'I get an email from management stating my numbers are "concerning"': Worker investigated for being too productive at their new job

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Aug 21, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

Companies want as much productivity as possible, claiming that they want to attract the best and brightest candidates—not that they're going to pay those candidates what they deserve. If they accidentally do manage to land one of these workers, they'll wish they hadn't when the new worker arrives and shows everyone up, sparking an internal dilemma and drawing jealousy, ire, and suspicions of the mediocre veteran workers.

If you do this, there are chances that you won't find praise and will, rather, find yourself beating your head against a brick wall as the current employees refuse to accept your results, sure that you must be doing something dishonest to pump your numbers. This will continue until an eventual investigation leads them to force you to reveal your process, which instead reveals your efficiency and effectiveness as they stare on in dumbfounded disbelief. 

This "institutional mediocrity" plagues workplaces, leaving them doomed to forever operate with middling success, operating out of sad beige offices in which no fresh ideas will ever prosper. 

This worker shared their experience of exactly this happening at their new job, facing internal investigation when they joined a new organization within their field and blew all productivity metrics out of the water. Now, seeing the writing on the wall of this organization, they write that they are looking for a new job, sharing an account of events with a popular online community.  

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  • 01
    Handwriting - SUCKING NOT Larry THE PAST Stainless Steel Ruler R$90-12 HEAT 1 ST AT T THE FUTURE
    via Isaac Smith
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    Font - Posted by u/ItDawned OnMe2 You're upset I'm the top performer? Then you get yourself a bare minimum employee M OC TLDR at the bottom For background...my jobs have always been geared towards data entry, as that's what I am best at. I've always typed over 120+ and love finding new keyboard shortcuts to save me time and just be more efficient overall (not a brag, trust me). Because of this skill, I have always excelled in prior roles that utilized it. That is, until my current career.
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 03
    Font - I have been with this company for almost 3 months now. As with a lot of data entry jobs, this one has weekly productivity that you must meet. By week two, I was meeting productivity once I grasped the role. This fueled me to try and get even faster. I learned the programs I was to be using and used simple keyboard shortcuts to toggle between programs, close them, used excel formulas to concatenate and vlookup repetitive information that others usually type out every time, etc. You get the
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 04
    Font - Now, here's the really fun part. Rather than getting any sort of praise (this company has felt anti-praise since I started) or being asked how I did it, I get an email from management stating my numbers are "concerning" and that they're essentially opening up an investigation to see if I cheated somehow. I even received a screenshot of others' numbers in one specific area with management stating it's impossible to have that much of a lead over those who have been here for years (my number
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 05
    Font - Today my boss calls me and says she's been spending the day checking my work, and so far everything has been accurate. Mind you, this "investigation" didn't start with her, she was just asked to check my work and was reporting what she found. But it's all accurate. She says I can continue with what I am doing since she found no problems.
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 06
    Font - Now, I learned quickly that this isn't the type of place to be praised. There is zero incentive for anyone to go above and beyond if it's just going to be questioned. Now to clarify, I fully understand that if something seems off, a company is going to want to check and ensure I am understanding the work and entering it properly, especially with a new employee. But to email me stating it's concerning and impossible prior to even checking my work is where I have the issue. I shouldn't have
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 07
    Font - So with what little knowledge of Excel I had, I made a spreadsheet that tallies my accounts as I go so I can pace myself and I am now alerted as soon as I meet that goal so that I can stop working without going over. I did add just a tiny bit more wiggle room to my spreadsheet as to not accidentally go under productivity to where they would have reason to use corrective action. But just ever so slightly above the bare minimum. If they're going to treat me like a bare minimum employee, the
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
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    Font - TLDR: As a new employee, I broke a productivity record at work and was the top performer. Rather than be appreciative, management accused me of cheating before checking my work and seeing I did it accurately. I wasn't appreciated for my skills, so I made a spreadsheet that tells me when to stop working to avoid ever going above and beyond for them again.
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 09
    Font - +1 22 hr. ago S Usual suspects: "b-b-b-b-but we can't find top talent" Top talent shows up. Usual suspects: "not you" ChiTownBob Vote Reply Share abstractraj 20 hr. ago We want top talent but pay industry average Vote Reply Share ●●●
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
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    Font - RobZagnut2 I wonder how many other employees they drove to mediocrity. ↑ Vote Reply Share Stoneman57 All of them? ↑ Vote Reply Share
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
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    Font - maclaglen 23 hr. ago I worked a one year contract and did very well. I applied for a FT position and they hired a younger guy for $3 per hour less. Two weeks after my year ended, my previous boss messaged me saying that his team's productivity dropped by almost 30% since I left. The younger guy quit the company six months later. Vote Reply Share
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
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    Font - ReactsWith Words +4.22 hr. ago Did my share of data entry. Taught myself how to write macros, learned keyboard shortcuts. One place I worked there were three of us, and I did more than the other two combined (not hard for one, she spent most of her time looking at celebrity gossip websites). I knew it wasn't a competition, so I offered to show how I did it (the other guy would highlight the data with the mouse, go to the "Edit" menu and select "Copy" with the mouse, click on the spreadshe
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 13
    Font - Then there were the folks who had all their numbers in a column in Excel, then take out their desk calculator, add them up, then enter that number by hand. I showed them the "Sum" button but they didn't "know if the answer is accurate." Oh yes, entering 30 three digit and two decimal place numbers by hand on your calculator would never result in a typo. ↑ Vote Reply Share
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 14
    Font - Flashy_Attitude_1703 1 day ago . I had a temp job where I worked with the union shop steward and he told me that if he saw a new employee working too hard he told them to ease up and take it easy. Vote Reply Share ...
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
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    Font - nocrimps 1 day ago · You should leave for a new job. Make sure that right before you leave you start trying again and do 2x the work as everyone else. Then call up whoever owns the business at your previous job and offer to train their existing employees for a huge consulting fee, since they are clearly all incompetent idiots if you do over 2x as much work as them in your first month at the company. Reply Share Vote
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
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    Font - potato_soup76 - 1 day ago Institutionalized mediocrity sounds a bit soul destroying. Vote Reply Share Telvyr 1 day ago . Welcome to corporate <Insert Country Name Here>! Vote Reply Share
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2
  • 17
    Font - +1 - 1 day ago Do your day's work in 3h and then spend the rest of the time at leisure.... Maybe pick up a second half day remote job for the afternoons randomdude2029 Vote Reply Share
    via u/ItDawnedOnMe2

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manager workplaces malicious compliance toxic work workplace workers creativity in the workplace toxic-work-environment
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