is it OK to let my staff fail, coworker is being influenced by our toxic boss, and more
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. Is it OK to let my staff fail?
My boss intimidates a lot of my staff. I’ve worked on more exposure, getting to the root of the issues, preparing for meetings, common questions, etc. A lot of it is that the boss knows her stuff, and you can’t BS her. My star performers work great with her, with a high level of mutual respect.
I’m about to go on leave for an extended period of time. I’m C suite level, with a division of a couple hundred under me. While I’m out, stuff will be reported directly to her. Honestly, more people working directly with her will really help them become more comfortable with her.
We’ve got a regular report that has become a beast. I’ve been working with the teams over the report for a couple of months to clean it up and get a better summary in place. Every direction I give gets pushback. Even simple ones like labels of columns so it is in layman’s terms, vs technical ones. At this point, this report is viewed as unhelpful and confusing at best, unreliable data at worst. I’m at my wits end.
While I’m out, the report has to be used for some external audiences in a very summarized form. I’ve gone over time and time again what this will look like (including providing examples, editing versions they did) and it isn’t working.
I don’t understand the disconnect coming from multiple people in that leadership area. Given the short time frame before I’m out, I’ve fallen back on … well, if my staff won’t get the issue now, they sure will when they are getting the feedback directly from my boss.
I don’t want to set up my staff to fail, but I’m not sure where else to go from here. They’ve seen the summary versions I’ve provided before, and I don’t understand how we keep getting stuck in a loop on this. If it happened while I was here, I’d go another four rounds with them cleaning it up. We’re running low on time for me to fix it more. Do you ever let people just fail? I know my patience is thin because of personal things.
Can you just provide a template for the report and say they must use the template, or does that not work for the context? But also — this is odd. It sounds like something significant is going on: there’s a major communication disconnect somewhere, or there’s a skills/competence issue on your team, or … something else, who knows what. Getting the report right is important, but it’s also important to figure out where this disconnect is coming from, because something is going on that reflects a bigger problem.
As for how to handle this when you’re out: let your team know that it’s going to be a Big Deal with your boss if they don’t get the report right and ask what they need from you to ensure they can do that, and also give your boss a heads-up about what’s going on so she’s not blindsided if it’s a mess again.
Really, though, when you’re back from leave, there’s something weird to dig into here.
2. Employee already works too hard and now wants a promotion
I lead a team of front line workers and coordinators in the human service field. One of the coordinators has resigned and a number of the front line workers are interested in and qualified for the coordinator position. One of them, Tom, is an obvious frontrunner, but already comes to work early, works late, and sometimes works on weekends. He also sometimes does most of the work available to the team, leaving the rest of the team feeling like they don’t have enough to do. This is in no way required by the job (others in the same role do not do this, the other coordinators do not, and I don’t do this either) and has been addressed with him by the current coordinator in many ways with little change.
I am concerned that if Tom takes the promotion, which would include more stress and more work, he will continue this pattern. My manager tells me that working hard is a good thing (and I agree), but I am concerned that he will quickly burn out by working too hard. If he does get the coordinator position, how can I address this and support him through it?
Is he exempt or non-exempt? Because a front line worker in human services sounds very much like the job is likely non-exempt — meaning that you’re legally required to pay him overtime for all those extra hours he’s working over 40 in a week. If that’s the case, is he logging those hours and is your company paying the legally required overtime? If not, (a) that’s a problem that needs to be fixed right away and (b) it’s also a problem that Tom is working unauthorized overtime if he’s been told to stop (unless no one has even framed it this way, in which case that needs to happen next).
I’m also wondering what the coordinator’s conversation with him was like. Was it “you don’t need to keep doing all this extra work” or was it “you need to stop doing all this extra work because it’s causing problems for others on the team”? If it was the first … well, fine, that’s worded as a suggestion that he can take or leave. But if it was the second, it’s worth looking at Tom’s relationships with colleagues and how he takes feedback more broadly and what the impact on the team is likely to be from promoting him if they’re all frustrated with him (the latter isn’t necessarily a reason not to do it, but you don’t want to be blindsided by that being a problem after the fact, either) … as well as, frankly, the management practices that are allowing him to ignore clear directives.
None of which is about burn-out, which is the thing you’re asking about. You can certainly have a conversation with Tom from that angle, but “very high work drive” isn’t a reason not to hire someone (although it might be a reason to talk more explicitly with him about setting boundaries to keep his work sustainable long-term). The other issues above worry me more.
3. Can I ethically ignore that a colleague is being influenced by our toxic boss?
My incompetent, insecure boss has decided that I am the root of all problems with our projects (when I’m actually cleaning up their mess). I’m good at my job, I’ve tried to address the behavioral issues through the Correct Channels, I’ve gotten lots of advice and tried to change what I can. But I can’t stay in a toxic environment. I’m actively looking for new roles.
I can ignore Boss — they’re unhinged and there’s nothing I can do to change it. But Boss also has a young protege and is training them in the ways of dysfunction. Wee Boss started as an intern and was hired as soon as they graduated from college; this is the only job they’ve ever had. Wee Boss is smart and hard-working but often careless, sometimes in ways that are embarrassing and make our team look unprofessional. I gave Wee Boss some gentle but firm feedback, making it clear that mistakes happen but it would be great if they didn’t happen in the future. I’m now forbidden to give Wee Boss any feedback despite being in project management, because their feelings were hurt by my carefully worded compliment sandwich. In only a year, I’ve seen Wee Boss grow rude, arrogant, and resistant to learning new things.
Because I’m on my way out, I’ve stopped trying to change Boss’s behavior. HR doesn’t care, GrandBoss is retiring and also doesn’t care. I could file multiple union grievances but that takes time and effort and won’t change Boss. But then there’s Wee Boss, who will either get fired from their next job because gentle feedback makes them cry, or will end up bullying their coworkers. Maybe both. Wee Boss is just a kid, Boss is setting them up for failure, and it feels unethical not to try to stop that. But also, I’m so done with this job and it’s BS. What do I do?
Wash your hands of it and move on. You tried to give feedback and they were upset by it, and this isn’t your employee so you’re not obligated to coach them. You offered some coaching anyway and they rejected it. So: not your problem.
It’s not unethical not to force help on someone who has made it clear they don’t want it and isn’t your minor child or otherwise a dependent.
4. My brother was rightfully fired — should he include that job on his resume?
My brother was a mechanic for a big supplier of warehouse equipment, where he routinely went on service calls in a company truck that had all of his company tools in it. He was expected to drive this vehicle home at night, then directly to whatever service call was required at start time the next day. He was a non-exempt, hourly employee.
He spoofed the GPS on this truck so he could go home while on the clock when he finished projects in under the budgeted amount of time without clocking out.
Unsurprisingly, he was unceremoniously ushered out the door upon discovery. He had worked there for about four months, and had the GPS spoofed for a couple weeks.
How does he list this on job applications and/or a resume? He had previously worked at a similar company for a couple of years with no negative incidents (that I know of, at least), so I am tempted to recommend to him to just leave this job off, list the actual start and finish dates of his previous jobs, then when asked about the gap, state that he was doing some work to pay the bills, but it didn’t seem extensive or relevant enough to include. Is that ethical? It is technically accurate, but I’m close enough to the situation that I’d like to know if I’m off-base here. If a prospective employer keeps asking for details, I’d advise him to simply tell the truth.
I want to give him sound advice that gives him the best chance at getting a new job without crossing any moral or ethical lines.
He should absolutely leave the job off his resume. He’s going to have a very hard time getting hired if they find out why he left. A resume isn’t required to be a comprehensive listing of everything he’s ever done; if a job doesn’t strengthen him as a candidate, and definitely if it does more harm than good, he can leave it off.
That said, he still may encounter applications that ask if he’s ever been fired from a job, and will likely need to attest that he’s answering that question truthfully. Whether to do so or not is between him and his conscience; realistically, if he erases this last job from his memory, future employers may never find out (particularly if they’re not in the same field) — but if he lies and gets caught, he could lose future jobs over the omission. (Realistically, if it comes out it’s more likely to cause a problem at the hiring stage, meaning he just wouldn’t get that offer, rather than after he’s already been working there a while. But the latter isn’t impossible either.)
Related:
how do employers know if you’re answering “have you ever been fired” honestly?
5. Does a temporary assignment have a shorter expiration date as resume material?
My partner is having a fantastic first experience of people management, in the form of a 10-month maternity leave cover. He’s getting strong feedback from his reports, peers, and skip-level manager (his direct manager is asleep at the wheel — another story). He is sure people management is where he wants to focus his future career if possible. At the end of this cover period, he’ll likely go back to being an individual contributor. Some of his colleagues at the company have done the same and, three or four years after the cover assignment ended, are still individual contributors, having applied for internal management roles and not happening to get them (and in one case getting feedback that cover assignments “aren’t real management experience” — though the company is so huge, it’s hard to say if that’s a cultural view or an individual hiring manager’s opinion).
So my question is, does the resume value of a cover role have an unspoken expiration date? If my partner wants to use this experience to support an application for a permanent manager position, will it have more traction if he is applying, say, six months after this role ends, as opposed to three or four years after? Because if so, it may make sense for him to job hunt fairly energetically outside the company in the next year or so, alongside applying for any relevant internal positions. He’s open to the idea if it is the pragmatic choice, though he really likes his company and his colleagues.
It’s a hard question to answer, because it will vary from hiring manager to hiring manager. But all else being equal, there’s value in it being recent. It won’t “expire” three years from now, but it’ll likely carry less weight than if it were recent. That doesn’t mean it won’t carry any weight, just that if he job searches now, it might give him a bit more of a bump than if he waits. But I don’t think the difference is significant enough that it should cause him to leave a job he otherwise likes and is happy at.
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