Activity 2

B/ Assignment :

Now read his letter addressed to the Human Resource Executive and respond to the situation by choosing an answer that represents your opinion. Pair with a classmate and write a dialogue where you play the role of the employee and your classmate the role of the employer. In this dialogue the goal is to clarify the perspective of each party and establish middle ground for a healthier employee-employer relationship.

Dear Evil HR Lady,

My boss is killing me. She constantly takes on more and more for our department. We recently got impressive new titles, which elevated us to an exempt salary level (no more overtime), no raises, and a few more hours work per day for each of us. Stress is so high, I dream about work at night (when I can sleep at all), my hair is falling out, and I’m having digestive issues and sometimes, when things are really bad, chest pains. I wake up every weekday morning with a headache.

I’ve been at this job for 14 years and can’t go elsewhere because I won’t be able to put in enough years for a decent retirement if I start over again somewhere else. We have tried to talk to our manager about her taking on more and more work and are accused of wearing our “negativity hats.” I have been on the team the longest and know for a fact that I am the lowest paid, although I’ve always had excellent reviews. I keep trying to tell myself I don’t care about sloppy work and missed deadlines that are now unavoidable, but I DO care. I am very angry most of the time. If I talk to HR, what can be done to help me (and my co-workers) without making our boss mad and our lives even more difficult? Thank you