i will try to avoid direct references to the company involved, but for those intimate with the industry, this may be a no-brainer to figure out.
GENERAL BACKGROUND:
northeastern alberta is now recognised as having the 2nd largest reserves of oil in the world and there is a MAD rush to develop said resources. the high price of oil means there are MASSIVE pots of money available for this development.
despite a good quality and well maintained major highway to fort mcmurray (the main city servicing the area), it is still 450 km north of edmonton, making it a relatively isolated place to work.
companies feel they must pay VERY well to attract workers and once there they try to keep them. of important note, many long term employees are at retirement age and departing, leaving big gaps.
SPECIFIC BACKGROUND
i have been retained by one of the companies (under contract) to assist with writing, rewriting, editing and formating important docments. the department has 4 "area leaders"=superintendents for whom i am to do this work. each AL has one or more "group leaders"=supervisors to manage the team of technicians EXCEPT one: dan (who has about half the department budget and no GLs), yet he is the one who, by default, has been "chosen" to provide me with my initial work. because only some of the thousands of documents need to be worked on, AND i have no way to ascertain which should be done, i must rely on dan.
there is supposed to be considerable urgency to getting some of these docs done. an external audit revealed gaps in certain documentation that MUST be "fixed".
my contract initially goes from mid-feb to end-aug (6.5 months) with a possible extension to end-nov (9.5 months). also my contract is not directly with this outfit, but through another (so i am sub-contracted).
THE QUANDRY
i have been here since mid-february and have not worked on more than a dozen documents. no one is standing over my shoulder monitoring my work, my hours are being honoured and paid, no one is asking for reports about which docs i have worked on. all four ALs and their manager (whose office is 10 feet from my desk) are all aware of my presence and function. in fact i moved recently and dan lives across the street!
i am not by nature a pushy person so i haven't been "in their faces" about this. they seem to be content to have me here for the odd occasion when they need something done. i have said point blank to dan that i am concerned that if things "don't go well" it will impact not only on me but the company who contracted me. he told me not to worry.
yet i am concerned. should i be?
per ardua ad astra
GENERAL BACKGROUND:
northeastern alberta is now recognised as having the 2nd largest reserves of oil in the world and there is a MAD rush to develop said resources. the high price of oil means there are MASSIVE pots of money available for this development.
despite a good quality and well maintained major highway to fort mcmurray (the main city servicing the area), it is still 450 km north of edmonton, making it a relatively isolated place to work.
companies feel they must pay VERY well to attract workers and once there they try to keep them. of important note, many long term employees are at retirement age and departing, leaving big gaps.
SPECIFIC BACKGROUND
i have been retained by one of the companies (under contract) to assist with writing, rewriting, editing and formating important docments. the department has 4 "area leaders"=superintendents for whom i am to do this work. each AL has one or more "group leaders"=supervisors to manage the team of technicians EXCEPT one: dan (who has about half the department budget and no GLs), yet he is the one who, by default, has been "chosen" to provide me with my initial work. because only some of the thousands of documents need to be worked on, AND i have no way to ascertain which should be done, i must rely on dan.
there is supposed to be considerable urgency to getting some of these docs done. an external audit revealed gaps in certain documentation that MUST be "fixed".
my contract initially goes from mid-feb to end-aug (6.5 months) with a possible extension to end-nov (9.5 months). also my contract is not directly with this outfit, but through another (so i am sub-contracted).
THE QUANDRY
i have been here since mid-february and have not worked on more than a dozen documents. no one is standing over my shoulder monitoring my work, my hours are being honoured and paid, no one is asking for reports about which docs i have worked on. all four ALs and their manager (whose office is 10 feet from my desk) are all aware of my presence and function. in fact i moved recently and dan lives across the street!
i am not by nature a pushy person so i haven't been "in their faces" about this. they seem to be content to have me here for the odd occasion when they need something done. i have said point blank to dan that i am concerned that if things "don't go well" it will impact not only on me but the company who contracted me. he told me not to worry.
yet i am concerned. should i be?
per ardua ad astra