New job horror stories what’s yours

Ever turned up to a new job to find, well, nothing? No computer has been sorted, the phone doesn’t work, your new boss is away on holiday and no one appears to know what you are there to do? Not exactly the welcome mat.
Or, have you signed up to a job believing the salary was base plus super only to find after receiving your first salary deposit that the figure actually included super? Maybe it took a few months for the promises of a happy, inclusive workplace to give way to the reality of an unapproachable boss and co-workers huddled in unwelcoming cliques?
According to attachment expert Anthony Sork our perceptions about an employer start while we are still job-hunting. Presumably they are positive enough to drive us to apply for a job and go through the recruitment process. From that moment on, our interactions and experiences with the employer will reinforce those positive perceptions or erode them. Sork says an employer has 120 days to get you “attached” and if they screw that up, the damage could be permanent. 
A newbie that fails to attach will move from being a giver to a taker. You know that ‘anxious to prove myself’ feeling you get in a new job? Well, the detached don’t focus on the value they can add but rather what they can extract from their new employer. And, with six-month probation periods used by many employers, the bruised newbie also has a nice big window through which to escape. No need to give notice if he/she finds a new role.
Sork says when a hiring decision fails it is “overwhelmingly” the newbie who chooses to leave. Just over 10 percent of those that leave within probation were asked to leave and less than 10 percent of those that go within 18 months.
Sork’s consulting firm, Sork HC, is collecting tales of new job mishaps to use anonymously in a ‘how to’ book for employers. I am all for anything that improves the experience of work. If you want to share a story contact Karalyn Brown via karalyn@employeeattachment.com but I’d love it if you’d warm up by posting a comment below.
Attachment is influenced by our feelings in four key areas - security, trust & value, acceptance and belonging. Sork says our direct manager has the biggest impact on our perceptions but co-workers also play a role.
“Security” includes physical safety, financial security and emotional security. Safety applies to both the workplace and the journey to and from work. When people work at multiple sites, safety would include the company car to get from one place to another. Financial security relates to whether the newbie believes they are getting what they signed up for and whether they feel confident the employer can keep paying them.
Emotional security is interesting and relates to how the job impacts self-perception.
“When the person goes through the recruitment process, they experience a heightened sense of self – who they are, what they want and what they bring,” says Sork.
“That first 120 days will either reaffirm that perception or the manager could undermine it..‘I thought I was a 10 and you are making me feel like a 5’. It is not what you think of me [as my manager] that is important, it is what you are making me think of me.”
Trust in an employer is high when a newbie starts and they want to continue to trust their employer. When trust gets eroded, the employee moves from giver to taker.
Acceptance relates to what the employee believes their manager and co-workers think of them. “It’s like walking into a party and thinking ‘do these people want me here?’ It’s about the cues the new person receives,” Sork says.
Belonging is actually ‘now I have had a chance to observe and be part of this work environment do I ‘want to be part of it?’ I have walked in the room, been part of the party and am now thinking, ‘is this the crowd for me?’
By the way, Sork says many companies are reverting back to the three-month probation to make their new hires feel more like one of the gang faster. The six-month probation became common with the introduction of the Fair Work Act.
So what has been your experience? Told one thing, found another? What you were sold at interview is what you found? Have you ever left a job within probation?

Read more: http://blogs.news.com.au/cubefarmer/index.php/news/comments/new_job_horror_stories_whats_yours#ixzz2MYTr1Eg2

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