(1).png){kind=small}
Rogues’ Blog: Long-Serving Worker Accused of Negativity After Remembering What the Service Is For
Fictional satire.
The Rogues’ Blog · Episode 4 · Companion to The Laminator Episode 12: “Stan Speaks Up”
A local institution has expressed concern about a long-serving employee who continues to measure its success by whether anybody has been helped.
Standards, known to colleagues as Stan, raised the alarm during a presentation entitled Our Exciting New Service Model, when he asked what the new model would do for the people using the service.
Leadership had reached slide forty-three.
There was no slide for that.
“It’s a disappointing response from someone with his experience,” Leadership told our reporter. “We’ve invested considerable time in explaining how exciting this is.”
Asked what was exciting about it, he returned to the title slide.
Stan has worked at the institution for thirty-seven years.
He knows which door sticks, which colleague hasn’t had lunch, and which person in the waiting room has said “I’m grand” because they are too exhausted to explain everything again.
He remembers when an experienced worker was someone you consulted before making a decision.
Now he is someone you consult afterwards, to establish why he is being difficult.
“He has a tendency to bring everything back to the clients,” Leadership explained. “We’re trying to take a broader view.”
The broader view is available from the new management suite, where the blinds prevent anyone seeing the queue.
Stan’s difficulties began when the institution adopted a model inspired by a successful budget chain.
The consultant described this as “a leaner, more consistent experience”.
Stan described it as “the same promise with half the people”.
He was asked to be constructive.
“Fill the vacancies.”
He was asked to be realistic.
“Stop promising a service you haven’t staffed.”
He was asked whether he had considered retirement.
Under the new model, staff have less time with each person, fewer colleagues to ask for help, and a dashboard that turns green when they close a case.
“What happens if the person still needs us?” Stan asked.
“They can open another case.”
“So they’re back where they started.”
“Not on the dashboard.”
Management denies that frontline experience has been devalued.
“We value Stan enormously,” Leadership confirmed. “Whenever something goes wrong, we ask him what to do.”
Stan is then expected to fix it without suggesting that it might have been avoided.
His knowledge is considered indispensable during an emergency and outdated during a consultation.
Last month, he warned that a new procedure would leave people without support over a weekend.
The warning was recorded as resistance.
On Monday, his solution was recorded as organisational agility.
He received a thank-you email.
It asked him to submit his overtime again using the correct form.
Wellbeing has been assigned to help Stan adjust.
She found him staying late with a new colleague who had been given responsibility for twelve things and training in three.
“You can’t pour from an empty cup,” she said.
“Then stop adding cups to the rota,” Stan replied.
She wrote difficulty receiving support in her notebook.
During their first wellbeing conversation, she asked what used to give him joy at work.
“Having enough time to do it properly.”
“And what could you do to bring that feeling back?”
“Hire somebody.”
Wellbeing smiled the smile she reserves for answers that require another department.
“Something within your control, Stan.”
He looked at the candle between them.
“I could put that out.”
Colleagues say claims that Stan dislikes younger workers are particularly unfair.
He is the person who tells new starters where the decent mugs are, explains the bits induction missed, and notices when they have been left to struggle.
He has never said, “We had it harder in my day.”
He generally says, “You shouldn’t be expected to manage that on your own.”
This has made him a worrying influence.
“He’s giving younger staff unrealistic expectations,” Leadership said.
Such as?
“Support. Breaks. Someone answering a question.”
The Laminator has become particularly attached to him.
“Stan explains why we do things,” he told our reporter. “Dad mostly explains why we can’t.”
Leadership has requested that future mentoring take place through an approved framework.
Stan has been asked to write it.
At Thursday’s staff meeting, Stan was invited to embrace change.
He said he already had.
He had learned the new system, trained two colleagues, changed his working hours and moved rooms three times.
“What I haven’t embraced,” he added, “is pretending every reduction is an improvement.”
There was a silence normally reserved for somebody asking who had authorised the expenditure.
Leadership leaned forward.
“We can’t keep doing things the way we always did.”
“Agreed,” said Stan. “We’ve been understaffed for years.”
Wellbeing suggested a pause.
Leadership suggested taking it offline.
Stan suggested taking someone off the waiting list.
The minutes recorded a useful exchange of perspectives.
Afterwards, our reporter asked Stan whether he simply missed the old days.
“No,” he said. “There were things we needed to change. Plenty. We should listen better. Make things easier to access. Stop deciding what people need without asking them.”
He paused.
“But you don’t improve a service by removing the time to provide it.”
Through the glass, a manager was photographing the new values wall.
Stan watched for a moment.
“I haven’t lost my passion for the job,” he said. “I’ve lost my patience with what you’ve done to it.”
Wellbeing later described this as a breakthrough.
She has recommended journalling.
The incident has prompted Leadership to commission a staff-engagement exercise exploring why experienced employees feel their views are ignored.
Stan offered to explain.
The consultant is available in November.
In the meantime, Leadership has announced a new initiative celebrating institutional knowledge.
There will be a lunchtime event.
Staff should bring their own lunch and arrange their own cover.
Stan will not be attending.
He will be helping someone who has been waiting since nine.
The Laminator found him pulling up a chair.
“Is that in the new service model?” he asked.
“It used to be the service.”
The little machine put down his laminating pouch.
“What can I do?”
Stan moved over.
“Listen first.”
From the management suite, Leadership watched with concern.
“He’s influencing the younger staff.”
Standards haven’t fallen. They’ve been told to sit down.
By Elaine Walsh · Autism & Me
Fictional satire. All characters and quotations are invented. Any resemblance to an institution that values experience until it speaks is entirely deliberate.
Comments