Transfer

As you all know, I was in New Zealand most of the time early last year. The project that I was working was stalled although the contract is signed because the operator does not have capital to rollout a network. It was pretty frustrating for me because it means that last year, I didn't contribute to any sales figure.

Australia office as a whole did pretty well because we've signed a deal here. The deal was lead by my staff (we were peers) and what I did was just monitoring and approvals. Initially, we were asked to be transferred together and surely we were elated.

Red tape is a major problem in our company; by the time we've sorted out half of the approval, the management decides that only 1 person should be transferred. The local boss told me that they would like to transfer me only. I felt that it is not fair so I've discussed with him on what are the options. He told me to see the MD and so I went.

MD asked me to discuss with my boss. Hmmm, don't like the idea of this ding dong game they are playing. Fortunately my boss is a straight forward person and doesn't like to beat around the bushes. I told him that I will not be able to convince my staff and no matter what the result, I have to state that I'm against my staff not transferring.

Like every discussion, he changed strategy. He said that the staff's hay level is too low. If he transfer, the office will not be able to give him a good offer. He's better off not transferring. After a few checks, the situation is genuine.

Discussed with my staff and he did his checking as well and decided that he will opt to stay with current arrangement where he will be getting overseas allowance and not transfer here.

Sometimes life is really not fair. I really try very hard to help him (risking my own career) but there's just not much I can do other than making lots of noise in the office.