Chapter 2

I suppressed my anger. “Mr. Reid, we accepted that we would not get an increment during the mid-year adjustment, but you promised to make it up to us with the year-end bonus!”

Hank slammed his cup against the table.

“Mindy! Watch your attitude!

“The company has its own considerations. The administration department has no KPIs, so naturally, according to the amount of contributions recorded, you’re the last! What’s wrong with that?”

“But in the past…”

“The past is the past!” Hank interrupted me. “We have to change if we want to grow. In the future, the administration department has to balance its own profits and losses. You can’t just depend on the company to cover all of your expenses!”

I stood up.

“I understand now. In your eyes, we’re not a critical department.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to say it. Your actions were loud enough.”

I turned around and left.

“Wait!”

Hank’s voice became cold.

“Mindy, you’ve been the administration manager for eight years. Why are you so narrow-minded? Just because of the year-end bonus, you’re giving me an attitude. How would the other departments view you?”

I turned around and met his eyes.

“Mr. Reid, I don’t mind suffering, but my subordinates are waiting for the year-end bonus. Patricia’s husband has to go for a check-up, Sam’s going to get married soon, and Autumn plans to bring her mother to see a doctor…”

“Those are their family matters. What does it have to do with the company?”

Hank waved impatiently.

“We’re not a charity. We can’t just give employees more money just because they’re facing some family problems. If you’re unhappy with this, you can bring it up to the labor court. Let’s see if they’ll handle your case!”

I was stunned.

He was completely shameless.

“Fine. Let me find out then.”

Hank sneered, “Suit yourself. But let me remind you, if you burn bridges, no one will dare to hire you in the future!”

I did not answer him.

I left, slamming the door behind me.

After I left Hank’s office, I bumped into Andrea Carpenter, the HR director, in the corridor.

She smiled and stepped forward to link arms with me.

“Mindy, what a coincidence! I was looking for you. Let’s go to my office?”

I did not reject her invitation.

Andrea poured me a glass of water and sat opposite me. She frowned and sighed.

“Why bother?”

My head snapped up as I stared at her in disbelief.

“Why bother? Andrea, they’re my subordinates. All of them are waiting for the year-end bonus!

“Patricia’s husband has found that there’s something wrong with his liver, and he’s been using conservative treatment methods. Patricia wants to bring him to a bigger state hospital to get it checked out.

“Sam only found a girlfriend when he was over 30 years old. He’s hoping to use the year-end bonus to host a wedding to celebrate.

“Autumn promised to bring her mother on a tropical vacation. Her mother felt unwell during the winter due to arthritis…”

“But the company isn’t a charity. We have to follow our SOPs. We can’t just give some employees more bonuses just because they’re having some issues,” Andrea said indifferently.

“Fine. Then, let’s not talk about their struggles!”

I pulled out a chair and sat down. Then, I took out my phone.

“Let’s talk about contributions! Our department is ranked last in the annual review. According to the contribution distribution, we have contributed nothing! Now, let’s look at the administration department’s contributions!”

I opened my email.

“This year, the company signed 63 contracts in total. The administration department did the approval, printing, and archiving of every single contract. If we outsource this to a law firm, they would charge us three thousand dollars just for the approval process. It would be two hundred thousand dollars for all 63 contracts.

“The company was only able to pass the environmental assessment last year because the administration department visited over twenty government centers and prepared hundreds of documents. We spent over three months on this. If we outsource this to an agency, the market rate is fifteen hundred thousand dollars at the minimum.

“Besides that, we also manage our suppliers, all 47 of them. We managed to lengthen our credit terms from 30 days to 60 days for 12 of our suppliers. With this, we’ve already helped the company to improve its cash flow!

“There are only five of us in the administration department. Our average salary per month is only six thousand dollars per person. The annual spending is just three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. Any one of the contributions I had mentioned earlier is worth more than that! And you don’t think these count as contributions?”