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I never understood the sentiments that temps should get treated differently either. Well...aside from benefits packages, because there needs to be SOME benefit to being full-time. But I've never been the type to judge someone's worth by their job title. The whole "temps are replaceable" mentality is just dumb. Why would you treat anyone doing work for you with anything less than respect? Don't you want excellent work product? People just don't think logically.
I never understood the sentiments that temps should get treated differently either. Well...aside from benefits packages, because there needs to be SOME benefit to being full-time. But I've never been the type to judge someone's worth by their job title. The whole "temps are replaceable" mentality is just dumb. Why would you treat anyone doing work for you with anything less than respect? Don't you want excellent work product? People just don't think logically.
It’s not that contractors should be treated disrespectfully (I don’t think OP has been especially given her poor history at other jobs) it’s that contractors are expected to produce and not complain about other workers or workload or about whether things are “fair” or not as if they are employees. I have worked as a contractor and I always knew I was a “guest” in the building, not an employee.
Companies pay a lot more for contract and temp help and they want their money’s worth.
OP was reprimanded for sounding snarky in an email to a client. They were kind to her, they didn’t terminate her contract, they told her how they want her to communicate and said they wanted to see her communications and go over them until improvements were seen. If OP had just said “Yes, ma’am” and did her job the best she could it would be fine. But instead she started in on “Tattletale” coworkers and looking for all sorts of reasons to find fault with the company and all sorts of false perceptions that they’re out to get her, instead of just trying to do better, and for that reason it’s a mess now. Everything that happened after that first reprimand has been filtered through that “they aren’t fair to me” mentality.
It’s not that contractors should be treated disrespectfully (I don’t think OP has been especially given her poor history at other jobs) it’s that contractors are expected to produce and not complain about other workers or workload or about whether things are “fair” or not as if they are employees. I have worked as a contractor and I always knew I was a “guest” in the building, not an employee.
I get the idea behind it, but I don't agree with that logic. I'm not the type that does well in places that adhere to strict hierarchies anyway. I don't think it works well outside of the military, where it's useful because peoples lives are on the line. But for your run-of-the-mill office? Fertile ground for political games. Show people that you assess value on something that others have no control over (e.g. employment status) and you give the green light for abusers to take advantage of that structure.
I get the idea behind it, but I don't agree with that logic. I'm not the type that does well in places that adhere to strict hierarchies anyway. I don't think it works well outside of the military, where it's useful because peoples lives are on the line. But for your run-of-the-mill office? Fertile ground for political games. Show people that you assess value on something that others have no control over (e.g. employment status) and you give the green light for abusers to take advantage of that structure.
I can’t say I’ve ever felt abused by any employer. As I told OP in an earlier post, I have had experience at what I thought was unfair treatementvdue to my contract status. One facility I worked in for 8 years (nursing home rehab departments are almost all contracted to outside therapy companies) but I felt like an outsider much of that time. They’d leave us out of going away parties, even though we’d worked with that person for a long time, too. It hurt my feelings but that was how they looked at contractors. Not really part of the family. It’s hard, but is often the reality for contractors and you have to have thicker skin.
When someone had issue with me, rather than talk to me or my supervisor (from the same therapy company I worked for) they’d call the facility administrator and make a complaint about me, but he wouldnt discuss with me either, he’d call my supervisor and say “Tell ocnjgirl to stop doing ——-“. Often the complaint was unfair in my eyes and I felt if he knew my side he’d see that. But that’s not how it was. We weren’t employees even though we were close to many coworkers and felt like employees.
So as mad as it made me, I swallowed it and kept my head high and did my job to the best of my abilities and kept my mouth shut except with my supervisor, who agreed with me usually. I didn’t go around labeling people as tattletales and stating I’m not going to be nice to this or that person ever again or I’m going to punish the facility for reprimanding me unfairly by doing an even worse job.
I always kept in mind that I was representing my company in that building. It wasn’t about me or my feelings. I was being paid to do a job, and office politics are not an excuse to be unprofessional.
In OPs case, this is her first job in a new field she recently graduated from, and to screw up the opportunity to get great references because you feel like someone “tattled” on you or someone else hurt your feelings by questioning you, then it’s going to be a long tough road to success. You keep your eyes on the prize and on long term goals. This stuff in these posts is petty and unimportant compared to that.
Just an FYI on some of ocnj's comment. Regarding parties, going always, etc, we've been told we can't invite contractors because it can be interpreted as direction and they can bill for that time. Similar for someone not speaking directly to you about a problem. It's interpreted as interfering with your companies right to manage their employees and can create a case that the primary company is actually the employer when it comes to benefits.
What I've seen is all the workers get along fine until someone's contract ends and they sue. Then management clamps down.
Just an FYI on some of ocnj's comment. Regarding parties, going always, etc, we've been told we can't invite contractors because it can be interpreted as direction and they can bill for that time. Similar for someone not speaking directly to you about a problem. It's interpreted as interfering with your companies right to manage their employees and can create a case that the primary company is actually the employer when it comes to benefits.
What I've seen is all the workers get along fine until someone's contract ends and they sue. Then management clamps down.
I understood all that, but it still hurt my feelings, lol. 8 years is a long time to work with people today. But I never let on.
Just an FYI on some of ocnj's comment. Regarding parties, going always, etc, we've been told we can't invite contractors because it can be interpreted as direction and they can bill for that time. Similar for someone not speaking directly to you about a problem. It's interpreted as interfering with your companies right to manage their employees and can create a case that the primary company is actually the employer when it comes to benefits.
What I've seen is all the workers get along fine until someone's contract ends and they sue. Then management clamps down.
Regarding the bolded part in pink...
I worked as a contract parking attendant at a university from 2006 to 2012.
I worked for a parking company that had a contract with the university.
I reported to a manager who worked for the parking company as well as the client manager who worked at the university.
The client manager came to me with issues, and she also told me about changes that would happen regarding my job as a contract parking attendant back in 2011.
She did not inform my direct manager who worked at the parking company about that.
I am curious as to what any of you would have done if you were the direct manager who worked at the parking company regarding the client managers behavior.
It’s not that contractors should be treated disrespectfully (I don’t think OP has been especially given her poor history at other jobs) it’s that contractors are expected to produce and not complain about other workers or workload or about whether things are “fair” or not as if they are employees. I have worked as a contractor and I always knew I was a “guest” in the building, not an employee.
Companies pay a lot more for contract and temp help and they want their money’s worth.
OP was reprimanded for sounding snarky in an email to a client. They were kind to her, they didn’t terminate her contract, they told her how they want her to communicate and said they wanted to see her communications and go over them until improvements were seen. If OP had just said “Yes, ma’am” and did her job the best she could it would be fine. But instead she started in on “Tattletale” coworkers and looking for all sorts of reasons to find fault with the company and all sorts of false perceptions that they’re out to get her, instead of just trying to do better, and for that reason it’s a mess now. Everything that happened after that first reprimand has been filtered through that “they aren’t fair to me” mentality.
Agreed 100%.
When I was let go from my contractor position, I was praised for my customer service and dedication. I was always pleasant with everyone- no problems working with anyone.
A stalker is someone who follows their target from place to place or in this case, thread to thread.
Moving on...
Busybody TT's actions this past weekend led to me being called into the manager's office again today. As you may recall, I came in on my day off to finish off some project work for my own clients and did so on my own time (off the clock). When TT found out about it, she called the manager and they both wondered why. Well today was the follow up, plus the usual check in (read, micromanagement) on my performance / issues that she noticed.
Here's a summary of the face to face with the manager:
1. There was an incident in which an external employee called to give directives to another colleague about my project. But the directives were unclear and the manager asked me to follow up with the external employee. I did first by calling, but there was no answer. I tried again 30 mins later, same, just voice mail. So I emailed instead. You'll remember that the manager requires me to copy her on every message. Today she picked apart that email. Word for word. It was a no win situation. Obviously, unless we use scripts and templates, each employee's writing style and wording will be different. Told me I was too verbose (fair enough). But she also claimed that I wasted time by asking the employee to confirm the info called in earlier. I agree, but that's what the manager instructed me to do. However in today's meeting she denied it, so I countered and reminded her of the facts. She said OK...
2. I recently made a mistake where I failed to action something during my shift and later realized it as I was about to clock out. I wrote a note for the next employee on duty but that employee didn't see it. Management made a big deal out of it, how even though the mistake was accepted by the client and they rolled with the consequences, that it could've been much worse, etc. etc. Basically the manager took on a doomsday viewpoint, totally unnecessary. But I did understand her point.
3. The fact I came in on my day off was a problem for this manager. Why? Because she heard it from TT who tipped her off. My supervisor told me it was allowed and I was working off the clock on my own time - so why would a company not appreciate that? The manager asked me what I was doing - I told her that she had asked me on a weekday morning to do X, Y, Z and I explained that I had done partial work but got busy - and wasn't able to finish. Why not? Because I received an avalanche of emails with change requests for my colleagues' projects and clients ... and I did my best to do it all, but I have two hands.. right? Again, the manager said that me coming in on my day off was proof I was unable to handle the workload. Then I explained my side, and it seems whatever I said wasn't good enough.
4. The manager asked point blank: Sedona, do you think you can multi-task? To which I replied, sure but it is challenging when multiple requests come all at once (duh, that's normal). Then she suggested how I should do stuff different ways- fair enough, I was open to feedback.
5. The manager thinks I would benefit from being "closer to the group", in other words, have closer supervision. It seems she no longer trusts me to work alone, except she's willing to "allow" me to come in 1 weekend day and handle the various demands from all my colleagues' clients, external employees, project changes ,etc. Lovely. That's easily my busiest and most challenging day, but OK. However she thinks I should be there when others are there during the week, so my schedule where I was able to work alone for about 50% of my shifts will now be reduced to 25%. She gave me a choice of 2 new shift schedules and I have 2 days to consider them and get back to her.
Also:
My biggest client who kept me the busiest decided to close his account and there are less than 2 weeks when my projects with that client will be done. I haven't been assigned a replacement client yet, while other colleagues remain as busy as they've ever been.
TT has been assigned to my desk that I used to use 4-5 days a week by myself. Now it's shared and I'm often assigned to another shared desk, which is inconvenient as it has small old monitors while some full time colleagues have big modern monitors that are simply easier to look at and allow you to work faster. Plus today was just ridiculous. All work stations were occupied and I had to move from desk to desk, sit at a corner table, in the manager's office briefly , then external employees showed up and I had to move again...laptop in hand. I lost a lot of time and didn't have access to a dedicated desk phone and proper equipment. I don't know what they were thinking but I felt like that character who's relegated to the basement in the movie Office Space.
All told, I think the end is near and it's time to start planning for this contract to end sooner than what was initially agreed upon. I don't think I can really do anything to salvage this job as long as the micromanagement continues.
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But I've never been the type to judge someone's worth by their job title. The whole "temps are replaceable" mentality is just dumb. Why would you treat anyone doing work for you with anything less than respect? Don't you want excellent work product? People just don't think logically.
