Due to policy implementation, with the national consensus agreement of civil servants, there were a number of restructures within the Inland Revenue. This meant office work allocation changes following reduced numbers of staff, partly due to those enjoying voluntary early retirement options.
I had several moves during this phase...
Moved on to allocations described as 'heavy' - due to the significant high volume of work/post associated.
However, within a few weeks of me taking over these 'heavy' allocations, both incoming and pre-existing work was brought up to date and substantially reduced.
A few role title changes and a wealth of experience gained whilst learning how the Inland Revenue was involved and implemented laws pertaining to:-
-> P.A.Y.E (NW1)
-> New Schemes (NW6)
-> P.A.Y.E (NW6)
-> Pensions (NW6)
-> Charities - Title (Claims Branch)
-> Registry (Claims Branch)
-> Compliance (Claims Branch)
I also learnt a great deal about how other people worked, what systems they used and if they had any.
Three invaluable lessons: -
1st - If you don't know what to do and requests for help are met with refusal = make it known that you Still don't know what to do.
Whilst still new to the department, a new form was introduced. A meeting was held to discuss how this new form would be handled. I was amongst 3 other new members of staff, and the newest arrival within this group.
Everyone at the meeting took some notes.
Everyone was told not to action these forms for a number of weeks.
In the meantime the office was reorganised and I found myself on the first (of many) post heavy allocations. I set about clearing the post on hand - oldest first. Adding to the problem was the poor arrangement of the filing range and other related areas.
When the date the new form was to be actioned arrived, I asked colleagues if they were dealing with theirs. From their answers I was under the impression that few were - most complained about their existing work load. I filed mine in a folder created specifically, but was struggling to accommodate this on my desk and so organised a drawer and placed the folder there.
At the end of that week I approached my supervisor with this folder, I wanted clarification of what procedure to follow in actioning them. A number of weeks had elapsed since the meeting and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. Although I'd asked colleagues, no one else seemed to be clear about it either. My supervisor was about to go on lunch and asked me to come back to him after. When he did return, he went into the Inspectors office, then he was on the phone, someone else was at his desk.... I didn't get to ask again that day.
The following week I approached him again and he told me to ask one of the other Clerical Assistants. Several attempts left me none the wiser. I replaced the folder in the drawer.
This went on for 3 weeks until my supervisor called me to his desk one day and told me that, whilst I'd been on a day's leave that week, they'd discovered this folder. It was suggested I'd 'squirrelled' the work. He dismissed the number of approaches I'd made to him and colleagues on the grounds that it was past history and he didn't want to discuss it.
2nd - If you're very efficient, you get noticed - it's not guaranteed that the attention will be beneficial.
3rd - Politics is rife in offices - scapegoating
