I woke up this morning and checked my work email. Nothing new. Nothing interesting. As I browse the IRWeb, my internal IRS website, I notice that Wage and Investment has appointed a new executive to lead the Modernization Office. This is great news. Certainly…it is wonderful to hear that someone got promoted….wait, what? Someone got promoted? Would someone kindly explain that to me?
For the last three years now, I have been unable to receive a promotion. In fact, really, the majority of us have been unable to receive promotions. I have heard rumors that certain people get promoted and I see postings all the time. Anyone that works in the IRS knows that promotions basically boil down to nepotism. Sure, they call it making the selection for a best qualified person, but once you make it into the selection folder, a manager has the discretion to pick who they want. There appears to be no point ranking system I have ever been made aware of (although I realize it may be above my pay grade).
But how is it that executives and managers and leads manager to get promoted while the rest of us do not? We have been told that we have to make do with what we have. We have to make up for lost staffing by taking on more work. We have to suck it up for the good of the cause. Are executives, managers, and lead not subject to the same rules as the rest of us? Is there work so much more important than ours? I find the disparity between these practices to be disturbing and problematic and frankly, demoralizing. I am sure I am missing some key aspect to all this, but since management is not very forthcoming with substantive communication, I am left wondering. I am sure they have important roles, but we should all suffer together. At the very least, don’t slap me in the face with an announcement about it. Keep it quiet……
It’s about you? Funny, I thought it was about the needs of the organization. Have you clued to what the leaders of the organization need? In the commercial sector we generally follow the Golden Rule: Them what has the gold makes the rules.
Dick, I do not know you. But you seem like you have a rather important position, at least based on your mindset. Congrats to you. But let’s look at this realistically. Are you a manager or leader? Do you lead by example? Do you manage from a book? The needs of the organization are great. Indeed. And everyday those needs are increasing and people are being asked to do more and more for less and less. We gladly do it. If you noticed, I did say me, but I also said the majority of us (including the collective population I work with). If a leader leads by example, then he or she should be held to the same standards. Do you think that organizational needs are higher with senior managers than they are with the people that accomplish the work? If you staffed an organization with nothing but managers, would you have the necessary people to run the daily operations? In my organization, you would not. The volume of work that is done necessitates that people like myself do it. So, when you put out policy that impacts all of us, but exempt yourself from it, that is a sign of poor leadership. I am simply pointing out that if you are going to do it, fine…I get it. Do what you have to. But don’t flaunt it. Don’t parade it in our faces. Don’t tell us we cannot compete for promotions or advancement while you happily promote each other under the guise of organizational needs. Have I clued to what the leaders of the organization need? Yes Dick, probably more than the leaders. I do the actual work….day in and day out. I am in the trenches. Something that they are not. I would hope that you are the kind of person that clues in to what your people need. Or you could be like so many that are indifferent. That is on you. But if you are like that…you are a dinosaur. Admittedly, one with power. But still a dinosaur. Don’t sweat it, I am on my way to becoming one too. It happens to all of us. Good luck to you…..