There’s only one thing that I’m drawing the line on, and that’s making sure that my coworkers get copies of documents they need when I’m gone. For everything else, I’m going to play her game and keep documenting.
For background, I can do work that’s needed by any department. I have a speciality, and if any other departments need any kinds of work done that need my skills, I’ll help out with it. I’m the only person at my job who has these skills. There is no good reason for her to tell me not to work for other departments. It’s not conflicting with any work I need to do for my department, so time isn’t an issue. It’s true that she can change the rules for this job since she’s in charge now, but she doesn’t have a clue what I do and how it needs to be done.
My coworkers who aren’t upper management don’t have the power to do anything about this. They will help me in any way they can, though. We might have a different workplace culture than most. I’ve worked there for almost 20 years, so some of us have a long history. Most of my coworkers are very good at their jobs, work very hard and have done a lot for me. I’ll do what I can to make this difficult situation better for them.
Very soon you are going to find out how misguided this is.
Your coworkers could complain about chaos boss to her boss and their bosses all the way up the chain. This will of course have career limiting implications for them, so they will not.
Because when choosing between loyalty to a coworker and continued employment where you have a lot invested, I’ve seen this dozens of times in many, many companies. Good companies, bad companies, good bosses, bad bosses, good employees, bad employees. No one sacrifices their career for a coworker who is engaged in a quixotic attempt to save the company from umpteen levels of mismanagement above them.
People will nod sympathetically when you are complaining about your boss. And then they will suck up to that same boss, if that boss enjoys the support of senior management.
Walk me through this thought experiment with me: Last month, someone from HR pulls you into an office and is like, due to restructuring and economic rightsizing, we’ve made your role redundant. No hard feelings blah blah but don’t bother coming in on Monday, your final paycheck is already in the mail. Do you still secretly sneak into the office over the next couple of weeks and months to volunteer your time to finishing up any outstanding projects? Do you make commitments to your co-workers that you’ll still be there as a resource happy to work for free as long as they need you? Hopefully, you agree in this circumstance that you extend your help to mutually commiserating with your co-workers about how much more difficult things have been without you there and, if there’s really such a desperate need for a backfill of your skills, you’re happy to sign a consulting contract that values your labor appropriately.
What about if the company says we’re reassigning you to a new location with new duties in a new role? Do you fly back on weekends to still help keep things going with your previous role, purely out of the kindness of your own heart?
It’s not like we don’t have sympathy for the plight you’re in, many of us have experienced it from both ends, either as a valuable resource that was forced out or watching someone we depended on be moved or removed in a way that damaged our projects. At the same time, it’s just a thing that happens in corporate life, it’s like weather patterns, you don’t curse a hurricane so much as just grumble and figure out how to rebuild.
My suggestion is that this is a useful mindset for you to put yourself in to clearly see what’s going on: You’ve been fired from your previous job and rehired into the current one called “play the game of making a PIP as difficult as possible”. The sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can orient yourself around this and play the game as well as possible. The reason we’re suggesting this is there is a slim but non-zero chance you can be rehired back into your previous role. If the powers that be figure out it’s too much of a pain in the ass to fire you, they might just back off and let you get back to work. But that only happens if you’re willing to play the game you’re in now.
I get how much it hurts to watch people unaffected by hit by the blast of collateral damage of petty office politics but they were hurt by your firing, not any of your actions subsequent. If you were fired-fired, you could still alleviate that hurt by just still showing up to the office every day and volunteering your labor but hopefully you have a clear enough perspective to see how that dynamic isn’t good for anyone.
By continuing to do your previous job unasked, you’re just helping to mask your manager’s incompetence and let her skate by, helping nobody. Actually make it her problem having to manage you and having to deal with the fallout of her decisions falling on other teams. Be a grey rock and force her to live up to the pain of her own incompetence. Document, document, document and cheerfully make it clear all the things you’re unable to do now and what precise line and sentence that came out of her mind lead you there.
We all know how psychologically difficult this is which is why getting into the right mindset about this is so important but know we’re trying to help navigate you through a sea of shitty choices for the least shitty one and we’re not blind to how terrible the concrete consequences of that choice is.
Maybe the OP truly is an irreplaceable and absolutely indispensable employee - the likes of whom I’ve never encountered in my career or countless discussions with others. Can’t even begin to count the number of “indispensable” employees I’ve seen disappear without a trace. But yeah, I’m sure YOU are the rare exception.
Far more likely, in the weeks after the OP leaves, a few employees will periodically say, “Gee, MagicEyes was really god at their job. Too bad they left.” Along with some grumbling about having to do the work themselves, or about someone new doing it. Of course, there will likely be at least a couple of folk who think, “Thank goodness that person is gone. Now I can take on their tasks in an attempt to progress my career.”
Followed very quickly by, “Who was that MagicEyes person?”
You asked for our advice, but you do not appreciate our honest (and intendedly supportive) take on it. Good luck.
The more you post, the more I’m thinking, “Gee, they sure sound pretty full of themself. Maybe there are 2 sides to this story with their boss…”
She doesn’t need a good reason. She’s the boss. Maybe she’s got a really bad reason. One thing is for sure true: by saving her from her own bad decisions, you’re extending her tenure by preventing a real crisis.
If your coworkers have any respect or affection for you at all, they will understand and comply with the new process where they have to ask Boss for your help and you dont do anything until its in writing.
people seem to consistently over-perceive their importance for a 100s of staff company.
Then those people disappear while the company does not.
my take here:
the best “revenge” is a (corporate) life well lived … if nothing to do, sit in a corner updating your CV and skillset (get a diploma from coursera, etc…) or browsing the SDMB with long and drawn out bathroom breaks … also networking with colleagues form other floors seems like a good and worthwhile exercise to get those end-to-end processes better aligned - all for the wellbeing of the company, of course…
2-3 months isn’t a long time. Can’t you just do exactly what your boss is asking for? Perhaps throw them a bone: “Hey I feel like I’ve been out of sync with your priorities, but I’m aligned now.”?
Also I agree with a couple things that have already been said:
If your boss asked you not to do certain tasks, don’t do them. You can stop doing them in a way that is respectful of your coworkers, but you should also respect your boss’s plan. There are few things more frustrating than finding out someone on your team is still grinding away on something you asked them not to do – particularly if you find out because they didn’t finish something you did ask for.
An ‘indispensable’ team member that is not aligned with the team is a liability. Not only are the tasks not getting done, but there is often a hit to morale.
Like @Dinsdale I’ve seen so many great people leave for a variety of reasons and there is a hole, but the companies survive. Heck I’ve been an ‘indispensable’ employee that has left for a variety of reasons. The corporate beast moves on: someone steps up, the project is cancelled or fails, teams and protects are rearranged, tasks get dropped, etc.
The OP’s situation is so close to what happened to me, I could have started this thread for her.
I was the long-time employee with the indispensable skill. My coworkers on other teams respected me, and came to me for advice. I was the one who was brought in on special projects, especially in a crisis, because I had seen and done everything, and if I hadn’t, I could think on my feet.
Then the new boss came in, and like the OP, he was looking for highly promotable pieces of short-term business - come in, make a big splash and move on. He didn’t need someone who had seen and done everything, because everything was new. He had no qualms about bringing in contract employees with specific skills, working them for two months and moving on (old boss valued stability and longevity.) I became excluded from new business presentations, brainstorming sessions, was no longer called in on emergencies, etc.
It can’t be any more clear that she thinks her role (whether it is or not) is to transform the company, starting with her little corner.
Finally I had a sit down with new boss, who bluntly told me my skill set was no longer needed in the new environment. I could continue working on the two accounts that anchored my paycheck, but I’d have no staff support, and if I wanted any future with the company, I should go out and build my own base of clients.
I was able to get another job quickly. Not only did no one care about my 15 years of project files, memos, reports, etc., but my company actually resigned the accounts of my two anchor clients because they were too small and not flashy enough.
@MagicEyes you aren’t going to win against Chaos Demon Boss. The Head Cheese hired her to be the boss. Maybe you can make it to September by strictly following every one of her chaos-driven demands. Document everything so you can consult a lawyer if you want to bring a wrongful termination suit, but don’t be surprised if the lawyer tells you that no longer fitting into the company’s needs is not “wrongful termination.” Get your resume updated right now, contact your friends in other companies, and start the job hunt in earnest.
If the OP was incredibly busy with work for the boss, this would make sense. They aren’t. If they were planning to stay, I’m betting that the boss would give a bad review (though they don’t seem to have reviews) for not helping out other groups.
Given that the support predated her tenure, a good boss cutting it back for a good reason would have a meeting with the stakeholders to agree on a transition plan.
Theoretically, any employee can be replaced. Given that my boss doesn’t know what I do and most likely won’t hire someone who has the skills to do a large part of my job, I think things that I used to do won’t get done. I do want my coworkers to be prepared for that if it’s going to affect them. Some of the things I do might not seem important, but people will notice if it’s not done, and it will hurt our credibility.
This is it, and the real problem here is that she’s doing this because she needs to be completely in control of everything. She is objecting to me doing things without getting her permission first (which she didn’t ask me to do until last week, but in her mind it’s always been this way). She hasn’t looked at the big picture of everything I do and made a decision about what’s worth doing or not. I’ve kept on doing the same things I’ve been doing for years during a long transition period with no leadership, and until now she hasn’t talked to me much about what I do. And of course she’s not consistent, and she can’t even tell me what she wants me to do when I ask her directly.
I would like to be able to do things like this, but the problem is that I have to do a report for her every day with how much time I’ve spent working on specific things. That’s the only reason why any of this is a problem. Otherwise I could do all of the handover things that she’s ignorant of and doesn’t care about, and it wouldn’t matter.
Kent_Clark, I’m sorry you went through that, and glad you found another job.
You are moving on. You know you are moving on. So just accept that you are moving on.
And if you have to report to her every day on what you have done, and she has no idea what it is you do, what’s the problem? That’s the easiest report to write. Summer hires could figure that out.
It’s nice that you care about your coworkers.
But you are leaving them and moving on.
And what do you mean by “hurt OUR credibility” ?. It’s not “ours”, and it sure as hell is not yours. You are being treated as totally unimportant and dispensible. You are no longer useful to your boss. You owe them NOTHING.
You are moving on. And you should not care at all about the credibility of the boss(es) who are forcing you to leave.
I’ve read the thread, and been tempted to post more than once, but have refrained until now.
MagicEyes, I understand your sense of responsibility and dedication. I can’t say I’ve been in your situation, but I know what it’s like to feel a duty to coworkers even when when upper management doesn’t see you as valuable, or is even actively working to push you out.
I think what others are trying to impress upon you is the responsibility to yourself, your well-being, and your career first and foremost. Attempting to continue the excellent work you’ve done in the past against the expressed wishes of your boss (whether or not those wishes are based completely on ignorance) will help her, not you, because it will shield her from the consequences of her poor decisions.
Focus on what your boss tells you to do, regardless of how stupid or misguided those directions are. As others have said, if coworkers come to you with requests for stuff you’ve done in the past, point them to her and have them get permission from her for you to work with them.
It’s tempting to believe your coworkers will rise up en masse and protest the injustices being done to you, and upper management will realize the value you bring and publicly chastise and humiliate your boss while extolling your virtues at a companywide meeting, but that doesn’t happen outside the movies.
We’re on your side here (as much as we can be), and we’re trying to provide an objective view of the situation based on what you’ve told us. You can hope your boss is exposed and driven out of town based on her incompetence, but hope is not a strategy. Control what you can control within the confines of her restrictions, and let the rest go. Any repercussions to your coworkers or the company based on your reduced role are not your fault, nor your responsibility any longer.
I can summarize almost all the advice in this thread in two sentences. 1. Find a new job. You’re doing that. 2. Relax. You’re not doing that.
The people you are supporting need to advocate for themselves. If they don’t want to, it is not your problem. If they do and get shot down, it is still not your problem. They may be following you out the door
Spend your work time coming up with good examples of how you supported the others, and all you have to say is that you found yourself incompatible with new management, after working well with your old management for years and years. The number one reason people leave their jobs is management issues, you are not alone.
Yes. I didn’t say I was still doing these things. It’s not my problem and I don’t care, but it is part of the big picture of the toxic mess that my job is now. There are reasons why she should be more aware of what I do and what’s not going to get done.
I could make things up, but it has to be something believable, which is not so easy. I feel like I’m on shaky ground if I lie about it, so I’m trying to actually do the work that I tell her I’ve done. It also has to be things that she has given me permission to do.
I’m surprisingly relaxed under the circumstances. The only time I get really wound up is when I have to have meetings with her. I have to keep my cool while she sits there and says lots of crazy things, and it’s exhausting. It takes a while for me to cool down after that.
I found out today that we paid a contractor a big pile of money to hire her for this job. Which is interesting, because as far as I know, there were no interviews or any kind of competitive hiring process. We’ve used this contractor for other things of dubious value, and she is a friend of someone in upper management.
Thank you. There is only one thing that I’m doing to make things easier on my coworkers after I’m gone. Otherwise I’m getting permission from the Evil One before I do anything.
I know this won’t happen. Upper management is very strongly opposed to seeing any problems here. The best I can hope for is that there will be some cracks that will let some people be more aware of what’s happening, and eventually she will either be held accountable for how she treats people or move along to terrorize a different workplace. Also her manager buddy has said he’s going to be leaving in the next year, and I think when he’s gone, she’s not going to last much longer.
Do you have a written position description for your job? If so, just include items that are defined as your duties in the position description in that report. It would be hard for your boss to formally discipline you for doing the things that are defined as part of your job. If your boss doesn’t know what you do, then I would bet that her boss knows even less about what you do, and HR doesn’t know or particularly care. However, a good HR person would not support firing someone for doing the tasks that are part of the job description. In fact, your boss really should have started with rewriting your job description to include what it is she wants you to do. She didn’t and that’s part of why she is a bad boss. By not replying to your emails asking for clarification, she weakens her position even more. Use that against her. Seriously consider filing a hostile work environment complaint against her. Her failure to respond to your emails is going to be a weakness in defending against that. But most of all, the time that the grievance process takes will get you to and probably through September.
The cool thing about my job is I often get to see how companies actually work in excruciating detail across different departments from the people who actually do the work all the way up to senior management (sometimes C-level). So that gives me a bit of perspective on the OP’s problem.
Firstly, the OPs baffling insistence on working on tasks outside of his purview makes me wonder if his boss doesn’t have a point. She may see him as difficult and stubborn, even insubordinate. The asking for constant status updates and task management shows a lack of trust but the OP seems to be justifying that lack of trust by doing the very things she told him not to do! The boss isn’t always right, but she’s always the boss.
The OP says these extra tasks aren’t conflicting with his work for his boss, but that also tells me he doesn’t have enough “real” work for his boss. She either doesn’t value his skill set or doesn’t find it useful.
As important or unique the OP thinks his knowledge or skills are, having such institutional knowledge residing in some individual is not a best practice. You have no idea how many projects I’ve been on that involve replacing “some guy who sits in a cubical out in Pittsburgh who manages this Excel sheet”. If necessary the company will hire someone like me from Deloitte or Accenture or Mckinsey or wherever and they’ll just “figure it out”. Or not. Don’t think the fate of the company rests on whatever bullshit paperwork you produce each month.
Senior management doesn’t really care about the OP. At least not from an operational perspective. They see the world in terms of charts and financials and status reports that abstract out the details of overall operations and may only vague be aware the OP is part of it.
Working at a company isn’t just about completing tasks and following procedures. It’s also about relationships. Sometimes you can’t control if a boss takes a dislike to you. Maybe you don’t fit into their profile of what they think the company should look like. But you also don’t need to give reasons for them to dislike you. And if the OPs work is so critical to those other departments, he should be building relationships with those managers so when they have their management meetings and his boss is like "yadda yadda I don’t like @MagicEyes " maybe one of them might be “oh, well he does this critical shit for my team, I’ll take him!”
Typically someone like the OP’s boss can’t simply fire him on a whim. She must prove one of several things:
The OP is incompetent or insubordinate with documented evidence of either not following instructions or doing it badly.
The OP is not needed on her team.
She can also just continuously write poor performance reviews, making the OP susceptible to layoffs during cost cutting cycles.
Note that companies are not monolithic entities. It is entirely possible other managers and HR find Chaos Boss just as annoying as the OP does, or they may be indifferent to her. Firing (and subsequently replacing) people causes headaches for HR too. And “he does all this extra work outside of what I told him to do” isn’t a great case for firing someone.
But keep in mind “he does all this extra work INSTEAD of what he’s supposed to do after I told him NOT to” is.
2nd. If your co-workers haven’t needed the info on your computer files by now, I think maybe you’re over-emphasising their importance.
3rd. When you are separated from the company their credibility won’t be your concern anymore.
4th. Your coworkers will wave goodbye when you leave.
Not one will quit their job, speak up for you or send you a Christmas card, most likely. Job friends are job friends. They’ll like the cake though.
5th. Everyone can be replaced. Every. One.
Another person out there can do your job.
Unless you’re a superhero or the only person on earth who can cure babies of some dread disease. You are replaceable, probably blazingly fast.
I’m not doing this, and I never have. Until last week, I was doing tasks that have been my responsibility for years that no one else is doing. A lot of them are not assigned (I see something isn’t working or I check to see if things are working, and if they’re not I fix them).
The root of the problem is that my boss wants to control everything. She’s an extreme micromanager, and she wants to micromanage my job, which she knows very little about. She asked me to send her lists of everything I do every day, and she got bent out of shape that I worked on things that I hadn’t told her about first (keep in mind that these are things I have been responsible for and no one else is doing). She hadn’t asked me to inform her before I worked on something until last week. I’m doing that now. The problem that I’m trying to get at here is that I think she’s trying to prevent me from having work to do so it will be easier for her to fire me.
They don’t need the files while I’m doing my job. They will later on. Some things could be re-created, but it takes time and some of the pieces that are used need my skills that no one else at my organization has. So my coworkers could get by without these files, but it would mean more work for them and a big drop in the quality of the work. Yes, I care. I like my coworkers and they don’t deserve this.
