Worth the fight?

Anonymous

October 21,2022 at 1:01PM UTC

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Worth the fight?

I've been with a company a little over a year. Things were going pretty well until a new manager was hired in 3 months ago. She hasn't let the fact that she is new to both, the company and the industry, and has no clue about out products and processes stop her from making immediate changes that have negatively impacted me.

Previous I was the junior member on a team of three. The last few months, she's had me doing the work of three people. When I tried to discuss the obvious changes with her, she either deflected my questions or denied that anything had changed. She also referred to me as a guinea pig when she was thinking aloud during a 1:1. She did give me a $160 "spot bonus" in the form of a gift card for "being brave". ?

Now she's hired in one of her reports (at a higher level than me though she has no prior industry experience) from her prior company to "help you (me) with your (my) workload. And she expects me to train her. I raised concerns about this too, which she ignored despite the fact that a more senior level teammate volunteered to train. Additionally, I saw that she has plans to hire another person from her former company next month.

Honestly, I really should have been hired in at a higher level and have been working at a higher level from day one. I've already started looking for employment elsewhere. However, I also feel I've been treated unjustly. I have a chronic health condition which has been triggered by the stress of doing 3 times the workload and anger over how I'm being treated. Is it worth escalating this issue? Would this be grounds for constructive resignation? Or should I just focus on getting out of there ASAP. I've contemplated just quitting.

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AnonymousOctober 21,2022 at 1:49PM UTC
Grounds for constructive resignation? I'm confused. Are you thinking of reporting your boss and forcing her to resign? Constructive resignation requires her performance to have had a major effect on the financial position of the company. Clearly, the organization has not had any issues with her decisions thus far. Working with a new boss is hard. It's even harder when you believe that they have no knowledge or experience in comparison to yours. What she does have in comparison to your knowledge and experience is authority. The major difference between you and your boss is that she has the power to make you feel trodden on by giving you more work than you feel capable of doing by yourself without asking your permission first. While you only have the power to glower at her for being in charge. Why don't you try applying for a position where you are the one in charge?
AnonymousOctober 23,2022 at 3:54PM UTC
I think the OP is saying that they themselves feel they don't have other choices at this point besides resigning. Not that they're trying to get their boss to resign.
AnonymousOctober 21,2022 at 3:14PM UTC
Lesson learned. You never go in at a lower level and expect the gap to be closed with performance and recognition. It very seldom works like that. It sets you up to always be behind.
As for her bringing in her former teammates......that is probably something she sold to management when she was interviewing. Chances are very good that leadership communicated they were planning to expand the team and they needed her expertise and/or guidance to ensure the right members were hired. So whether you see her skill and contribution, she and her influence is there to stay and if you quit, do so quickly so as not to become anymore resentful.
Good luck with your job search.
As for constructive resignation v. Quitting........tomato, tomato. It is the same for at the end of the day.
AnonymousOctober 22,2022 at 12:28AM UTC
Yes, lesson learned. For context, I needed to get out of an extremely toxic previous role that I'd been in for years (which was contributing factor in my health issue). I should have left sooner but kept trying to twist myself to meet fuzzy, ever changing expectations, discrimination, and gaslighting.
AnonymousOctober 21,2022 at 3:21PM UTC
No grounds for constructive resignation. This new manager had done nothing wrong. She is staffing and managing her department and staff as she was hired to do. Your lower title, chronic health issues and difficulty with her changes are all your issues and don't sound like a result of anything wrongful or unjust. Just not to your liking. Which is fine. If you hate the new changes then feel mistreated, then by all means quit or look for a job while working.
AnonymousOctober 22,2022 at 12:25AM UTC
I meant constructive resignation for me.
AnonymousOctober 21,2022 at 8:07PM UTC
1) focus on applying aggressively to leave. Your current mgr will not change for you. And it’s common for people to promote their friends even if they are not qualified, but that does not mean you have to stay and let them ride off your talent.
2) in the mean time, pull out your most current job duties document, most employers have you sign off on expectations annually or semiannually so you know what to expect. If you don’t get a document annually just find the most recent doc that spells out your responsibilities and just do that. Since you are planning to leave, don’t go above and beyond, especially when considering your health condition
3) now back to that job duties document. I would only do this step if it turns out that your mgr starts complaining about you only doing what is limited to your job requirements doc, so proceed with caution, since you may still need her to give a good ref when you leave. You said you already had a meeting with mgr to discuss that you are doing the work of 3 people. Now take that job duties document and write up a report spelling out in writing specific examples that demonstrate how. Rather than schedule another meeting, send your mgr and email and in the body mentioned that you previously had a discussion with her about this on such and such date, you pulled the most recent job req doc attached and then also attach your report that spells out specific examples based on fact that demonstrates how you are doing the job of multiple people. And request them to set up a meeting to discuss. If she refuses, then forward the same email to HR and your mgrs boss, showing the history in multiple attempts to have the conversation,
4) if you still like the environment but just not your current boss, consider an internal transfer, if you have a good rapport with your bosses boss or HR try to set up a covert discussion to try to explore those possibilities or if you are worried about them spilling the beans, pay attention to their internal job announcements to see what other plausible opportunities you can apply to if interested.
overall put yourself first. As talented and brilliant as you are, you deserve to work in an environment where you are valued, respected and not taken for granted, good luck!
AnonymousOctober 22,2022 at 12:24AM UTC
Thank you for the advice. I have the job level matrix which shows training as a senior level responsibility. I'll look for my original job description.
She finally acknowledged that I was doing the work of 3 people once her "experiment" was over. It's that she didn't have the common courtesy to discuss things with me and attempted to gaslight me when I raised concerns. I don't trust her. And she is triggering trauma from my last job.
AnonymousOctober 22,2022 at 12:19PM UTC
This may be unpopular: your triggers are your responsibility.
It’s not up to other people to tip toe around you until you decide to process that trauma. This sounds like a whiny default position because you’re unhappy with how your boss is handling things.
As others have said while you may be unhappy that she’s hiring her friends I’d either find a way to work within that construct or find a new job. Sounds to me like leadership isn’t really seeking your opinion on her management strategy.
if you’re irritated with your current title band, then take steps to renegotiate. Sounds to me like you’ve complained about your work load and she responded quickly by hiring someone to help out. May not be to your liking (because she’s a friend of the boss) and you’ve been asked to help with training…but this is what’s in front of you.
Tread lightly, you’re boarding on sounding like a chronic complainer. A new sheriff is in town, I’d look for ways to work with her. If this isn’t sustainable for you or you simply can’t get over her appointment to this role, starting looking for a new job and move on.
AnonymousOctober 22,2022 at 2:32PM UTC
So purposely overworking an employee and lying to their face is acceptable?
Got it.
And another, more senior team member was already there. She didn't need to hire. This manager merely shifted all but 2 projects onto me. 2 vs 11.
I'm already looking. Toxic work environments might be acceptable to you but they aren't acceptable to all of us.
AnonymousOctober 22,2022 at 3:00PM UTC
$60k in RSU’s is a lot of money, but because of vesting schedules, they’re used primarily as employee retention tools.
you’ve been there a year and you clearly don’t like the new boss or her management style. You told her you were overworked so she hired someone to help with the workload. Still not satisfactory to you.
In your next paragraph, you said she didn’t need to hire…so which is it? Are you overworked or not?
Glad to hear that you’re looking, sounds like that will be the best move for everyone.
AnonymousOctober 23,2022 at 12:39PM UTC
She saw that you were capable. Not toxic.
AnonymousNovember 2,2022 at 9:16PM UTC
This person was called a guinea pig. This is unacceptable!
I've said it hundreds of times on LinkedIn and now I'm going to say it here: People are HUMANS. We are not numbers. We are not robots. We are certainly not experimental rodents to be patted on the head and given biscuits if we please you.
That is disgusting. In fact, you are probably disgusting because you are blaming someone who was clearly victimized. Why? AGAIN: People are humans and should be treated as such.
AnonymousOctober 23,2022 at 12:15PM UTC
unfortunately over my 40 years working in corporate environment I don’t foresee much change it doesn’t really matter why someone with no industry experience was hired but it happens all the time to our disappointment she wants her own team she wants to handpick them and she wants people that she work with in the past I would start putting my résumé out hook up with a good recruiter keep your head down do it asked of you and look for another job and then don’t look back good luck