Pavlov's Dog

So the Employee Engagement Survey results are out for this year and management are having a ball. There has been apparently an improvement in this year's scores and employees think that management is much more effective this year. Whoop-di-do. It is of course worthy to note that the employees are less engaged however than last year. Does that mean people like the management but they don't like working for the company? Perhaps they feel like the company is hoarding away all this wonderful money and they aren't sharing the wealth. Why is it that when times are bad a company expects its employees to “understand” and put up with salary freezes but when times are good, targets are always so elusive that you never get paid out a bonus? One of the questions on this survey is “My manager involves me in setting my targets”, sure my manager involved me. She asked me if I thought it was too ambitious and when I said yes, she disagreed and the target was set the way she wanted it. It's nice that they ask for my opinion and it's also nice to know that it means nothing. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother, but I can understand that they want to get it through my thick head that I'm just another machine and that I'm not entitled to an opinion. Instead of just letting me be, they just insult my intelligence. Yes that's so much better, that'll teach me not to have an opinion again.

And like Pavlov's dog, if it's done enough times I will learn to jump when they tell me to jump. Next time my boss says jump, I'll say how high. We're all their bitches and that's just the way of the world. If I don't like it, I can pack my shit and get the hell out of there. They'll be a new girl just like me sitting my seat in no time and since she'll be new, she'll probably be much more productive anyway. Don't get too excited though, it's only a matter of time till her souls withers away and she becomes a disgruntled mediocre performer, just like me. And Pavlov would be proud.