see how things have been handled by ‘our company’.”
He then wanted to know why the printer wasn’t being used yet. I told him no one would provide service for it. I had a letter from the local printer service company to that effect. When I showed it to him, he ignored it.
He began to browbeat me about not following the orders of our company’s vice-president. I had been told to install the printer.
My reply was that the printer was a potential electrical hazard, due to the voltage and frequency differences. He didn’t like my answer, but he dropped the issue.
You don’t want to get into this type of no-win situation. My mistake was not going ahead and buying the transformer, hooking up the printer and either frying it or setting the office on fire when it burned up. That wouldn't have been my fault, would it?
This might not have happened, but at least I would have been following the ‘orders from on high’ of those who didn’t have a clue about what they were doing in this case.
In my opinion, the best way to handle a boss who is the armchair quarterback, but is in charge of running the team is to document his orders. Do as he says and when it comes unglued, talk to his boss, the big coach. Have a line of defense in place, witnesses help.
If that fails, read the message. It’s time to find another job. Too many people are working against you, not with you.
It’s not teamwork, it’s a gang slaying.
You’re the target.
(All examples in the Ordeals File are taken from my book, "Going Dutch, Trials of a Wage Slave")
While an employee of Ordeals, I got to hear the sports jargon bandied about, cheer leading for the drones. On Sunday they watch a game, on Monday, they play the game. All rah, rah, rah for the old coach/boss/gypper, but performance? That might be another matter. Sugaring up the boss doesn’t count as work, nor does it appear on the bottom line. It does keep incompetents in their jobs.
The irony is that the concept of a ‘team’ is really rooted in the basic social structure, that of the family. Everyone needs to be able to work together, whether it’s to keep the house running or the business booming.
How well the specific team ‘performs’ is due to the management. Doesn’t matter if it’s a mom and pop shop or a Fortune 500 behemoth, bad management, bad decisions, usually equal bad return on investment. Failure is in the future.
To keep things going, you have to have all the team players buy into the goal. You get a slacker in a key position or a glory hog, whoops there goes the ball game!
How many people have you met that say they do a lousy job? Probably few, if any. Everyone tells about how hard they work, what rigors and trials they go through.
We all do it. Part of it’s recognition, the old ego-feed, having others acknowledge our work. Which is OK, as long as we don’t get obsessive about it. The other is self-satisfaction, knowing that you did a good job, without the need of public or company recognition.
No problem on either side. The problems come in when you have office politics. People saying, doing or creating situations strictly for their own advancement. Team first? Hah, not if they can figure out a way to make themselves look good. Who cares if it sinks the project?
They might, in the long run, when the client packs up their wallet and takes the job to a competitor.
An example of how dysfunctional a team can get, from the Ordeals File.
I needed a printer due to the volume of work I was churning out. When I used the office printer, it would bog down the work of the 30+ engineers in the office. Printing out a small 30 page manual wasn’t too bad. Cranking off a 300 to 400 plus page book could tie up the printer for an hour, if not longer.
After checking with my boss in the USA, I was given the OK to look for a new printer. Found one that would do the job, priced it and told the company. They balked, someone came up with the idea of shipping me an old printer from the USA. I was told to check with the local service company, find out what I would need to use it in the Netherlands.
The printer service rep told me that he wouldn’t touch the printer. It wouldn’t work, due to the different electrical configurations in Europe. I double checked it on the Internet. He wasn’t kidding, even the printer company website said it was a ‘no go’.
After relaying this info back to my boss, including the Internet link, I figured that I would receive authorization to get the new printer.
Nope, not going to happen. They wanted me to find out about getting a transformer to run the 110 volt printer on the 220 volt European system. They didn’t want to hear about the 50 and 60 Hertz difference. Which makes all the difference. Not to mention that the transformer was only about $20 less than the new printer.
Fast forward about a month. A large box is delivered to my desk. Inside is a ratty printer, stuffed, literally, with plastic peanuts. Whoever had packed it, probably the IT department, had not wrapped it in plastic and had gone so far as to stuff plastic peanuts into the delivery tray and into cooling slots.
My Dutch co-workers shook their heads in disbelief. For the next two hours, I took the printer apart and cleaned it up. Thanks for the ‘help’, computer support group. All enabled by cost defective management.
About 6 weeks after this, my boss and the project manager arrived for the annual ‘Spring Tour’. This consisted of meetings, eating, shopping and sightseeing. Rubes on tour, with maybe a little business thrown in, to make it a 'business expense' write-off.
After a meeting one afternoon, my project manager wanted to see the printer. He asked why it wasn’t hooked up and working. I was using it as a fifty pound paperweight and storage shelf.
My project manager stared at me and demanded, “You haven’t been saying bad things about our company, have you?”
I looked him in the eye and told him, “I haven’t said a word. People around here can see how things have been handled by ‘our company’.”
He then wanted to know why the printer wasn’t being used yet. I told him no one would provide service for it. I had a letter from the local printer service company to that effect. When I showed it to him, he ignored it.
He began to browbeat me about not following the orders of our company’s vice-president. I had been told to install the printer.
My reply was that the printer was a potential electrical hazard, due to the voltage and frequency differences. He didn’t like my answer, but he dropped the issue.
You don’t want to get into this type of no-win situation. My mistake was not going ahead and buying the transformer, hooking up the printer and either frying it or setting the office on fire when it burned up. That wouldn't have been my fault, would it?
This might not have happened, but at least I would have been following the ‘orders from on high’ of those who didn’t have a clue about what they were doing in this case.
In my opinion, the best way to handle a boss who is the armchair quarterback, but is in charge of running the team is to document his orders. Do as he says and when it comes unglued, talk to his boss, the big coach. Have a line of defense in place, witnesses help.
If that fails, read the message. It’s time to find another job. Too many people are working against you, not with you.
It’s not teamwork, it’s a gang slaying.
You’re the target.
(All examples in the Ordeals File are taken from my book, "Going Dutch, Trials of a Wage Slave")
Monday, December 1, 2008
The Ordeals File
Starting this month, I’ll focus on working outside the USA. This will be a series based on my experiences working in the USA and Europe for a company that I’ll call, ‘Ordeals’.
This company sent me to the Netherlands to work on a contract they had for outsourcing technical manuals for a client.
I was working in the client’s facility, in direct contact with people who had lost their jobs due to my company taking the literature contract. I didn’t make the decision to outsource the work, their management did. There was more than a little residual animosity.
My job was to get these people to help me do their company’s manuals. At the same time, I had to get my company to support me, from 3,000 miles away. Which was a bigger problem than working with the client’s downsized employees. The general consensus at Ordeals was that I was on vacation in Europe.
I must have missed that part, what with the 60-80 hour work weeks I was putting in at the site.
My aim is to keep this series humorous. It happened to me, but I don’t want it to happen to you.
Hope that you enjoy the laughs.
This company sent me to the Netherlands to work on a contract they had for outsourcing technical manuals for a client.
I was working in the client’s facility, in direct contact with people who had lost their jobs due to my company taking the literature contract. I didn’t make the decision to outsource the work, their management did. There was more than a little residual animosity.
My job was to get these people to help me do their company’s manuals. At the same time, I had to get my company to support me, from 3,000 miles away. Which was a bigger problem than working with the client’s downsized employees. The general consensus at Ordeals was that I was on vacation in Europe.
I must have missed that part, what with the 60-80 hour work weeks I was putting in at the site.
My aim is to keep this series humorous. It happened to me, but I don’t want it to happen to you.
Hope that you enjoy the laughs.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
To Turkeys, With Laughs
I read this on the Fortune site and thought that it was pretty funny!
http://askannie.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/11/24/the-biggest-turkey-i-ever-hired
If you work in more than one place in your life, you'll probably get to work for some turkeys. It can't be avoided, they're everywhere.
Allow me, on this turkey day, to give you some examples.
I worked as a service writer in a Porsche-Audi dealership. The service manager knew nothing about cars, he was a retired Army sergeant*.
A mechanic cut out a large chunk of an Audi's body to make it easier to remove the engine. This weakened the car's body. I reprimanded him. The service manager backed him up and fired me!
Long story short, the customer sued, the mechanic got fired, the service manager lasted another 90 days and Porsche-Audi pulled the dealership franchise. I think the customer got a new car, but I'm not sure.
* I'm a military brat and have the utmost respect for those in uniform. He was in the wrong job at the wrong time.
I was hired to help open a new '$99.95 Car Paint'. One of the pay incentives was a production bonus for turning out more than a specific number of cars in a week. As assistant manager, one of my jobs was turning in the weekly production figures.
For a couple of weeks, my boss, the owner, told me that he had went ahead and done the paperwork for me. Which helped him cover up the fact that he was doing paint jobs on his friends, relatives and neighbors cars, without them going on the franchise records. Still, I felt sure that we had made bonus production.
When I opened the shop one Saturday, I couldn't find the copy paper for the copier. When I found the copier paper, I found the certificate from the franchise company with my name on it for making the bonus. I made a copy, put the original back. Never got paid for the bonus.
I quit the next month and went to Hollywood with my first screenplay.
If you go to the Ask Annie site, check out the link where employees get to talk about HR managers.
I don't know if it's posted or not, but I wrote about my experience with 'Ordeals', the tech writing company in my book.
IF it makes the Ask Annie blog, great.
IF NOT, then I'll write about it in the next post.
I don't know if HR stands for Human Resources or Helpless Rejects
http://askannie.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/11/24/the-biggest-turkey-i-ever-hired
If you work in more than one place in your life, you'll probably get to work for some turkeys. It can't be avoided, they're everywhere.
Allow me, on this turkey day, to give you some examples.
I worked as a service writer in a Porsche-Audi dealership. The service manager knew nothing about cars, he was a retired Army sergeant*.
A mechanic cut out a large chunk of an Audi's body to make it easier to remove the engine. This weakened the car's body. I reprimanded him. The service manager backed him up and fired me!
Long story short, the customer sued, the mechanic got fired, the service manager lasted another 90 days and Porsche-Audi pulled the dealership franchise. I think the customer got a new car, but I'm not sure.
* I'm a military brat and have the utmost respect for those in uniform. He was in the wrong job at the wrong time.
I was hired to help open a new '$99.95 Car Paint'. One of the pay incentives was a production bonus for turning out more than a specific number of cars in a week. As assistant manager, one of my jobs was turning in the weekly production figures.
For a couple of weeks, my boss, the owner, told me that he had went ahead and done the paperwork for me. Which helped him cover up the fact that he was doing paint jobs on his friends, relatives and neighbors cars, without them going on the franchise records. Still, I felt sure that we had made bonus production.
When I opened the shop one Saturday, I couldn't find the copy paper for the copier. When I found the copier paper, I found the certificate from the franchise company with my name on it for making the bonus. I made a copy, put the original back. Never got paid for the bonus.
I quit the next month and went to Hollywood with my first screenplay.
If you go to the Ask Annie site, check out the link where employees get to talk about HR managers.
I don't know if it's posted or not, but I wrote about my experience with 'Ordeals', the tech writing company in my book.
IF it makes the Ask Annie blog, great.
IF NOT, then I'll write about it in the next post.
I don't know if HR stands for Human Resources or Helpless Rejects
Monday, November 3, 2008
Tactics for Employees - Keeping Records
You get hired by the company. It’s exciting, your first day on the job. Eager to make a good impression, you don’t want to anger anyone or make a mistake.
Don’t make the error of thinking that you shouldn't be covering yourself.
One of the most important things you can do is to keep a record of events.
You don’t have to note down everything, but the major stuff could help in the long run.
Keep a private record of your time.
Buy a notebook, even if it’s a small pocket one. DON'T use company materials.
Get in the habit of daily logging your hours.
Note anything unusual in the operation of the business.
Log instructions or comments by your co-workers or boss that could be considered illegal, immoral or anything else approaching questionable practices.
DON’T TELL ANYONE AT WORK YOU ARE DOING THIS!
Many companies will fire you for this type of activity. It’s very easy to get terminated without cause in many states.
When I worked as a technical writer, I used to keep a log of all the work I was doing on my desk. It was the only way I could track the different books, art requests, phone calls, etc. that was necessary for writing the books. Keep emails for at least a year after the project is completed.
I had one save my job and my company over $26,000 in rework when it proved that the client’s project manager had dropped the ball on giving me the proper title for the book I wrote for them.
When I was illegally fired, I took all my log books to court. It made the difference in my winning my court case. When the company appealed the court verdict, I won again in court.
As long as you keep your records, take them home with you and don’t use them to intimidate or harass co-workers, you will have a good line of defense.
Now, if you do lousy work, goof off and expect to have the records somehow clean up your act, you have another problem.
You’re dreaming.
Don’t make the error of thinking that you shouldn't be covering yourself.
One of the most important things you can do is to keep a record of events.
You don’t have to note down everything, but the major stuff could help in the long run.
Keep a private record of your time.
Buy a notebook, even if it’s a small pocket one. DON'T use company materials.
Get in the habit of daily logging your hours.
Note anything unusual in the operation of the business.
Log instructions or comments by your co-workers or boss that could be considered illegal, immoral or anything else approaching questionable practices.
DON’T TELL ANYONE AT WORK YOU ARE DOING THIS!
Many companies will fire you for this type of activity. It’s very easy to get terminated without cause in many states.
When I worked as a technical writer, I used to keep a log of all the work I was doing on my desk. It was the only way I could track the different books, art requests, phone calls, etc. that was necessary for writing the books. Keep emails for at least a year after the project is completed.
I had one save my job and my company over $26,000 in rework when it proved that the client’s project manager had dropped the ball on giving me the proper title for the book I wrote for them.
When I was illegally fired, I took all my log books to court. It made the difference in my winning my court case. When the company appealed the court verdict, I won again in court.
As long as you keep your records, take them home with you and don’t use them to intimidate or harass co-workers, you will have a good line of defense.
Now, if you do lousy work, goof off and expect to have the records somehow clean up your act, you have another problem.
You’re dreaming.
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