Precisely why people quit without notice
There's a process at my job that normally only has a dozen or so accounts to review, and one person can usually review over half that many in about an hour.
Pretty low-stress.
Then one day out of the blue, we had over 150 accounts. It just exploded. Everyone was freaking out and just hoping it was a bizarre spike and that the following days would be back to normal so we could try to catch back up. What we didn't know, because the supervisor is a fuck-up, is that there was some new process in place that was triggering the high volume and that this was going to be the new standard.
Boss figured we should be able to do close to 300 or more each day. 6 accounts per hour x 8 hours = 48. 48 x 6 people =288. Basic math.
The boss failed to consider two tiny details. First, it's actually a two-person process. There are so many little details to review, the work has to be reviewed by another person before it's released. So, right there the total we can work is cut in half.
The second thing they didn't consider is that nobody works exclusively on that one process all day. Most people spend half their day on other essential tasks, and some only have an hour to spare for this. So, realistically, we probably can only finish 70 or so accounts each day, leaving the rest to pile up with whatever new volume comes the next day, and the day after that.
Weeks go by with us just straining to keep our heads above water. Every day, the boss verbally flogs us for not doing enough, work harder, get it done, just do it do it do it. No, of course there's no overtime because this is the new standard and we should get used to it. Absolutely zero sympathy of any sort.
After about 3 weeks, boss calls a meeting and includes upper management, because nothing spurs productivity like taking time away from a process to yell at us. Upper management makes a thinly veiled threat that we are not in compliance with corporate policy by failing to get the work completed. He follows this by stating that violations of corporate policy can result in termination.
Yeah, we were basically told we could be fired because no one planned for this volume (or planned badly) and we are incapable of bending space and time to get more work done each day than is physically possible.
The upside of this conversation for me was I officially stopped giving the slightest fuck about anything they could say. I even stopped making that task a priority. Fire me? Be my goddamned guest. Then you'll get even less work done with even fewer people.
But I'm sure that somehow won't be *your* fault.
The boss failed to consider two tiny details. First, it's actually a two-person process. There are so many little details to review, the work has to be reviewed by another person before it's released. So, right there the total we can work is cut in half.
The second thing they didn't consider is that