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19 Comments
Anonymous
12/15/20 at 5:31PM UTC
Managing Out refers to pressuring an Employee to leave a company by isolation, taking action to make the Employee feel uncomfortable, unproductive and unwanted until there is no reason to stay.
On the other hand Employers manage out employees who are a drain on resources, consistently under perform and negatively impact the team.
In many companies, this tactic is used to avoid lawsuits and large payouts for protected Employee groups. DISCRIMINATION claims can be extremely expensive not just short-term but can potentially raise a company's future insurance rates.
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Malissa Controller in the Agricultural Industry.
614
12/15/20 at 5:32PM UTC
It happens because some companies believe in trying to make a smooth transition out.
In a good organization managing out looks a lot like reduced responsibilities and an easing of the workload as responsibilities are shifted away from you.
In a bad organization it comes in the form of either a promotion to a place where you will not thrive and possibly fail spectacularly or a demotion to a soul sucking place that encourages you to quit.
If you suspect it's happening, make time to sit down with you boss for an honest talk. Sometimes you can change your job and stay employed at the company. Usually if it's agreed that you should part from the company you can negotiate a time line, references, and possibly severance.
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David Harchenko
127
12/21/20 at 2:02PM UTC
I have seen this at several companies. The people scapegoated. Was really sad, but it was allowed to happen, and some people believed the rumors about the person scapegoated. It this issue seems to be normal at the company you work at, best to be looking for a better company.
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Anonymous
12/15/20 at 6:16PM UTC
At my company, the right way to deal with this is to document the employees performance with an improvement plan with action items and dates, etc. It's a shocking amount of work for the manager, but it either motivates the employee to improve or they leave because they also do not want to do the work, or you're justified in firing them.
I had a colleague who has been underperforming for at least 5 years. He's always too busy to get anything done. About 2 years ago I became familiar with this concept because my boss instructed me to help him manage out this colleague. But he wanted to go the "bad" route. It was really so awkward - public humiliation for any mistake, like even being 1 min late to a meeting, for not answering the phone quickly enough, critical questions about every topic, etc. It was out of control and really dragging the whole team down because we could all see it EXCEPT the underperformer. I couldn't participate in that, in the end I went to my boss' boss about it. I have no respect for that type of unprofessional and inhumane treatment.
In this case, the WHY it happened in this manner was because the accepted way to do this is a lot of work and my manager didn't want to do it.
If you think it's happening to you, have a candid discussion with your management. I feel like at this point you may have nothing to lose and might benefit from some candid feedback or an opportunity to improve. You may also want to be proactive about your resume, etc. If you can't reverse it, better to leave than be fired (which is obviously the objective).
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A Liberated Woman blog
19
12/21/20 at 2:17PM UTC
Thanks for sharing! I have been on both sides of "managing out" just never realized it actually had a name! I too always used documented detailed action plans to first try and improve and then document facts as they happen. I see years later being the lower level supervisor that superiors had this plan but did not share these details with me, only the aspect of documentation that had to be done. Now on the other hand being the employee who felt attacked and singled out, funny thing is after I began to work remotely and out of the micromanagement of my direct level manager report, I began to thrive and now have the best performance I've had in 14 years! I feel the out of sight out of mind concept is there as I was often judged for also being a model/influencer in my hours after work and this often was brought up at my corporate job. This definitely was evident if they saw me online working with a brand or pre Covid days, at a runway show. I beat being managed out, but it wasn't easy nor without the feeling of unfairness, unworthy, and lacking abilities...
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Kati NizziSoftware Delivery Professional
55
12/15/20 at 6:19PM UTC
I was being managed out of a previous role because my manager and I did not get along. It was a personality mismatch and we couldn't find a way to work together. Due to these struggles, I figured it was happening but instead of letting him dictate my career for me and setting me up for failure in a different position, I elected to leave the company. I know that is a luxury not everyone can afford, but for me it was the right choice. Once I was "free" of constantly trying to make him happy and to keep my job I realized how much better off I was out of that toxic environment.
I'm not sure why you're asking about it, but if it's currently happening to you, it might be time to part ways with your company. Also, depending on how your working relationship is with your current manager, I'd recommend having a direct conversation with him/her about it to see what their perspective is. Perhaps between the two of you, a compromise could be made that would allow you autonomy and a happier solution.
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Julie Phillips Andrews
157
12/21/20 at 1:22PM UTC
Gosh yes! “Free of constantly trying to make him happy...”. It’s an insane existence and you can only know if your’re in it. The lunacy of it does attempt to suck your soul dry. Don't let it. Prepare to exit and you’ll truly get your life back. There may be a “right”’way to manage out. But there’s an insanely wrong way. Don’t allow it.
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Anonymous
12/15/20 at 6:35PM UTC
100% was happening to me in my last position. I was isolated to the point I was told by my boss that I was not allowed to ask questions or get what I needed to do my job from other departments unless I came to him. And he was always too busy, unless it was to yell, tell me I was stupid (I had been doing the job fine for over 15 years at this point), kept harping on things when they did not go exactly as he wanted, etc. I had never seen a "leader" work like that and use intimidation and bullying to get work done. But he did have obvious favorites and it was even worse when I had to work with the favorites. It was the most awkward, unprofessional experience. I managed to make it through for nine years until I was able to find another position. It took that long because most of my confidence was taken away from me and I was scared to put myself out there again.
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Julie Phillips Andrews
157
12/21/20 at 1:26PM UTC
You had never seen a leader like that as that was no leader-more, a grossly insecure person unfortunately given managerial responsibilities. It’s ridiculous to endure.
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Anonymous
12/21/20 at 1:57PM UTC
Holy smokes, I think you lived my life. After having a very happy career for 18 years, I was suddenly being managed out. I spent a full year having meetings with my boss (the CEO) expressing what I was experiencing and trying to understand why I was getting the squeeze. It didn't work and I had to leave after many tear-filled months. That job was my calling. I miss the work terribly, but I'm very grateful to not live under the microscope anymore. It has been about four years and I still feel the trauma. This practice is no joke and does incredible harm to dedicated employees.
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A Liberated Woman blog
19
12/21/20 at 2:19PM UTC
Your soooo right! Its like feeling personally attacked and you can't do anything right! Ugh this practice needs to def change! In Oklahoma being an at will state I have seen this oh so many times and been on the chopping block myself! I have overall though been blessed with great leaders in my career!
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Anonymous
12/15/20 at 6:51PM UTC
I think there is such a steep cost to staying in a toxic environment. Many times a person just talks themselves into staying out of fear if the unknown ...not realizing that it is ravaging their soul...not to mention their health, confidence and joy.
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KimmieFHReach your goals through positive connections
314
12/15/20 at 11:37PM UTC
Like others have said it looks different in different organizations. Working in HR I've heard of it as "Performance Out" meaning a well-documented process of recording poor performance, notifying the employee that they are under-performing and going through a series of "citations" or "warnings" until termination. At the beginning (if they are doing it right) this will look like conversations with your leader making sure you are clear on your expectations, follow up conversations expressing that you are not meeting your expectations and a defined improvement targets and emailed or written summaries of these conversations. From there if the targets are not met the write-ups start.
Organizations that are not doing this properly might manipulate this process more and may not be completely fair to the employee.
In most cases, though, once they have decided to "Performance" you out there is little you can do to change it. If the decision was made for the right reason, this process is a way to make sure they are covering themselves while getting rid of any employee that is a bad role fit and/or culture fit and they sincerely don't have a place for them. Others may be more personal and are trying to hide it and just get rid of someone rather than actually be leaders and develop them properly. The only thing you really can do is document your side. If they email you a summary of a discussion make sure you reply with anything you are doing/achieving to pick up the slack and/or anything relevant from the conversation that they left out. If you're given a write-up, add any comments on it or write a letter to HR . This happened to me with a leader that had something personal against me and I knew it was too late for me and couldn't definitively prove anything but wanted HR to have documentation that this leader was behaving unprofessionally. I responded to every follow up email with things left out of the summary and wrote a letter to HR outlining unprofessional behavior like the leader gossiping about me and placing blame on me in front of others for things that were not my responsibility. I wanted out anyway but honestly I think it bought me a little time and I know it made the right people aware of a deeper issue (what they do with that is on them).
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David Harchenko
127
12/21/20 at 2:10PM UTC
I have seen this too many times. A professional knows if they are getting the work done. If you are getting the work done, and get written up, get your resume posted, and start making calls.
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Jennifer FingerThinking with both sides of my brain!
148
12/16/20 at 1:24PM UTC
I was managed out of a role I had otherwise really enjoyed because of internal politics. My original manager, who brought me in, left under some cloud and his successor inherited me. She wanted to bring in a protegee of her own. So she instructed me to teach every single aspect of my job to the protegee. In my presence, she offered benefits to two new employees while making clear that I was ineligible to receive them. And her boss bought gifts for everyone else in the office. She said she had one for me too but kept "forgetting" to bring it to the office with her. Then they laid me off, and on my last day, my boss' boss finally "remembered" to bring me that gift. It ended up in the garbage before I walked inside my apartment after I got home that day.
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David Harchenko
127
12/21/20 at 2:14PM UTC
I met a person this happened to, but he was literally the GM of a very large company. A Japanese Entity bought it, and he was instructed to train his replacement then let go. Another friend of mine had a similar episode starting against him, so he broke off and started his own company.
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Anonymous
12/16/20 at 1:34PM UTC
What it looked like for me: I was passed over for a promotion (told there were no opportunities, but amazingly my peer was promoted). Then I was told they wanted me to "be happy" but whenever I asked for resources (what would make me "happy") or anything, that wasn't possible - my high-profile project was quietly moved to a different peer. I fought it and with HR's direction got my project back (job satisfaction) and now am being told how valuable I am to the team. Despite the smiles on their faces, the management still favors others and diminishes my concerns. They do not have my back. I am resigning soon with a letter that states I have no option but to leave.
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Stephanie Chernoff
153
12/21/20 at 1:09PM UTC
I believe I was managed out. I successfully delivered a project, then was moved to another team in the division where literally every subject matter expert on the product was on their way out the door, either to other parts of the company or other companies entirely. The remaining members of the team fought everything I tried to do. My manager put me on a PIP and I was making progress and then one day I hadn't made enough progress, or made progress fast enough, and I was out the door. I describe it in interviews as having left due to a reorganization.
Interestingly, 2 years later, I had a recruiter present me for another role and I am eligible for rehire, so I have no idea what was actually put into my employee file.
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Chantal dlRAward-Winning Online Content Maven
75
01/28/21 at 8:09PM UTC
Wow, thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. It's been eye opening and you've each given me a lot to consider for my research.
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