Peeved

I have an item for the employee suggestion box at work.

Dear Employees' Advisory Council,*

Recently, I applied internally for a position in another division. HR mailed me a form letter to acknowledge receipt of my application and let me know it was being processed.

Unfortunately, someone in HR mistyped my address, so the letter was returned to the agency, then routed through the mailroom to be delivered to me at work. Per standard procedure for any piece of U.S. mail addressed to any employee in my division, the envelope (with a return address from the Employment Office, and "CONFIDENTIAL" stamped across it in big red letters), was opened and read in the administrative office, then given to my supervisor to pass on to me.

Nicely done! Thanks, guys.

Since the confidentiality of the letter, the error that caused it to be returned, and the policy that allowed it to be opened and given to my manager all originated with HR, one can only conclude that at our agency, the left hand has no idea what the left hand is doing. If a gentle hint would be of any assistance, I might mention that one or more thumbs appear to be pretty firmly lodged up your ass.

This still doesn't even begin to address the matter of routinely opening, reading, and then filtering through the supervisor any correspondence addressed to any division employee - a practice which strikes me as more appropriate for dealing with prison inmates than adult professionals, though I have to admit it's at least consistent with a few other ways the agency treats its people. Policies regarding internet and email use, personal time off, and other management issues make it clear that our agency expects its employees to be incompetent, untrustworthy, and dishonest. Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of human nature should know that such expectations tend to be self-fulfilling.

But I'm being unfair. I do recognize that having the most rudimentary understanding of human nature pretty much disqualifies anyone from working in HR.

I don't expect to effect any real change in the way our agency conducts its business, but wanted to express my displeasure and annoyance with this particularly flagrant example of boneheaded administrative policy. I look forward to seeing my input dismissed in next quarter's EAC newsletter.

But of course, I can't really submit that. HR wouldn't understand most of it, and my supervisor would know who wrote it right away.

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*A fully-owned and operated subsidiary of the HR Division, dba Dipshits "R" Us