My relationship with my immediate supervisor has gotten worse in the past 6 months or so. A little background: He is a couple of years older than me. Qualification and experience wise, I have a solid background compared to his. I have always worked in high level professions (similar to his or even better than his) in the past. But due to some personal constrains (Unable to stay away from family, unable to travel frequently, unable to balance work-life) I have decided to leave my previous job for good. Then only I joined with this work place, which is just 5 mins away from home, which offered a good package for a very flexible work. Although the title was much lower to my usual title and capacity, I still went ahead and agreed after confirming from the senior management that I will be respected for who I am, and not for the title of my post. Its been almost 2.5 years since I have joined. Things were going great till last sept. Although my ToR was simple, I was expected to work more and take higher responsibilities by the mgnt. I proved to be successful in that, and I really liked to work as per my capacity despite of the title. Since there was a need, the mgmt used me with my consent. Last year, my ex manager has given me an excellent performance appraisal notifying all the hard-work I have put on towards the end result, and indicated it as something beyond my ToR. He was transferred recently and a new one replaced him. The new boss has always been very defensive and considered me as a big threat to him. He treats all his subordinates as if they are less human. He insults them, and always compares them to the staff in other offices only to put them down. Due to job insecurity, many of them keep their mouth shut. The others have only adequate knowledge and experience as per their post title; thus look up on him for anything. But in my case, I know the work as much as he does, I know the context more than him (as he is new), and I have proved to be successful with the same project already. So, I tend to work independently and creatively which is always suppressed by him. He micro manages me, and often expects me to talk to him frequently before doing anything. He doesn't allow me to contact with management on my own. He doesn't give me any credits for my hard works, but often projects as if he has done them all. So, in the past few months I have been very much demotivated and upset with my job here. Initially I hardly remembered my title, since my responsibilities and respect/appreciation always kept me happy in this work place just as before. But now, i hate to be treated as a low level staff with his micro management. Particularly, since I had worked in a high position before, and have enough capacity it is irritating to be here. He calls my land-line daily at 8.30 to check whether I have reached work place on time. Generally we are not that strict and staff come to work between 8.30-9.00 am, and have loads of flexibility. For ex. My lunch break is 1 hr, but many days, I would just munch something from the work table and resume work, so it takes less than 10 mins. The work ends by 4.30pm, but most of the days we return home from field visits after 6. We do not claim OT as it is not there. He calls me even though if I am on sick leave to check on office matters. If I fail to answer his calls, he will make it a big issue and send mails as if I am being irresponsible. Even in the latest performance appraisal he was like " She can perform well only with constant guidance and support" As if I can't work on my own. Yesterday when I was sick with severe stomach pain. So, I asked him permission to leave the office 2 hrs early. Instead of responding to that, he asked me whether I had finished our work plan. In fact, work plan is not my responsibility. It has to be done by another staff - who is on long leave. There were other stuff, which he asked me to do were also not my responsibility. In fact, my ToR is very simple, and I have done almost everything according to that task. So, with pain in stomach and heart, I carelessly did the work plan in few mins and sent it to him. He was highly disatisfied with that; hence asked me to re-do the work with some strong comments. I really feel I should give it back nicely this time. I am leaving this work place by June to join my previous post. But staying in this post till June is mandatory for some reasons. Vent over... Any suggestions????
This is work place bullying. Record every incident with date and time for a few days. With your past record, I suspect your management team will be willing to listen to how this jerk is bad for the morale of the staff. Let them know it is short term for you but you felt you had the responsibility to inform higher management about your manager's bullying ways for the health of the organisation. If there is a HR department, involve them too in this meeting. I hope they understand where you are coming from. They should, as long as you present it such that you aren't taking it personally.
I see two problems here one with you and one with your manager. You took a low level position but want to continue as though you are above that level , it may not work with everybody, you cannot go around supervisors as they are meant to supervise your job , since your experience is more you may not be liking it. What you need is to come to terms either with your position or take up with higher management to officially give you more responsibility . coming to your manager he looks like mean and unnecessarily strict , you can complain to HR but like timing issue they won't side with you and he will narrate his part of story and most often HR will not do Much. You should talk to him and management to give you a Seperate and individual role so you and your supervisor can be at ease
This sounds very odd "confirming for senior management that I will be respected for ...". Anything not given in writing as part of the job offer, is like lofty promises made at boy-meets-girl meetings - made to get the other party to sign on the dotted line or tie the knot. You joined the job because of the flexibility. They hired you as they got superior talent at lower cost. The arrangement worked for 2.5 yrs. Neither you nor they foresaw the situation where you get a new boss. Don't burn any bridges. Don't spend energies in giving it back to him. June is not so far. Be professional until then - complete your tasks as required. Don't go overboard in applying your excellent knowledge and skills to the tasks. What he is doing is not right, but he cannot be blamed totally for it too. Most would feel insecure at a subordinate who is so over-qualified. If you take up a job for which you are over-qualified, do it quietly. Do it acknowledging to yourself why you are doing it. You are not doing a favor to your employer. You may think your employer is getting a good deal, but, from the employer's pov, it creates other problems. Above all, be professional when accepting or negotiating an offer. Don't bring in intangible and hard to enforce things like "will be respected for who I am, not the title". Once you take up that job for which you are over-qualified, relax and take it easy. Don't over do the job. Be competent, not over-competent. Help or mentor others but not at the risk of making your boss look superfluous or less knowledgeable.
This applies if you are working for Widgets.com or Snapchat. If on the other hand, you are working in a field that affects other people - laying high-speed maglev rail lines, building super-colliders or doing research, then do the best darned job you can. Keep your end up while looking for ways to get out of the situation (in your case that's already done). In some areas of work, your moral obligations are larger and extend beyond your immediate work environment. This is true, always. However, one of the hallmarks of the chronically insecure is that once they feel that first twinge of self-doubt, they will be determined to interpret every display of competence as an exercise in showing off or as an effort to put them down. All one can do is tread carefully and provide what little reassurance is possible under the circumstances.
I am sorry - I know how you feel - when you know your job , like the flexibility but the Boss is an a** I dont know what field you work in , so ignore me if what I say doesnt apply to your situation : 1) I agree with Rihana , dont burn bridges. 2) Take solace in the fact that is ss only for 2 months - imagine if you still needed to hold on to this job for the foreseeable future. That would be a bigger issue 3) Given he is new , he is unlikely to try to fire you in the next 2 months - this gives you some leverage. Aim to cover your bases - but not help him as little as possible. If he is trying to pass off your work as his - even though you owe him the work , dont give him details of the how and why. If someone higher up asks in your presence , let him fumble and then take over. You get the idea? When you are sick - here is where you can use the leverage. Politely tell him , you are not in a position to deliver quality work. As much as possible keep all communication in email (aka proof) Also - the intangibles are sadly not something you can hold anyone accountable for.
Thanks everyone for your time and the valuable response. @guesshoo Thanks for the term which I was looking for. Yes, it is indeed work place bullying. In fact, I have started to copy our senior management while replying to his rude e-mails. Not sure whether they are seeing it or not. But at least, this fellow has realized it and started to bully be via other ways. Eg: TP calls. But yes, I can record the calls and send the clips if necessary. But I am trying my best to remain professional without loosing my own dignity. Lets see... @armummy I know my title and my limitations here. So, I behave as appropriate to my level. Since the very first day itself, I was respecting this hierarchy and always go through my supervisors. Just that, my supervisors or the senior managers identify my potentials every now and then, and check my background and then assign tasks since they believe I could do them. Since I too want some challenges and sense of achievement in the field, I accept them with grace, and perform successfully. The cycle repeats, but after 2.5 years no one checks whether I can do it or I am ready to do it. These additional tasks have become part of my duty. All I get for the extra work is the excellent performance appraisal, recognition, and appreciation by the team. @Rihana What is there to feel odd about this? At the interview panel, almost all the interviewers asked this question "whether I will be comfortable to work in a lower position as this'? To which I replied, I have accepted this title and the salary which I will be offered. That's why I have applied for this job. But I expect you to ensure that I will be respected and treated for who I am and not based on my title. To this, they confirmed professional treatment at the work place. They are not just promises. In addition to my contract, which comes from the ToR, I also signed the code of conduct, office ethics documents and several other documents which spoke a lot about professional ethics. Respect and good manners were the main thing highlighted in all of them. Work place bullying, harassment, and ill-manners are all punishable offence according to those documents. While signing the ToR, there was this last line - which indicated 'perform any other duties as required". And I have always been appraised under that line for the exceptional contribution. He is the 3rd boss in my 2.5 years here. The first one retired after working 6 months with me. The second one worked for 1.5 years, and it was a very smooth ride too. He is the 3rd one. There are other managers, senior officials, sector specialists and all are working and directly or indirectly overseeing my work. None of them had issues with me. I get you... I was in a bad mood when I posted this thread. But I feel, he is not worth to fight with. He is loosing his contract anyway sometimes in September. The management has given him ultimatums for several other issues, and noted his problems such as insecurity, superiority etc and warned him too. These are the problems that he must work on. He is not employed by a private company to work as he please. This international work place has a work standard which he must respect. There is so many retired high end officers have re-joined with us as volunteers for smaller posts. But it doesn't mean they could be disrespected or ill-treated for their title, just because their supervisors are less talented compared to them. More so, in our work place, we ensure the drivers are respected and the office assistants have their respect too. And I am sure, the management knows the ground level problems though they haven't taken any solid measures to mitigate them. Or perhaps, they are taking measures which I do not know. But I have no intention of reporting as of now. It is a mere waste of energy. I try to be professional.
@sokanasanah You are right. Mine is not a data entry or any kind of routine computer based work. There is nothing like a limitation to work in my area, except for the financial obligations. The quality of the work is mostly measured and reported. For ex: Both myself and my fellow colleague may be assigned with same no of cases to work for the month. But how I responded the cases and reported the matter differs with how my colleague does with her limited skill, and experience. Even though my title is same as hers, what I produce will be no less than that of my supervisors. I can't deliver a lower quality product/report just because I sit in a lower job. It is impossible. Also, what I deliver here will essentially help me to get more opportunities within this organization - which gives flexible work life. So, who will skip that? Just because my supervisor is finding it very hard to prove himself to be better than me to the senior mgmt, doesn't mean I should deliver any lesser than what I can.
It is an inevitable consequence of having been over-qualified but made a conscious choice to take a lower-level/skill job for your own personal reasons. Same here: I have taken a giant leap from a senior executive to an 8-hour average job for my own personal/professional reasons. I lay low, keep my head down, stay away from office politics, relationships, gossip, work no more than 8 hours, do what is required of my job description and come home to my life. No one knows my highly impressive professional background, education or career path. I am just another body to fill a role within the company. I do not talk about my background because it will make things worse. Do I get bullied and have to absorb nasty comments. Absolutely - because to them I am another new face learning the ropes and they will use all their powers and authority to remind me at every opportune moment "Who is the boss here!" I was prepared for it when I made this choice; although, of course reality can be more testing at times. {On a side note: I was harassed and bullied even as a senior executive because no one wanted to report to or take instructions from a colored woman - double minority here}
