Upper management did not inform employees about changes they were going to make. Instead, you could be moved to a completely different job at a moments notice and given little training and be expected to perform and meet a required monthly goal. The first time I was moved, I was taken from an exempt position, which is what I was hired for, and made non-exempt. We were told this was temporary...but it was really permanent. Most of my department left the company at this time. I was moved 4 times in my last year, with 4 different managers. I always made goals, but the job stress was unbelieveable! At any one time 1/3 of a very large department was out on leaves of absence for stress relief! This was common knowledge. Management knew and still did nothing to improve conditions. After one move, I figured out I was actually doing 2 jobs! One entire department was laid off and all their calls were moved to my new department. Calls took our entire day, while at the same time we were given other new job duties to perform and a goal to be met!! The overtime was unlimited of course-I worked 14 hour days to do what was expected. So much for any personal life! I made very good money in overtime-but money is not everything!!! Then, once moved yet again, there would be no more overtime-workloads were just compressed- extremely heavy amount of work and we were expected to do it all in 7.5 hours. If you took time off, you likely could not meet your monthly goal, since it would not be adjusted accordingly. So, many people went on working in these conditions without taking vacations for fear of not making goal and being fired. We were given paid time off, but penalized for using it, and lost it at the end of the year if we did not take it. Catch 22!!! You could not win.
Our customers actually came last in this work scenario. They had to be dealt with, but the work production and meeting government audit requirements came first. I experienced many management decisions that actually hurt our customers. When I pointed this out, I was just told the decisions had been made and would not be changed. We, in all things, really worked for the government, making sure they stayed off our backs and we passed audits and avoided huge fines.
Feedback to management was highly discouraged. They expected employees to sit, do their job and keep their mouths shut. No idea was a good idea, unless management dictated it to be done. Instead, we were considered to be overpaid, (our increased pay was the company's decision) so were given excessive workloads and expected to produce, produce, produce! Very much a sweat shop mentality!!!!!!
Then, the layoffs began. More stress!!! If you did not meet your goal even one time, you were sure to be a target. If you ever took a leave of absence, spoke up about conditions, or had any other perceived imperfections, you were on the layoff list! Employees began to wish they WOULD be laid off, to get out of the oppressive environment. The longer you had worked there the more your severance pay would be. Chase used us, mentally and physically exhausted us, then kicked us out the door at the end when the amount of work began to decline.
