Thursday 18 March 2010

SAPped

I do not wish to labour any points, but this is my blog, so there! A few observations on re-entering the world of work it is then. I promise there will be a footy post coming soon.

The organisation which is paying me my dollars for the nonce makes much use of the software from that well-known Formula 1 sponsoring shadowy system house known as SAP. I am familiar with it, though I note that it has progressed somewhat since my heyday as a Super User, and many (if not all) of the incredibly irritating foibles have been ironed out.

SAP is an employer's dream, giving bosses the opportunity to capture, monitor, streamline and plan almost every aspect of their drones' lives. At the click of a button, any manager can instantly view the detail of those who report to them - attendance records, annual leave, training history, salary, even home address, phone number and next of kin. Marvellous. And soul-destroying.

Almost every aspect of one's working life is available to those we report to almost without the need for them to even think. Despite the corporate speak of the organisation, the lip service paid to the ideal of encouraging creativity, the only real interest is in how many episodes of sickness there have been in the preceding 13 weeks. When will the next trigger be activated? What are the questions we have to ask about this 'domestic violence' issue or that personal stressor? All creativity is strangled, and we end up living in Efrafa.



Where is the humanity (or perhaps rabbitity... Lapinity?) in all this? It is, I think, a stiff price to pay for a few quid every month. But I'm not really complaining. Just on the lookout for Keehar.

2 comments:

Michael said...

You don't work in a 300-metre high pyramid with a boss called O'Brien, do you?

Myeral said...

It is better not to speak of these things in public. Now, I'm off for a snog with Julia...