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@Never: I'll address the nepotism stuff internally, but regarding the JV reference on our blog...I fought to keep that reference in there because we've been hiding behind euphemisms for too long. I doubt the site is headline news to anyone; those with the inclination to vent are likely already on here and maybe it's even healthy (at least for you all!) to have this kind of freedom.

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@itsajob: I'll dig in, but I suspect the appetite for this one will be limited. :) Back in the 90s, when we were hiring big time, we were encouraged to refer friends and relatives. The theory was that if we were "good people" and solid performers who understood the job and the mission, we were likely to only recommend the same type of person. This (again in theory) made it more likely that the BI would go pretty smoothly and the person would work out. I can't think it was meant to promote the situation you are highlighting, but I won't discount the possibility that in some areas it was abused and/or morphed into something not very nice.

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exusis - As a long-term, ex-usis contractor, I read this web page frequently because of the posters high degree of accuracy in addressing serious issues at this company. The quality has degraded over the years, to the point that I wondered how my last TL even got her job due to a clear ineptness and lack of investigative knowledge. Itsajob,usa has verified my nepotism hunch. Advice: leave USIS on your own terms, do not wait for them to terminate your at-will contract because they want to replace you or they cannot accept any disagreement (such as requesting a form from a TL, receiving the wrong form, stating that it is the wrong form, and being admonished!) This is just one example.

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JD, this is a great site if for nothing else to Vent as we wish. You want a laugh, watch a new show on TV "Undercover Boss," where the CEO of major companies enters at the associate level and does the job we all do everyday. Every one of these shows I have watched has opened these companies executive management's eyes of what is really going on from first hand doing what we do. No sugar coating from mid level managers, and seeing for their own eyes. That applies to every level of our organization. Files, review, field, record searches and everything in between. I bet a weeks salary if BM went knocking on some doors, "told to get off my property", or had to sit in a prison waiting room to do an interview of a source that happens to work in a prison or the inner city dangers and some areas we are forced to enter that the police never go into, handle a medi item and get zero respect or cooperation, and even thrown out of a federal institution because our stupid ID's have contractor on them, things would change fast. (by the way all of these I have experienced) As a last resort, I am very happily we have this vent site to ASK for someones help to do just what we are paid to do. Nothing more, just a supportive management team that cares about truly helping our coworkers to do the best that they can. You have proven this just by coming on here, Has not been even close over the past few years, all smoke and mirrors.

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FedUp: I watched the first one, with the CEO from Waste Management. My spouse worked there for 25 years, was let go twice, and is now glad to be done with it. His brother still works for the company and says he hasn't seen a whole lot of change as a result of the show, but admits he's not in a position to be impacted by the improvements the guy committed to. That said - great concept, and it would be an eye-opener even just to get some BUDs and DMs back out on the street, for sure. Maybe some day... I appreciate the candor on here and will keep reading as long as you all keep writing.

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JD1961: the proof is in the pudding. I have doubts about your ability to correct this blatant nepotism. Next will be some convoluted expanation why it's not "real" nepotism, or something similiar. USIS typically brushes problems under the rug. I will be totally impressed if change occurs!

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In Boyers, there were entire families working together in USIS. There were parents and children, siblings, married couples, aunties, uncles, and cousins. Sometimes because one or two worked at USIS, one of the relatives could get a job with OPM or Iron Mountain itself, and vice versa. When part of files got moved from the Annex in Grove City to the mines, we were surprised to find out just how many of our co-workers were related to each other. We looked at each other and said "Paddle faster. I hear banjos!"

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NeverOdd: OMG, I have been on Detail to your District! That's the same District that mother/daughter are WLL & TL, right? And Yes, DM & another TL = nepotism. I've got news for you, there is no way JD1961 going to change any of that family affair. JD1961 is hot air like everyone else at Corporate. El Paso District management knows this, so I'm sure if they read this blog, they are walking away, laughing, with one finger in the air, including spineless MBU BUD & Chris T. Because they are the ones who should have taken action regarding this matter a long time ago. I think it's insulting that all JD1961 does is initiate blog conversations at USIS | Internal and at JobVent, fueling more fires. Instead, JD1961 should be enacting real change, like that mess in El Paso District (is it still called El Paso District?). All JD1961 is doing is getting people to "talk" about problems, hoping the problems go away, I guess. We have been talking for years at town halls, blogs, meetings, surveys, etc. Little to no change, folks, and I really doubt JD1961 our knight in shining armor. In fact, the more I think about it, JD1961, who acts so surprised about all these concerns, offering her middle-of-the-road parables, is well aware of all the USIS problems, and she too joins El Paso District management with one finger in the air, laughing at all the fools at JobVent. Prove me wrong, JD1961 or anyone for that matter, please.

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OnYourSide - Your comment is valid. And this is the "JD" everyone that I believe to be blind copying investigators on matters that pertain to them directly. Furthermore, someone outside of USIS has barked up a tree at the questionable internal practices going on at USIS, therefore, they have to put someone on the management foodchain to try to mitigate all the s@it flying everywhere as a result. I for one just put on my high wading boots when I read these pacifying posts from the 11th floor - it's all rhetoric, bs, and NO ACTION.

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Guys - you're talking about JT when you're talking about the person sending emails - sorry, that's not me. Still working on the nepotism stuff and will post on Open when I get some answers.

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ok JD - if you are buddies with JT kindly suggest that she knock off that bcc because the TLs send it again, or tell the TL's to not resend it unless they have something of value to add. Thanks for doing something vs the rest talking only. Even if you have no power for change, the fact you are sticking your neck out might advance the company in a better direction let's hope than the superior patronizing behaviors, badass attitudes, apathy, indifference, and bad management we have had to endure for so long by so called leaders at USIS.

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ThanksUSA: I've noticed that theme, and I'm working on it.

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JD1961 I have nothing against you personally, because I have no idea who you are or what your position is or what actual authority you might have to make REAL change at USIS. Your posts remind me a little bit of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon in which Elmer Fudd is standing over Bugs' rabbit hole sweetly saying "come out wittle bunny wabbit", but with a shotgun behind his back. There is good reason for USIS folks to stay anonymous, because most everything that has been said in this forum about USIS has been raised in surveys, town halls, district meetings, etc. (we're getting ready to have another one of those real soon and I felt eyes roll across my district as we collectively read the e-mail notifying us of this impending meeting!!) Because USIS has spent money collating information from those surveys and in the form of productivity when employees have to stop working to participate in these things, it makes me as an employee believe the areas that have long ago been identified as a problem (that's "opportunity for improvement" for all you DM's and up out there! ) have and will be systematically swept under the rug. My personal experience through the SAP debacle - the non-response I received from payroll, the lack of training, the time spent pulling my hair out because the system did not work and no technical support was available - is one really good, recent example of how management made a decision and everyone who had to do the "real" work was thrown to the wolves. Help Desk people, my heart went out to you, because even though you were snapping at me on telecons that were supposed to offer help, I realized you had been thrown into a really bad situation when SAP was rolled out. just like the rest of us. I will not post on the USIS blog and lose anonymity - I did that in district meetings and participated in town hall discussions and nothing has changed. It has always been someone way above my pay grade saying things are going to change and maybe that's being done to soothe the discontent out there - sadly, it always turns out to have been platitudes offered up by a DM or above. Whether or not opinions expressed here will bring change, I do not know. Warning others about USIS practices and attitude is a public service that I will continue to carry out at JV. Good luck with this, JD1961. If you actually make any headway, I'll send you a note of thanks - anonymously of course.

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@Southwest: I was able to use my investigator skills and go onto the USIS Blog and find out who JD is. From what I have heard she really isn't that bad and really might be able to do some great things. From what I have seen so far, I am encouraged.

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Middle One - thanks for the information - as I've said, I have no idea who JD is and the Elmer Fudd analogy was not made about JD personally. Elmer Fudd=USIS management trying desperately to get people to openly post on the open blog; Bugs' hole= USIS employees who have heard it before and know whatever comes down will actually never come to fruition or will not turn out as represented; the shotgun= perceived threat of retaliation for being candid about things that have never been addressed but discussed for years. I hope you are right about JD - I truly do! Have a good one!

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@JD - Please also look into WBU. BUD promoted under performing FI to TL. Then promoted new inexperienced and untrained FI to HR. Both were Fraternity brothers with BUD. HR is a joke now.

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@lost: I'll check into things. @Never: You're right, it's an impossible task to fix everything and make everyone happy across the company, and I hope it's never what I'm asked to do because I'll just go crazy. But, I can try to shed some light on things, get some answers, correct miscommunication, and maybe change some little things that make your life better. Sometimes you won't like what I report back, and sometimes I won't like what I report back, but I will do my best to dig out the details and explanations for you. When the MBU details are posted internally I'll give you all a heads-up.

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JD1961 in your post on the USIS blog you found out that the reason FIs do not charge indirect labor to cases when traveling to and from destinations is due to an accounting feature. I can appreciate that the company needs to be able to show where money and time is going to see cases being worked. But this is a classic example of a company necessity and how it processes an event and how it (the policy) impacts the individual investigator. No investigator would quibble over something as inane as the need for the company to account for time and money spent for a case....EXCEPT when that policy skews (dilutes) the numbers against the investigator. Again this may not be intentional but this is a fact. Period. Many times I experienced numbers that would have been ridiculous that would have greatly assisted my overall annual average but were instead 'water-downed' by a corporate policy on "how to" account for resources were going. Again, to reiterate, I have no problem with the company needing to know where those resources are going BUT when that policy actually is destructive and not constructive to the actual numbers of an investigator it elicits a lot of contempt for that system and policy. Why can't there be an alternative code that applies to that case but also designates travel time? Thus the company can still charge time to that case and the FI isn't penalized for that travel time.

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Duplicity: That's actually a pretty good idea. Even if you just use the case number and a "T" after it or something. Let me get it out there and see if it's feasible. Thanks.

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great!

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Interesting exchange with JD1961, I must say. Even getting Calamia to pipe in!? Hmm. Since communication so much more transparent, I think all JobVent participants should take advantage of this opportunity. It sounds like everything is on the table. That means that all these clown TL's or even DM's need to watch everything they say & do DAILY. Cuz now that JV has the ear of Calamia, that means we can say pretty much everything and anything @ JV and JD1961 will tell him promptly. I like that. For example, we have an upcoming BUD visit. Anything that guy states, I will write down and repeat it at JV so RC can know exactly what is being communicated to FI's out there. The internet is great! I love it. Who would have thought 5 years ago we'd be communicating directly with a USIS executive on an anonymous basis & getting results? In fact, I may start to cut/paste memos from these moronic TL's with their stupid comments so Calamia can read directly. (Of course no internal info--I'm not silly.) I mean JD1961 is even blogging on a Sunday, probably in her slippers! Any TL/DM/BUD out there let this serve as a warning. You engage in questionable conduct, and it reaches JobVent, expect a call from your boss's boss, or higher. Wow. Talk about accountability.

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Bob: Slow down, cowboy. Don't think JD1961 & Calamia sitting there discussing JV all day. In fact, what I failed to say in my original Post of 3/4/10 is that Calamia is in the same office where all the El Paso nepotism occurring! He could care less for years. I'm very interested in what action JD1961 is going to initiate regarding this love triangle. You can see why I have my doubts though, right? I tend to agree with OnyourSide, but we'll see. If nothing happens this week regarding this egregious nepotism, JD1961 is a certifiable phony & we all march forward.

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I have been asked to post this in response to the MBU / El Paso District circumstances. This is from the MBU BUD: One important characteristic of the USIS culture that I have enjoyed is that we welcome employee referrals of all kinds, including referrals of friends and family members. We have had many instances of great success in hiring family members of current employees. They tend to come to the job with their eyes wide open, knowing a lot about USIS, our mission, the benefits, career opportunities, even potential downsides. And they usually have very realistic expectations. In the USIS ISD Update dated April 4, 2008 in the article entitled “All in the Family,” you will read a great story of one married couple and their two daughters who all work as investigators for us. After one applied, the others soon followed. They have stayed with us for many years now because of the job fit, the benefits and the culture we have created. Three of the four work for me in the MBU and I was delighted to bring them aboard. As a result of this culture we have cultivated, we have many relatives working within the company. This is common not just for a handful of investigators, but employees with different positions and levels of responsibility all over the ISD field organization and the Operations Centers in Western Pennsylvania. One potential downside of hiring family members is that it can and has opened us up for criticism and accusations of nepotism on a few occasions where career advancement has been involved. We have very strict policies and practices in place that we closely adhere to expressly prohibiting one family member from supervising another. So this has also resulted in a limitation of certain opportunities for advancement for a few individuals where it would have created such a situation. So although family members cannot supervise one another, we do have a number of situations where employees who are related report to the same boss. This not only applies to investigators and employees in WPA, but we also have at least one Team Leader who is related to a Workload Leader. Now the last time I checked, working alongside a relative and reporting to the same boss was not nepotism, unfair nor illegal in any state in the union, though some have criticized these types of situations. As stated in the article I referenced earlier, “We like to think of USIS ISD as a family, a team that works closely together and genuinely cares for all of its members. That kind of atmosphere leads one family member to recommend another….” I for one am proud of our track record of providing many great career opportunities for the folks that our employees, past and present, have referred to us, both among their friends, as well as their relatives.

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What a crock of BS from the MBU bud... wow , now we see how they view our concerns. Justification and condescending attitude and I bet everyone of HIS friends and family have a nice job and were only ones considered for the same. We see this in every district, announcements come out for a job, interviews are given, and they already have made their decision and all smoke and mirrors. THIS is why we are so pissed off and to come on here and try to shove this down our throats is the same old we have seen in the past. Oh, and the family remarks, we are all treated like family and care about each other, get real. The only people any BUD and DM care about is at the end of the year when their unit bonuses come through. Sad post my friend and I see trouble coming your way. So much for the state of this union!

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@JD Thank you for the post from the MBU BUD. Has the WBU BUD responded to the San Diego Coalition and Frat Brother before qualified employee hiring practice?

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lost: We're working on it and should have something in the next day or so.

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MBU BUD: A quote from your USIS | Open Post: "Now the last time I checked, working alongside a relative and reporting to the same boss was not nepotism, unfair nor illegal in any state in the union..." Kind of sarcastic and pompous, don't you think, MBU-BUD? When did you last check with each state in the Union, I'm curious? Are you an expert in labor law? (I honestly can't explain why USIS employs jerks like you. Surely there are more effective leaders out there.)

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@JD1961. Good for you JD for taking the lead on this. @Lostinwbu. I think we have something similar to that going here on the east coast. (Frat brothers in charge). There was no way this guy should keep his job but I think because he went to school with the DM I think he keeps his job. This guy is incompetent. Did you work with the Incompetent HR guy or the underperforming underachieving TL? I'm looking at ways to make the situation known to everyone. This stuff has to stop!

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@Intel - Of course I worked with them. @JD - Funny how still no response form WBU BUD. MBU BUD was quick to defend....WBU is silent.

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