How to survive in the office watch. “A generation burned out at work”: a female scientist gives advice on how to survive in the office. If I wish, I can officially renounce my “right to smoke” - then the company will partially compensate me for the costs of fitness clubs. "If to
Now, when I write these lines, it’s as if I’m trying to remember my dream: as if I was working as a secretary - I wear a jacket, stand in morning traffic jams, have lunch in the office canteen. Only in the most difficult moments can I, as in a lucid dream, say to myself: “Stop. This is not real!”
Interview
Tell me, Julia, what is the best way to praise you? Would you rather have a raise or a thank you?
- Is it not possible to do both?
I am sitting on the fourth floor of a glass parallelepiped, which, like a mirage, rises in the middle of a littered industrial area, far from the metro and human habitation. A white antique portico is absurdly soldered to the mirrors from the street. I'm getting a job.
When I actually tried to become a secretary ten years ago, men usually interviewed me and immediately unobtrusively began to find out whether I was ready to sleep with them. That, in fact, was where it all ended. Since then, I have never gotten a job in a real office. It turns out that during this time everything has changed: any decent company has a personnel department, interviewers are all women, insightful, picky and well trained. They ask strange, ridiculous questions: “Do you like to cook?”, “How would you spend a million?” The questions seem stupid, but it works.
- Camera? And then? On a big trip? And then what?
They didn’t take me to this office. It was necessary not to show off and answer as expected. The trouble is that I’m used to “selling” myself as a piece product, and a good secretary is a serial product.
My dream takes a leap, and now I’m in another place - in the PUMA consulting association, where there are already about 10 female psychologists, a whole large department. At their HR department, there are queues of applicants, everyone is rustling their application forms. I also take the test and automatically check boxes next to statements like “I am sometimes irritable,” “Friends say I am a sympathetic person,” and even “The customer is always right.” Then they give me a Russian language test and a computer knowledge test: “Is a virus a program, a bacterium, or a special device?”
I’m almost sure that they won’t hire me: the handwriting is too bad for a secretary and everything is filled out sloppily. But for some reason, the next day they call me back and invite me to an interview with the manager. The leader is a businesswoman named Lyudmila. She has a tense, mechanical gait, her hair is pulled back into a knot, her gaze nervously jumps along the walls and ceiling. “Everything here is built on the principles of technology and optimization,” she says, her voice breaking. It seems that the conversation with me is extremely unpleasant for her, but she smiles stoically, as if saying: “Yes, I understand, a person should smile in any situation.”
My legend: after college I looked after children, never worked anywhere, you have to start somewhere.
—Are you going to take sick leave if your children get sick?
- God forbid!
Again, I’m almost sure of failure, but the next day they call me back again: now I have an interview with the director. It is, apparently, already purely formal. The director asks why I chose this company. "Because it's big." The answer suits him quite well. And they hire me with a three-month probationary period. I fill out a lot more paperwork. In particular, if I wish, I can officially renounce my “right to smoke” - then the company will partially compensate me for the costs of fitness clubs. “If you smoke, don’t sign,” the HR girl advises. “We have such a principle here - “Honesty”, for violation they are fired.” I like it and I honestly don't sign it. Starting Monday I go to work.
Habitat
The main thing is to escape from home before the children wake up. Otherwise, you will inevitably be late: the children will always find some cunning and naive reasons to detain me - pour juice, turn off the light, turn on the water, or just “sit with me.” A nanny can do all this, but they still turn to me. And I secretly sneak out of the house and go to the bus stop, wondering why people don’t look back at me, because I move with such dexterity on the ice in heels.
And here I am - the secretary. My office is located on the sixth floor of a large Brezhnev glass building, with an endless industrial landscape opening from the windows. When entering the company, I must attach an electronic pass to the sensor to record working hours - lateness will be deducted from my salary. Anyone who is never late in a month has the right to an incentive four-hour day off. I'm going to my department. In the center of the office there is a large ping-pong table, next to it there is a shelf with gold cups and pennants. The room I work in is built into the mezzanine, so it has very low ceilings. The windows are from table level to the floor; striped daylight pours through the blinds. Shelves with documents are entwined with light green indoor ivy. There is a stand on the wall with a “Department Competition” poster and some complicated graphs.
Lyudmila is sitting in the far corner by the window. Their backs are to ordinary employees; they have an “open” position: you can see what they do on computers. More advanced clerks have a “closed” position, and so do I: as a secretary, I cannot sit with my back to the entrance. As I later found out, the tables were arranged for a reason, but according to the rules of “office feng shui.” From the next room you can regularly hear sounds similar to the sound of the surf: “Oh, they’re clapping. We have people clapping all the time here.”
Coordinator Tatyana explains to me what's what. My workplace- a table on which there are two statements, green and red: receipt and transmission of documents. The documents are as follows: an acceptance certificate, a reconciliation act, an agreement, an invoice, an invoice, a delivery note and a letter - it seems that’s all. They bring me a document, I put its six-digit number in the red list, take it to a certain OIS, there it is entered in the second list, given to the required employee for signature, entered in the third sheet and brought back to me, and I write it down in the green sheet. After that, an employee of my department puts the document in a special box and from there it goes to the client. That's all the work. There are usually about 30 documents per day. The work is not difficult, even pleasant: when there are a lot of pieces of paper at once, I am happy to classify them, label them and send them to the right employees. All this is not urgent: one paper must pass through all authorities, usually within a week.
Tatyana and I order pencils, stickers, scissors, and a hole punch for me from the warehouse. Then we slowly follow them. Tatyana is calm, smart and feminine - she never rushes and manages to do everything. She has a smooth, beautiful gait, she is always ready to help and explain. Ideally, I should be like that too. Tatyana has been working at PUMA for a year and a half: “I like it. Everything is stable here, everything is white. I used to work as an administrator in slot machines, and the attitude there was different. There, for example, you couldn’t sit down if there was at least one client in the room—you had to stand or walk.”
Our company sells a certain product that cannot be touched, smelled, or eaten, although this thing is quite important. It's part information, part service. For brevity, let's call this product Good. Dobro is produced by another company, and organizations buy it primarily - from small shops and kindergartens to large corporations. Private individuals like me rarely need it. Goods must be delivered to clients once a week. I work in the OSD - the Good Support Department. The department has about 100 employees, but most of them are rarely in the office: they travel around the city, delivering Goods to clients and are called “specialists.” On average, they need to travel around 15 points a day. They communicate with their bosses via SMS - they have a special table of codes.
Specialists are managed by foremen, foremen are managed by managers, and they, in turn, are managed by the head of the department. Bosses address their subordinates as “you,” and they address them as “you.” Above the leaders are only directors, there are two of them - tactical and strategic. One basically signs contracts, the other writes corporate rules. The second director, Daniil Vorontsov, is apparently a great intellectual - a graduate of the Physics and Technology Institute. The company's website says he loves Jarmusch, Hesse and Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Tatyana takes me around the company, showing me the huge sales departments, in which, like black chess pieces, managers in suits sit in their fenced cells. Their task is to find new clients among those who still do not know anything about Dobro. There is also a special unit where an employee calls different organizations and, introducing himself as a person from tax office or a business directory compiler, finds out whether this company has Dobro. But OIS is the information support department. Here, firstly, they make sure that the client does not refuse weekly deliveries, and, secondly, they strive to sell him new types of Goods, of which there are a lot.
While my workspace is being set up, I start reading Ken Kesey’s book, “Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” recommended by the director. Noticing this, the boss immediately provided me with manuals on Goodness and a guide to the company. It turns out that in order to pass the probationary period, I will need to pass a test on knowledge of corporate ethics and the principles of PUMA. There are five principles: “Be honest!”, “Keep your word!”, “Create value!”, “Help others!”, “Learn!”. The company has an anthem in which all five principles are set out in verse: “PUMA is us, striving for a goal / United and worthy, for the benefit of the whole country. / There are many of us, we are all different, but only in every matter / For Five main principles are especially important to us: / Honesty and openness are a reliable basis for us, / We are used to valuing trust in our work. / And if you, my friend, give and keep your word, / That means you are with us! It may be difficult, but hang in there! / And we have long understood that the price is not only experience, / And not the amount of work, not the weight of labor costs. / It is more important to be useful, to work conscientiously, / So that values are created, the result is visible!” The anthem, as they explained to me, is sung twice a year, during major corporate holidays. I also learn that the doors of the directorate are literally always open and that “married couples do not work at PUMA, alas.”
I’m not going to start a family here, but in general, I rather like everything that’s written in the manual - it looks like the person who wrote it all was sincere. The only thing that confuses me is that there is too much of it all: decrees, instructions, explanations, tables of ranks (head - brilliant, director - two brilliants, founder - three brilliants, expert - one branch, leading expert - two branches), how many minutes are spent per day for smoking, how does this relate to the lunch break... A discussion about the nature of the five principles... Mission: “We contribute to the development of Russia by helping our client make the right decisions faster”... It seems that the author of the text cannot stop, trying again and again to convey to his subordinates, something very important to him.
"Anapa. Ankara. Alaska... Is this a city or not? By evening, there is less work, and the foremen play “city games” while waiting for reports. Someone creatively drew a silhouette of a businesswoman in heels and holding a briefcase on the computer, while others are discussing the merits of her bust. “Let’s go play,” the female employee says to the male employee. “Tennis?” - I happily ask. “No-o-o-o-o, we’re playing a business game...”
I'm still waiting for my phone and computer to be installed. I’ve already read everything about the company and Dobro and am hanging around the office. Female cleaners sit at the tennis table and stamp some brochures. I take pictures of them with my cell phone. In the corridor along the wall under the stand “Shock Workers of Capitalist Labor” there are Ikea tables about waist high, on the tables there are computers, at which young employees, shifting on their heels, are looking at some websites. I take pictures of them too. "What is this?" - I ask. “This is Internet access. What are you doing here? Do you work at OSD? Well, get to work." I’m trying to log into my mail, it’s bad and slow - the computers are old, everything freezes, and it’s also uncomfortable: this is the most accessible place, everyone can see what you’re doing. Now you’ll have to get used to the fact that you don’t “sit” on the Internet, but “stand.”
Suddenly a piercing bell is heard from somewhere, like at school. "Attention. Blocking. Doors. Attention. Blocking. Doors." - says the automated man from the loudspeaker. This means the work shift is ending.
I finally got my computer done, but there were only fifteen minutes left before the end of the work day. I asked Lyudmila to postpone studying the system until tomorrow and went home, where the children attacked me like Solaris phantoms, unable to spend a single second apart from their creators.
Business games
Before finally starting work, I must undergo two days of training along with other new employees of the department. I come to training for recruits and immediately feel like a black sheep: nine guys and me. However, this gives me the opportunity to behave freely without fear of exposure.
The classes are taught by a full-time psychologist, Fedya, a short, stocky man in jeans with round hamster cheeks. Fedya is witty and shines with professionalism: “I’ll tell you honestly: “PUMA” is the best,” he says. Guys are shy, naive and ambitious. They, like me, are working for the first time big company and we are very happy about it. Almost all of them are from the Moscow region and are looking for an apartment. At first their salary will be the same as mine - 13 thousand. The classes begin with everyone dividing into two teams, each of which must build a paper tower at least 180 centimeters high in 10 minutes. The guys cheerfully rush into battle. "Faster! Faster! - shouts the novice specialist. “We need to make it higher than theirs!” I laugh: no one said that the tower should be higher. "And what? - says Fedya. — Competition is natural, it’s main principle nature." I look at the two paper towers and understand that Fedya and Freud really know something important about life.
- What is the most important thing? Team spirit? Right! Clear plan? Right! — Fedya writes on the board. He generally writes everything on the board - even to the point that you need to say hello to the client. Specialty classes begin. We play the accompaniment of Good. We are specialists, Fedya is a generalized conditional client, who for some reason is always called Inna Lvovna. Fedya very funny and convincingly portrays this Inna Lvovna - a narrow-minded soviet aunt who is not very interested in Good, but if we behave correctly, she is able to get used to it and love it.
“Hello, Inna Lvovna,” we repeat in unison. — I’m from the company “PUMA”! I will come to you once a week... Inna Lvovna, you can read the magazine “Time for Good”. This is a magazine published by our company, in which you will find a review of Good for the last week and interesting articles.
- Great, now do the same, just add: “Here is my business card.”
— Hello, Inna Lvovna. I'm from the PUMA company. I’ll be coming... damn, I forgot about the business card... - the big guy Eduard gets confused, blushes like a schoolboy, and starts all over again.
We must learn all phrases by heart. The greeting scene is played dozens of times. We go out the door, knock and do it all over again. “He’s already tired of it,” the guys in the corridor complain. I’m trying to somehow diversify the script, I say: “Here, read our magazine...” Fedya immediately stops me: “According to the text, please.” (Stop! This is not all for real!) Then, in the same way, we unlearn the options for our actions in cases where Inna Lvovna behaves inappropriately: we know what to say if she doesn’t have time, if she is dissatisfied with Good or has a problem a question that can only be answered at PUMA. “I understand, Inna Lvovna, this is a serious question. Our specialists can answer this hotline. Do you have access to the city through number nine? Let me dial." The task is for Inna Lvovna to get used to “PUMA” and learn to call there as often as possible. Fedya does it naturally, but not so much with us.
You cannot say any negative words, such as “long”, “slow”, “expensive”, and you cannot ask questions that can be answered “no”. Fedya teaches us to smile, not to talk while walking (it turns out that this is very important) and urgently demands that we all have something “breath refreshing” in our pockets.
We break into pairs, now I am Inna Lvovna. I get a sad forty-year-old Jew who really stands out in this company. He has been working at PUMA for a long time and came to the training to “refresh his knowledge.” He tries very hard, tells me in detail about Dobro - as if he is actually talking to the client.
“You look really pitiful and ingratiating,” I notice.
“This is my mask,” he answers proudly.
At the same time, it turns out that we are intelligence officers - in the client’s office we need to understand to what extent the products of the main competing company (let’s call it Evil) may be present here. If we see a business card, a ballpoint pen or a calendar with the symbols of Evil on the table, we must inform our manager about it on the same day. The war between Good and Evil is legendary - they say that in the nineties, when Good separated from Evil, it almost reached the point of assault. Now everything is civilized, but still the entire company can be fined for the phrase “Good and Evil are the same thing.” And I, it seems, accidentally said it...
Those who catch an Evil spy or other competitors in PUMA will receive a bonus. “You can do this for ideological reasons, but if you wish, it will be rewarded with a bonus from 1 to 12 (annual earnings!) of your salary, depending on the volume and value of the information. We strictly adhere to the principles in relation to our employees, customers and suppliers (we do not fight with them). The situation with competitors is different; we are in a state of marketing war with them. And in war it’s like in war...” explains director Vorontsov.
During a break between trainings, I go to my department. Fedya is sitting at the boss’s desk with his back to me. I hear him say: “I don’t know about the secretary...” Lyudmila interrupts him: “And here is Yulia herself...” Fedya leaves, Lyudmila looks at me with prickly, unseeing eyes: “Tell me, why did you take pictures of our employees with your mobile phone yesterday? Several people have already expressed their bewilderment... In addition, on the first day of work, you left fifteen minutes early. This is the second one. How can you do reading? FICTION in the office, I don’t understand at all. I know you have been sitting at home for many years, but now you have come to work for the company. Remember: work is not for you, but you are for work.” Her metallic voice touches some very deep childish complexes in me, I awkwardly apologize and promise not to do anything like that in the future. She softens, gives me a meticulous motherly look: “And do something with your hair. Otherwise you look like you just got out of bed.”
A crisis
Sign, Inna Lvovna,” I clumsily try to joke with the manager who took my escort exam.
“You don’t have to call me Inna Lvovna.” It’s me Inna Lvovna there, but not here.
By the end of the first week, I was already quite comfortable with my job. I seem to be coping well; it seems that nothing fundamentally new is expected in the coming days. I ask Lyudmila for permission to travel with one of the client specialists, maybe I can sometimes replace someone. She reluctantly promises to think about it, but the next day she refuses: “Now is not the time. This is not necessary for your work. You are tied to the office by a long chain.”
My colleagues took me for granted. Nobody asks me any questions; my attempts to communicate are answered in monosyllables. I bring them the documents, they sign without looking. I already know everyone by sight and last name, but I can’t choose who to sympathize with, because everyone behaves the same way. Outside the company, they are probably completely different people, this is obvious. The immense Shishkina, a former director of a travel agency, most likely, does not at all look like the fit, dark-skinned Volzhskaya - but there is no way to verify this. I can only guess. It seems that there was only one person I felt close to - or maybe I made it up. This is a modest fifty-year-old manager in the far corner, with a sad smile reminiscent of Akaki Akakievich. He kindly explained to me for several minutes how best to fill out the form. I would like to talk to him, but I can’t: he doesn’t smoke and always leaves work exactly at six, but I have to sit until seven.
I have to sit at the computer and read corporate humor and the creativity of employees - this option is available to me, just like the working one Email. Among the anecdotes about blondes, praises of the company, football chants (“There are no men in the world yet / Better than a PUMovets”), I unexpectedly find someone’s touching poem: “Autumn is coming, it’s become cloudy, / Something is leaving, someone is gone ,/ Life freezes, it becomes quieter,/ The sun descends lower in the sky./ People from work and to work,/ Everyone is tired, I wish it was Saturday,/ Well, and after that it’s Monday again,/ People shout: Get to work, you slacker!/ I would like to find a place where there are people, fun, / Maybe my mood will return, / Life will become better, more wonderful and more beautiful, / Maybe in the movies, but again not ours...” The author is anonymous.
Several times a day someone is scolded in our office. Mostly, managers scold specialists: “According to the rules of our company, you cannot make calls from your phone regarding your questions while at a client’s place!” “You didn’t get to the client, and I’m responsible for this!” Then Lyudmila scolds the managers, for example, because they forgot that February 25 is a day off: “It’s not you who will answer, I will answer!” The accused never really answer anything and go to their jobs with sad faces.
In the middle of the day, one of the managers asks for attention. His face is serious and concerned: “Last week, while I was on sick leave,” he announces gloomily, “one of our employees had a birthday. Congratulations, Dima!” “Hello!” - the employees chant in unison and immediately go to their places.
In general, in our office we always praise and congratulate someone. Now I understand why applause can be heard regularly. “This week the leader of the escort was Mokrukhina’s brigade. Congratulations!” “Specialist Malyshev made great progress this week. Congratulations!” Malyshev is given a Beeline telephone card worth 250 rubles. The criterion for quality work is a certain number of efficiency factors, which is calculated based on the number of clients, the percentage of agreement failures and many other factors. Efficiency indicators for teams are posted weekly for everyone to see. Depending on the efficiency, the best foremen, the best managers and the best department are appointed. I saw this somewhere recently... And here it is: “Everyone in the department is proud of the way the patients cooperate. We have a brass plaque nailed to a maple plaque that says, “Congratulations to the department with the fewest staff.” This is a prize for cooperation. It hangs on the wall above the logbook, exactly in the middle between the chronicles and the acute ones.”
And I am a secretary, there is no one to compare me with, so they only scold me. Once I was 20 minutes late two days in a row. “You start your work with systematic delays. It is not normal. This calls into question your passage probationary period. Remember: work is not for you, but you are for work,” says Lyudmila.
I'm upset and go to smoke on the stairs.
“Don’t pay attention,” my colleague Vitya consoles me, whom, to my shame, I always confuse with my colleague Denis, although they are not at all similar. - It's a matter of habit. Everyone is scolded. My method is this: I listened, nodded, and forgot.
“You can’t do that, they’ll deprive you of your bonus,” says another guy.
- Well, to hell with her.
— The manager will also be deprived of his bonus.
- What do you care? - I ask.
- Well, a bad relationship with the manager means you can’t ask for time off or change with someone. Everything is connected here.
“Let’s go on strike,” the guy jokes. “We’ll come to the office and refuse to work, we’ll sit here with posters.”
- Yeah, so they could fire us all and hire new ones in three days? Thank you.
— They say that half the department is leaving the OIS. They have such a system - if a client “jumps”, it’s a minus for them. No, you will get your 20 thousand anyway, but there will be no bonus until you make up for this minus with sales. And selling is a matter of luck; rarely does anyone succeed. So they sit and work hard for 20 thousand. If you accidentally go into the negative, it will always be so. How does he know why the client stopped buying Good? Maybe he doesn't need it at all.
Yeah, now I think I understand why there is such a huge HR department here. No one can stand it for long?
Every time around 4-5 pm, unbearable fatigue hits me. Contract numbers float before your eyes, jokes on the computer won’t make you laugh. I start checking my watch every minute, waiting for the end of my shift. Colleagues in their free time continue to discuss the bust of a computer woman drawn last week. I really want to move. “Does anyone want to play a quick game of ping pong with me?” - I ask. Everyone is silent, only Vitya politely explains: “It’s allowed only after 19.00.”
In order to somehow change the situation, I quickly cope with another portion papers and go to the common lounge, where there is tea and a black leather sofa. While the tea is brewing, I sit on the sofa. What if you close your eyes? I think about Lyudmila: I wonder if she has a family? Dog? Does she listen to music? Clerks at nearby tables chatter about the meaning of life, their conversation merges into a steady hum. It's train noise. And I’m like a guide, my job is to choose the lucky ones from the six-digit contract numbers, where the first and last digits give the same amount. These numbers should be posted on the honor board and awarded with a prize. I slowly make my way through the long reserved seat carriage and collect tickets from the managers. The faces of Shishkina, Volzhskaya, Mokrukhina float by, and in a dream it occurs to me that they also need to be numbered so as not to write down the names each time, it will be faster and easier - optimization. Where are we going? “Our goal is to be a leader in sales and service, constantly improving the quality of our services to the client,” replies the train manager. Suddenly I see that I have lost my shoes, and I go to look for them. I look into different departments - OP1, OP2, OIS1, OIS2, ORPK, OPD, OPS, OKO, ORP, OPC, ITO, OA - and I just can’t find them, so I walk around with my bare legs. The wheels are knocking, in time with the wheels, their heels are clicking, my older sister walks past me, and I understand that it is Lyudmila: “Come to me,” she says and leaves. The orderlies in the rest room begin to whisper, and in my sleep I think: they are good people after all, they don’t want to wake me up.
Standing in front of me is Tatiana, the coordinator. She's desperate.
- Why did you do that? Why did you even come here? Why did you sit on the sofa?
- How long has it been? - Judging by the clock, my sleep lasted about twenty minutes.
- Don't know. When Lyudmila finds out, it won't be good.
Pay
Stop! This isn't real! The next day I try to shake off my lack of will, dress nicely, come early, treat everyone to oranges, smile, say that today is Orange Day, everyone laughs.
- Come to me.
At lunchtime Lyudmila fires me.
“You’ve caused criticism before.” But what happened yesterday is INCREDIBLE!
- How did you find out about this?
— The head of another department entered the break room. He reported THIS to the personnel department and even took a photograph of IT on mobile phone“Lyudmila answers proudly.
Before receiving the payment, I go to talk with director Vorontsov, the same author of the company’s internal ideology who loves Kesey. I have a lot of questions for him: “How is this? For what? Why all these hymns, efficiency, badges with diamonds? Why did he, an intelligent and educated person, choose such a style and path for himself?”
It's very easy to meet him. Any employee can make an appointment with him through Outlook. Vorontsov turns out to be not a cynic, as I thought. He is a very good person - honest, smart, slightly shy, but really open to communication. “Just when employees have no questions or objections to me, this is an alarming symptom.” He is a tourist kayaker, and gained leadership experience in mountain hikes at the institute: “When everyone needs to overcome an obstacle, everyone has their own responsibility and a common goal.” He had only two positions in his life - a researcher and a company director (“In the nineties, the state stopped funding science, and I had a wife and a small child”). Yes, he read "Over the Cuckoo's Nest" ten years ago, for him it is a really important book. If you don’t like it, he says, you can leave PUMA, it’s not forced treatment, like Kesey’s. “There are only two or three people there who are treated voluntarily...” I take out a book and quote:
“Actually, in our department, very few people undergo compulsory treatment. Only Scanlon and... It seems, some of the chronicles. And you. And there are not many of them in the hospital. Very little…
- Tell me, why? You complain, you whine all day long about how disgusted you are here, how disgusted you are with your sister and all her dirty tricks, and it turns out that no one is keeping you here. I can still understand some of those old people. They're not normal. But you, of course, you don’t meet people like that at every turn, but how crazy are you?”
Yes, he forgot a lot, but, in the end, this is not the main thing, but the main thing is that “freedom must be within.” The company came to him naturally, like a biological structure. He didn't plan anything in advance. At first there were three people in the company, then 10, then 50, now 700. Yes, he read American textbooks, some of them stuck, some didn’t. Did he try something completely different? Of course I tried. Suffered losses. For example, at one time there was a free visiting schedule for all employees. People found second jobs, tried to combine them, lost interest in PUMA, and left.
In general, during his time leading the company, he learned a lot of new things. “For example, I was surprised to find that many people enjoy monotonous work. And such people are the majority, can you imagine? They feel more confident where they are competent. When faced with new tasks in unfamiliar territory, they experience fear and discomfort.” Why efficiency and competition? “People don't want to be equal. Many are ready to do anything to stand out from the team, to be the best, at least out of five or six. And it turned out to be such a powerful motivational incentive that you don’t even need any money.”
As for my dismissal and denunciation: “Let this remain on the conscience of that person. I would never do that myself. I don't encourage snitching."
Why all this corporate crap? Why convince the clerk who signs contracts that he is doing this not for his own sake, but with deep meaning? Well, we sell Good, we get money - isn’t that enough? Or does no one take this whole ideology seriously?
“I don’t see any pretension or dishonesty either in the goal or in the mission,” Vorontsov answers. — “PUMA” is engaged in an important and useful business for society. Moreover, PUMA is not an intermediary: volume additional services to the client seriously exceeds the cost of products purchased from manufacturers. That the main goal is money is not true. It's the same as if I told you that your main goal in life is health. I can also tell you a classic example about two cleaners at a research institute. They were asked: “What do you do?” One replied: “I do sex work and get paid for it.” And the second: “We launch rockets into space.” And notice, both are right. It's a matter of awareness. Now think about who has more interesting and complete work.
Philosophy
Thank you, Daniel. It seems to me that with your help I looked at everything from a different perspective.
- Well, what about in the opposite direction? - Vorontsov is interested. — How is it in the escort department?
“It’s terrible,” I admit frankly. — It’s boring, gloomy, psychological pressure, someone is always being scolded, everything is very formal.
“It’s a mess,” Daniel answers. - We'll figure out.
I leave him with a pleasant feeling that I have finally brought at least some benefit to the company. Maybe now he will really start to understand. Someone will improve, someone will be fired, others will take their place, they will work conscientiously and with meaning, the company will come to life, flourish, sell a lot of Good... Damn it, didn’t I snitch on my employees? With the best intentions, eh?
I think about meaning, about conscience, about my great-aunt who “launched rockets into space.” For the sake of her husband, a physicist, she sacrificed everything, gave up her career, went to a closed scientific town where he was making a bomb, and explained to everyone around her that this was out of a sense of duty to her homeland. Everything in the family was subject to the bomb. Then in the nineties, with the same fervor, she argued that the bomb must be destroyed. And the director of their institute committed suicide. But maybe only physicists think this way? No, it turns out I think the same way too.
I think about the magazine “Russian Reporter”, where I actually work. Is it very different from the plant, the Kizi plant and the PUMA company? Very much. But if you look closely, you will find the same mechanisms, only much more humane and blurred. You probably won't be able to escape this. But now I know how to stop even in the worst dream and say to myself: “Stop! This is not real!” And wake up.
Mobilography: Yulia Vishnevetskaya for RR
Photo:Victoria Ilyinskaya for RR
Those workers whose working day lasts more than eight hours (with a five-day working week), are at six times higher risk of “burning out” due to mental and physical exhaustion and stress, British scientists have found. Fortunately, experts know how to deal with this and minimize the damage.
Harvard University graduate and psychologist Joan Borisenko studied the harmful effects of overwork on women. According to her, one in ten British women work more than 45 hours a week. Therefore, many female workers are physically and mentally exhausted to a dangerous limit, writes The Daily Mail.
A striking example is the story of Sunny Moran, a former employee of a London PR agency. Every day she got up at 6:00, spent an hour and a half on the way to work, and sat in the office until 22:00, and lunch breaks were not encouraged there. Sunny sacrificed her health and personal life for work for six years, but one day she discovered that she did not even have the strength to get out of bed. When Sunny told her boss she was quitting immediately, he didn't argue.
However, it’s not just neat people and workaholics like Sunny Moran who are at risk, emphasizes Borisenko, who has written books about the phenomenon of “burnout at work.” The book is called "Fried: Why You Burn Out And How To Revive."
The reason for this disastrous phenomenon is often staff reductions. The workload on the remaining employees is increasing, but they are afraid to protest, lest they themselves be subject to the next layoff. According to Borisenko, it is especially difficult for women: they are more inclined than men to please others and ignore their own needs, according to an article cited by the InoPressa.ru website.
In a state of “burnout,” a person loses motivation and vitality and hates his lifestyle, notes Borisenko. Many women notice this condition only when it is almost irreversible. Of the 2,000 women Borisenko examined, one in three took antidepressants. At the same time, 18% did not tell anyone about this, and 10% did not tell their husbands about anything at all.
43-year-old Helen McNellen, a trader from the City of London, was admitted to a psychiatric clinic after a nervous breakdown. “I was afraid of appearing weak, of losing my job, of losing my home,” she explains. Helen even drove her car to the tallest building she came across and contemplated suicide, but still returned home. It ended in hysterics. For Helen, the breakdown was the beginning of a long road to full recovery.
Symptoms of “burnout” sometimes resemble depression, but medications do not help, Borisenko emphasizes. She recommends radical lifestyle changes. It is very important to learn to distinguish positive stress from negative. For many, troubles begin with the belief that without exertion you will not achieve anything in life.
“With exertion, labor productivity increases, but not indefinitely. In a state of stress, you chase the same “carrot” - the reward for your work, as you see it. And then you find that productivity decreases: you put in more effort, but the quality of what you do decreases. This is how it begins “burnout,” explained Borisenko.
Women in this situation develop a skeptical and negative attitude towards life. The feeling that everyone is neglecting them forms a “martyr complex” - a woman is offended by the whole world and considers irritability justified, Borisenko notes.
“In a state of depression caused by stress, the brain begins to work differently. The “fear center” turns on, the activity of the frontal lobes changes, we lose control over our emotions,” the psychologist points out. “We all have Jekyll and Hyde inside us, and when we are stressed, Hyde comes out.” At work, a person is forced to restrain his inner Hyde, but at home he takes his anger out on loved ones. This is how “burnout” poisons relationships.
Borisenko herself spent 10 years torn between science, raising two children and working on books. “She realized that something was wrong when she realized that even in her most joyful moments she felt nothing,” the newspaper writes.
For working mothers in the modern situation, when they have to work to feed their families, stress is especially dangerous, Borisenko emphasizes. She advises women to save time and strictly eliminate from life everything that encourages them to waste it.
The best protection against burnout is a timely diagnosis. Borisenko advises women to acquire a mental scale: from “I feel very good” to “I’m starting to burn out.” Regularly assess your condition on this scale and, if something happens, take immediate action, the psychologist advises. Every woman will have her own ways to relieve stress, often the simplest ones are to get a massage or get away from everyone for a while, talk in confidence with your friends.
Sunny Moran changed her life after “burnout”: she got a personal trainer, lost weight, and now conducts “New You” seminars for women suffering from the same problems.
Office Survival
How surprised old Darwin would have been if he had learned that his “natural selection” is applicable not only in the bosom of living nature...
The copier is broken?! The printer does not print another document?! The secretary still hasn't brought coffee?! And, oddly enough, telephone bills are going through the roof this month... The heat is unbearable. The air conditioner must have broken down again. Employees do everything except work. There's a lot to do, and no strength, probably because of yesterday’s gossip about your office romance. How to survive in these unbearable conditions?!
Boarded up barrel
Office work is one of the most common today. Now imagine how many people give best years your life, so that someone’s company succeeds and copes with all the things that have piled up in a timely manner. I think everyone imagines a standard office - walls, tables, computers, and a bunch of papers scattered in a chaotic manner. Not the best place for work, and especially for life, isn’t it?! What is there to hide here - this is a real prototype of a boarded up barrel - no entrance, no exit, only existence inside and contentment with the last breaths of clean air.
However, this happens quite rarely. Usually, real life boils in such a barrel, with its indignation, sycophancy, envy and unpredictable cynicism. And, if not for this, the offices would have exploded long ago from inexhaustible and uninvested negative energy.
The office is the same jungle, with its leaders, females, and newcomers who carefully rake, relying on someone else's prey. This is how nature works, and we, oddly enough, are still part of it. If you apply for a higher position, get it in full! And so it is everywhere, be it in a company with huge profits, or in a small office that can barely pay for copier paper.
Newbie?! Write, it’s gone...
An office terrarium, teeming with poisonous individuals, is especially dangerous for young employees who have just arrived at work, or newcomers at all. And since the enemy is not asleep, you can immediately roll up your sleeves and bare your weapons, “Tatar raids” are already very close. There is no time to particularly understand the reasons, but we do not have the right to hide them. So, what did you manage to do wrong in the first five minutes spent on new job?! Oddly enough, absolutely nothing. Particularly hardened office employees, and even those who have already gotten used to such an environment, may see you as a particularly dangerous candidate for their position. Competition among employees is one of the most common factors that cause numerous problems.
In this situation, it is especially necessary to immediately clarify the situation. And it’s better if this is carried out by the boss, who publicly introduces the newcomer to all the office employees and explains what part of the work he will be doing. This will allow everyone to understand that he does not pose a particular danger to his colleagues. However, your samurai sword should not be hidden. Don’t think that everyone just took it and left their new victim alone. Office work is mundane, so in a situation like this, everyone wants to enjoy your defeat to the fullest. As they say, the enemy's failure is my victory.
It is important in the office to get accustomed to everyday rules, and God forbid you want to make your own adjustments to them. It's better to do hara-kiri yourself! Your life in the office will be like surviving a butterfly in a spider's web.
Don't hesitate to ask questions if you don't understand something or want to learn more about the company culture. It’s better to do this with your boss, otherwise you can imagine what envious people or ill-wishers might advise you. You may find yourself in a very funny situation.
Of course, not every team is a “pack of wolves” that strives to devour you, however, you can ruin everything yourself. The manual for those who personally want to dig a hole under themselves contains the following basic rules:
· Tell employees more often that they are unable to perform their duties.
· Your self-esteem and confidence in your abilities should go through the roof.
· Always make comments when you see someone's skirt is wrinkled or a grease stain on their tie is shining.
· Never miss the opportunity to complain about life and express constant dissatisfaction with current events.
· Snort loudly in displeasure when someone tells a funny joke.
· It is important to realize that collective rules and norms are not for you.
· Someone suggests new idea, be careful not to be late to express your obvious indignation!
· Are you being asked for a favor?! No, no, how can you agree, let them carry out their duties themselves.
· And the motto should be the following: “We don’t “knock”, but inform!”
Yes, this will probably help you. The main thing is not to be shy, and to use everything in as large quantities as possible.
"Close-knit" team
Yes, no matter where. There could not be a more united team. One is envious, the other is all about your salary, the third is always trying to correct you so that you don’t talk, etc. There is nothing better. Although, not all is lost here. The main thing is to know who is who, in essence, and learn to neutralize their negative impact. Sociologists identify several main types of people who strive to ruin something. However, we can also neutralize them.
Look around the office, who do you see?! Surely, there is a person among them who, at first glance, seems so nice and friendly that you think that he would become your workmate. If I were you, I would think about it! It is precisely such a contingent behind your shoulders that can fight off such gossip that you never dreamed of. And you will trust him with your secrets and punctures. Next, don't forget to pick up your favorite stapler when you pack up your things.
Such a person most often sees competitors in those around him, but will never tell you to your face what he thinks about you. The safest thing you can do is talk to him in person. Although this is not so easy to do. Even with loose gossip, you will have to rummage through the trash a lot to find the thread from which the whole tangle subsequently began. In such cases, the culprit is the last to be suspected. And even in a personal conversation, he will vehemently refute everything, and you should believe him for a while. It is then that he will be able to stop his intrigues over you.
Oh, and you see this weirdo who is trying to prove to everyone that he is right until he loses his pulse. This is the so-called Know-It-All. Such people are usually appreciated in the office. The point is to maintain the brand; he must constantly increase the stock of knowledge that can be useful to the company itself. If you don’t want problems, do not under any circumstances try to humiliate such an employee. It’s better to agree with everything and praise him for his inexhaustible desire to help. common cause, and then make some adjustments to what you discussed with him. In this case, Mr. “I know everything” will be pleased, and you yourself will be happy.
It is quite obvious that there is also a person in the office who constantly complains about life, about those around him, about numerous unbearable problems. I can’t congratulate you, you are faced with a bore, which is absolutely not worth doing. Since pessimism is contagious, it is better to avoid such people so that a similar fate does not befall you.
This advice can also be used with a person, which proves the inapplicability of everything new and previously untested. Purely conservative ideas can also be contagious, and in some cases simply fatal for the company itself.
You can hear screams somewhere, am I right?! These are particularly angry colleagues expressing their obvious dissatisfaction with the performance of someone else's duties. Psychologists call such workers “ebullient.” And, it’s true, they boil faster than a kettle, but it would be better the other way around. However, such people have a weak point that you can use to accelerate their cooling - they are usually extremely insecure. And each of us knows that the best defense is an attack. This is what the ebullient ones use to become stronger on the gases of their colleagues. As they say, everyone's methods are different. Do not argue with such people, it is better to calmly listen to them and quietly offer exactly your vision of the problem. In this situation, your goodwill will do its job.
Today you proposed a new solution to an existing problem in the company, which you have been thinking about for so long, and someone told you that this is complete nonsense?! Don’t be upset, there are cynical people in every team. Don’t get angry or swear if you also get a “friendly” pat on the shoulder with the words “don’t waste your energy.” If you are absolutely sure of your idea (for this you need to evaluate it objectively), feel free to prove it to the Cynic. Seeing your persistence, he will only respect you more than to drown you further along with the idea itself.
Yes, your team is clearly diverse. However, before drawing categorical conclusions, take a closer look at how the entire staff treats a particular employee. Maybe you yourself are deeply mistaken about someone; distinguish between antipathy and a real vision of things.
Office intrigues and office romances – what to choose?!
Office, being a prototype cardboard box, would not be such if it were not for the constant intrigues and romances in the office. Where else to put the unclaimed energy of employees who spend most of their time at work?! It’s no wonder if you soon begin to envy the janitor: the work is in the fresh air, most of the day is free, and there are plenty of places to make acquaintances. Yes, comrades and colleagues have arrived! Something else was missing. It’s better to take advantage of all the opportunities right in the office.
By the way, we can say in secret that many managers themselves encourage intriguing urges, and even personally participate in them. Even the bosses seem to need some relaxation.
Intrigues and office romances, in fact, give the illusion of a vibrant life. And in the absence of anything else, they are the only consolation. In addition, paradoxically, they strengthen internal connections within the company itself, which subsequently allows the team to be more united. Where to go, since both through water and fire, and there was no way to avoid copper pipes.
If you look from the other side, intrigue in the office is encouraged in most cases because the colleagues themselves, getting involved in such a competitive struggle against each other, they try to be the best, improve their abilities, be always visible and always be on time to help if required. What kind of boss, excuse me, would interfere with such a constructive process?!
As for novels, it’s better to limit yourself to everyday affairs. Your life will be more fun, and you will avoid numerous problems. And in the best case, the dismissal will be postponed for some period of time.
In general, keep your hand on the hilt of your sword, be vigilant and do not succumb to increasing provocations from your “hungry” colleagues. May the need for self-destruction not descend upon you.
TIPS how to
survive in the office:1. Are you being watched? To correspond uncontrollably by e-mail, it is enough to generate a code and exchange encryption keys with respondents. The main thing is not to save the key on a screw on your work computer, but to carry it with you on a floppy disk or flash drive. Resident monitoring programs on your computer are blocked by anti-Sruware programs.
2. To yours appearance are they finding fault? To avoid becoming a slave to the dress code, try the Zen method of “awakening the inner Tao.” According to the requirements of your superiors, wear a white top, black bottom, and a discreet tie, first remembering to put on your most idiotic family panties with green polka dots.
3. Are you forced to work overtime? Memorize Article 99 Labor Code. If the office was not attacked by armed Martians, the sewer system did not burst, and the report you left unfinished does not lead to the death of the chief accountant, they do not have the right to plow you around without your written consent. Along the way, find out how overtime will be paid for. If the company has a trade union, look there and ask if it’s true that night is not a hindrance to work?
4. Are you being reported? To identify a spy, tell a dubious character about an alleged impending “violation of ethical standards” and watch how the authorities react.
5. Are you being zombied? If it is customary to sing the corporate anthem at the beginning of the workday, you can compose an alternative version with swear words and perform it to yourself. During training, think about the decline of European civilizations. Try to speak sane Russian, for example, “make a photocopy” instead of you know what word.
6. Are you being sexually harassed by your boss? It all depends on your attitude to the issue. In any case, career growth through the bed is an unreliable business. You won’t demand paper with a stamp in order to increase your salary in exchange for sex, will you?
7. Is your entertainment controlled? This includes all sorts of corporate parties, picnics and outdoor training. You can pretend to be sick, preferably with a certificate, but the topic will not work for regular use.
9. Are you not allowed to express yourself? Nothing stops you from downloading funny pictures from the Internet, printing them, cutting appliqués and
hang the resulting masterpieces above your workplace.
10. Your colleagues don’t like you? These are their problems. Most likely this is
an expression of envy at the indisputable fact that you, unlike them, managed to retain uncomposted brains, a sober memory and a sound mind, which is interested in a lot of things besides work.
Regardless of the size of your company, the size of the social package and the friendliness of the team, sooner or later you will feel that you have to survive in the office. We hope that this is only a temporary phenomenon, but life can be unpredictable.
Whatever the case may be, our 10 tips will help you get through the tough times and propel you forward if you're determined to succeed in your career. So let's begin!
Do what you gotta do
Do you have a million ideas on how to improve your company's performance? Great, but first do what you were hired to do. Consistency will always work for your reputation.
Become an expert
Constantly improve your knowledge and skills in professional field. If you enroll in courses that will improve your skills in one way or another, you will be making a great investment in your future.
Create a portfolio
This advice is also relevant for those who are far from creative work (just write down a list of non-standard tasks that you managed to solve). This way, you will have a reason to demand an increase, and you will also be able to convince the new employer that he needs you (if something goes wrong at this place).
Be humane
The team doesn’t really care how well you prepare estimates or write code - friendliness and politeness are valued higher. If you are known as “your guy,” then the attitude towards your shortcomings will be more loyal, but single people risk becoming the object of criticism even with 100% academic performance. Chat with colleagues at events, attend corporate courses and just try to support.
Ask your boss where you got into trouble
If you are unable to cope with the task, ask your immediate management to do a “debriefing”. This way you will not only get a complete layout, which will allow you to avoid mistakes in the future, but also a loyal attitude from your superiors.
Find a way to make your routine interesting
Any specialist has tasks that make him bored. If these are large projects, then try to “eat the elephant in pieces,” and if routine tasks are small, then turn them into a game and be sure to reward yourself.
Meet deadlines
You have no idea how important meeting deadlines is in today's business world. If you learn to meet deadlines, you will earn a stellar reputation. All that is required is to set deadlines taking into account delays (and they will definitely happen) and set “reminders” 3 and 2 days before the project delivery date.
Set yourself a good example
Surely there is a person in your company whom you would like to be like, and whose degree of professionalism you dream of achieving. Repeat after him. Let him be your example.
Think about how to ask for a raise
The reason for most refusals is an unreasonable request for a promotion, expressed in the wrong tone. Write a list of your advantages, think through moves that will improve the company's performance, in general, work on point 3. Re-read these lists several times. Do you feel your worth? Now stock up on self-confidence and go to the carpet.
See where to grow
Professional drivers say that on the road you should always look for an empty place where you can jump out. This skill will also come in handy for office survival. Always keep in mind the prospects for horizontal or vertical growth, and then you will not miss that very opportunity!
Today's tense economic situation and the threat of dismissal may force previously quite respectable colleagues to begin weaving intrigues and going over their heads in order to remain in their positions. However, it was not the economic crisis that gave rise to office quarrels. This phenomenon has existed and will always exist. They are caused by the most ordinary human feelings - envy, resentment, anxiety, struggle for power. It is enough for one or another employee to earn a little more, to be a professional in his field, so that intrigues begin to form around him. There is also a category of people who start quarrels just for fun: for them, arranging a small mess in the team is a kind of cure for boredom.
How to behave in such a tense atmosphere - adapt to the behavior of the intriguers or keep your distance from them?
Blackmailers and know-it-alls
Psychologists distinguish several types of people who are prone to intrigue, whom you need to avoid if possible or know how to build a behavioral strategy with them. The first type is the know-it-all. He can endlessly talk about what is “really happening in the company,” pretending that he has exclusive information obtained from God knows where. The worst thing you can do is give a know-it-all any information about yourself and your work. You never know how he will twist them to use for his own purposes.
The next type of intriguer is the lobbyist. As a rule, this is a good specialist who defends his project by any means and believes that only his ideas can benefit the company. If you disagree with him on some issues and express it openly, you can run into trouble. You can only deal with a lobbyist if you share the same enthusiasm for his project.
One of the most dangerous office workers the one who weaves behind-the-scenes intrigues. He may not be an expert in his field, but he is a very charming person, and therefore he easily finds an approach to his colleagues and superiors. And thanks to this, he gets promoted.
Almost every office has a so-called adviser, who is the big boss's confidant and serves as the eyes and ears for middle managers. By the way, anyone can play the role of advisor - from a high-ranking deputy to an administrative employee. You shouldn’t suck up to this person, but you shouldn’t push him away either. They have significant influence, so having a good relationship with them can come in handy.
According to a number of psychologists, a blackmailer can be added to the main office characters listed above. This is a person who notices the slightest weaknesses or miscalculations of his colleagues, and if he needs you to implement his plans, he can put pressure on you by threatening to tell your superiors about your mistakes.
But here are the main contenders, at whom the arrows of insidious employees are most often directed. Newcomers and overly active workers fall under the wheels of office intrigue (since from the outside it seems that they are advancing at the expense of others). In addition, few people like colleagues with higher salaries. They often substitute absent-minded “idea generators” (since they are easy to deceive), middle managers (in the event that a potential schemer has his eye on the boss’s place) and ambitious and vain employees (they can easily be caught on the hook of “friendship” or "partnership" and then substitute).
How to deal with hazing
Very often, new employees come under pressure from the old-timers of the office. They are subjected to office hazing for a simple reason: in an era of fierce competition, colleagues who have worked for more than one year see a real or potential threat in every newcomer. Who knows what the new guy is capable of? What if he works better than the old team? It is possible that the boss will then decide to fire the veterans. Fearing for their well-being, employees try to get rid of the newcomer as quickly as possible. A wide variety of methods are used for this: boycott, neglect, ridicule.
A case from one's life. Andrey came to work at a large construction company as a manager. The young man had high hopes for this work. However, they were not destined to come true, since Andrei was met with very hostility in his new place. On the first day he was not even given a job. It got even worse when the newcomer managed to make some good deals. His boss saw him as a serious competitor and deprived him of access to client base. As a result, the manager was forced to quit his promising job.
Victims of office hazing often become not only ordinary employees, but also managers who do their best to introduce their own methods and principles of work. Naturally, subordinates who do not want to change their usual mode of work, which also bears fruit, resist radical changes. A new boss who has not yet managed to gain authority and enlist the support of top management runs the risk of encountering a lot of problems: “forgetfulness” of subordinates, provision of false information, and other “tricks”.
So, Victor, the new general director of a large enterprise, after his appointment, decided to show everyone who is boss and that now everything will be new. He instructed the HR director to monitor labor discipline, combat official abuses, and the IT director to ensure information security and implement information system to ensure control over financial flows. It would seem that everything was in motion: at weekly planning meetings everyone reported on the completion of assigned tasks. But when Victor himself had to report, the owners of the enterprise were shocked - profitability fell sharply. Further fate general director was predetermined.
If you've been subjected to office hazing, don't think you had anything to do with it. Yes, this phenomenon is often provoked by problems of the company’s management, but it is worth analyzing why the team turned against you. Of course, you don’t need to blame yourself for all mortal sins, but it won’t hurt to figure out the laws of the pack in a given office and your place in it in order to avoid a similar situation in the future. In addition, it can be useful to talk with those who show the most aggression towards you and find out the reasons for it. Some psychologists, in order to relieve tension in the team, advise smiling more and expressing affection towards the people you find yourself with. This doesn't mean you have to please everyone, just show that you are friendly and cooperative.
Office taboos
To avoid intrigue as much as possible, psychologists recommend sticking to several office taboos. What management doesn't like most is when employees discuss salaries and bonuses with each other. It often happens that different workers receive different salaries for the same job. Moreover, they themselves do not understand why this happens. Naturally, this gives rise to hostility towards each other. The rule follows from this: never tell colleagues, even with whom you are on friendly terms, the amount of your remuneration for your work. Moreover, you shouldn’t share her promotion with anyone. People usually react painfully to such news if their earnings remain unchanged.
A lot of conflicts in the office are caused by the tactlessness of individual employees, which they justify by their own “spiritual simplicity.” Such a person has a habit of criticizing everyone and everything, both colleagues and superiors. He targets the appearance of others, the ideas of the boss, etc. It is not difficult to guess that the employees of such an employee will make every effort to get rid of him.
Many bosses constantly tell their subordinates what they should use in their work. creativity. Many professions do require constant creativity. On this basis, intrigue can also arise, since in many companies there are cases of theft of ideas. This situation is quite easy to deal with. It is enough not to discuss your ideas with colleagues, but to convey them directly to your boss. If it is not possible to discuss your thoughts with your boss about the project, then you can voice them at meetings and planning sessions. Then no one will be able to encroach on your ideas: your copyrights will be fully protected and there will be no reason for unnecessary conflict.
To avoid gossip
Of course, in any office where more than two people work, gossip takes place. It is almost impossible to deal with this problem. But you can keep the discussion of your person to a minimum. First of all, in the workplace you need to refrain from talking about your personal life: family problems, intimate details, the state of your health and the health of your relatives. It’s a rare person who will miss the opportunity to gossip behind your back, discuss your problems, or even start advising you on how to solve them, even if you don’t need advice at all. If nothing is known about you, then there will be nothing to discuss, well, or almost nothing.
In addition, excessive talkativeness can turn against you. Individuals are capable of distorting the information you provide so much that you may appear to others in the most unexpected light.
Moreover, gossip is often born out of nowhere. For example, you are sitting at lunch break with a colleague of the opposite sex, drinking coffee, and you are noticed by some activist who monitors all the employees, and this is present in almost all work teams. Afterwards she asks you: “Is there an office romance brewing?” You laugh it off, you feel embarrassed, because this was not even in your thoughts, and the gossip has already been born and has flown across the expanses of the office, beginning to acquire more and more new details, because everyone can embellish it with their own “addition.” And in the end, it may turn out that your innocent conversation over a cup of coffee has already turned into preparations for the wedding, and if that same colleague is married, then you generally risk being branded as a malicious homewrecker.
Therefore, it is better for women not to brag about the number of their gentlemen. It has been proven more than once that the attitude towards those girls around whom a crowd of fans swarms is, to put it mildly, biased. And her offended rivals invent things about her that you couldn’t even imagine in your worst nightmare.
By the way, it is a mistake to believe that men are not prone to gossip. Representatives of the stronger sex, with no less pleasure than women, discuss colleagues, work, bosses, and talk about the intimate details of their family life. So, it is also advisable to keep your mouth shut with them.
You should also not inform employees about a hectic weekend, or that the real reason for absence from work was not the flu, but headache after a binge, or tell how, having taken sick leave, you went on vacation to a resort. It’s also better not to start a discussion with colleagues about an office romance (both someone else’s and your own), even if it seems to you that everyone already knows about it. Who will guarantee that “well-wishers” will not accidentally tell management about this? If you cannot control yourself when drinking alcohol, then at corporate parties you should limit yourself to a glass of wine. Your tongue will be tied, and there will be no reason to catch the judgmental glances of your colleagues the next day.
Of course, no one forces you to sit and be silent at work. It’s just advisable to talk about neutral topics, of which you can come up with quite a lot if you wish. For example, it is completely safe to talk about the weather, the trends of a particular fashion season, the advantages of your favorite car brand, or cooking. But psychologists do not recommend discussing politics and sports. Everyone’s preferences in this regard can be so different that a major quarrel is not far away. Why do you need to make an extra enemy?
So, in office wars, you need to keep your eyes open. And if problems arise, then you need to solve them immediately, and not hope that they will resolve on their own.