I used to have a job at a Company I loved. For almost five years I was employed by Quicken Loans. I had a few titles in different departments. When I started at Quicken, I was returning to the workforce after primarily being a stay at home mother of two. I was married, dedicated Girl Scout Leader, PTA member, volunteer teacher for computer lab, and I had the house all the kids wanted to be at in the neighborhood; the kool aid Mom per se. But I had to get back to work and leave this behind as many mommies are forced to do.
I interviewed and hired for a entry level position as a loan auditor. I was thrilled I had finally found a job with a great company that offered excellent benefits and perks just for being a team member no matter your title. After the first week, I found myself with a work schedule of 5am to 6pm monday through friday, and at least a 1/2 day on saturdays mandatory. Holy Moly from wonder mom to trapped in a 6x6 cubicle scrolling through loans for 12 hours a day. Thrilled to have a job and motivated by "team competition" for an extra 500 bucks a month bonus. As this excitement soon wore off and my kids upset I was hardly home and the days started to drag with resentment, I was "promoted to a senior". How wonderful. But that promised raise and higher yearly bonus never came.
I had then moved onto IT in a supporting role. There I was strung up to a desk with a headset taking calls from angry stressed out bankers that failed to have the time to learn the company software to write "clean loans". I was slammed onto a call center type team, to support the entire company on microsoft, company developed software and the many team moves from one location to another or maybe even one desk over. Training on all of this was minimal, so the frustrated callers needing assistance simply had to deal with team members like myself, wanting to help but did not have the tools readily available to do so. So my job started as -Ticket please, we will get back to you in up to two hours... Frustration turns to anger and verbal abuse. Did you restart your computer? Thank you for calling Lifeline. Ha ha. After two years of this, I became pretty good at helping the bankers and created quite a database of information of easy fixes to common issues. I LOVED taking calls and helping the team members work through issues. I knew our company software and loved my job until the hours started ruining my life once again.inability of my team leader to set schedules that were at the very least routine, try running a family with not knowing if you will even be present for even one meal. My marriage failed but I sure was at work everyday. I would be scheduled one day from 7am to 5pm and the next 12pm to 11pm and the next day 10pm to 9pm and so on. There was no routine even when I begged for a set schedule, there was nothing that would change. I did not sign up for this, but changes were the only thing constant Such is life. Some months I would work 22 days straight. Overtime was paid, but it sure was not worth missing so much of my kids lives. But I had to do what I had to do and making money working every minute offered was the game. The only thing I was able to have constant in my life was the Girl Scout meetings twice a month in which I knew I would have time with my daughter, my son on the other hand just had to settle for the time I was able to keep my eyes open while at home and not plugged into my VPN taking support calls. Ahhh life with Quicken at its finest. I had no choice but to look for a new position with solid hours. Because I made this decision my team leader had to allow me to move. I was granted my release with my old boss reporting to my new boss amongst many deceptive comments one that really stung was that I was unreliable. WHAT? New boss lady informs me of my slandering, in a defensive way I tell her to pull my time cards for the past two years and see how unreliable I really am. The point in this was to simply prove these were blatant lies. I know I am an excellent team member to have around. Always giving 100% and reliable. Other team members would have all said the same. But now I was only labled as defensive. HA
So there I was newly divorced, making it only on my pay from Quicken and no child support. I take a title in Compliance as a administrative assistant, working only 40 hours a week and split between two teams. I did not make great money and even qualified as low income as pathetic as that was after 5 years of work. I did everything possible to make my team leaders happy, however with my personal life in shambles I worked even harder to make my job my escape. I worked hard and was proven to be reliable and dedicated to my tasks given to me no matter how overwelming. Things at work were intense for such a title as adminstrative assistant. I really did not do anything remotely like a administrative assistant would be titled for. I worked hard to learn what was expected of me. I assisted my team members with technology constantly so they did not have to call lifeline. Whatever anyone needed I took on and did. Licensing bankers to calling verifications for Quality Control. Never say no and always having the "I can" attitude in order to please them all. I always did the right thing. Then one day I was overwelmed and in an attempt to ask for assistance of priorities of workload, my "life balance" was questioned, so I had a melt down to my lead. Open door policy, yeah right. I shared what was going on in my personal life. This event spiraled into I am an unstable team member and now lets bring back up that time I was defensive no matter what I did daily to prove that false. To be human is to error but not at Quicken. I had a lot on my plate personally. Battling a chronic disease was the least of my problems but I still had to deal with it. Making sure my kids had everything they needed and a little of what they wanted, was pressure enough with little assistance from their father. My personal problems were huge and going to work should not have been another battle to fight day in and out but it was. Since my pay scale failed a descent home for my family, I had to take on a second job. When this was discovered by my team lead, I was definitely sliding myself right out of my status as employed by Quicken. It seemed doing anything outside of work that was not company accepted helped place you on the chopping block no matter how great the work you did was.
Sitting on a team as divided as this last team I was on was like being trapped in a civil war of black versus white. Working with all women is a chore in and of itself. Keeping up with the constant protocol of remaining compliant with all state guidelines was short of exhausting. The team never seemed to have enough help or time to meet deadlines. The stress of no over time to complete tasks and that of catty women constantly in the realm of stabbing eachother in the back was constant. Ignore the noise? I think not when the fear of being accused of untruth and losing your job is knocking at your door everyday. There I was in the midst of this as a person that is sympathic and willing to get work done and meet deadlines while dodging the knives that were thrown was impossible. Even punching out and working to secretly logging on from home to get the deadlines met went unnoticed. A few girls on the team were known for either coming in late, leaving early or in middle of the day and not punching out, or punching in - they were punching the clock for eachother to cover the time cards. Another one constantly reading books instead of being a team player, taking personal calls all day, surfing the net and having to be re-trained continuously to complete simple tasks was a member of the this supposed team as it were called. Bottom line with Quicken, if you are black this is the place for you. All you have to do is get a job there and then sit back and play the almighty race card to legal and your job is solid. Funny how many times I seen this happen sitting in the legal department. Regardless of the terms of a termination, claiming race as a reason you believe you are being picked on or let go, you will get what you want. One person IT used this race card and got the job back, a raise and perfect hours. Even though the knowledge and skilled lacked so terribly they were a thorn in the teams side and did nothing to benefit the company aside from side stepping a possible race law suit. Funny how it is a joke to them telling people how they have their job now and are sitting nice and securely at Quicken. Its not about what you know there, its about what you are and how you use it. I have been through so many cut backs with the company and never thought it would hit me. But sure enough a matter of two weeks after asking a 'friend" in a prominent position how to handle such issues on my team of falsely punching clocks and failure to do the job requirements, my confidentiallity was warped and I soon found myself in hot water and without a job. Shortly after the conversation, the girls that were named were informed they are being accused of such things and to be careful. No investigiatin on the lack of team work and time worked. Just watch your back and the people that do their jobs are expected to work harder to cover their deadlines, their lack of hours, and lack of skills. I lost my job out of these team members when I did my work. Stretched so thin, but still got the job done. How did the selection of cutting the fat trickle down? Well it seems it went to the people that have too many years in, telling the truth about lying skeeves, and show up and do the work.
I have been contacted by so many great employees that were laid off for no reason other than bad buisness practices. Reporting the theives that are stealing time and pay just cost me my job. The many team member that were let go for simply having the wrong color skin, or being high risk because of pregnancy, having too many years in with the company and they can simply have someone for less pay do the jobs are reasons that really made up their minds. The pregnant girls that I know that were let go to find themselves in a position of bringing home a new baby just short of the insurance extension cut off. How will they pay for the births or even their home bills now? I guess we will all have to figure out how to make it work on 1200 a month with unenjoyment pay. Thanks Quicken for 5 years of my life I dedicated and believed in a company for.in this time of complete financial crisis, you turned your backs on employees that stood by a company they slaved for and worked years of their lives away to be left with a phone call not thanking for the time and dedication given to a company for years of service, but a message saying your position has been eliminated, return your badge and cross your fingers in hopes of gaining your personal possessions back from your desk and your severence pay that will be taxed at 30%. Good luck finding a job in this economy and enjoy your new home in the closest shelter on state aid that claims that 1200 a month is more than enough to take care of you and your family. The past five years of my life brought me a realization that working your balls off for someone and giving them your all, just is not worth fighting for. I walked proud when I thought I worked for the greatest company and even when things werent that great I still believed in the philosophy and drive. I was sucked in to thinking I was part of a family type place and dedicated myself to this. Now as I read about and hear about all of the great people that did the same, it just saddens me this turned out this way. And the reality of Quicken is that the isms are for the team members brain washing that a cold corportation has heart and cares about what its employees need and want in a place of business. The isms stop there, team leads just up on their level of cold heartless ways of keeping them at the top and their claim of whats right for the business no matter who is stepped on to get there. The moves made by these individuals are just that, and will be returned the favor in threefold as karma always rolls that way. I know I will be just fine. This is a temporary thing to be jobless and my kids know they can always count on me to make it work. I know I did the right things while I was a "team member" and I have no regrets. Can you say the same with your life Team Leader's, I guess karma will let you know ;0)
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