I do believe that there are those who are overwhelmed with work.
But why do you continue to do that?
Why do you allow yourself to be drained so much?
I understand the fear of losing your job, but everyone should think about their health first.
4 replies (most recent on top)
Logic: This is clearly the new norm, there’s no support whatsoever to hold up good customer service or campus relations, the bookstore is no longer a valuable asset to the campus environment when it comes to offering extra activities for campus, there are not enough hours in the day/week to get everything done that will lead to success.
Emotion: Our bookstore has a hard-earned relationship with campus, including faculty and staff. Students matter and need the support that the bookstore can provide. This is important and matters and we’ll (I’ll) do what it takes even while knowing 60+ hours a week is not sustainable. I’m heart-broken at the thought of leaving a store I care so deeply about. 😢
Because it is our personal reputation with our campus that we try to uphold. Managers don't complain about their job/pay/workload to the people we report to at our schools, we do the job and make the store/company look good. We don't let our customers know that our pay was just cut, drastically in some situations, that our support staff was layed off, that we are working with temps that come and go and have terrible worth effort and are just a body. If we don't keep up with business it makes us personally look weak, not doing a good job, and we are dedicated to our students/campus/ and have some self-respect. Some managers will leave because they can't put up a good face any longer, or they can't live on the pay, or feel so disrespected by the company, but others will stay because they love their customers and campus, or they are too old to start over and close to retirement age-who is going to hire them?, or the area they live in is remote and not other options.
I hope everyone (laid off or still employed) finds an employer that better values them because we know it's not Follett.
JRC's only value is the profit they report to their investors.
You are but a cipher in their calculation.
Most amount of work for least amount of money = profit for JRC investors.
First and foremost it is the drive to see our students succeed and help our faculty do their job. This is a mission that Follett has gotten away with over the past 5 years when became obsessed with numbers and lost the relational part of it. Riding the coattails on good graces of long-lasting relations we built on campus. They also kept saying lies like "Just get through this one tough season and everything will be okay" while continuously gutting our resources leading to overworked and poor service. After a while, you realize this is no longer a season, but the new norm. Don't bash people's desire to want to make a positive impact on their college campuses. Would you say the same to a teacher? Yes, our health (physical and mental) is important, but it can get easy to get stuck in a loop of believing things will get better soon. I hope everyone (laid off or still employed) finds an employer that better values them because we know it's not Follett.