United Nations

Work Culture @ the UN

By Dweep Chanana ⋅ November 18, 2005 ⋅  Email this post ⋅ Post a comment

Its Friday today. Did I tell you the office closes at 2pm? Yesterday, Thursday, I left work at 5:30pm, and I was one of the last ones out. Isn’t that great - not having to work beyond official working hours? I can’t remember when I last did that.

But I was just reminded why working at the UN can be so difficult! I’m organizing a meeting for my project, so I should just be able to get the agreement faxed to me, signed, and faxed back. But of course, it cannot be that simple in the UN.

Instead, I need to get the details, type out a standard UN letter, have the Deputy Resident Representative sign it, and fax it back. Of course, if some details change, I may have to do this again. Is it any wonder the UN is not a hotbed of enthusiasm and creativity? Perhaps because we are using our creative capital to bypass this system.