Work Rant: People are Stupid

Long story short, we got bought by a larger company and some inside salespeople were voluntold to be traveling salespeople and was made their Manager.  OK, they are now road warriors, so can I get them cell phones and laptops?  

It took a month and a half to be allowed to request equipment.  It's been a month and a half since my request, with no progress so far.  I made some inquiries and found out that the big bosses are all up in arms over one tiny, insignificant portion of my  request because it cost $300 instead of $100.  This was an additional request, well outside of the core need for my people to have the bare minimum tools to be on the road in 2017, and it is holding everything up.  Meanwhile, when my people leave their desk, they cannot check e-mail, cannot leave a cell phone # with their customers and cannot be reached from the office for questions.  I could have taken care of this in an hour, how can it take over three months?!?!?

And the additional request? I am the only one who keeps the social media streams for this division alive.  When I travel especially, I take photos and post updates, check in at customer locations, etc. So I asked for a phone with enough storage space for social media apps.  Apparently, if I want to help the non-existent marketing team, I should pay for it myself.  

Anyone need a B2B sales and marketing expert? All I ask is an iPhone with more than 32GB.  

People, and particularly middle / upper management, cannot see the forest for the trees.

Sounds like a corporate card is needed here.

It always surprises me when people expect their employer to buy them tools.  Everyone in my office uses their own cell phones for example.  When my wife was a teacher it was a bit worse since she had to outfit an entire classroom with books, paper, writting utensils, etc.

Android with an sd slot?

WilD said:

It always surprises me when people expect their employer to buy them tools.  Everyone in my office uses their own cell phones for example.  When my wife was a teacher it was a bit worse since she had to outfit an entire classroom with books, paper, writting utensils, etc.

Am I using the tool for work purposes? If so, I expect work to pay for it unless it was written in my contract that I have to supply it. ESPECIALLY if it is something that involves an ongoing cost, like a cell phone. 

mtn said:

WilD said:

It always surprises me when people expect their employer to buy them tools.  Everyone in my office uses their own cell phones for example.  When my wife was a teacher it was a bit worse since she had to outfit an entire classroom with books, paper, writting utensils, etc.

Am I using the tool for work purposes? If so, I expect work to pay for it unless it was written in my contract that I have to supply it. ESPECIALLY if it is something that involves an ongoing cost, like a cell phone. 

^^^^THIS.  When I drafted by hand, I supplied my own triangles, templates, leadholders, etc.  But I didn't expect to have to provide my own drafting table, parallel bar, or consumables.  That's the equipment necessary to outfit an architect's office - not the user's property or responsibility.

When I started drafting on a computer, should I have been expected to supply my own?  My own copier or printer?  Desk phone?  Why? 

The fundamental equipment and fixtures necessary to run a modern white-collar business don't change whether the person is based in the home office or on the road.  That stuff is part of the overhead cost of operation, and the company shouldn't be relying on the employees to provide it.

WilD said:

It always surprises me when people expect their employer to buy them tools.  Everyone in my office uses their own cell phones for example.  When my wife was a teacher it was a bit worse since she had to outfit an entire classroom with books, paper, writting utensils, etc.

It always surprises me when people make posts like this.

Not sure your industry, but at least with sales it's pretty much expected you will receive at a minimum a cell phone (or an allowance), a company laptop (or an allowance to purchase one), and my ex-wife traveled extensively and was given $600/month for vehicle expenses (an allowance).

And it was basically the same for every other industry I've worked in with sales. 

I'm not in sales, but even my job gave me a laptop so I can work from home and other places. 

An outside sales guy with no cell phone?  Kiss of death.  

I have a hose vendor outside guy who didn't have his cell number on his card so I called the office.  It is policy not to give out cell numbers.  Is is still 1989?

It almost seems like like middle and senior management at more and more companies are actively trying to figure out ways to make their companies fail. Mine included. Don't worry about it though...Because there's nothing you can do about it. 

And if you haven't already, I would highly-recommend reading "Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide To Surviving with Grace" by Gordon MacKenzie.  

I swear sometimes it's an issue of ego.

My wife encounters this at her organization. HR does not like anyone but top-level leadership having corporate cards, but that's because in most areas employees do not need a company card. In her case, she travels more than even the CEO of the company, so she does. They can't wrap their head around that. 

Sometimes, buying office equipment is a "project" that certain people don't want to give up, but at the same time, they don't want to be the name on the bill for something that is viewed as too expensive. So Joe Blow Supervisor doesn't let his Manager buy cell phones for his employees because he wants that duty as a "I get to say I manage a budget!", but when he gets the bill for $1000 for cell phones, suddenly he realizes it's got his name on it, and he hands those duties back to his Manager, then tells his manager to find a cheaper solution.

I swear sometimes a company that is better off or stronger financially has "decision making momentum" that helps it be more progressive. Companies that are struggling seem to die via paralysis by analysis. A once a month catered lunch for your employees will not kill your business, but having an overly expensive, mostly empty office will. Companies needs to stop dwelling on the little BS stuff that employees actually enjoy and focus on bigger picture stuff that can make them more productive. 

"Gentlemen, we have to protect our phoney-baloney jobs."

It happens everywhere.  I think it has something to do with the size of the business, and a lot to do with how smart the management thinks they are, when it really has more to do with how responsible the employees are, and whether they have the best interest of everyone (customer, self, business) at heart.

If everybody got on board, I could halve Saskatoons snow removal budget.  "Bob, here's the keys to grader #5, and this is the key to the fuel tank.  Your area is betwen Circle Drive and Taylor street.  Keep it clear, call Frank when you need the trucks and blower to come in to start hauling.  If it doesn't snow for a week and the main streets are clear, use your judgement whether clearing is needed on secondary streets, or just come back to the yard and play cards."  Between bureaucrats and union grader operators, it could never happen, but we can hope.

Here's another thing: as a sales manager, what happens to all of the personal relationships my salespeople have built over the years if they leave and go to a competitor?  They will still receive calls on their cell phones because the company doesn't own the numbers!  They will keep answering and simply say "I work for X now, but I can still take care of that order for you."  Short-sighted indeed.  

Similar experience: I've worked for large corporations my entire career--its 3 now, although the last 2 have been the same (Company P was purchased by company C). Anytime we need something done--a purchase, new employee, new system, whatever, it has been Ready, Aim, Aim, Aim, Aim, Aim... ... Aim again, check your Aim, Aim, fire! Now, there has been good reason for this--it is a very heavily regulated industry, and with the intricate interweaving of various departments and functions, there are often unforseen downstream (or even upstream) consequences from one of these decisions. Death by committee is not a joke, and it is also often a necessary evil. 

But one of the things that tipped me over the edge to jump industries and go into a small company was the way that decisions are often made at companies like this, as described to me from an industry contact: Ready, Fire, Aim. We have a problem? Fix it. We'll deal with the fallout later, but this is keeping us from the next step. I like that. Obviously it can't go on like that forever, and I may end up hating that, but right now it feels like it will be a breath of fresh air as I go to find out a pointless answer to a pointless question that will not effect anyone but we need confirmation in writing from 4 people.

Sounds like the new owners are considering their acquisition to be a quick flip for maximum profit. Regardless, if they can't even give you the basic tools to be successful it doesn't bode well for your future there. Once upon a time I was in a similar predicament and decided to move on. Start looking elsewhere.

I foresee this; it was announced Friday that we have been sold. My company cards (yes plural since I can use this one for x and another for xx etc but not including xxx) are through the parent company and I pay a good portion of the bills for the location. I'm really hoping that they have a handle on this but I'm sure I'll be on the phone trying to figure how to get vendors paid instead of what my job normally is.

All this makes me glad I have never worked for a large company. Now that I'm the boss anytime one of the guys asks me for a new tool because it will help them do their job better/faster I think to myself, "Will that make me more money?" Done, it will be here tomorrow. 

I also set up a small account the shop guys can use to buy hand tools, small  power tools, ect. They each have a spending limit each year, but the tools I buy for them are theirs to keep. My only rule is that they are buying something to be used at work.

Gitomer - sales guru guy says to quit complaining and buy your own tool.

Successful people move forward - most have their own phone - use that.  Don't let this hold you back or are these really not outside sales people?

Most company want the outside sales people to have company phones sow hen they move on they keep the # and the clients. If the sales guy moves on to the competitor and takes the cell phone # with them he will more than likely take the clients with him.  You ma want to bring that to the management that is holding up the cell phones for the sales people.

dean1484 said:

Most company want the outside sales people to have company phones sow hen they move on they keep the # and the clients. If the sales guy moves on to the competitor and takes the cell phone # with them he will more than likely take the clients with him.  You ma want to bring that to the management that is holding up the cell phones for the sales people.

 

 

 

 

Probably ought to get on the ball then.

When I was a service tech for a large corporation, I received a directive that as a cost cutting measure, corporate card purchases had to be preapproved by the regional office, no exceptions. 

On a particular job, I needed some bolts I didn't have on the truck. I went to the local hardware and priced everything I needed. It totaled $6.89 including tax. 

It took 4 hours to get approval because all the office staff was in a rah rah ree meeting. 4 hours I spent sitting in my idling truck reading a book, making $23 an hour. 

At my old job it took me a full 12 months to get replacement light bulbs for our photography equipment.  It was about 100 bucks worth of bulbs from the local photography supplier.  However the local place was not an approved vendor.  I had to go through an approved vendor only.  None of our vendors sold the bulbs.  So I had to work with an approved vendor to get them to set up an account with the photography place and act as a middleman.  They charged 100% markup since it was a special order.  But purchasing was happy to pay it.

D2W said:

All this makes me glad I have never worked for a large company. Now that I'm the boss anytime one of the guys asks me for a new tool because it will help them do their job better/faster I think to myself, "Will that make me more money?" Done, it will be here tomorrow. 

I also set up a small account the shop guys can use to buy hand tools, small  power tools, ect. They each have a spending limit each year, but the tools I buy for them are theirs to keep. My only rule is that they are buying something to be used at work.

It's nice to see a boss care and trust his employees. It is so rare theses days. Thumbs way up.

WilD said:

It always surprises me when people expect their employer to buy them tools.  Everyone in my office uses their own cell phones for example.  When my wife was a teacher it was a bit worse since she had to outfit an entire classroom with books, paper, writting utensils, etc.

This can be the norm for a few industries, but not most. It usually comes down to who gets in trouble if the employees select inappropriate tools:

Mechanics are often paid by the job instead of the hour. Better tools means a mechanic can do more jobs in a day and earn more - an extreme case being a story about a mechanic with an oil-sucker machine that let him get 15 minute oil changes done in 2 minutes, letting him rack up an hour's pay in under 10 minutes.

Public schools? They'll get the same taxpayer funding regardless of what extra materials the teachers buy. They don't have much incentive to provide generous equipment allowances.

Your typical office job? If they require employees to bring their own computers and somebody brings in an unreliable desktop because he got a good deal on it, that could well put the employer in the position of paying the employee for fixing a computer all day when they could be paying for the employee to be doing something that actually makes money.

Traveling salesmen and cell phones may seem like a case of "They need the phones if they want a commission, so it's on the salesman to get the right tools," but as several people have noted, this also means that the salespeople will be taking their contact information and contacts with them to whoever their next employer is when they quit... and if the business is tightfisted about salespeoples' expenses and annoys them, that "when" is likely to happen pretty quickly.

I recently had a tenant purchased by a large corporation. They want to make some minor changes to their signage so I got them a quote from our usual sign vendor and asked - do you want me to pay this and bill you or do you want the sign vendor to bill you directly? They said it would take up to a year to add the sign vendor to their approved vendors list! That's absolutely nuts. We're willing to pay the bill and then bill the tenant with no markup but there are plenty of landlords that would tack 25%+ on just for carrying the balance for a month. Plus there are situations where they wouldn't be able to get the work done without paying the vendor directly - I'm sure there are jobs that just can't get done if it takes a year to actually get them lined up with payment. And you can not do the job without a PO and can't get a PO without being an approved vendor.. what a mess. I know they're trying to avoid embezzlement and people using unqualified friends as vendors but it would probably cost less to just fight those when they happen than to have such a convoluted system.