I was recently hired as an ERP Developer in a Global BPO Company (let's call it 3Ps
).
I have a manager and a team who's based onshore (US) while I work alone offshore (Philippines).
I am their first and only offshore employee and I somehow feel quite left out and in the dark about a lot of things.
Some Examples:
- I am not informed about upcoming projects, project deadlines, meetings or activities.
I am often surprised about projects being implemented or systems being down because I was not included in the email.
Sometimes while I'm coding everything crashes, turns out there was maintenance scheduled and i didn't get any notice.
I already asked to be included in the email group but I didn't get a positive response. As per my Manager "Let's hold that for now."
- I am not being consulted for anything and my suggestions are not being heard.
I've seen how the onshore team works and it is way below standards and best practices. They usually go with Band-Aid solutions or shortcuts which makes everything buggy. I've already voiced numerous suggestions for Process Improvement, Development we can work on, but my emails go unanswered most of the time. I'd send a follow up, but still get no reply. I also message them via Skype sometimes, but nothing really gets done.
- They do not seem to look for me when I'm not online.
There are times wherein I've had a full day without conversing to anyone from my team or not getting any significant emails from them. I even tried not really working and they don't notice!
I've always been used to doing a lot of stuff since I worked as a senior developer in a global consulting company known for its High Performance, Delivered
motto.
But now I find myself looking for things to contribute and improve in the 3Ps
company! During my stay with the High Performance
company, we had the same onshore and offshore setup and it worked fine.
How can I improve the communication channels and somehow assert my value as a member of the team?
EDIT: Just to add, this company's organizational structure (or lack thereof) is quite messed up and does not have an Escalation Matrix. Also, I'm doing this now on my Working time, so you get my drift.
I can provide more examples if needed.