People Lining Up To Take Pot Shots.

[kippaxvilla2]

In the real world you wouldn't be able to do this if you left a job.  Because duties of confidentiality and protecting the name of the company survive you leaving.  Imagine the furore if the club tried to enforce that!

[PeterWithe]

It's a pretty bad reflection on the local media that the opinions of the tea lady are making front page news, I'm sure she's lovely but whatever next?

[Chris Smith]

In my line of work I tend to have to work closely with receptionists, and whilst the majority are lovely people, there a some that firmly believe that because they are the face of the company, then they are the most important.
Another thing I've noticed down the years is the fear of change, and how petty and unreasonable it makes people. In my case the only change was that they will be using a newer, better telephone, but you'd think I was asking them to come to work naked.

A large part of my job is involved with change management and it really is becomes a frightening thing for many people. They have an almost superstitious attachment to things remaining the same and hate being shifted from what is comfortable and familiar. There is a online facility that allows workers to respond anonymously to announcements and it regularly descends into one long whinge. The problem being working in the public sector, change is the only constant.

This particular storm in a teacup reminds me very much of that, the difference being she has an unquestioning media to give her a wider platform.

[dave.woodhall]

Or is it a case Dave of him being so far removed from reality that he believes people who work for AVFC do not deserve the courtesy of senior people being polite, a good morning or good afternoon costs nothing and by not doing it, does not reflect a well run football club, more of a them and us attitude and unhappy staff normally show that when dealing with their customer base.

I don't know. I don't know her or her experiences but I do know that too many people worked at Villa for years because they were fans, it was a "nice" place to work and nobody was ever ruthless enough to change the attitude of either club or employees. It's an extension of the corner shop mentality of the Ellis years and while it's mostly irrelevant in the current situation, maybe Fox is trying to change it. But as I said earlier, in this case it's only supposition.

[GarTomas]

Or is it a case Dave of him being so far removed from reality that he believes people who work for AVFC do not deserve the courtesy of senior people being polite, a good morning or good afternoon costs nothing and by not doing it, does not reflect a well run football club, more of a them and us attitude and unhappy staff normally show that when dealing with their customer base.

I don't know. I don't know her or her experiences but I do know that too many people worked at Villa for years because they were fans, it was a "nice" place to work and nobody was ever ruthless enough to change the attitude if either club or employees. It's an extension of the corner shop mentality of the Ellis years and while it's mostly irrelevant in the current situation, maybe Fox is trying to change it. But as I said earlier, in this case it's only supposition.

The expectation that the senior most people in an organisation are judged on how they interact with the wider members of that organisation is somewhat laughable.  I'm not sure in what other field they are judged so.

I work for a large private company of around 35,000 people; when someone who runs part of that organisation circa 5k is on my floor and doesn't stop to talk to me I don't use that as an excuse to portray him as terrible at his job.  It's totally irrelevant.

[Villa in Denmark]

In my line of work I tend to have to work closely with receptionists, and whilst the majority are lovely people, there a some that firmly believe that because they are the face of the company, then they are the most important.
Another thing I've noticed down the years is the fear of change, and how petty and unreasonable it makes people. In my case the only change was that they will be using a newer, better telephone, but you'd think I was asking them to come to work naked.

A large part of my job is involved with change management and it really is becomes a frightening thing for many people. They have an almost superstitious attachment to things remaining the same and hate being shifted from what is comfortable and familiar. There is a online facility that allows workers to respond anonymously to announcements and it regularly descends into one long whinge. The problem being working in the public sector, change is the only constant.

This particular storm in a teacup reminds me very much of that, the difference being she has an unquestioning media to give her a wider platform.

I recognise all of that Chris, apart from change being the only constant is not unique to the public sector.  The only thing that's changed with respect to that in the nearly 30 years I've been working in the chemicals and oil industries, 2 industries you might think would have all of that kind of shit in place by now, is the increasing frequency of change and the ever shorter life cycles of whatever fad we're now implementing.  After 15 years or so, you realise that it's all the same shit on continuous loop with different suits making money off the same old snake skin oil.

But then I'm a fine one to talk.  We're moving into a new office block at the end of next week and I'm dreading it.

[Villa in Denmark]

Or is it a case Dave of him being so far removed from reality that he believes people who work for AVFC do not deserve the courtesy of senior people being polite, a good morning or good afternoon costs nothing and by not doing it, does not reflect a well run football club, more of a them and us attitude and unhappy staff normally show that when dealing with their customer base.

I don't know. I don't know her or her experiences but I do know that too many people worked at Villa for years because they were fans, it was a "nice" place to work and nobody was ever ruthless enough to change the attitude of either club or employees. It's an extension of the corner shop mentality of the Ellis years and while it's mostly irrelevant in the current situation, maybe Fox is trying to change it. But as I said earlier, in this case it's only supposition.

I said somewhere else, it's been run like another philanthropic venture and not a sporting organisation in pursuit of excellence.  It would be a pretty natural and comfortable continuation of the Doug, corner shop years, just with the flow of money being in instead of out.

[Pete3206]

In my line of work I tend to have to work closely with receptionists

I see 

[dave.woodhall]

She appears to be basing her opinions on whether or not senior staff say 'hi there' to her as they walk into Reception.

Which makes me wonder whether something that should have happened years ago is finally happening. Villa Park has always been a very nice, easy place to work. Neutral commentators often talk about the happy, friendly family atmosphere. I wonder if one of the few things Tom Fox has got right is to have shook that up and got staff to do the job they're paid to do.

So, were we doing better overall as a club when it was a happier place to work?
Making a place 'less happy' doesn't necessarily equal getting something right.

We were doing better, worse and in the middle. In the Ellis years the corner shop mentality that permeated through to the staff held us back and one of Lerner's earliest mistakes was not doing away with this from the off.

[LeeB]

In my case the only change was that they will be using a newer, better telephone, but you'd think I was asking them to come to work naked.

But then again, it was an "to only be used while naked" telephone.

It was the ergonomically designed handset they seemed to baulk at:

[pbavfckuwait]

Gar Thomas AVFC is not a 35k employment business and management attitude in a fairly small business by the amount of people it employs, has a telling effect on staff moral.

[cheltenhamlion]

One snippet I didn't pay huge attention to at the time, but may back what Dave is guessing here, was from Fox at the pre AGM meeting.

We asked about long term staff being let go and his response was along the lines of nobody would be let go of off they were up to the job.

[Jimmy Buffett]

The tea lady who has said her piece after leaving Villa is worth listening to. Her description of the poisonous and negative culture prevalent within the bowels of Villa Park accords completely with what is being demonstrated on the pitch week in week out. Getting rid of long standing employees, who are also fans and bringing in agency staff is indicative of the dysfunctional pseudo plc way AVFC is being run by non football corporate drones, whose only understanding of employee relations is the American hire and fire version. The best and most productive workplaces in my fairly lengthy experience are the ones where employees are happy and feel valued, respected and listened to. I don't accept that Doug ran a 'corner shop' operation during his time at the helm and even if he did it was preferable to the pound shop set up that is in currently in place. Leaving the ground after the Liverpool drubbing I ruefully expressed my despair to a couple of dopey looking stewards. The response from one of them was... 'Not interested mate,I just work here'. I despair...This is not a British Football Club any more, it's an American franchise. I've been coming down since 1966 and for the first time I feel completely alienated.

[cheltenhamlion]

Herbert didn't run a corner shop operation? No further questions your honour.

[dave.woodhall]

The tea lady who has said her piece after leaving Villa is worth listening to. Her description of the poisonous and negative culture prevalent within the bowels of Villa Park accords completely with what is being demonstrated on the pitch week in week out. Getting rid of long standing employees, who are also fans and bringing in agency staff is indicative of the dysfunctional pseudo plc way AVFC is being run by non football corporate drones, whose only understanding of employee relations is the American hire and fire version. The best and most productive workplaces in my fairly lengthy experience are the ones where employees are happy and feel valued, respected and listened to. I don't accept that Doug ran a 'corner shop' operation during his time at the helm and even if he did it was preferable to the pound shop set up that is in currently in place. Leaving the ground after the Liverpool drubbing I ruefully expressed my despair to a couple of dopey looking stewards. The response from one of them was... 'Not interested mate,I just work here'. I despair...This is not a British Football Club any more, it's an American franchise. I've been coming down since 1966 and for the first time I feel completely alienated.

You haven't even got her job right.