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So, Im in a tricky situation. Ive been at a company for 8 years and love the company. but Got a new boss last year and I have had a few issues with him that I have not been.
1) He is a people pleaser, so has accepted and assigned to me a massive amount of work far out my job scope.
2) He accepts work and promising deadlines without knowing how long it will take.
3) He accepts work and sets deadlines, without looking at the other work and deadlines that he has accepted. Then am told to figure it out and push back the other deadlines. I am having to miss deadlines 3-4 times a week, unnecessarily.
4) He accepts work far outside my normal job responsibilities on a frequent basis. Basically, I my job scope under him has changed to "do anything, for anybody". This ranges from programming, to web design, to sales support, to financial reporting.
5) He assigns me work that he is doing as a favor to other people in the company(like one guy wanted to head out early for the holidays) while knowing that I have been working entire weekends and have complained frequently about it.
6) my old boss would give me a lot of visibitility around the company by letting me set up, run meetings, and bringing me to higher level meetings, etc. This boss acts as a bottle neck where I go to very few meetings. only ones that are technical i am needed to describe the work. So more or less, i am just hidden away secretly plowing thru massive amount of work.
I have been extremely vocal about all this. I've even threatened to leave and he immediately turned around and gave me a 22k raise... the tricky part is that he took it out of my other coworkers year end increases.
So, now im in a situation where it may be hard for me to get a job inside my own company, since i just got a raise that took substantial money from multiple coworkers. So, it would probably look unloyal, and otherwise reflect poorly on me to leave right away
At the same time, I dont like my boss. I dont feel like i can be successful at my positioon. And i feel like i am building a bad reputation inside my company by always being asked to break or miss deadlines.
so question, do you think i can reasonably apply to other jobs inside my company? Or do you think it will be difficult to do so, due to the raise?
Suck it up for awhile, say 6 months, then look for a better job and use that raise as your new salary basis. At least you are being well-compensated for being the guy who gets dumped on. Document it carefully when he tells you to push back other deadlines or hands you new work to take priority over existing work. Do what you can to influence your image as not the guy always missing deadlines but the cleanup man who handles the crap nobody else can deal with. You'll be viewed as valuable because every manager wants one of those guys in his department.
Don't badmouth your boss or show animosity. Maybe joke about in a friendly manner how he has you on the 8 day workweek and you expect you'll be waxing his brother-in-law's car next. You aren't going to change who your boss is and your "job scope" is what your employer says it is so just find a way to turn it to your advantage. There are many in your situation but without the pay increase. You may feel dumped on but you can't feel unappreciated or valued.
As for transferring within the company, that's probably not a good idea at this time, at least if you want to keep the pay increase. You're essentially being given "hazard pay" because you're the guy who is saving your boss' bacon. Other department managers probably wouldn't need you in that way and thus wouldn't want to pay you in that way. Or if they did, they would also want to use you in that way as well.
I would stop threatening to leave in the future. It worked once, but it may not work again. Our emotions get the best of us.
I am reminded of a situation. At a previous employer, a manager threatened to leave unless he was promoted. He went from manager to AVP. The following year, he asked for a promotion to VP or consider it his 2 weeks notice. His supervisor told him to leave now and they accept his resignation.
None of his colleagues could refer him to other friends in the industry, due to the guy's threats to his boss. He ended up unemployed locally for months. Eventually, he moved to another state in a different industry at a low level manager's role. People in the industry will talk. People in the same city will talk. He still contacted his former colleagues for help. While they were polite to him and offered encouragement, they would not help him with their industry connections to get a job.
As for the rest of your situation, I am at a loss for words on what to do.
I would stop threatening to leave in the future. It worked once, but it may not work again. Our emotions get the best of us.
I am reminded of a situation. At a previous employer, a manager threatened to leave unless he was promoted. He went from manager to AVP. The following year, he asked for a promotion to VP or consider it his 2 weeks notice. His supervisor told him to leave now and they accept his resignation. None of his colleagues could refer him to other friends in the industry, due to the guy's threats to his boss. He ended up unemployed locally for months. Eventually, he moved to another state in a different industry at a low level manager's role. People in the industry will talk. People in the same city will talk. It burns not only 1 relationship, but multiple relationships.
As for the rest of your situation, I am at a loss for words on what to do.
Very good point! To add on this, if you really want more money, keep looking for another job with significant increase. Once you find it, let the management knows that you received a better offer but would like to stay if they can match it. I think you have to have leverage instead of threaten your boss to give you the raise. Don't threaten to leave and end up like someone as described above. Unemployment should never be an option for anyone who looks for promotion.
As for transferring within the company, that's probably not a good idea at this time, at least if you want to keep the pay increase. You're essentially being given "hazard pay" because you're the guy who is saving your boss' bacon. Other department managers probably wouldn't need you in that way and thus wouldn't want to pay you in that way. Or if they did, they would also want to use you in that way as well.
In more context, I went back to school and got a masters and a a new skillset and was never compensated by company prior to this despite them leveraging my skillset.
if you look at my pay now, it is near industry average. While without my manager, i definetely would of had to leave companies to get properly compensated(just how it onrmally works in these situations), i'm being properly paid for my skillset, not due to the unreasonable workload.
Quote:
Originally Posted by move4ward
I would stop threatening to leave in the future. It worked once, but it may not work again. Our emotions get the best of us.
I am reminded of a situation. At a previous employer, a manager threatened to leave unless he was promoted. He went from manager to AVP. The following year, he asked for a promotion to VP or consider it his 2 weeks notice. His supervisor told him to leave now and they accept his resignation.
None of his colleagues could refer him to other friends in the industry, due to the guy's threats to his boss. He ended up unemployed locally for months. Eventually, he moved to another state in a different industry at a low level manager's role. People in the industry will talk. People in the same city will talk. He still contacted his former colleagues for help. While they were polite to him and offered encouragement, they would not help him with their industry connections to get a job.
As for the rest of your situation, I am at a loss for words on what to do.
It was a threat that i was going to act on. I had a promotion lined up within our own company. it was a one level up move. and i was 50/50 on it. the work wasnt very interesting and it would of been a position that you take if your rushing to move out of your current role and not patient
then my boss rushed thru the massive raise and the situation got complicated.
I think that all of the advice given to you has been very good. The one thing that I would add is if you stay in your current position and take the abuse (and the extra money), how long will it take before you crack up or start having health issues. It sounds like you are an IT guy. I was one too and had to deal with the constant pressure, impossible deadlines and overtime. It was a nightmare to me and I am glad to be out of it. Since much IT work comes with this garbage, jumping from one IT job, internally or externally, may be like jumping from one frying pan into another.
if you look at my pay now, it is near industry average. While without my manager, i definetely would of had to leave companies to get properly compensated(just how it onrmally works in these situations), i'm being properly paid for my skillset, not due to the unreasonable workload.
That's how you view it but it doesn't seem that's how your current employer views it. They didn't up your pay when you improved your skillset so that is not what they are valuing. They only upped it when faced with the prospect of finding someone else to handle the "unreasonable workload".
IIt was a threat that i was going to act on. I had a promotion lined up within our own company. it was a one level up move. and i was 50/50 on it. the work wasnt very interesting and it would of been a position that you take if your rushing to move out of your current role and not patient
then my boss rushed thru the massive raise and the situation got complicated.
That's all good that you able to act on it. Do it twice, and keep pushing the envelope. All your colleagues will talk about it.
Word gets around to managers at other companies, when you apply. They will ask other employees at your current employer, and you will be that guy that has threatened his manager twice. You will be wondering why you can't get hired locally, but people out of state are interested in you.
One time can be overlooked as uncharacteristic. A second or third time will be a reputation earned.
Don't get that reputation no matter how unfairly you have been treated. You need to keep options open at other employers. This is not the only guy I heard about making multiple threats. It worked once, so they did it again. Everybody else heard about it.
This is almost my exact situation with my boss giving me a huge raise recently, yet I've been looking into other departments at my company. Only difference is that I'm not overworked (...anymore, hence the big raise) and I adore my supervisor.
After weighing all the pros and cons, I decided to stick with my current department for the time being. You might want to do so as well for at least several months. I imagine the raise was recent. Give it time to "simmer" before seeking other opportunities.
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