How many others are miserable at Enbridge? I once was a “high performer”. Ignorance would be bliss; then I wouldn’t know any better. Do others struggle with the inefficiency, ineffectiveness, broken organization? It’s so hard to have any control to get things done! Resources are terribly lacking! Even Directors can’t make decisions for God sake! How can you be a high performer when the organization is broken and Sr Leadership is clueless and out of touch?!? I don’t even know how to keep my sanity without giving up! To old/too many years to start over, a little too young to retire… it’s a tough place to be! How many others feel this way?
19 replies (most recent on top)
Man you need to move on. Life is toooo short to be miserable 40+ hours a week. We’ll be just fine without you.
I can just feel the toxic energy emanating from your pores. It's sad really. I don't take myself that seriously. But I do take my job seriously because of the fact that poorly designed and built pipelines are a public safety issue. And yeah, I do care about doing the right thing and I like having a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. We spend a large chunk of our lives at work, you can at least try to find some meaning in what you do. I know I'm just a number and that we work for a company that is owned by shareholders that have expectations for return on their investment. We are all here to keep that machine grinding along, and if our place in the machine stops adding to the bottom line, we will be erased from the balance sheet with the stroke of a pen. Accepting the big picture of the reality of working for a public company can help you cope. Either accept it or don't, that is your choice. I am here to talk sense into the broken people that may need help finding meaning in their mundane work lives. That and I also enjoy talking sh-t on the internet.
LOL - puke emoji.
it's interesting how not being part of the career blinders syndrome heard immedaetly gets scorn - "I'm not taking charge of my life" or "you need to be more motivated"
I am 100% grateful for everything I have in life. Enbridge is a pay check - no more. I am still productive at my job ... i just choose to do just that, no more, and go home and take my money with me. I can't for the life me of be 'grateful' to an organization that could let me go just because they need to maximize profit .... learned that lesson a long time ago .... most companies including enbridge are not grateful for you ... you are a means to an end for them .... and it is not wrong to treat them as a means to an end. They give you no guarantees - so why should you blindly guarantee your loyalty to anyone whom doesn't grant reciprocal attitudes.
Your attitude and mindset towards my comments indicates your relatively close mind to the world beyond work and the fact that you don't see yourself valuable as human being outside the 'role' you do in society. I feel sorry for you.
if you love your job so much why are you on a company bi--h site?
That's fine, it is your prerogative to coast by and not take charge of your life and career. You could also try working for a company that is one degree removed from a pipeline operator. Like a service provider or contractor that does work for pipeline operators. Those organizations tend to be leaner and you're insulated to some degree from the red tape and bureaucracy of the pipeline operator. Those orgs do tend to value their employees more and high performers are recognized and rewarded more readily and you can take on higher levels of responsibility and move up quicker. But you have to do customer service, which is not for everyone. And actually be productive and add value. And many of those businesses require active business development to keep the work flowing in. But it can be a breath or fresh air and give you a bit of perspective. Who knows, it may teach you to be grateful for what you have now!
nope - not burned out .... just smartened up and not playing the game anymore. You are right - all companies work like this anymore - and the grass is not greener anywhere. no executives or mgmt teams in north america care about their product, employees, and customers anymore. It's all shareholders and wealth generation for dividends.
This is the world and can't change it ... just plan to siphon as much money my way as i can before i die.
half that response was fortune cookie wellness BS sold by CEO's / LinkedIn recruiters / High School Guidance counsellors.. Sorry - I know you believe in that stuff - that's your perogative.
To the low performer, you definitely do seem burned out. Sooner or later, the organization will do another reorg and you may get your wish to take the package and walk and put you out of your misery. It sounds like you may need a fresh start somewhere else. But, be careful what you wish for. While employees do complain about Enbridge, by and large people are pretty spoiled here. Nobody really works that hard, and more than a few are overpaid considering their competence levels. Keep in mind that the grass is likely not much greener anywhere else. And a lot of Enbridge competitors either do not pay as much or the workload is higher and people do a lot more with a lot less and wear multiple hats. Try to focus on the bright side. Enbridge has some pretty awesome assets and you can get some really great project experience in here, particularly on the project execution side. Apply to another department that has more meaningful work and/or better leadership and make sure you're getting enough vitamin D, it helps with depression.
i am a low performer, the scourge of the last poster. Prior to that for 18 years i was a stellar performer with some of the highest ratings for my work.
I became a low performer because I consistently saw that contractors (like the last poster) were being hired and given the more meatier work, while i was relegated to the BS tasks of 'training' the contractor and being their administrative arm to navigate the politics of enbridge since they were generally useless in getting anything done without having their 'company buddy'.
I'm just waiting due to pension and hope for good severance.
so Mr. Have the guts to fire lowball performers ...... just remember a large chunk of those were the high performers that you usurped as a contractor due to incompetent management whom were promoted into areas they have no experience in and then hired you to cover their weaknesses because you "aren't part of the company and can't expose their weaknesses and/or lack of knowledge" .... and remember they are doing the BS work that would make you want to sm--k yourself with a hammer. Be careful what you wish for ....
As a contractor, if you can negotiate a good rate, life is very good. Getting paid by the hour makes dealing with the bloat and B team members much less painful. If it takes longer than it should to complete a task due to bad process, it means more hours billed to Enbridge. As a full time employee, I could see that being more bleak taking longer than it should to do your job with the same pay. Even as a contractor it can at times be soul su-king dealing with some of the bloat and B team regularly. And Enbridge (Cynthia) wonders why we cost 20% more than our gulf coast competitors - for people who actually do the work, it's pretty obvious. Enbridge management has no ba--s to cull low performers regularly and hold people accountable for not producing. Which is why you see these low value departments and employees that often are responsible for creating the bloat and process we all have to deal with and cost the company more $. Overall, in the Projects Org, being on the front lines with a non micro managing boss, life can be quite good. Especially if you actively skirt the inefficient process and bloat and actively only invite the doers of the organization to your meetings whenever possible. Overall, staying in Projects as a doer, I could retire at Enbridge if I could survive layoffs as a contractor another 10-15 years.
We talk so much about safety and reliability in the field yet “they” increasingly put people in manager, director and even VP positions with NO operational experience and have NOTHING to contribute to protecting or improving our core business. I guess getting “business people” ops experience and telling them to cut the budget and focus on “culture” (because what else can they talk about) is more important these days.
i was in TIS for mote than 20 years and knew business very well along with technology. i am so happy today that i was let go last year by a new managwr who got the position not due to her experience or skill set. i love my new job and dont miss the sh-t hole. Glad the CIO is out and hope his minions are kicked out too.
It's not the DEI hires that are the problem - it's the "buddy hires". Just because they are fun to have a drink with on vacation does not mean they are good employees. Before you had them sprinkled around but there were enough "good workers" to counteract them and keep the wheels on the bus. Not anymore. And forget the lip service about the "how" you get the job done. Make employees cry on the regular? Here's a manager role. Great job!
I had a Teams meeting with a director of some useless department. She was young, a DEI promotion and had fingernails longer than Maleficent. She was totally clueless and had obviously been promoted due tocolour as opposed to competence. No wonder long-term employees are despairing and are just hanging in for severance.
The company culture has spiralled to new lows and it's no wonder why employees dread going into work in the morning. Knowledgeable employees are assets just like pipelines but senior execs just don't value them.
I was like you, long term dedicated employee that did my best at work everyday. Seen Enbridge a once amazing company but now to what it is...Sad! Thankfully another employer took notice of me and pursued to steal me from Enbridge. It was a difficult process as like a long term employee and saying goodbye to all my friends. Took 3 days in my new company to completely forget about Enbridge (not my friends). A year into my new role my family and I are happier, healthier, and the money is substantially better then Enbridge. I am so happy I left!. To all of you their is hope and I know it can be scary and stressful to change jobs. There are many good employers out there that would love to employee you, you are valuable! Take that first big step I guarantee you your life will be better and happier! Peace!
The only reason I'm at Enbridge is my severance.
Good points about the purge of talent and the promotion of the politically connected vs the most qualified. I was a 14-year employee, and I couldn’t believe the knowledge and talent that walked out of this company over the past 10 years. I understand the need to create opportunities for others, but you don't ditch your best people to do it. My old boss made great decisions based on his experience and knowledge that they now think we can replace with consultants and committees and some weird group think at the VP level. For those that can, get out. I work for a company now that values my input and most importantly trusts me! Those two things no longer exist at Enbridge.
This is an example of what happens when you dispose of your more experienced, higher cost employees. You lose so much tribal knowledge! So now your younger, less experienced directors don't know what to do? So they do nothing! If you took all the director in Enbridge, and laid them end to end, they still couldn't reach a conslusion!
But hey! we reduced payroll! Yay!
Now I'm off to my committee meeting to evaluate our lunch options. We are making progress, and may be able to order lunch sometime next month!
Here, here. Makes me want to belly flop off a tall building.
I’m a long term employee and have never ever seen morale so bad.
Very few care anymore really only the ones drinking koolaid and want to kiss a-s and move up.
The don’t give a F**K attitude is running rampant.
And management all the way up to executive seemingly don’t care to fix it.
So just keep on doing all that is necessary and that’s it !
Spot on!