This is more on my issue with the job. I am writing all of this down because it will help me think this through. It also makes for a great post.
This supervisory position where I am working was created a year ago after some patient safety incidents, one of which ultimately resulted in the death of a patient. There was a big management shakeup because of it. This resulted in the old department head for my department getting replaced with the one that is my current boss.
The new boss decided that this unit needed more direct supervision. That is why the supervisors were hired- all within the last year. I was the last of the four who were hired. All of the other three have since moved on. What does THAT tell you about the work culture of this hospital? I don’t know- no one is talking, but the turnover tells me a lot. There is a HUGE morale problem in the place. Keep in mind that my unit is currently at half staffing. **
After I was hired, my boss told me that if we didn’t change how we were doing business, it was likely that state regulators were going to shut us down. It was crazy. This unit had been operating without written policies or procedures for over a decade. That is right in my wheelhouse- one of my Bachelor’s degrees is in EMS systems, and another one is in Public Safety and Health Management. (The other two are in Fire Science and Emergency Medicine)
So I spent my first two weeks there learning how this place did business. Then I wrote an entire policy manual over the next two weeks and submitted it to administration for approval- keeping best practices, and discarding ones that were inefficient or dangerous. Then I went out and took the boards to become nationally certified for this particular job, passed them, and turned my new certs into the hospital. None of that was a part of my job description. I did it because it needed to be done.
The people at HR told me that none of that matters. THAT is what upsets me. The job seems like a good opportunity, because it is badly in need of leadership. However, this issue with the pay and with HR seems like the place may not be salvageable.
The CFO was walked out by security on Friday. It may be that this was not the opportunity it seemed to be when I took the job.
Anyway, I wait and see what the application to the other hospital looks like.
11 Comments
Miguel GFZ · May 25, 2021 at 1:44 pm
Your resume looks better if it says you left the place on your own rather than laid off because the place sucked and .Gov had to shut it down.
You don’t want that stink on you even if it is not your doing.
Big Country · May 27, 2021 at 9:59 pm
No kidding Big Mig… trust me on that… My resume for s few years essentially read “untouchable”… i.e. CACI Operations Manager (ABu Ghraib) KBR Transportation (at the location that that chick was kidnapped and raped, and no, I had -no idea-) and then Detainee Operations at Guantanamo Bay… my resume for a few years looked like “Head Torturer for DotMil/Gov INC”… keep that shytte in mind bro… granted I did do dirty deeds (but not for dirt cheap) but perseption is 30% of an HR overview of yer shit.
Jen · May 25, 2021 at 2:11 pm
I amend my previous comment: Run, don’t walk.
millerized · May 25, 2021 at 2:35 pm
My motto in life is ‘Never be afraid to make your next mistake’.
Learn from what you can, work around what you can’t, and always be looking for the next opportunity. You’re obviously making the best of where you are, getting trained in what may be best suited for another job down the line, and already looking. I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting what you’re looking for at the next ‘mistake’.
DMLMD · May 25, 2021 at 6:53 pm
It’s a challenge you might not need. Often better pay indicates that you are more respected for what you know and do. I cant imagine the culture in HR, they know so little about what you do, what you did to get there and what needs to be done and yet by filling in little check boxes they determine qualifications for things they cannot barely conceive.
The work environment is or soon will be toxic. They have no respect for you.
Leave while you can.
joe · May 25, 2021 at 7:29 pm
that place is sinking like the titanic…
Larry · May 25, 2021 at 7:42 pm
Want to know how bad things really are for employers DM? A friend’s daughter went one year to the University of Tennessee and flunked out. Then she wanted to become a hairdresser and daddy paid $35k for one year of “beauty school” and she dropped out. She was recently hired by the Tennessee Valley Authority to head a safety department…at a NUCLEAR REACTOR! She now brings home $2,100 a WEEK! In today’s work environment, anyone with intelligence and work ethic can make a fortune. Get out of there and go get some $$$$$!
it's just Boris · May 26, 2021 at 3:46 am
It sounds to me like it’s time to go. It’s quite possible to love the job but be miserable doing it because of the circumstances; in that case getting out lets you preserve the love of the work.
You’re not happy because of the way the company is (not) recognizing your worth. This is not just your relationship with your immediate boss’s but a “totality of circumstances” thing. Remember your post about clothing / uniforms as another example.
Plus, the company is in trouble both at the top and bottom. The people you supervise don’t appreciate you either (as per a previous post on their attitude towards the outsider) and a bad attitude there corrodes the foundations of the business.
But then, you already know all this.
The fact you’re telling this to strangers on the internet (perhaps the equivalent of the traditional stranger-in-a-bar) tells me you’ve already made the decision, one way or the other. š
Whichever path you choose, I wish you the best.
TechieDude · May 26, 2021 at 8:02 am
Time to go. Institutional rot only gets fixed when they collapse or are bought out. There was a hospital close to my last house that was like that. Knew more than one person that contracted hideous infections and the ER was staffed with your basic brown type “Doctors” from Pakistan.
Safe move was to drive past it, down the street to the nice new Baylor hospital a few miles down the road.
It got fixed when a larger hospital system gobbled it up.
It’s a shame you can’t really tell what the deal is until you accept it.
I had a job like that on more than one occasion. Once I bailed back to whence I came in three months. On a later gig, I gutted it out for a few years. Mainly because, as Miquel noted, I had the stink of begin laid off from a failed company that had to dissipate.
Rigaberto · May 26, 2021 at 9:36 am
Old business proverb: When you move into a new position your second task is begin training your replacement because your first task is “start looking for your next job” and not having someone who can take over the reins may prevent accepting the opportunity. Time was that was primarily applicable to large corporations, now it applies to every job. Being able to say “I am leaving them with my very capable second-in-command who has demonstrated the ability and deserves the promotion” sounds a lot better than “I’m trying to get out of schrapnel range.”
It is not difficult to recognize when an organization is not salvageable, but it is quite difficult to fully accept it and move on; one easily becomes “on a mission” and ignores why their shoes are perpetually wet – it is because the decks are awash and will stay that way because the pumps are barely keeping up.
BTDT; I developed the habit of reviewing my resume weekly to ensure it was up to date, and maintained several versions of it, each absoutely truthful but slightly different, designed to emphasize particular skills and achievements. If I found a potential opportunity I wasted no time in submitting a cover letter and resume, and always carried a copy of the “generic” resume with me. Always. HR is not your friend, they are the enemy, and often encountering a contact can make the difference between wasting a stamp sending it to HR or finding a route around that fetid swamp.
(I also reduced my “footprint” – slowly, and very surreptitiously, removing all my personal items from my workspace; when an organization teeters on the edge one never knows when the tense of collapse changes from “impending” to “done,” and that suddeness can also apply to one’s personal situation, especially if those at the top seek to discard what they consider unnecessary ballast in an effort to stay afloat a little longer – not having to go back inside for something after lunch when your badge no longer opens the door may suddenly become imperative.)
Jonathan · May 26, 2021 at 11:09 am
I think it’s time to make a change… you don’t want to be the last one of the sinking ship, or the one left holding the bag of brown stuff.
My job and employer were going down the tubes, so I just took the leap to a new place. Slightly lower pay, the chance to learn new areas, and a VERY good relocation package.
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