My company's philosophy: Heavy workload? We need more managers!

[mreilly]

This would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

I work in IT, for an organization that is growing and merging with other companies. The number of users, computers, servers, and networks has pretty much tripled or quadrupled since I arrived several years ago.

They say that when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Well, when you are a corporate manager, when you know your company is growing in leaps and bounds, what's the first logical step? If you said "hire more employees to do the work," you would be wrong, apparently. In my company the first response is "Hire more managers!" Never mind the fact the employees doing the actual work are juggling four times as much; it's quite clear that more useless warm bodies are required to occupy space in meetings and demand explanations when lightning hits the building and causes a router to fail.

Yes, I used to report to one boss, now thanks to the obviously desperate need my company has for more, more, and more managers, there will be four - count them - four bosses in line above me. The number of actual grunts doing the work in IT remains stuck at 3. Absolutely unbelievable. The only reason I stick it out is the actual IT work is rewarding and my boss is one of the best people I know; he shields me from most of the dumbassed corporate bullshit that I specifically went into IT avoid - mindless meetings, suits and ties, company buzzwords, etc.

Isn't it amazing, though, how the view from the top is so much different from the view at ground level where common sense resides. And isn't it predictable how a manager will always want to bring more fellow managers on board but balk at hiring someone for a third the salary to actually help keep the network running and the users happy.