Wednesday 16 April 2008

What happen if you put your foot down?

Elizabeth used to work in an education based company where one of her responsibility was to help develop the syllabus. Having reviewed the English module which the company intended to introduce in Malaysia, she found many flaws in it and raised it to the local management. She was shot down and was blatantly told that if the syllabus works in other countries, it will work in Malaysia.

At that time, she was already quite pissed with the management due to some other issues. This just made it worse. Just so happen, the headquarter of the company sent internal auditors over to the local office here for a review and one of them did an interview with Elizabeth.

During the interview, she contemplated on whether she should just let out her steam on all the things she was pissed about. Of course, the review report will be sent to the HQ and it will probably implicate the management here. It’s the familiar situation of… do you dare to do something which may get your boss into trouble?

She did just that. She complained about all the work issues which she was not happy with and also raised the screwed up English syllabus which she thought would never work in Malaysia. The review was completed and the report was sent to HQ.

The result? Elizabeth was called into the office of her boss and was immediately asked to leave…. Just joking...... the General Manager of the company was replaced with a new one and Elizabeth was offered a new position and she was asked to be in charge of revamping the English syllabus for the company.
About 6 months ago, Zewt was not happy with his pay and he was very adamant that he was not remunerated in accordance to the amount of work he had to do. He did an industry comparison was depressed that his peers were getting more pay than him.

After getting all the remuneration package information of his peers, Zewt put it in a simple summary and sent it to his boss and said this is what they industry is paying his peers and he should be remunerated in the same level.

Did Zewt get a backlash for doing that? You’re not going to fall for the he-was-sacked trick again right? Well, he got a pay-rise the next month.

I am sure you guys still remember who Matt is. Ya’ know, that guy who goes home earlier than his colleagues because
he will say ‘no’ to work outside his job scope? Yes, that Matt. Today, someone saw a mail stating that he will get an early confirmation.

34 comments:

myop101 said...

Congrats zewt! when are you treating me huh?...wink wink...

Anonymous said...

i think when u feel completely hopeless on the issues.....u don give a damn and will just voice out wat you feel without thinking about the possibilities. u got nothing to lose mah.

and most of the time, this nothing-to-lose attitude will somehow turn out fine :P

just whether people are daring enough to have this kind of attitude.

by the way, congrats ;)

Anonymous said...

Of course it's good to be daring and put your foot down but just be goddamn sure u're 200% good in what watever shiats u're supposed to do in ur "official job scope" coz nothing is worse than showing your colleagues that you're above donkey works when the truth is that u sux at ur own works eh.

day-dreamer said...

But I am sure that being daring doesn't work all the time.

Sunshine said...

try that with my boss, i think i'd be escorted out by the security guards!

Maverick SM said...

Wah, got pay rise; I also want to see my boss tomorrow.

Cocka Doodle said...

Yep,many years ago I did something more drastic than Elizabeth. I took my boss to the labour ministry when he was screwing me on my overtime claims.
The board of directors shit in their pants when the MOL lads came over to interrogate them and kept monitoring the company over the next 6 months.
I was never quit but stayed on to change the system.


Glad to hear that at least you stay and fight for more pay and to change things rather than whine and quit like some losers out there.

Anonymous said...

wow, congratulations on ur raise!!
matt? erm..u mean confirmed his promotion? wow...tats a good sign, eh? well, if u are a value to the company, ur NO might just turn out to be a good thing, if not, they might just say NO to you and it may be the end? =?

glad to hear tat things are going really good with u! ^^

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

not bad not bad..lets go for makan since ur wallet is bursting out then usual..

Huei said...

can u give me a draft of ur mail? hahhaha =P

good for matt! but i think it's better that he improves his relationship with his fellow colleagues! i know this HR who's a complete pain in the arse..while the bosses r all quiet about the staffs coming in late..she had to go make noise..everyone in that co hates her!

what's happening? colleagues should stay united! hahhaha

as for elizabeth's case..wut if the ones having problems r the bosses themselves and not the manager?

Seaqueen said...

Yea. Lunch's on Zewt. myop101 can join in eh? Hahhahah!!! So when are we meeting up?? Hahahha!!

Anyway, this time you really did it right. :)

So how are you feeling with "Matt"'s early confirmation??

Suit Lin said...

My dad did the same thing. He wrote a letter to the HQ about the GM. Then he quit. HQ later fired the GM and employed my dad back with a higher payment package.

It is risky I guess, but if one is confident enough to put his or her foot down there are always better companies willing to employ them.

Anonymous said...

Well, in certain cases one has to put-foot-down when push comes to shove, especially when one's health is involved. Take for example, my recent case. I was never so pissed in my life...

Anonymous said...

Oh, I forgot part 2 of the story...

Helen said...

This is encouraging. :-)

But remember demands will most probably work if the management is not the boss. lol

CK said...

thanks for shining some light here. i agree wif helen. when management is not the boss/owner, it's different.

to the brighter future!!! haha... toast pulak

Anonymous said...

this is better..

go go go..

e r r r

the children!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on ur pay raise, zewt! And on ur confirmation? Does this mean u're not going to Oz after all?

I agree with cocka on that last bit! Life is about giving and taking...be it at the workplace, among ur friends or in ur family!!! If one is always giving while others are taking, he must put his foot down...or if he can't change the way things are, then perhaps it's better just to move on... We're neither saints nor martyrs.

Anonymous said...

Hi Zewt, I know this is not common practise and this has been around since end of last year plus I'm not sure if you already know this (if you do, please ignore this) but have a look at this http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,162259,00.html? & http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7088447.stm

It is a site called freerice.com that basically asks site visitors to get the right meaning to a word. Right answers helps UN to donate rice, :)

Although this came from credible sources, I'm not sure whether the people on the other end of the click really gets the benefits but I think it is worth a look.

zewt said...

myop101 - 6 months ago lor...

alvin lim - we are imprisoned by fear... just like our political mind.

sooi2 - if you sucks at your own work... then teruk ler. you must first be genuinely good.

day-dreamer - that is true.

sunshine - sure or not? so drastic?

maverick sm - hehe... try try...

zewt said...

cocka doodle - hahahaha... you're the man! well, there are many out there who only know how to talk a lot... NATO.

lynnwei - thanks. that was 6 months ago... i need to repeat my feat hehe...

constant craver joe - sure! next month!

huei - yeah ler... should improve relationship but at the same time... cannot be at the expense of yourself right? elizabeth's case... the boss is the manager.

seaqueen - i am ok with matt's case. it has nothing to do with me really... hehe...

suit lin - i think statistics have shown that if you are standing on the right side... u will ultimately win.

zewt said...

LC_Teh - hi there, welcome to AZAIG. wow... your BP was really high. you need to really take a break.... thanks for dropping by.

Helen - dun quite understand...

CK Tan - well... no matter what... we must have some sort of self value to begin with.

Edi神 - hi there... err... you were saying?

suituapui - the confirmation is for matt ler :) well, i guess it's all about standing up for what we believe... and putting some worth to our lives.

anon @ 17/4 9.38pm - i have been there before and i have made the UN donated quite a bit of rice already :) thanks anyway.

Arena Green said...

As an employer I think that was a smart thing to do. If you are worth the price you are asking for, you will surely get it. On the other hand, ...

So, congratulations! When are you getting a new car? :-)

zewt said...

anak merdeka - hahaha... such a puny increase... cant afford a new car. besides, car is a liability.

huntressmoon said...

i am sick today.. i will fight another day... nah i love my job now.. why? coz i am the boss.. lol...

Honda was a great company to learn and to beautify my resume..

I stood up against my retarded boss and the other bitch colleague and report the whole entire unfairness to the HR.

Anonymous said...

yes, you have to make yourself appreciated, at least in kind. But also great chance to get sacked, catch22?

zewt said...

huntressmoon - now that you're the boss.... are you a good one then?

william wang - no pain... no gain... right? :)

Anonymous said...

i think when u feel completely hopeless on the issues.....u don give a damn and will just voice out wat you feel without thinking about the possibilities. u got nothing to lose mah.

Anonymous said...

It's pretty risky but I guess if ur confident ur in the right then why not? ;)

Call me A.S for AkiraSabine said...

My work load is not considered heavy but still my 4yrs of tertiery edu doesn't deserve a low pay. Since you've taken the lead, I shall try it too when the right time comes. Thanks for the inspiration.

Anonymous said...

I think 'telling the truth about your boss' culture can only work in international company. Certainly not in local chinaman company.

WY said...

Congrats zewt!

Pak Zawi said...

zewt,
If we know our self worth, it is good to publicise it sometimes. That is how you get noticed as some bosses see only superficial things.
Matt will be a pain in the arse to many people for many more years to come. Ultimately the company will suffer as many more people will become unhappy and leave the company.

zewt said...

Edi神 - yeah, that is pretty much the situation. perhaps that should be the winning formula... :)

mar - life is all about taking risk... isnt it?

akira - hey there... welcome! hope yours turned out well too!

jam - you're right. but i believe, in time to come.... chinaman companies will have to learn the lesson.

rational thinker - thanks.

zawi - yeah, we asians put ourselves too low sometimes. we must have a good sense of self worth...