Let me share with you a unique work experience I had more than two years ago. It is a traditional Filipino company. A large one that employs a big group of Accounting and Finance people. If my memory serves me right, we were about 15-20 in our group. That’s already a large group for an Accounting and Finance department. This particular department is used to multi-tasking that more often than not, work intended for two to three persons is being done by a single Accountant. Don’t believe me? Ask your Finance person in the office when you get the chance.
So I worked for this investments company as an Accounting Manager. There were four of us and I head the group for the real estate business side. The four managers share staff, which in itself is normal for most companies with more than two managers. Except that each staff handled more than five companies each. It is a conglomerate and it has numerous companies under it. Some are operational and really big. Some are dormant and would just need monthly financial reports for statutory requirements. Each manager handled at least two large operational companies. Which was fine with me. I’ve handled five operational companies when I was still in a BPO so it was small amount of work for me.
The problem lies not in the work itself but with the attitude of the people under me. You see, the staff has been with the company for years. One even was with the company during its pre-operational stage. And that’s more than 15 years already. Imagine that! But these people were never promoted. Salaries increased but their positions remained the same. They were not given a chance to rise above their station in the company. I believe the reason is their educational background and lack of license. The company used to employ non-Accounting graduates. They were the ones left behind…