Work - The pros and the cons... - The Bear and Badger

JonB

Yes, excellent stuff Tempy. I also had a shitty 2020 with it, but things are looking a little better this year so far.

Tempy

Cheers Jon. Got a ways to go till I am managing to make this fully sustainable or managing as much regular output as yourself!

JonB

I haven't actually done much in these last 2 months. A few reviews and a couple of op-eds/features. It's more that it feels like it's starting to get more reliable, and should pick up in the next few months.

Unlikely

Well done to you both for all the hard work.

cockbeard

Woohoo, won't be confirmed until Thursday, but it sounds like I start being a data-monkey again on 12th April. Second interview seemed to go really well, despite them using a few bits of jargon I completely didn't understand, but could describe similar functions and tools elsewhere within the systems

Now to find somewhere to live that has some office space

g.man

Ooooh! Sounds promising then

JonB

Unlikely wrote:

Well done to you both for all the hard work.

Thanks.

nick_md

Top stuff you two, I hope you both have good ethics

JonB

Depends on the size of the bribe.

handsofblue

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56130187

Headline: CEO Secrets: 'My billion pound company has no HR department'

Octopus CEO puts his faith in managers to deal with shit. I would not be trusting my managers to deal with my HR issues and they would fuck up anything related to IT.

This is stupid, right? Right?!

acemuzzy

Yes

Yossarian

It’s pretty useful to have a neutral party available if there’s a dispute between a manager and one of their reports.

mistercrayon

He sounds like a cock.

Diluted Dante

"I don't have an IT department"

Well I'm certainly never going near your fucking company then.

mistercrayon

My suspicion is that it’s just fake bravado and he has a Hub where all the Computers people work. Or he outsources the IT and he’s mostly just a sales force.

Diluted Dante

"I don't directly employ IT or HR staff"

Yeah, that sounds more likely tbh.

poprock

All outsourced, for sure. Octopus are almost 100% online, damn straight they need IT support.

Yossarian

IT here is probably referring to an internal IT support team rather than web devs, although they may well outsource the web development anyway.

handsofblue

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I think it's bullshit. But I'm still perplexed as to the articles existence on the herb at all, and it's bizarrely short of commentary and context. Why's it there? And why'd Twitter show me an Octopus and earlier? The been doing advertising now?

RedDave2

I think its interesting. I do believe many internal HRs are pointless departments (wait, hear me out) because often instead of being the go between of the company and the employees, they sit on the fence and try not to rock the boat (I have to say I have limited experience of them first hand, but from what I've heard from friends and my wife, their experiences are piss poor).

However, what I found works (and to be fair, I work in a company that at tops was 45-50 employees) was to provide clear structure within the company where employees can take issues and bring them to managers but also include an outsourced HR advisory company whose express role was to protect the employee. Not because it is better for the employee (it is) but because they would help prevent a manager making a mistake that was likely to come back in a case against us. They advised on any typical HR matters but they were there to protect both sides and help us deal with issues before they became legal problems.

In terms of IT, I'd find it hard to imagine he doesnt have an IT department for a company that size and working in the industry it is. I dont have an IT department and we would have managers cover that particular aspect but we do have one designated manager who is directly responsible in terms of keeping things working but in terms of actual tech work he will out source when needed.

handsofblue

I think small companies are fine having outsourced HR and IT providers. More efficient. But to claim to not have access to either of these things doesn't inspire me with confidence. I wouldn't want to be their customer and give over my personal and banking details.

HR not rocking the boat is fine, their job is to be risk averse and mediate to keep the company out of trouble. Although I suppose in house HR could cause problems if the dept is toxic.

How many you got in your company, Dave, just out of curiosity? I've only ever worked for my family business and large nationals. Except that one time I worked for a cultish door to door for a day and a half and got paid nothing.

Now Facebook is telling me about Octopus as well.

Yossarian

RedDave2 wrote:

an outsourced HR advisory company whose express role was to protect the employee.

That’s one way for a company to reduce the chances of their workforce unionising, I guess.

Syph79

Diluted Dante wrote:

"I don't have an IT department" Well I'm certainly never going near your fucking company then.

I was transferred to them last year, when they bought out Co-op Energy. They didn't tell me, or give me the chance to end my contract at that point. I had them write off around 3 months of bills as a consequence, as I argued I had no contract with them. Maybe some people managing systems would have avoided that for them.

handsofblue

I'm sure the ombudsman would be interested to hear about that.

GooberTheHat

I've just found out that my boss for the last 18 months, who has behaved pretty poorly towards me and who I didn't trust not to be undermining me behind my back, has recently tried to do an incredibly shitty thing to me, which has confirmed my suspicions. Luckily the person he tried to pull this scheme off with was having non of it and has submitted a complaint against him.

Time to lawyer the fuck up.

Diluted Dante

Ahaha, that's awesome. Bury the prick.

mistercrayon

What the fuck. Thats ridiculous. Why would a person be like that?!

Wookienopants

Lawyer up! Take him to court, get rich. Spend the rest of your time on a tropical island earning 20%

Dinostar77

Better call ~~saul~~..gonzo

GooberTheHat

mistercrayon wrote:

What the fuck. Thats ridiculous. Why would a person be like that?!

I think he was jealous or insecure. His predecessor and I got on brilliantly, and our work was recognised and rewardrd at a very high level. I'm not sure what his issue is but he's proved to be dishonest, manipulative, petty and malicious. I need to investigate and find out exactly what he's done so I make sure I approach it correctly. I had suspicions he was bad mouthing me behind my back in order to mask his own failings, so I need to know if he's turned anyone against me that might make any complaint proceeding more difficult.

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