An Unholy Trinity?

The Hive is run by a triumvirate of staff members – three senior staff, elected by popular vote from the rest of the staff, and who each serve a term of three years. These terms obviously overlap, so that only one triumvir is up for election at any one time.

From these three, a leader is chosen, although they don’t have any more power or authority than the other two (as far as I am aware – I have never seen the current leader override the choices of the other two, but then again I don’t attend all the staff meetings and I don’t know the inner workings of The Hive so for all I know he could be doing it all the time) but merely provide a person who can act as company director.

There are a few other administrative posts – some elected, some appointed – but the majority of the power is vested in the triumvirate, and while the staff have a collective vote (to theoretically provide a balance to the triumvirate), it is pretty much safe to say that the future of The Hive (and all those who work there) is in the hands of these three people.

A few years ago, one of the triumvirs was voted out and replaced with someone else. And while this does sound dramatic, it wasn’t actually the coup I am making it sound like.

The then triumvir had indicated that he didn’t want to continue in the post, and there was a request sent out for people who would like to put their names up for nomination. The idea was to give the rest of the staff a choice, rather than simply foisting one person on them.

Unfortunately, only one person volunteered – a lady who works in the supply department. So, rather than have a coronation, the then incumbent to the post indicated that he would stand for re-election. However, given that the vast majority of the company already knew he wanted to resign the position, it wasn’t much of an election, and Sandi was elected in almost a complete landslide. 

I share an office at The Hive with one other person, a young woman named Jane. We’ve worked together since I arrived at The Hive, and I would say she is my best friend in the company, and we still – even after all this time – get on quite well.

Recently, she indicated that she wanted to apply for one of the non-elected positions in the company. She wanted to expand her range, rather than simply working in the support side of things. She mentioned it to one or two people, but hadn’t formally applied (because posts can only be applied for a certain amount of time before they are available…. it is kind of complex, but it is supposed to prevent the personnel/administrative side of the company taking over the actual work side of the company) when we learned that someone else was also interested in applying for the same position.  Someone who – co-incidentally – happens to be Sandi’s best friend Tiffany. And, by all indications, Sandi was helping and advising Tiffany to ensure that she became the best candidate for the position.

Which, in and of itself, is not unusual or anything to be overly suspicious about – friends help each other out. It’s what friends should do, and is the basis of most of society. 

But there are also indications that Sandi is using her position as triumvir to ensure Tiffany gets the job – making suggestions to the other two triumvirs, giving Tiffany help and advice with inside knowledge and things that staff who don’t have a good friend on the triumvirate can not get. 

All of this would be bad enough, but there is one more thing to consider. Within the next two election cycles, it is fairly certain that at least one of the other two triumvirs is going to step down and turn the position over to someone else. 

But it is not just anyone who is willing to stand for the position of triumvir – they usually either have some qualifications for the position, or they have some experience in one of the other administrative posts within the company.

Since I am quite proud of my story telling abilities, I am hoping that you have worked out where this entry is leading, and what some of suspect is going to happen in The Hive in the next few years or so. 

Jane has more or less given up on applying for the post – instead she has been promoted to running the DRM project (making her nominally my boss) and she is quite happy about that (although the happiness could also be related to Evan – I don’t like to pry since I have come to think of Jane like a sister, and do not want to think about certain aspects of her life!)

As to whether what we fear will happen will happen, we will have to wait a few years to see. And if it does happen, we might have to wait a few years long to see if it is a good or a bad thing.

But it does remind me, once again, why I am happy to go to work, do my job and come home without any desire for advancement or improving myself. (Although, given my experiences at The Company, it is hardly surprising).