Fiddling with corporate policies

Lately the company I work for has become more and more bureucratic. I admit for some things it makes sense, but mostly these policy edicts just get in the way.

The latest move caused me to rebel, quietly.

See, there's this notion that entirely too much paper is wasted with unnecessary print-outs. This may be so, I've no idea. I know I don't print unless I need to, or am asked to by the boss or a supervisor. Anyway, they modified our main printer commands, so that all documents are sent to storage on that printer. Then you have to get up, select stored tasks, and instruct the printer to actually print them.

Previously my printer setup defaulted to the recycled paper tray. These are sheets with printing on one side which are no longer needed. Effectively these sheets are used twice, thus reducing the overall volume of paper used. So when I found about the change, I also found I cannot choose the recycled tray when selecting to print the task. So I disabled the change and went back to the way things were.

The thing is we're not supposed to do that. We're also not supposed to tell our coworkers how to do that, either. As you can guess, I did both.

I'm also at odds with other corporate policies, like limiting reimbursements to 1,000 pesos. That's not a bad notion, but in our department necessary, business-related expenses of over 1,000 pesos are common. If we had to ask for a check for every 1,001+ expense, we'd be running the check--writers ragged and they'd be begging us to stop. So we just ignroe that rule.

You would think some people are more productive than the cost of a piece of paper, but I guess not.

Quote: 1nickelmiracle

You would think some people are more productive than the cost of a piece of paper, but I guess not.

You should see the guest parking policy. Pretty much you need to schedule it 72 hours in advance.

Quote: Nareed

You should see the guest parking policy. Pretty much you need to schedule it 72 hours in advance.

Now that's REALLY accommodating - would make me feel like a valued guest...;-)

I've never understood corporate policies. My company has 90% of the work force in one place, plus a smattering of people in field offices including my 1 person office in PA. All general internal emails must be sent to all employees, so I get emails about once a week about how this bathroom or that soda machine in the corporate office is out of order.

Our corporate office is on-property at Intercontinental Airport in Houston, and due to some safety regulation, everyone must back into their parking stalls to allow for a fast exit. As I understand it, this causes many accidents each year where people prove why the 90 degree reverse is on most driving licensure exams now.

We've also changed pay-periods and paydates 3 times in 12 months, transitioning from current pay on a semi-monthly basis to a 1 week lag on a biweekly basis.

Expenses require receipts, unless items are under $25. But the form must be presented physically, so it's impossible to tell how many <$25 items are on the report. The expense report will not be processed unless it is on legal paper. This is the only thing I've ever printed on legal paper, and I had to spend extra on my printer to get one that would accommodate this paper size.

We have corporate "discounts" with several office supply and travel vendors where their pricing is a full 25% over the market rate from their competitors. I was written up for saving money by renting a car from Hertz instead of our preferred vendor. The phrase "saving money by renting from Hertz" is one that is quite seldomly uttered.

Quote: rdw4potus

I've never understood corporate policies.

They're set by people with too much time.

Quote: Nareed

They're set by people with too much time.

And, perhaps, ready access to excessive amounts of alcohol.

Quote: rdw4potus

Our corporate office is on-property at Intercontinental Airport in Houston, and due to some safety regulation, everyone must back into their parking stalls to allow for a fast exit.

Drivers consider back-in parking safer: May 26, 2009

It would appear that your company is not the only one to require this back-in parking.

Now they've installed a web filter, and the WoV site is off limits.

I wonder if I can rig my brick to serve as a WiFi hotspot...

Quote: Nareed

Now they've installed a web filter, and the WoV site is off limits.

Well, that didn't last long.

Turns out the boss wants everyone in the department to have unrestricted internet access, because he doens't want to risk having someone blocked from a site with information we may need. It's very unlikely to happen, but it can happen.

And here I was ready to rant about not being able to access something or other, like the early web filters that barred access to sites about mammary gland cancer (no, that's not cryptic at all).