Cons include how certain staff will be stretched super-thin where others are "too busy" to be expected to meet that same level of team player that management is apparently looking for. Volunteer opportunities are not volunteer at all. You will get negative marks on your review for not participating. If you are hourly and have to punch in, you will lose 15 minutes of accrued vacation time for being over 7 minutes late and that is regardless of whether you didn't plan your morning right or got stuck in a two-hour long traffic jam cause by a 10-car pile up that occurred while you were still sleeping and, therefore, could not possibly prepare for.
Hourly staff needs to be given the opportunity of flex time. There are many parents that could use the flexibility to take care of family issues. Even single people can benefit if you just needed an hour or two to go the doctor's or get your car serviced.
There is a lot of focus on phone coverage, especially when the front desk calls begin to bounce up to the other admin desks. This does seem to be a pretty reasonable request, but in truth, a second full time receptionist is needed. The phones often ring off the hook and there are deliveries arriving, guests showing up at the front door and management requesting cabs. Providing front desk coverage requires that the receptionist or admin handle VERY sensitive calls and they should not be required to balance the arrival of Fed Ex while handling these calls. Not to mention, we were all required to be away from our desks to assist with workshops and so forth, so always being there for the phone was an impossibility.
I once passed a co-worker's desk where this person had been given a book to read by his/her supervisor titled either "Working with Idiots" or "How to Work with Idiots". I can't remember the exact title as it didn't quite make my Amazon must-have list, but a title like that alone pretty much tells you how the lower staff is viewed by management. Not exactly an appropriate book to share with your subordinate in my opinion.
There are certain staff members that are being overwhelmed and their repeated ideas and requests for help are being ignored or occasionally laughed at (true story), yet continually put in extra effort and are regularly overlooked. Others, however, are having a red carpet practically rolled out for them and receive recognition for providing turkey recipes (also a true story). Negative environments begets negative behaviors and, pretty soon, we all forget how to behave professionally or even normally.
