[reb569]

I've been with my current company for 12 years. I've had a couple promotions, but basically, I'm just a worker bee, but with tons of experience in what I do, and a history of being dependable.

Last May, the Director of the Division I work in, moved to another position and was replaced by an outside hire. I never had a problem with the old director, although many people did. The new Division Chief is really a good guy, totally different management style and quite a bit of fun. He expects results, but he's fair and honest. So from May to January I reported to him.

Last October, the Director of another Division, more of an IT role, who I had worked with on a year-long project to redesign the company website moved to our area. It was a strange move to say the least and there was no explanation of why this change was made. I have found out that he had caused a lot of issues in his former division and a couple of long term employees known to be important assets (who also worked on the Web Design Project from the technical side) had filed complaints against him, resulting in him being moved to our area.

Since October, he has made it a habit to show up about 10 or 11 am, work for a couple hours, take lunch, maybe come back for an hour or so, then leave for the day. I was still reporting to the Division Chief, but was on this other guys "team". In January a change was made so that I started reporting to him.

The last two weeks, he has started actually coming to work almost on time, is only taking 1 1/2 hour lunches and is staying till 5 or after. I suspect the Division Chief came down on him and told him he needs to show up to work.

Anyway -- he called me in for a meeting one day last week to let me know that I was, "spending too much time working on supporting projects" (projects that other company personnel are the lead on), and "not enough time on priority projects" (projects that he's the lead on) and that I need to spend 50% of my work day on his projects, 50% on projects for others. He pulled me off of a project that is due for completion this Friday, and has made it impossible for me to work on other projects that I am working on. I got notice on two new projects (for others) on Friday. In the meantime, he's asking me to do spreadsheets that he could do (he delegates nearly everything (to me), and only does high level work, he's above everything else) and assigning additional projects.

I am already totally stressed out from my daughter's MI over the last year and dealing with my own MI and the added stress of dealing with this is taking it's toll. I kept it together over the weekend, but now the stress is building again. I'm going in early today so that I can finish the one project before he gets there, and then will transition over to his projects. I know other people are going to be hitting me up on "When will you be able to do xxxx"? and I don't have an answer.

Sorry for the length. Just venting.

[Yzen]

When people ask you "When will you be able to xxxx?", I would be open to them and say that "my priorities have been redirected by my manager to work on yyyy and I am not certain when I can give priority to xxxx." I would just give them the facts. I have made the mistake of trying to please everyone and do it all, but you need to protect your mental health, your balance, and protect the boundaries of what you can reasonably do.

That is a tough situation to report to someone that shouldn't be managing. If they keep changing this guy's role in the company, they may be trying to figure out what to do with him because he hasn't been successful in his other roles.

I hope your situation get better, reb569.

[reb569]

I did actually reach out to the three people in my division that I get most of my work from last week to let them know what was going on. I also get a lot of requests from outside of our division though, but yes, you're suggestion is a good one.

As for yesterday. No acknowledgement that I was even there. Didn't speak to me or even look at me the whole day. I got a couple emails late in the afternoon. I asked who was supposed to be lead on a new project because it came from outside the division, and so now, we have to have a meeting. I'm not sure why, I developed the section of the website that I need to add content to. I just need to know what "bucket" it belongs in so I can prioritize.

Oh well.

[hvert]

Can you talk to your old boss and see if you can get switched back to him? Having a bad boss is the worst. If you can't switch back to your old boss, I would request weekly or biweekly one on ones with the old boss (who I think is also your boss' boss?). Ask for coaching or whatever - just try to get yourself in front of him on a regular basis so he is aware of your work. The new boss sounds like the kind of person who would try to blame someone else for his poor leadership and laziness.

[reb569]

Originally Posted by hvert

Can you talk to your old boss and see if you can get switched back to him? Having a bad boss is the worst. If you can't switch back to your old boss, I would request weekly or biweekly one on ones with the old boss (who I think is also your boss' boss?). Ask for coaching or whatever - just try to get yourself in front of him on a regular basis so he is aware of your work. The new boss sounds like the kind of person who would try to blame someone else for his poor leadership and laziness.

The only way my supervisor will be changed back is if my current boss gets fired or leaves on his own. Yes my current boss reports to my old boss.

He has tried to blame others for his mistakes. That's how I ended up getting stuck with him.

I do have people backing me, so in the end I'll be ok. It's just going to be stressful in the meantime.

[reb569]

A quick add on to my above reply from yesterday. (It was made from my Kindle and I hate typing long responses on it) He actually did not speak or look at me yesterday. No emails either, even though I sent him several. The projects I worked on after he told me to stop working on another project, I have worked to the point where I need his feedback. I emailed him about two of them during the day on Monday, as of yesterday afternoon, no response or feedback. So today I start the reminder emails.