Yeah, it's really sad. Lots of us are feeling demoralized and unappreciated while our manager is completely cluess and won't listen to any concerns we might voice. Other friends in different countries complain about the same. I think it is becoming the norm as you said.

I seems like management doesn't realize that when people feel constantly criticzed, unappreciated and nitpicked will have lower morale and motivation, which then leads to lower performance and higher turnover. The way things are lately, I spend way too much time looking my work over for any minor thing she can find wrong only to be criticized for an apostrophe or for the way data transferred from the old to new systems (as if I can control that!). And, then I am criticized for taking too long as well.


In our department, turnover has stabilized a bit, but I have my theory. First of all, as I said the economy is not good, so people are probably staying put due to that. Also, she is hiring people that I guess you could see as vulnerable. For example, one more recent hire is from Venezuela (living in Chile). She needs to hold on to a job for visa processing purposes and is also helping out her parents who are still there. Similarly, she has hired two freelancers from Argentina. If you've read the news from this part of the world, Argentina is in another of its frequent financial crises. So, they probably don't have many options as far as changing to another job and will put up with a a lot to guarantee an income.