By Chicken
I am a professional who has two years of experience in my industry, sadly over a year of it has been with my current employer. Here is my story.
Before coming on I had been warned that the company does not have the best reputation and knew multiple people, that I respected, that had quit. Alas, I only had one offer.
I applied because a friend said they needed an immediate hire. I applied and was immediately contacted and told how awesome my resume looked (later complained about my lack of experience later in the hiring process). I went in and during training I was up front with my future project manager that I had left my last job under less than desirable circumstances, then the fun began. The principle of the company called me up and indicated I misled them and they had found out that the last company I was looking for was looking for people(I was thrown under the buss). This appeared to be the first of many lies, the suggestion that they found out on their own and I had not been candid with my future project manager. He then threatened me as if I was a small child to think long and hard about my future with the company, the first of many threats. He called up my old supervisor who more or less said I was awesome but had a bad wrap that wasn't my fault so they hired me. After receiving this information he said I was in the clear...but threatened me again to make sure I got the message.
After a few weeks on the job I was nervous that no paper work had been sent for my employment. Eventually the principle called me up and I ended up having absolutely no leverage. I could not balk at the non compete they wanted me to sign or really insist on competitive pay as I had already put my job hunt to rest. It also became clear they had no intent of reimbursing me on my travel expenses as previously agreed, but never in writing. I thought I was being a team player by trying to help out on such short notice but alas I got burned. So, from the get go, the employee/employer relationship was poisoned. (It is my understanding that I am not alone in this).
I then worked for them for three months and informed them a month ahead of time I was going to take December off as I did not expect them to have work for me and wanted to spend time with my family. I was called three days before the beginning of December and asked if I could stay. I said I could not for the first two weeks but might be able to come back for the latter half of the month. The principle insisted he needed me and that he would make sure that I would have enough to work coming in to make it worth my while. On the third week of December I flew to the project and found out I was only needed on weekends. They could have worked me more but alas, meh. I ended up going home since it really was costing me more money to stay out there to work two days a week then being at home, so flying across the country to help out, at the expense of being away from my family, ended up being an absolute waste.
Next year they needed me to finish up the last project. I tried to negotiate higher pay and fail as they tell me I am replaceable. My supervisor is greeted with the same response as they want to cut her compensation for the next project they want her on. They end up not being able to come to an agreement and let her go...until the client she has been handling everything for finds out. The client still needs her services for the next three months and the principle receives multiple calls saying that under no circumstances are they to let her go without cause. I try to get them to put down on paper what the compensation agreement for the next project is as I am hearing different things from different people and, of course, this doesn't happen and make a big deal out of me not being a team player (I understand they do this for a lot of things, including complaints about shorted hours, the non compete after the fact, etc).
I go to the new project and work 70 to 90 hours a week for the first couple of months because they are short staffed. They finally bring on several other people who all make between 17% to 50% more than myself, and my old supervisor continues to make less than myself so I know they have no intention of raising my rate. I am told this new project will last two years, same as all of the new hires, but I tell the principle we both know that isn't happening and he admits that they will only need me for a few months. A few months later they have a shortage of work to the surprise of all their new hires. In the name of fairness we get an equal amount of work days despite the fact I have been with them longer and I cost substantially less. (Someone might of been told not to try to wrap their head around the pay difference). The new employees aren't great either. My current supervisor refers to one of the employees, who is making 17% more than me, as a shit employee who is only kept on because of his cheap rate (makes me feel just awesome). The ones making 50% more are arguably worse. One's performance (some of this is word of mouth) includes: smoking weed on the job, drinking on the job, billing more hours than worked, insubordination, going shirtless while on the job, and not following the federal and client regulations that we are payed to enforce. A senior project manager has even referred to him as the worst employee they have ever had. Now to be fair, it is my understanding the reason some of these people were brought on was because the client was already familiar with them and insisted on it so them acting unprofessional is less likely to alienate the client than actually getting rid of them, which is just awesome. My old supervisor has left at this point for greener pastures in a different industry at this point.
I leave for a few months as I am no longer getting enough work to make the money worth while. I come back and I am promised full time work through the end of the year (does not happen). I pretend I believe this because it makes my principle happy. Now every time I have left something screwy happens with my reimbursement check (Yay!) so, once again, I get that straightened out. I know they regularly short myself hours and have decided not to make it worth my while to call them on it. They also do this with their other employees and when called on it the principle sometimes accuses them of billing more hours than they worked and dishonesty. I am at the point that I just record how many hours I work and what they pay me so if I ever need legal leverage I will have it. And no, they do not follow the state's overtime laws.
I am told things are slow again and they need to send me to a different project which I agree too. Then, I get a call from a representative from a federal agency asking if I know what I am getting myself into. Apparently, at least as far as this person is concerned, the project in question has already broken a long list of federal laws/regulations and tells me that it is not in my best interest to be out there. I bring this up to the principle who tells me there is absolutely nothing weird about this project and tells me to trust him and I need to go out there to continue to build a relationship with company (I've been here a year, they know who I am)...I fake it. Despite him telling me absolutely nothing about the project except that it is completely normal and everything is on the up and up, everything I know about the project is from word of mouth, including senior project managers, who basically have nothing good to say about it. Despite the fact that my skill set is a dime a dozen according to the client we will be working for they are paying premium for our services as every person they have brought on, approximately 8 people, so far has been either been fired or quit.
So I go out there with what might be the least qualified team, or motivated team, that one could put together given the circumstances. The only other person who was truly qualified besides myself was replaced because she was taking it to seriously (this is opinion and as if actually doing our jobs when we are under a massive amount of federal scrutiny is a bad thing). Then of course a representative from a federal agency shows up. My supervisor acts like this is could have never been expected despite I more or less told him that this would likely happen (the representative had texted the person who took her job too seriously but we were unable to communicate this as we were told to have not any contact with the federal agencies. He also texted about how unqualified the people that were being sent out there were). Everyone freaks out as the man in question says he is coming back the next day. Despite this, no plan on how handle the situation is made, or at least communicated to the people who were going to actually have to deal with him. He comes out and my current supervisor tells me to show him around, until the principle finds out. Despite having a legal right to see what was going on and the power to make our lives and the clients lives miserable the principle calls me up and tells me to keep him away from the project (and on the bright side is fine with me telling him that those were my orders since this man has the power to effectively revoke my approval for any up coming projects). I end up getting permission from the client so were in the clear.
I show him around but he is not pleased about the level of unprofessionalism he had been greeted with. He indicates that he will try to use his powers to try to limit the future work for the company I work for and the client as he feels he is being messed with (ignoring the fact that he thinks multiple federal laws have already been broken). He also makes it clear that he knows that some of the permit(s) that we applied for did not have accurate information for our qualifications (At least one was out of date but had been "updated" and signed in person's name).
My supervisor is now unhappy with me and gives me a long (hour +)speech about protecting our employer from themselves (I've done this but not against direct orders). He says that I should have called him to make the final call and not the person that actually pays me and not making this call is due to my lack of experience. I end up telling the project manager I am considering going home because this is an incredibly crappy team and I question my supervisor's leadership skills. Issues with my supervisor in three weeks out there: telling me to disobey direct orders from someone above both of us since his judgement call got him in trouble, lying to the face of a representative of a federal agency and appearing to encourage me to also lie, giving me instructions that are not his call to make (ended up calling the project manager who told him to stop), asking me to submit to him my reports (unprecedented and looks very fishy, once again called up the project manager and said this was not happening, the project manager said they had not asked for this and to continue as previously instructed), distracted people from actually doing their jobs for hours on end. He successfully alienated myself, the representative of a federal agency, and even when new people came out, the clients people, they ended up calling the person who did her job to well, despite she was four hours away, for her expertise instead of him, who was on site with them, as they had apparently decided he did not know what he was talking about. Perhaps the most annoying, and possibly related to distracting employees for hours on end, was his constant need for attention. He seemed to want to eat of with everyone at the end of every day and even on weekends wanted would try to organize hiking expeditions and going to the movies. It got old really fast.
Now I am back on the old project. It is my understanding the company is in the red, rumor has it the powers that be are contacting potential clients about their lack of ethics, and my colleagues are trying to make sure that those with the most marketable skill sets for upcoming projects are also on the competitors bids so our company does not have an advantage at getting the contract since they want to be with a company with a better reputation, pay, and does not regularly short them hours.
On some level my situation is of my own making as I am still with them but I have been unable to find work else where. Things are incredibly slow and despite being under paid and regularly having my hours shorted I am doing better than most in this industry (those who aren't working). Still my moral is low and it is hard faking stupidity on a regular basis (though I am treated better than most employees if your not counting pay).
I will likely be laid off in the next few weeks, likely for my own good, as all of the bids the company is putting out keep falling through (can't imagine why).
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