We watched a boring power point slide show that made sure we understood to dial 611 in case of an emergency instead of 911. We were given a tour of the 1st, second and 4th floors. The building was constructed by Intel and then sold to the Church and the building is huge! A labyrinth of halls with offices and cubicles packed tight. I noticed the lack of any plants or color. It was easy to get lost and the posted maps are difficult to decipher. Each manager arrived to pick up their new hire. I had to wait an additional 10 minutes before my supervisor arrived. The on boarding process was the worst I've ever experienced.
We visited Technical Services on the second floor where I was handed a bag stuffed with a laptop, docking station, keyboard, mouse, power cords and a large box with an external Dell monitor. My supervisor helped me carry that hardware up to my work station. I unpacked everything, pulling components out of plastic wrappers, unwinding twist ties, and connecting cords to the docking station. I had to ask neighbors for help to connect the phone, internet and docking station correctly. I was told to dial 2-HELP to call the help desk when the sound and the external monitor didn't work. Then I had to figure out how to install software such as Office. I had to stop everything I was doing and keep an appointment with my supervisor, a "solutions manager". She was upset when I mentioned that Office wasn't installed on my laptop. She complained that it was going to cost her money from her budget. She emphasized how important it was that I "create value" and start delivering documentation this week. Friday was a holiday, Pioneer Day, and subject matter experts were leaving town to take advantage of the three day weekend.
In another meeting with a "solutions manager" he showed me a help desk application called Service Now. He showed me a list of a dozen MS Word documents and explained that I would need to update the documents after the help desk application was updated next week. He promised to send an email with links to the staging site, and the documents but never did. I was tired and I did my best to restate what he wanted done and wrote some notes, and a list of things to do. I felt thrashed, I still didn't have Office 365, an email client or any tools. I came home around 7pm and fell asleep soon after eating dinner.
I arrived to work my second day at 7:23 am and about 8 am, my supervisor approached my cubicle. She asked me about my assignment. She was upset that I was watching a 20 minute training video that I thought was mandatory. Under pressure, I looked at my notes and everything I wrote didn't make sense. I didn't give her an answer she liked so she got frustrated. I told her I was still installing software to get my workstation working smoothly. I explained it wasn't fair to expect me to start delivering documentation immediately when I didn't have my workstation configured, email working or the documents I was supposed to be working on. I felt terrible and was tempted to just walk away. The confrontation left me shaken and scared she was going to fire me. I could feel the tumor swell a little and my back ached.
The lead technical writer walked in a few minutes later and asked how I was doing? I related my encounter with the supervisor and how I felt terrible and wondered if she was going to dismiss me. He scoffed and simply said that everyone needs to work out their relationship with her. I managed to get Office 365 installed, outlook configured, Lync (an instant chat client) configured and started contacting people with questions. It was easier to send a short text message than risk getting lost! It was frustrating to find names since there are over 1200 people in the list. I had to ask everyone for their first AND last name; please, thank you! I finally finished installing everything and started to configure email accounts with folders. I sent emails to my supervisor advising her of my progress. I asked one of the functional analysts to introduce me to a few more project managers. He led me through the labyrinth and it went well. I took notes and felt prepared to give a better answer to "what are your marching orders?" I scheduled an appointment for Tuesday on the following week.
I took a faster bus/train combination on the way home and found that I had a lot of energy, my wife picked me up and took me to the Provo Rec Center for a Turbo Kick with an Insanity twist since the instructor, Shelby was substitute teacher. I had drank a juice before work and ate a salad for lunch and had the most energy ever during this workout.
The train was late and I ended up arriving late on the third day, at 8:20 am. I finally got a cord that connected the external monitor to the docking station. We had a team meeting and I was introduced to about 20 coworkers. My supervisor almost skipped having everyone introduce themselves because I probably wouldn't remember any names. During the meeting, we talked about requirements for a new application to help with home visits. I noticed that no one took much interest in me as they filed out of the room. I reviewed template and some documents. After lunch in the cafeteria, I visited the gym and stretched out for a few minutes.
When I returned to my desk, I reviewed the Service Now Stage application when the ProKarma agent approached me with someone from HR. She was nervous and asked me to follow her. We entered the HR office, and she announced that the LDS Church didn't feel I was a good fit and my position was terminated immediately. I felt terrible but didn't say anything except to myself. I was escorted back to my desk to collect my items, surrendered my key card and was escorted to the front door. I walked to the curb and realized that I still had 2 hours before the bus would arrive. I returned to the lobby and told the receptionist that I needed to stay here for a little longer since I had no way to get home. I overheard security ask the receptionist, "isn't that the guy we fired today?" I went to the Employment Resources office and talked with a couple of counselors. I was almost reduced tears. It helped to see their reaction when I told them my story. At least I felt a little less like a loser.
I was disappointed with the on boarding process, the lack of empathy and unrealistic expectations. Can you feel the love? NO. I was not given a fair chance to do anything except set up my work station. I do not know why I was terminated and felt abused. I feel depressed and wonder what I did wrong. As I review the situation in my mind, I entertain different possibilities such as my supervisor didn't like me? I feel like giving up.
Suggestions for on-boarding:
- Provision new email accounts to automatically send a set of helpful emails such as
- how to set up your telephone voice mail
- how to log your time on the timekeeping system
- a list of commonly used phone numbers, intranet, and wiki web sites
- a list of abbreviations, jargon specific to the company
- Managers, instead of saying, "Let me know if you need help with anything..." assign someone from the team to help connect the workstation, phone and internet services
- Provide a simplified map to the restroom, elevator/stairs and exits in case a fire alarm goes off
- Ask if there is transportation available at the time of exit
- Offer a bottle of water (mouth goes dry from being stressed)
- Suggest readily available resources for help with finding new employment
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