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If it bothers you enough to come here and post, it must pertain to you. So don't do it anymore.
If it didnt hit a nerve, you would have forgotten it the minute you read and deleted it. For example, if I got a mass email at work saying, "please make sure when using the urinals that you aim properly" I would read it and delete it. Because it doesnt pertain to me. Now if my name were Joe, I might come here and say, can you believe that Company X sent out these emails?
I dont think its unprofessional or passive aggressive. It is obviously a company wide problem, and they are hoping people like you will appreciate the email and stop doing it. Also, the email is the initial warning. If you keep doing it, you're likely going to get more serious consequences.
I could see getting ticked off, even if it didn't pertain to me, depending on the tone of the letter.
To give an example: A few years ago, a man broke into my townhouse complex swimming pool and drowned (whether intentionally--meaning suicide--or accidentally--was stupid drunk and drowned as a result, I don't know.) This happened on a Wednesday morning around 3 a.m (I remember that specifically because I though, "Oh, just like the Simon and Garfunkel song.")
A few days later, our HOA sent out a very nastily worded letter to *everybody* living in the complex, basically saying they knew somebody had seen the man breaking in (the police report made it very plain he climbed over the fence, that the gate hadn't been unlocked) and drowning, and did nothing, and that we should all be ashamed of ourselves, and it was our collective fault if the pool was closed the rest of the summer.
The tone ticked me off mightily, even though the letter didn't apply to me--of the 120 units in my complex, only 20 have a clear sight of the pool, and perhaps another 10 have a not-so-clear sight of it. Since there's a row of townhouses between my place and the pool, obviously I have no sight of the pool at all. And 3 a.m. on a worknight....most people are going to be asleep, since they have to wake up in a few hours to go to work. I don't make it a practice to walk around my complex at all hours making sure strange and random people don't get themselves killed, and wasn't aware that I should have been. So I fired off my own nasty note to the HOA, letting them know that somebody needed to take a course in professional letter writing, and needed to be fired if the letter sent was the best they could do.
I was apparently far from the only one who voiced a complaint about the attitude in the letter--the HOA sent out an apology a few days later.
Had the letter simply said, "If anybody was up about this time and saw or heard anything suspicious, the police would appreciate your cooperation," then that would have been fine.
A professional, neutrally written letter draws no ire from those it doesn't pertain to ("Just a reminder to please clock in and out at your usual time, unless you've made other arrangements with your supervisor.") A hostile-toned one that accuses everybody of poor behavior will tick everybody off, whether they're guilty or not (since the latter paints them with the same brush anyway.)
What's the problem? Be on time and don't leave early. Simple message. If you are already doing these things, then the email wasn't directed at you.
Sending a group email is management's cop out to directly confronting individual wrongdoers.
First, I would like to send this out where I work!
My boss sends out group e-mails whenever we have a problem with someone breaking policy, it kills me why she does that instead of talking directly to the person, the person(s) that it is directed at doesn't care and the rest of the employees already know the policies. I guess now I know, she is avoiding the possible confrontation. I hated this at my last job, and it still bothers me.
I think corporations are "time thieves" more often than employees, especially in the salaried management world. expecting someone to work 6 days, 13 hour days etc. is also a great example of time thievery. Actually, it's life thievery. Yet I've worked for bozo's who think this is acceptable. They are usually the ones who go home at 3pm and are off every weekend. It's absolutely infuriating.
I once worked in an office about a ten-minute walk from my apartment. I was salaried non-exempt, so I got paid time-and-a-half for overtime. Fine and dandy, and I didn't mind working the odd bit of overtime now and then, as the department's needs dictated, as my schedule allowed, and given that it put extra money in my pocket.
Not long after I started there, someone in another department left, and rather than replacing her, the PTB decided to parcel out her duties to others. They gave me a lot of her work in addition to my own, so my average workweek expanded from 40 hours to over 50 and continued to creep upward.
For a while they brought in a student intern (paid) as my assistant, which brought me back down to around 45 hours per week. Then they decided to get rid of the intern and the assistant's position and put all that extra work back on my desk again. THEN they announced that someone else was leaving, and I'd be given HER work as well!
When I remarked that I was already beginning to feel as though I was expected to not have a life outside of work and that I was coming into the office 6 or 7 days a week, my boss looked puzzled. "But you live right here in the neighborhood, so it's almost like being at home, isn't it?"
Umm, sure. Almost like being at home. I almost had a clean apartment... almost had clean laundry... almost had time to prepare healthy meals... almost had a social life, time to sleep, time to breathe...
Needless to say, I began putting out feelers for another job the next day. I work for a living; I don't live to work.
Needless to say, I began putting out feelers for another job the next day. I work for a living; I don't live to work.
Many years ago I was fired from a company that stated that I walked off the job. Of course the actual situation wasn't nearly as simple as they made it sound... but nevertheless I filed for unemployment and the company disputed. We ended up doing a conference call hearing and I stated to the UC judge... "isn't it kind of hard to say someone walked off the job when they are on their 4th hour of overtime and have a family to care for?" That did the trick and the checks started coming.
I took that company for every dime of unemployment available. I considered it vacation pay to make up for the horrible conditions that I faced daily for years. Got a much better job and absolutely never looked back.
If there is a wide spread problem in a company, as it appears in the OP posting, it is considered good management to do exactly what was done. Send out an email to everyone, leaving no doubt of what they meant.
The others would have known what was happening, and would know who was being sent the notice to, and would accept them getting a copy also as they knew everyone that was taking advantage of the job were notified.
Sometimes it is better to make a strong point, than ***** foot around and no one pays attention. If several people were doing what the email was about, it would take a lot of trouble on the managements time to call each in and eat them out individually. By doing it this way, problem solved, and if some keep doing it there are grounds for termination. There is a record, that everyone in the office was given notice of what was going on, and there could be no misunderstanding of what the email said, or meant.
The only ones that should feel bad, were the ones that were doing what the email asked them to stop doing it.
I worked in the corporate world back in the 60s till 1971. My highest position was division sales manager for the western United States. There are two types of managers. The ones that are so afraid of hurting the employees feelings, and keeping them happy, who would not send out such a notice, and no one pays attention to. The others state the obvious, let everyone know what is expected of them. The first style, do not have command of their operation, and it causes problems for a lot of people. The other kind is the one that would send out such a message, to handle the problem, and get on with things. The first one does not know how to handle the problem, and never get control of the situation. The second one has control, the people know where they stand, there are less problems for the manager and the company. The first one eventually gets replaced when things get so bad they cannot continue as they are.
If someone does not like the work conditions, then they can quit, that is their right. The second type also is the one that sees a lot less of people quitting. Employees know where they stand. They understand there is a right way, a wrong way, and the company way to do everything. There is less stress on the workers, as everyone knows where they stand when the second one is in charge.
Kineticity
That boss was not worth a darn. They were not doing their job, or they would never have found one person to keep pilling the work on. The best supervisor is strong, but at the same time does not take advantage of the employees. That is the type of supervisor in the first category, and not a strong supervisor. They are weak managers, and were apparently afraid to go to upper management and demand more help for their department. A good strong manager, fights for their employees, as much as they demand their staff do the work they are assigned, within the work hours required.
What HR said was stop ripping off the company. They don't mind if you want to go over and above and offer extra to the company. I look at emails like that as if they do not apply to me. The reason is because I always come in early and stay late. I have no problem with that and have done things that way from day 1.
Here is one for you all: "Employees need to refrain from parking their cars in the visitor parking area near the entrance, clocking in, and then parking their vehicles in the employee parking structure. Only badge in when you are prepaired to start working." Yes that was really happening with some employees. We call it theft of time. I had never done it so it does not apply to me.
Emails like this bug me. Mainly because it is aimed at maybe one or two employees. Instead of those employees being talked to, everyone gets the email. The people who are leaving early, probably don't realize it is even aimed at them.
That boss was not worth a darn. They were not doing their job, or they would never have found one person to keep pilling the work on. The best supervisor is strong, but at the same time does not take advantage of the employees. That is the type of supervisor in the first category, and not a strong supervisor. They are weak managers, and were apparently afraid to go to upper management and demand more help for their department. A good strong manager, fights for their employees, as much as they demand their staff do the work they are assigned, within the work hours required.
There was so much fail in the upper echelons there it wasn't even funny. I spent more time doing other people's jobs for them -- sometimes even including my boss and her boss -- than I even want to think about, years later now.
Never again. Stuff like that ever happens again, I'm not going to be the patsy for months like I did that time, that's for sure.
If there is a large group of unhappy people, unionize. If everyone else was OK with it, you are the one with the problem. If everyone is unhappy but you don't want to unionize, live with it.
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