I used to work as a middle manager at a company like this.
Every so often, I'd go to a meeting in which other managers would discuss the "man-hour savings" that they had accomplished, and I would be treated to descriptions of processes that had allegedly shaved whole minutes off one task or another.
"By reducing the time this took to complete," someone might say, "we've saved a total of two-point-five man-hours a week, which will result in a total of one hundred and sixty-two man-hours saved for the quarter."
"Good savings," everyone else would murmur, nodding their heads. "Good savings. Good savings."
Nobody ever mentioned the poor workers who were being forced to meet harder and harder deadlines.
Also, all of the above "efficiency" was more or less hypothetical, not to mention a complete waste of time: The entire system was a bloated mess, and the only really important task that many of us had in a given day was to make that mess look appealing to the people further up the ladder. Worst of all, every time that I had to listen to talks about time saved, I realized how much of my own I was wasting.
Things would get really bad when the higher-ups started discussing budgets.
If something was completed with time to spare, we'd get less of it for the next project. If something was completed under budget, the next one would be even tighter. If something was completed both on time and under budget, a vice president somewhere would get a bonus.
Everyone else would still get shafted, though.
TL;DR: Never forget, that time doesn't belong to you!
RamsesThePigeon on December 28th, 2020 at 14:14 UTC »
I used to work as a middle manager at a company like this.
Every so often, I'd go to a meeting in which other managers would discuss the "man-hour savings" that they had accomplished, and I would be treated to descriptions of processes that had allegedly shaved whole minutes off one task or another.
"By reducing the time this took to complete," someone might say, "we've saved a total of two-point-five man-hours a week, which will result in a total of one hundred and sixty-two man-hours saved for the quarter."
"Good savings," everyone else would murmur, nodding their heads. "Good savings. Good savings."
Nobody ever mentioned the poor workers who were being forced to meet harder and harder deadlines.
Also, all of the above "efficiency" was more or less hypothetical, not to mention a complete waste of time: The entire system was a bloated mess, and the only really important task that many of us had in a given day was to make that mess look appealing to the people further up the ladder. Worst of all, every time that I had to listen to talks about time saved, I realized how much of my own I was wasting.
Things would get really bad when the higher-ups started discussing budgets.
If something was completed with time to spare, we'd get less of it for the next project. If something was completed under budget, the next one would be even tighter. If something was completed both on time and under budget, a vice president somewhere would get a bonus.
Everyone else would still get shafted, though.
TL;DR: Never forget, that time doesn't belong to you!
willofthetrench on December 28th, 2020 at 15:08 UTC »
Congrats! Your comic is a hit! Which means we expect double the comics next time.
Finch06 on December 28th, 2020 at 15:53 UTC »
Similarly. "Thank you for working hard, as a reward you get to do the job of 3 people while still being paid for 1 person."