testing times
Posted 10th July 2009 at 12:17am by ladysavage
I'm starting this because i kinda need somewhere to dump all my thoughts on the current situation within the company i work for (which i shan't name so i can't be searched readily by trolls) but also to hopefully show the interesting and fun aspects of my role too.
I've worked for the company for 2 years now, both here in glasgow and for 9 months in fife and to be honest this is the best job ive ever had. the people are amazing, the work is varied and interesting and further education and career development is encoraged. Not that there arent downsides, i have a helluva commute each day to get to work but ultimately for me it's worth it. I'm not intending to come across as some corporate whore in this, just telling it how i feel.
The current business kicked off last tuesday. I got a phonecall from my boss when i was on holiday asking me to come to a meeting, explaining to her that due to plans it was gonna be awkward she agreed to give me the news over the phone. An hour later an old colleague and close friend called me to say pretty much the same thing; some bad shizzle was going down and no good would come from it.
digression alert: when i was first employed i was earmarked for a perm postition which due to management kerfuffles galore (not fuckups, kerfuffles, two entirely different pokemon) i wasn't taken on. However due to fife's expansion there were full time jobs going there, i duly applied and got one, and having re-acquainted myself with the lingo i am having a ball (aside from tesco forecourt owning half my wage packet each month). Anyhoo...
... I was sat in bed after a heavy night of too much beer and AC/DC expecting the phonecall from my boss when a friend from Manchester IM'd me asking if i'd lost my job, somehow it'd got leaked to the beeb that my old work is to be shut. Understandibly when my boss called 20 mins later she was rather pissed (she is terminally lovely, she has to put up with me after all, and unlike my husband doesn't even get sex in return).
Anyhoo roughly 900 positions are to end in some capacity or other over the next 2ish years, 700 in one place. The place in question has been under a dark cloud for 9 or 10 years though, same with the place in Glasgow where around 100 jobs will go, having worked there myself it was fairly clear that the place had no long term future. However the timescales that have been announced are shockingly short for all concerned, obviously those who are going to lose their positions but also us who are going to be taking all the additional work
my position within the company covers two very different roles, both of which have been affected by the closures. The main one being the glasgow plant where i used to work, made some amazing friends and still pine for sometimes, the other covering the work done by the site expecting the major percentage of the job losses. i am in a very unique position within the company as i am the only employee to have worked at both sites within the last 2 years outwith management and believe me it's hard. The sadness and loss i feel for my former colleagues who fought for me to be kept on, including my former bosses, the guilt i feel for having a job within the comapny that is ultimately making them redundant and still wanting to be with that company and the slight betrayl that such a large and successful company is prepared to off so many jobs in such a short space of time in such a dreadful work climate.
What has made me even more unhappy over the last week is the media and government treatment of the company, it is, after all, a private comany, naswering to it's shareholders, and isn't exactly in the sort of sector that is necessary so it does really smack of deflection from some angles. Not to mention the fact that a lot of bloggers can't spell Johnnie! Twitter has been rife with bandwagon jumping eejits (which isn't anything new) but really, is there any serious need to start involving the governement on such a strong scale into a private business especially as they will create new jobs as well?
Yes the town that it affects the most will be, for want of a better word, be fucked, but the jobs will still be available in Scotland, the comany could relocate it to China and to be honest the folk i work with are pretty pissed off that their small fife town is bein portayed as some pathetic 3rd world equivalent to where the current plant is located.
(oh by the way, the product in question - isn't "made" in any way in the town in question and most of is is bottled in glasgow anyway,(it's a bit like being snobby about a german car when the electronic components are korean, the engine is european and it's made in Nigeria(i dont know or care if such a thing actually exists)). Ultimately the product is unlikely to be affected anywhere outside the west of scotland with regards to these changes.
Overall us as the plebs at the bottom of the food chain are really feeling it, regardless of whether our job or site is up for review, but such is life working for a private business. I am personally endevouring to get as many of my old colleagues relocated in suitable roles as i can while still showing support for those who will unfortunately still lose their jobs.
Sadly big business is big business, just wish the politicians and media didnt think that it was some big bad ogre that was out to wreck lives, oh and media peeps, stop painting fife to being a shithole, that's my job, i don't tell you how to report on kerry katona's bikini line so don't you start reporting the inadequacies of my adopted region m'kay?
I suppose i should at some point use this as a platform to educate folk a wee bit more about the industry but right now im too tired.
Jilly
ps i have no idea if anyone will even bother reading this (if i can even figure out how to make it public)
I've worked for the company for 2 years now, both here in glasgow and for 9 months in fife and to be honest this is the best job ive ever had. the people are amazing, the work is varied and interesting and further education and career development is encoraged. Not that there arent downsides, i have a helluva commute each day to get to work but ultimately for me it's worth it. I'm not intending to come across as some corporate whore in this, just telling it how i feel.
The current business kicked off last tuesday. I got a phonecall from my boss when i was on holiday asking me to come to a meeting, explaining to her that due to plans it was gonna be awkward she agreed to give me the news over the phone. An hour later an old colleague and close friend called me to say pretty much the same thing; some bad shizzle was going down and no good would come from it.
digression alert: when i was first employed i was earmarked for a perm postition which due to management kerfuffles galore (not fuckups, kerfuffles, two entirely different pokemon) i wasn't taken on. However due to fife's expansion there were full time jobs going there, i duly applied and got one, and having re-acquainted myself with the lingo i am having a ball (aside from tesco forecourt owning half my wage packet each month). Anyhoo...
... I was sat in bed after a heavy night of too much beer and AC/DC expecting the phonecall from my boss when a friend from Manchester IM'd me asking if i'd lost my job, somehow it'd got leaked to the beeb that my old work is to be shut. Understandibly when my boss called 20 mins later she was rather pissed (she is terminally lovely, she has to put up with me after all, and unlike my husband doesn't even get sex in return).
Anyhoo roughly 900 positions are to end in some capacity or other over the next 2ish years, 700 in one place. The place in question has been under a dark cloud for 9 or 10 years though, same with the place in Glasgow where around 100 jobs will go, having worked there myself it was fairly clear that the place had no long term future. However the timescales that have been announced are shockingly short for all concerned, obviously those who are going to lose their positions but also us who are going to be taking all the additional work
my position within the company covers two very different roles, both of which have been affected by the closures. The main one being the glasgow plant where i used to work, made some amazing friends and still pine for sometimes, the other covering the work done by the site expecting the major percentage of the job losses. i am in a very unique position within the company as i am the only employee to have worked at both sites within the last 2 years outwith management and believe me it's hard. The sadness and loss i feel for my former colleagues who fought for me to be kept on, including my former bosses, the guilt i feel for having a job within the comapny that is ultimately making them redundant and still wanting to be with that company and the slight betrayl that such a large and successful company is prepared to off so many jobs in such a short space of time in such a dreadful work climate.
What has made me even more unhappy over the last week is the media and government treatment of the company, it is, after all, a private comany, naswering to it's shareholders, and isn't exactly in the sort of sector that is necessary so it does really smack of deflection from some angles. Not to mention the fact that a lot of bloggers can't spell Johnnie! Twitter has been rife with bandwagon jumping eejits (which isn't anything new) but really, is there any serious need to start involving the governement on such a strong scale into a private business especially as they will create new jobs as well?
Yes the town that it affects the most will be, for want of a better word, be fucked, but the jobs will still be available in Scotland, the comany could relocate it to China and to be honest the folk i work with are pretty pissed off that their small fife town is bein portayed as some pathetic 3rd world equivalent to where the current plant is located.
(oh by the way, the product in question - isn't "made" in any way in the town in question and most of is is bottled in glasgow anyway,(it's a bit like being snobby about a german car when the electronic components are korean, the engine is european and it's made in Nigeria(i dont know or care if such a thing actually exists)). Ultimately the product is unlikely to be affected anywhere outside the west of scotland with regards to these changes.
Overall us as the plebs at the bottom of the food chain are really feeling it, regardless of whether our job or site is up for review, but such is life working for a private business. I am personally endevouring to get as many of my old colleagues relocated in suitable roles as i can while still showing support for those who will unfortunately still lose their jobs.
Sadly big business is big business, just wish the politicians and media didnt think that it was some big bad ogre that was out to wreck lives, oh and media peeps, stop painting fife to being a shithole, that's my job, i don't tell you how to report on kerry katona's bikini line so don't you start reporting the inadequacies of my adopted region m'kay?
I suppose i should at some point use this as a platform to educate folk a wee bit more about the industry but right now im too tired.
Jilly
ps i have no idea if anyone will even bother reading this (if i can even figure out how to make it public)
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- testing times (10th July 2009)
