Not achieving work place targets

snowqueen555

What repercussions can this have for not hitting targets, can they sack me? I don't know how long I can stay here otherwise.

Thanks

Sambucus_Nigra

snowqueen555 wrote: »

What repercussions can this have for not hitting targets, can they sack me? I don't know how long I can stay here otherwise.

Thanks

Let me wade through the mire of information you have given and have a think....


Right -

Presumably if you aren't meeting targets, they can dismiss you through capability.



Can you try to meet targets? Are the targets achievable? How long have you worked there? Have you had training? Yada yada yada...

snowqueen555

I did a long post ^ but no-one replied so I edited it to something shorter

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One year and a half. I always used to hit targets but the targets keep going up as they are based on team averages, so my output is the same as it has been.

I think it has increased because
- More rushing
- More shortcuts
- Manipulation of paperwork

My workplace don't seem to understand that target averages mean many people will be above, and many will be below the middle. I keep being told to beat the average, but if I beat the average, the average will only be higher the next time.

Our stats are linked to pay, the problem is that it is so derisory everyone complains about it as someone who is a top worker gets pennies more than someone to does the worst.

I was kindly warned to improve by my manager, and he offered me to shadow some of the better people, but that would be embarassing, and wouldn't offer any further improvement for me.

Sambucus_Nigra

Half the people will statistically always be below average.

I'd take him up on the shadowing, you might learn a few tricks.

I don't know what you do, but I was taught to always aim to hit your yearly targets by Easter, then the rest of the year you can just work at putting plans in place to hit next years'.

If the pay difference is so cr@.p then is everyone bothered? Is this what is stifling ingenuity?

What sort of targets are you looking at here?

snowqueen555

Target numbers have gone up roughly 20-25% in a year. This isn't a sales job its more of a measurement of productivity, so there is not much room for movement.

The bonuses are yearly and really lame, so lame they don't work in whole percentages, more like .25%

We didn't used to have targets, now we do and everyone hates it.

-

As I said, I know how to do my job, just some people are fast, or some people cut corners, some people rush and make mistakes. Its a bit of everything, but I am not able to increase my output unless I start to rush, and its not a healthy work life if I need to constantly work like this.

What would happen if I don't hit targets?

ohdamnit

snowqueen555 wrote: »

Target numbers have gone up roughly 20-25% in a year. This isn't a sales job its more of a measurement of productivity, so there is not much room for movement.

The bonuses are yearly and really lame, so lame they don't work in whole percentages, more like .25%

We didn't used to have targets, now we do and everyone hates it.

-

As I said, I know how to do my job, just some people are fast, or some people cut corners, some people rush and make mistakes. Its a bit of everything, but I am not able to increase my output unless I start to rush, and its not a healthy work life if I need to constantly work like this.

What would happen if I don't hit targets?

I would ask not too shadow, but maybe you can have one on one sessions with the "best" workers. Find out what it is they do different.

Personally i am with you, I like a job done properly, but if your targets are not allowing for this then you need to play the game. If it is purely measured on quantity and thats how you will get paid then you need to meet those targets, whether you think it is right or not. It is not for you to determine how the job should be done/measured, your bosses have decided to make their measurements in this way.

The way your sort the issue is to then show the issues caused by this measurement, i.e. you show actual stats or examples where the encouraged method causes extra work/rework, and therefore doesn't save effort, or show how your work method saves time/money.

Sorry it is not a more positive response, but you really need to be meeting those targets even if you dont agree with the principle, either that or get out of there asap!

ceridwen

BTW - If the employer first introduces targets (when they never used to have them) and then keeps upping them every year - then you're on a hiding to nothing even trying to keep pace with an ever-shifting goalpost AND doing your job properly. So - its up to you which wins out here - whether its your conscience (because you want to do the job properly) or your own personal finances (because you don't want to give them any excuse to "punish" you in any way).

Just keep on and on doing as the above poster says and explaining that its not possible to both do the job properly AND hit targets.

It would be wise to try and get all of you in agreement that you are all going to cease trying to hit targets and "do the job properly instead" if thats at all possible. Whats the point, after all, of trying so hard for a bonus thats only peanuts anyway?

What you personally need to do is to get Plan B in action (ie looking for another job AND getting some emergency savings by your side just in case). The fact that the firm is pushing so like this does not augur well for everyone keeping their jobs in the long-term (whether any job losses were down to redundancy or being sacked for not meeting targets).

My guess is that - with the way they are upping them so drastically and frequently - that they are doing their darndest to provide themselves with excuses to sack people anyway (ie they have, quite likely, already decided that they need redundancies and are trying to set people up for sacking in order to avoid the cost of those redundancies). It IS a standard tactic for a lot of employers to try and "set people up" for sacking in order to save on redundancy payments unfortunately - highly immoral, but some do do this.

Freddie_Snowbits

Oh, if you lok at my posts about my first job in 1978, I forgot to add about the closed shop.

Join a union. Oh, and I am most vociferous at those who harbour the want the annual pay hike for nothing. Now I run my place, if you are not it the club, you do not get the benefits.

Sambucus_Nigra

snowqueen555 wrote: »

Target numbers have gone up roughly 20-25% in a year. This isn't a sales job its more of a measurement of productivity, so there is not much room for movement.

The bonuses are yearly and really lame, so lame they don't work in whole percentages, more like .25%

We didn't used to have targets, now we do and everyone hates it.

-

As I said, I know how to do my job, just some people are fast, or some people cut corners, some people rush and make mistakes. Its a bit of everything, but I am not able to increase my output unless I start to rush, and its not a healthy work life if I need to constantly work like this.

What would happen if I don't hit targets?

Your comments on your work are vague - so obviously nobody can help there - and as I said in post 2, if you don't hit targets then yes they could get rid of you through capability.

Each job is a combination of the 3 principles of project management - time, cost, quality. If the company want to drop one in favour of the other - then that's their lookout. It's up to you to decide whether that is worth doing, whether you just want to up your game a little, or you want to get to the top of the heap.

I'd also be asking what the point of the targets is, if it isn't sales, then what value do they offer to the work that you do and whether the targets are the right ones. Targets *should enhance your work in some way, and if they aren't either you don't understand the job OR they don't! [No offence, but I've known alot of people who don't see the bigger picture and only look at themselves, don't like change and thus don't work with the targets set, and also companies who have set targets just because, and don't look at why they are targetting their staff in the first place].

ohdamnit

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

I'd also be asking what the point of the targets is, if it isn't sales, then what value do they offer to the work that you do and whether the targets are the right ones. Targets *should enhance your work in some way, and if they aren't either you don't understand the job OR they don't! [No offence, but I've known alot of people who don't see the bigger picture and only look at themselves, don't like change and thus don't work with the targets set, and also companies who have set targets just because, and don't look at why they are targetting their staff in the first place].

There are lots of places where targets are set, that are not sales, call centres spring to mind. I know people who are suppose to process 200 calls a day. Basically this means getting rid of the caller asap, either passing to a different dept, or providing v basic details. They then put the phone down within two minutes, then customer can phone again.

Unfortunately many companies are not going to be interested in your opinion unless you can show why the targets are a bad idea. For that you need the support of your manager who has to be willing to fight your corner. Or you need to have some way of discussing this with those in charge of the targets.

Sambucus_Nigra

ohdamnit wrote: »

There are lots of places where targets are set, that are not sales, call centres spring to mind.

Yeah I know.....I've NEVER had sales targets, but each target I've had is a reasoned one, and makes sense.

I wouldn't work somewhere where it didn't and if I had to, then I'd make very sure that I understood the hows and whys and that I ticked the boxes - as surely the only reason for working in a place like that is for the £....

Talking about this is pointless until we know what sort of targets the OP is on about; if we knew then maybe we could help....the combined experience and knowledge etc etc.