Moved to a lousy manager

11 Comments

1. AnonymousOctober 9,2024 at 2:12PM UTC

   Going to HR could help, or it could backfire. Either HR will hear your concerns and work with you and your manager to clarify things like workflow and who gets to assign you which tasks, or HR might tell you that you are no longer a good fit for the role and suggest you move on.

   Here are some alternatives, depending on your relationships with the other managers that assign you tasks. Can you suggest to them that if they want you to work on a task that it has to come through your direct manager first? Mention that it will aid in you appropriately priotizing everyone's task . Effectively suggest that they have to get it approved by your direct manager before it lands on your desk, similar to the workflow with your previous boss.

   Second, if you can confide in your old VP (and it sounds like you can), share with them what's going on and ask if they can offer any suggestions about how to proceed based on their understanding of what's going on. The old VP should not get involved, but they might have meaningful perspectives to share.

2. AnonymousOctober 9,2024 at 2:54PM UTC

   Are you an engineer?You don't share if you are in that functional role. Who actually owns the product roadmap? That person should be the one tasking you with things you need to get done. Try adding timeboxes to what you are given and just say no when it hits a certain amount of hjours per week. Track that in jira and also be sure that you save copies each week in a progressive fashion of what actually got done and changed. Additionally you might print copies for yourself too. Set priority levels when given something with that stakeholder and don't sway from those unless you get it in writing and get new timeboxes for those deliverables. I work in HR and specialize in time management for those in Product and Engineering and tech and think that with some subtle managing of your manager (they won't know you are doing this) you can get past this and have the type of relief you seek during this tenure. Be sure to learn to say no I cannot consume more than I have now when you get to the max of your capacity. Make sure you breathe and become an absolute devotee to your calendar adding things on there that you are doing either openly or privately during busy times. If you work in office get an orange cone and put it up when you need to work undisturbed. In your 1-1's stick to the facts and what needs to be done and any corrective action and or feedback you receive. And document, document document.

   As an aside you could take that VP you previously worked with out for a coffee after doing these things for 1 month or so and let them know that this is the aftermath of trying to not go off track though you are getting unclear direction. They might be able to solve it if you share it confidentially asking for their guidance on how to solve things if hothing changes. I would not go to the CEO at this time until you try some solutions. Especially if you are an engineer, they would only expect you to solve things. Though, if the company is losing money because of the things you shared you may reconsider that but it would put you in the spotlight and from your commentary this is not really about you trying to get ahead or defame others it is trying to do good work. The light you present these issues to for others will foretell how things are received. Good luck, and let us know how it goes. Now you can say you went to HR, wink, wink.

3. AnonymousOctober 9,2024 at 6:44PM UTC

   Have a 1:1 with your boss with an outline of the workload and suggest ways that you need help on managing it. You need to be proactive and suggest ways to address the volume of work.

4. AnonymousOctober 10,2024 at 1:14AM UTC

   You are working in two parallel universes and speaking different languages. If your tasks are managed in one system, but your boss doesn't use or look at that system, therein lies the problem. You both need to get on the same page, so a 1:1 session, like the next poster responded, is in order. Better yet, see if you can get a weekly or bi-weekly sit-down with the boss so that you both stay on the same page. If he uses a different system to track projects, then one of you might need to switch.

5. AnonymousOctober 10,2024 at 3:06PM UTC

   Leave immediately, dont be that invisible worker who got PIP still don’t know who the employer is.

   remember hiring contract location and payscale
   need to be on paper, employment verification I-9 W-2 need to be in person, work environment need to be real, so you know who your coworkers, what company culture is, life is not a fiction nor hypocrite.

6. AnonymousOctober 10,2024 at 8:12PM UTC

   Get your resume updated and seek work elsewhere. You are in a tundra of horrible management. It's not going to change, you can't change the environment but you can change your movement to another company. The tech world is also within other companies. Seek work in other companies and look at higher ed. Maybe you won't make as much but you may be happier. Decide what makes you happy, then seek that.

7. AnonymousOctober 12,2024 at 12:35AM UTC

   Unfortunate, we don't get to pick our boss and that can make things so frustrating.

8. AnonymousOctober 17,2024 at 1:10PM UTC

   my goodness. I agree with all the others; you are indeed in a hot mess, but it's not your fault, and you are powerless to fix it. Good that you've documented everything. I can tell from your posting that you are intelligent, organized, and you care about your work. What I have learned, from my own life, is that we can slowly start getting pulled into a complex and chaotic vortex and pretty soon, you are spending 50% of your mental energy every day- simply trying to gently overstep the chaos. In other words, think how much MORE productive you would be if you could simply focus upon your work, instead of also trying navigate and multi-task the chaos...What's the answer? very little, I'm afraid. If it were me, I would upgrade my resume, and start looking. You are holding onto a Pipe Dream by saying you "love" the company philosophy and the job- In reality, this is a terrible situation, and you are hanging onto it emotionally. You've invested yourself very deeply in this job- Bravo! Except- this job is NOT your life, and no one there obviously cares about how you're feeling (except maybe your old manager, but he/she is gone now)- Get your ducks in a row; consider meeting with HR but ONLY when you're ready to pay the price (or not)- HR can "sometimes" change a situation but normally NOT-- HR is only there for the employer, not YOU.

9. Colleen HansonOctober 17,2024 at 1:42PM UTC

   I was in a similar situation years ago! I got moved from a manager and department that I loved, to a horrible manager and gained responsibility over 4 different departments where no one communicated as to who was giving me what to work on. My new manager made her particular department priority and obviously the other departments started to complain that their work was getting put on the back burner; which my current manager would reprimand me for, even though she knew she was the one ordering their work be put behind hers. I made the mistake of going to HR who did absolutely nothing to help me, quite the contrary actually, they went to my current manager and told her I was documenting everything and had spoken to them. After that she started making my life miserable; piling on three times the work to where I was working almost 60 hours a week, denying my overtime and basically making me look incapable of doing the job. It affected my mental health and I had to start getting therapy. Eventually my therapist concluded that I was in a toxic environment and encouraged me to leave, which I did. Please start looking for a new job! HR is not there to help you; they are there to protect the company!

10. AnonymousOctober 18,2024 at 4:11PM UTC

    HR won't help. It will sound like they are helping, but I'm sure they know about these issues as they know more about the CEO than you do.

    I was in a similar situation once, and I stepped down in position so I could change who I reported too. It doesn't matter how good the company if the CEO has that kind of attitude. The rest is just words...'philosophy' of the company is just made up malarky to draw people in.

11. AnonymousNovember 7,2024 at 6:05PM UTC

    UPDATE: I decided to work on my resume and portfolio. I didn't speak to HR. But, I have just been informed that the company is letting go of 12 people, including the lousy manager. I'll be reporting to my previous manager again. The immediate issue is resolved, but I'm still working on my resume and portfolio because the whole thing causes me to worry about the company's stability.