Inform HR that your immediate supervisor is treating you unfairly because you are gay, native American, Rastafarian, with a substance abuse problem, and that you have a civil rights lawyer on retainer! ;).
Seriously, LSL hit it. Sounds like a shitty situation you will be well to be rid of. Just keep your head down, do your work, document everything, and ramp up the job search. But there is no way you can guarantee yourself a good result. Only try to nudge the odds in your favor and lessen the unpleasantness of an unfavorable outcome.
Yes–she’s in the job because she’s a personal friend of the top person, and there are some weird dynamics among them and other upper management that make this unbalanced and irrational.
I have a job that has to have processes with some parts that are not negotiable. From the beginning, she has not talked to me about what I do or what I need to do my job. She doesn’t know all of the things that I do and she hasn’t made any effort to find out or allowed me to talk about it. She came into this job with the goal of getting rid of everything and creating everything new from scratch, so it’s possible that I represent all of that and that’s why she wants to get rid of me. Or maybe she wants to replace me with her favorite staff person from her previous job. I don’t know the reason, but I do know that instead of talking to me about how she wants me to do my job, she’s written long memos about everything I’m doing wrong (includijng things that aren’t true at all). I feel that she hasn’t made a good faith effort to try to work with me, and my only reasonable conclusion is that she has never planned on me staying in this job. She hasn’t been successful in getting rid of me yet, so this last memo is escalating her unreasonable demands for how I do my job. She’s a toxic micromanager, and she’s trying to micromanage a job that she doesn’t know much about.
She’s made a lot of promises to people about all of the great things she’s going to do, but she doesn’t have the staff to do it. I’ve heard that one of our best staff members might be looking for another job, so she’ll be left with the least experienced staff person and a couple of other people she just took from another team who are very unhappy about it. We don’t have room for the new staff people in our area (which she outright stole from another department), so I think she’s probably going to want to take my office for someone else. I would probably quit over that, even if it’s not the best thing for me.
Does anyone remember Victoria Best from Wordgirl? She’s a grown-up version of that.
She has said it many times! She wants to do things that have a “wow” factor, so we have completely quit doing some things we used to do that aren’t “new” and “fresh” enough. One of the first things she did was to get rid of the awards that we’ve won (it was a lot–I kept about 20 for projects that I worked on, but there were more that were trashed).
Of course, the problem with getting rid of everything we’ve done previously and creating everything over from scratch is that it takes time and staff, which we don’t have enough of.
Now I’m curious as to why the company thought they needed to do this (other than “because she said it was a good idea”), but that’s a different topic.
This:
…suggests to me (and, pretty clearly, to you) that “getting rid of everything” probably includes “getting rid of the staff from the previous incarnation of this department.” Which obviously sucks. And, given the apparently long leash she’s being given by her superiors (and, by extension, HR), by the time they decide that she’s unable to deliver on what she’s said, our OP will be long gone (by choice, or not).
You might as well start looking for a job now. There’s not much downside. This will give you a realistic idea of your job prospects before you mentally commit to quitting. Most of initial hiring process is all online. You can apply online and the first few interviews will probably be over zoom. You won’t really have to take much time off work for the interviews. If you can step out for 30 minutes, you can do the zoom interviews during the work day from your car. You’ll see how in demand your skills are by just looking for a new job. And if a great new job comes of it, you can give your notice and leave all this chaos behind.
For what it’s worth, I had a terrible boss for 5 years, and my big take away is that I should have started the grievance process earlier. I, too, thought it would make things worse, but it actually made things 10x better, because at least in my job, retaliating against someone because they filed a grievance is a huge big deal. So after I finally filed one, he became much more careful of me. It was now on him to prove he wasn’t retaliating if he did anything radical to me, and he was too chickenshit to risk it.
There were two other mistakes I made, which caused me to wait too long to file. First, I thought I needed an absolutely iron-clad case. I really didn’t. The point is not to win in a court of law, it’s to get your concerns addressed. I got deeply screwed over a year prior to the incident when I finally did file, and in retrospect I should have filed then. At the time, I talked myself out of it because I didn’t have every single thing in writing. We all talked each other out of filing, imagining a Perry Mason type court case and how “he could argue that . . . .”. But the point isn’t getting conviction, it’s establishing new norms going forward. You don’t need “past a reasonable doubt” for that.
My other mistake was thinking I needed an unambiguous example of his violating policy. He was pretty careful to not technically violate policy. I didn’t understand that bullying includes using policy to intimidate someone or make it so they can’t do their job.
Finally, if you do start the grievance process, make sure you are clear on what you want. At some point, you will be asked. What would have to change to make this bearable?
No advice about your current work situation because I’m an employer and see both sides daily. I will tell you one thing…if she’s out to get you she probably will… Document, document, document and then document again. Not only will it help you with an unemployment claim it will also justify your separation to a future employer if necessary.
Came in to say the same thing. Document document document.
Reply all to emails where you requested something specific. 'Friendly reminder, I’m still waiting on a response to this email. Would appreciate your update." Don’t let any request to her drop because she doesn’t answer.
Is there someone on the key project you are working on in another department that might be helpful. “Would appreciate your advice, seems like my manager doesn’t like me working on your stuff, and it’s becoming a challenge to support you and her.”
You’re already trying to move jobs. A PIP usually requires at least one month, but do know they day you get a PIP the clock starts as manager has kicked off the firing process. In the US, a PIP is rarely about actually trying to drive improvement, it’s to avoid getting sued when you are let go.
Unless the OP works for a law, accounting, consulting, or other professional services firm, I’ve found that the time entry process tends to be pretty lax (if one even exists at all),
And usually those sort of organizations are not so hierarchical that you have one “boss” you report to. Usually you would have some sort of client or account partner, engagement manager, and maybe a resource manager whose job it is to make sure you’re billing your time appropriately.
No, the OP sounds like they work for a traditional pyramidical hierarchical company full of “pointy haired bosses” who really have no idea what they are doing.
As for the OP, what kind of relationship do you actually have with this boss? Is it hostile and adversarial or simply chaotic?
What is the actual “job” of your role and the group you work for? I see a lot of teams that just sort of exist on org charts, but can’t really define what, if anything, they actually are responsible for. IOW what are you actually SUPPOSED to work on?
You mentioned “PIP” style communications. Are you sure there is nothing about your performance that needs to be addressed?
Have you actually sat down with your boss and talked through any of this?
I’ve seen the inner workings of a lot of large companies and unfortunately what you describe isn’t atypical. A lot of managers get promoted, hired, or restructured into positions that aren’t well defined and often serve no real purpose in the overall workings of the company. And it can be challenging to work for those people because they are trying to look like they are in charge, but can’t really define what they are in charge of.
I don’t know how large the OPs employer is, but most companies of any size are not these monolithic decision-making entities, At best they are these collections of different teams that sort of talk to each other as they grind away at the tasks they were assigned, I have no reason to assume the rest of the OPs company is any more or less efficient than their current group.
Typically your manager can’t simply fire you on a whim, HR usually can’t fire you either. They just sort of set policy, facilitate the process, and manage the paperwork. The PIP is part of that process. PIPs often, but not always, end up in the person leaving the company because at the very least they send a message that the company does not view you as a good fit, let alone the sort of star player they want to advance in their organization.
Documenting is good for reference but ultimately what is the OPs goal? Gain more clarity from their boss about their role? Move to a different group? Make a case with, someone, about why they are right and the boss is wrong?
Do you have a written Job Description?
If yes, stick to it … and maybe write her an e-mail (cc:HR) if she wants to initiate a process to update your Job description? …
so at least you have your legal bases covered … you are doing what the company told you to do, and you are now making an active effort to update that requirements given the new situation (and printout/BCC that mail ;-).
So every problem deriving from that front is now pretty much on the company.
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If she writes emails mentioning errors (and such) you made - but you didn’t make - I’d friendly and professionally push back on that with the same people she copied and cc:HR again. Otherwise that information might be assumed as “correct”. If you push back your pushback/reasoning/narrative will be assumed as “correct” - unless/until there is a rebuttal. Might be quite relevant, legally, especially if they let you go for an error.
That’s a good point. I may not recall from reading posts quickly over the past couple of days, but the only thing I recall is a desire to stick around for a couple of months for whatever reason. Someone (not the OP?) suggested this might concern some vesting issue.
If the only goal is short-term, perhaps involving HR might stretch it past that time period. Most mid-size to larger companies I’m familiar with go through the lengthy “PIP-style” process to try to insulate themselves from a charge that the firing was done for impermissible reasons.
of course there is also the chance she has been brought in by top-brass to go “full-Elon” on a certain sub-structure and implemente change in a “disruptive” form.
they you (and all) are pretty much hosed … there is little/nothing you can do, if the only goal is kill-em-all.
I’m typing on a phone, so I’ll keep this short and come back later. Dinsdale is correct—I need to stay here for a few more months. I’m not trying to fix the problem, but a good outcome would be if upper management and HR would do something about it so other people don’t get treated like this.
Answers to msmith537’s questions:
We both have very well defined jobs. I have special skills, so I help out other departments. Our whole organization is not small, but our team is small and most of upper management know who I am and what I do.
Our relationship is not adversarial in person. Her memos are a different story.
She won’t listen to what I say, so at this point I’ve given up on trying to explain things to her. She will never allow me to tell her what I do and what won’t get done when I’m not here.
I may have a bad attitude and/or may be jaded, but as far as workplace situations go, I think it is nearly always futile to attempt to change an employer’s structure to improve overall working conditions. Instead, in my experience the only approach that makes sense is to focus on what makes things the best for YOU given your personal situation.
Sure, it would be nice if something you did positively impacted someone else. But I view work in more mercenary terms. Other people can look out for themselves. And, as a general rule, I haven’t noticed them looking out for ME! (Sole possible exception might be involvement in union activities if applicable.)
I remember decades ago when cow-orkers would complain about colleagues who seemed to have favorable situations, or to be taking advantage of leave or other policies. I decided that there was little use in being upset about the “scams” others had worked out and, instead, to focus my efforts on working out the scam that worked the best for me. (Generally, that involves just keeping my head down, expecting ZERO in terms of special treatment, and minimizing contact w/ any higher-ups.)