I worked in the IT department. It was chaotic due to having to constantly 'put out fires' rather than do planned, steady support and projects. And even then, upper management would want to know why we were so behind in our work. And when my supervisors asked for more staff, it was promised, but never fulfilled. Or they would just say no. When a lower manager told upper management how desperate we were, pleading for help, needing more staffing, the VP set up someone to look over our job tickets, who never showed up and made more asinine rules from afar.
There was almost no way to move up, awful raises, little opportunity for growth except for the manager's best friends who got better crumbs. People working in this department for over a decade were still classified at next to the bottom of the band. Most staff never had a promotion, coupled with measly pay raises that have greatly fallen behind most other IT workers. And I assure you, most of these folks were no slackers. I can't understand why they did not move onto a better job like I did. One wonders if they never look outside their cell.
Furthermore, in just about every way upper management showed very little interest in our needs or offhandedly dismissed our well-documented proposals. Instead they imposed nearly impossible mandates or disastrous implementations. When we would present data that showed that much of the hospital would be negatively, seriously impacted by doing things their way, we were frequently told: "Make it work."
All this while they take their obscene salaries and collect bonuses for staying below budget. One director in our department literally told us to "acquire pens" (read steal from other areas) rather than buy them for us. And many other petty things. This guy actually would take away our department Christmas party allocations, putting it back into the budget to make it look like he actually was business savvy; in this way he would achieve his year-end bonus. We got nothing. Not even a Christmas card.
When one senior server engineer mentioned to upper management that the projects assigned to him were impossible to accomplish on schedule -- that he had to work major overtime hours (at no extra pay because he is salaried) or that he needed them to hire an assistant -- management let him know that they can take that his job away from him if he could not handle it!
Also new VPs and Directors showed up only once -- if at all -- to meet with the staff and that would be the last time I saw them for all the years I worked at RWJBH. They had little idea of the day to day work we did.
IT staff were required to come in during major snow storms or hurricanes or floods or tornadoes or any disasters. It did not matter if it added three hours to our commute. Or got us into a accident while the Governor declared a state of emergency and literally closed many roads. That was OUR problem and we were not reimbursed a penny for any extraordinary expenses. No extra compensation either if we had to live at the hospital or a hotel for a few days when off shift, trying to sleep wherever we could. But they did pay overtime if we actually worked beyond normal hours, I'll say that much.
When employees decide their life is more valuable than the job and defy the "Inclement Weather Policy" when enacted, their pay is docked an entire day. They are not allowed to use PTO. If they stayed safely in their homes too many events they are written up, suspended, or fired.
I proposed other progressive and proactive options to HR. The reply from an executive was "This is the way we do it and a other places have the same policy." I responded that "It does not mean it is right. It is not fair, equitable, reasonable, nor do you have any concern whatsoever for employees interests or safety ."
He said he disagreed, offering very weak justifications. Then I asked," Do YOU, and other Executives, who impose this draconian policy, come in during a snow storm?" He did not reply.
