Message #74251

[gee4]

Ok I realise some things are out of my control, but when there is an action upon you from a meeting you attended, you action it, right?

Today we had our second meeting with management, the union and a representative from HR.  The action upon all of the secretaries from last month's meeting was to draft a list of tasks and daily duties as a starting point to re-writing job descriptions and ascertaining what the company needs as regards future secretarial support.

I was shocked that management started off the meeting by repeating a lot of what they had discussed previously.  It was only when they began asking us for assistance by outlining our duties, did I point out an action had been bestowed upon us to do just that.  It was clear looking round the table I was the only one who had done what was asked of me.

At first I was a little embarrassed and several individuals jibed about not having time, trying to make out I must have had too much time on my hands.  I got angry and couldn't believe everyone was making a joke.  Here I was, only in the company 2 years, with other secretaries who have been here 20 years, moaning about their workload, having engaged the union to act on their behalf, yet they had done nothing to help themselves.  Not only that, but they were all still griping about the "list" and still seemed unclear as to what "secretarial support" actually meant.  Some seemed to think it only referred to booking travel.

I seriously couldn't believe what I was hearing and made a point of saying that I clearly understood my duties and was carrying them out.  I highlighted that not only do I provide secretarial support for my boss, but also for other programme managers.  It seems whilst I am carrying on with my job, others are still griping about certain aspects.

In the end an action was taken by management to draft a "template" for the secretaries to complete based on headings they would provide.  I had no problem with that but felt that since I complied the first time round, I was now having to reproduce work I had already done.  The timeframe for this was set at 3 weeks which I found bizarre.  Why would it take anyone 3 weeks to complete a template/questionnaire based on what they do on a daily basis.  Not only that, but it is going to take management a further 2 weeks to collate the findings.

All in all this has resulted in a total of 5 weeks work which, in my opinion, could have been avoided if the other secretaries had carried out the task they were actioned with in the first place.

My question to those of you reading this is, why did only 1 person out of 13 complete the task asked of them, and why did 12 other secretaries not bother to find the time to help themselves in this situation when they are the ones who have engaged the union to sort this out?

Had I chaired this meeting myself I would have abandoned it and demanded the secretaries completed the action bestowed upon them within 48 hours.

I felt it was a complete waste of time and we are now 5 weeks behind instead of ahead.  Given our next meeting is 5 weeks away, it's clear there will be nothing done on this subject before Christmas or the new year.