How Flexible Are Corporations

[Raptorsin7]

Hey I'm curious if anyone has any experience with big corporations and how job/role creation works.

I work in the weigh-room of a big corporate lab and I want to know if it's possible to enter into a role that fulfills what I want out of job in terms of income and flexibility. I took this job when I was really depressed and never really took it seriously, but i'm at a different point in my life now and I've developed a great reputation with my bosses and coworkers because I offer to do parts of their jobs for them. I basically view my job as volunteering to try and make everyone's life around me easier, so I think I am well loved by my local bosses. I have a meeting with my manager coming up in a few weeks, and I was thinking if maybe I could ask if I can find a different role in the company. I really believe I could essentially do any role and I could probably help the corporation in a bunch of ways, but I don't expect typical corporate employees to buy into my delusions of grandeur so I'm at a cross roads.

Unless I can get an ideal work situation from the corporation it makes no sense for me to accept promotions or change what I'm doing because I am content with my hours and progress in aspects of life and I can probably find a way to satisfy my money needs through other means, but if it's possible with my corporation that would be great too.

Any thoughts?

[Yarco]

It totally depends on the corporation. But generally the larger a company is, the less flexible it is, and the more stringent bureaucracy that's at work. When a company gets huge there's no time or place for playing favorites, everything just works like a machine.

At medium sized companies (still hundreds of employees) it's all about who you know. If you're a good worker and your boss isnt a total jerk, they are the one who can most effectively move you up the ranks and get a new person to take the more basic position.

Even having a manager in your corner isnt enough unless they wield sufficient clout/influence with their higher-ups though. When I was in college for accounting, I worked in a grocery store seafood department. My dept manager tried to put in a good word for me several times to switch to working in the back cash room where they counted all the money and prepared the tills for cashiers so I could get some financial experience, but nothing ever came of it. Sometimes you just don't have the network within the company to make it happen.

I know in my wife's company, she's so valuable to them that they'd basically bend over backwards and offer her whatever to get her to stay. She has all the leverage.

Talking to your manager and making some kind of development plan is the way to go though. Even if it's just doing 1 day per week in another area of the company to start.

The biggest thing that will hold you back is selfish managers. If you're making life easy for them, they dont exactly have an incentive to give you away to another manager. It takes a special selfless kind of manager that actually wants to see what's best for you and help you flourish, even if it means they have to train a new person and their department suffers for a while. In my experience I've had about 1/4 of managers that were this "good type."

If your own boss seems like an achiever who is moving up the company that's a good sign. Theyll bring you up with them. A manager who seems content to stay in their current position until retirement usually just wants to insulate their department and keep things static if they're working.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Yarco

[Alex_R]

What you need to do is to learn How to deliver good value in less time with less effort and How to communicate it efficiently, that is the way to work less hours with no overtime and keep a good salary at the same time.

 

Or maybe you can also try to make a passive income or cut your live expenses, try to see /simpleliving on reddit they have great ideas

[Stephen]

It depends on the company but in my experience they definitely are  but you need to ASK for what you want and explain how it will benifit all