Female Forum

Frustrated with co-worker HR? Am I crazy?

2010-02-27T21:40:52+00:00

I posted this on the intro page but also thought here would help.

Hi all,

Sorry to come on here and immediatley drop my problems before helping but I just need to get this off my chest and see if I am being crazy.
I am a group lead in a regional sales group. A recent new hire (we will call her Steph)is a lead in a different region. We are seperate but equal (supposedly)
The issue I have is with how Steph dresses. The accepted attire is office casual, and she wear pants and skirts that while fairly conservative always ride low on her hips. So whenever she fixes her hair, or reaches up in any manner her midriff is revealed.

Seeing her stomach does not bother me but now she has gotten to go to the last 3 international conventions for sales leads! All leads used to attend, now with tighter budgets about 1/4 of us go and she has gone every time...everyone else rotates!

I see the managers eyes wander to her belly frequently. The last straw was she now has a Bosu ball in the office for her “posture”, but seems more interested in stretching her back by arching over it, this has the managers falling over themsleves (in my opinion) to ask her how the ball works and watch her top litterally climb up over her ribs.

I don’t see anything about exposed midriff in the HR manual, what do I do?? Am I just imagining this? Does anyone else have a similar situation? If I talk to the dept head I think I will sound bitchy and crazy

Leslie

Fitting in at work

2010-02-11T13:38:20+00:00

When starting a new job or even a new college course i think it’s normal and natural to feel a little nervous, thoughts come into mind like am I going to make a good impression and will my work be good enough and worries about fitting in can be daunting.

I cant say I have ever had a job before that has sounded as exciting as the one I’m about to start next week; i had always worked retail, cleaning and data entry roles, but despite that the one that really stood out as a job I enjoyed was a department store where I really felt part of the team, my colleagues eventually became freinds who I kept in touch with long after leaving.

I then left to find work in a supermarket where i didn’t fit in at all, I was never loud or extroverted and therefore assumed to be stupid I stood up for myself when management finally pushed me to the brink with their constant belittling and was thought of as a trouble causer and permenantly separated from the few friends I had made.

Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with fitting in at work, do you even think it is all that important if you enjoy your work anyway, What tips would you give to someone who is nervous about their first day?

not sure were i stand with job offer

2010-01-27T18:54:03+00:00

After attending an interview nearly 2 weeks ago now I was offered the job and promised I would be notified in the next few days via the agency about start dates; they then told they had a few internal matters to get sorted before I could start which was not a problem.

This job was arranged thru an agency and i contacted them late last week to find out whats going on, I was informed by the agency that I was not to worry the job was 110% mine and i had received excellent feedback which put my mind at rest but she did admit to the company not responding to her calls or emails.

Nearly a week later I still have heard nothing I don’t know were I stand at all does it sound like they have changed their minds which is odd as the company seemed stable and professional not the sort to just do that.

hope if they have changed there minds they would let me know i dot know what to think now

Putting the career first - a generational challenge?

2009-08-30T07:10:43+00:00

I was reading this thread about equality and some of the replies got me thinking about women putting their career first and how this affects me.

I work in a team of 9, all women (3 of us are web people, 4 are the ‘communications team’ and the other two are our bosses). I’m the youngest in the team (27), one of the other web girls is a couple of years older, but the rest are all over 40. I think of them as ‘the older generation’ not because of their age but because they all have children - not small children either, they’re all at least secondary school age or above.

Anyway, myself and the other younger woman were chatting a while ago about the fact that the rest of the team can be quite hard work because they always put their children first. We both work full time and don’t have kids, so when we’re at work, we’re at work and that’s it. It feels like the rest of the team are constantly at the mercy of their children e.g. when their kids are sick, they need a day or a morning off. They mostly work part time anyway so that they can see more of their kids. They’re often late in because of the school run. when they arrive, we get half an hour of distracting chatter about what their kids did last night.

What i find interesting is that, as I say, most of these women work part time (now i think about it, all but two do). Their husbands are the breadwinners, they just seem to do this for something to do. My other colleague and I however see this as our careers, whereas you sometimes get the feeling the others don’t care. All this can be really frustrating when you’re trying to work on a project and they’re missing deadlines because they had to take the kids to the doctor or you can’t get hold of them on a Friday when the customer wants a decision because that’s their day off, or you have to do twice as much work to cover their absence etc…

So, I was wondering, is this a generational thing? I’m not saying it’s wrong to put your family first: when I have children, of course they will be more important than my job, I’d be foolish to think otherwise, but all the same, it seems very unprofessional on their parts. I’d like to think I’d still be dedicated to my job, much as I love my kids.

Does anyone else have any experience of this? I’m quite curious to hear about this from the opposite perspective - people who work and have kids - is it difficult working with people like me who don’t?

IF you could go back to your teens/20s, what would you do differently?

2010-01-22T23:28:42+00:00

I didnt know where to put this really. it could have gone in the lifestyle/hobbies section. but if you could go back and do things with your life differently durring your early 20s, what would those things be?

Are YOU a team player?

2008-12-17T00:21:05+00:00

With my teenage son recently sending out applications for a job to do before starting university next year, it got me thinking about whether I work better as part of a multi-disciplinary team or on my own?

I know for a fact that I can do both competently but I feel that I can accomplish more if I am just left to get on with it without interference from others.

How about YOU?

How good are you at networking?

2009-01-17T00:02:32+00:00

I have seen it a million times, if you want to get that job, get promoted or attract a new client you have to start networking. Of course it doesn’t always work out this way but it certainly helps.

How well connected are you when it comes to your career? Do you network in your job and have a list of contact the length of your arm? Do you make yourself well know to the senior management? Do you find it pays off?

Maybe you find it difficult and shy away from making contacts in your career a circle, leaving it to the social butterflies of this world; do you find this has hindered your progress at work?

I have to admit I am pretty low on confidence when it comes to networking and tend to rely on the skills I have not the people I know, but it dose pay off when I am the one asked to do a task as I am the most experience at whatever it is.

Cleaning

2009-12-10T18:46:33+00:00

Hello there,

I’m a married lady, four children , three under 13 so I need a job that fits around the children and holidays as children care is a costly biz.
I clean people’s houses, I found my first job through a friend and then built it up word by mouth. I charge between £5 to £7 per hour, I take into account what they want me to do and age, there is quite a lot of eldery folk on state pensions so I just charge £5 per hour what ever they want me to do, they also want a chat as well. I would rather do four £5 jobs for eldery than two £7 jobs as I feel I am brightening there day, they certainly brighten my day with there stories etc.
Wish my house was as clean!!LOL

I do lots of other little jobs in my dairly life that are not cleaning, everything to fit in around my hubby and children.

What made you choose your job?

2008-10-31T22:43:44+00:00

For all you women in employment - what made you choose your current job? Was it just a case of first company to say yes, was it the company you have always wanted to work for? Maybe they simply paid the most? I work in HR and it was always my destiny after studying it. I chose the company I work for now because the pay was good as was their location. Sure, I probably should have shopped around a little more, but when someone offers you a job it is hard to say no.

Transferable skills

2010-01-07T17:29:09+00:00

I often read about transferable skills and making the most of them on my CV and today in an interview I was put in a position were I had to think fast what i can bring to a technical job from a non technical education background.

I also think this is a good point even if you haven’t worked for a time especially for mums returning to work like skills in time management and even conflict resolution think 2 two years olds in an argument; then there is volunteering which is not to be underestimated eithr.

Do you think what you gain from one employment can be transfered to another would you expect to have to start from the very bottom in a career change? Have you ever been given an opportunity because of success in a role completely different to what you applied for what skills did you take with you how did you feel you used them?