Should I leave or stay?
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Anonymous
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I went on extended leave from work once my son was born (over a year off) and came back to work part-time with a flexible schedule. I feel fortunate I got such a large amount of time off and then was able to come back with a flexible schedule.
But.... I am absolutely miserable. I've been back for over a month. The Project Manager on my project is a tyrant and gets upset over very small things (i.e. when I went to the bathroom). I feel she is setting me up for failure by not providing me things I need or access to the client. She told our team that no one can talk to the client except her. But for me to do my job, I need to have some communication with the client. She hasn't been with the company that long but is very respected by the client and has been on the project longer. She doesn't like the fact that I am a part-time employee and constantly makes comments about it. She won't help me with basic things (like get a phone list or org chart, etc.). She basically hates me and doesn't want me there. She makes comments to me that if I don't deliver on my main deliverable the whole team will lose their jobs so it's all on me. So, I feel like I can't leave with that pressure, but I am so miserable that I want to leave. I literally cry every morning before going to work. On top of this, they never implemented my salary (a substantial amount) I got over maternity leave and don't want to do anything about it (even though I have reached out to HR and mgr multiple times). Is it worth it? If I leave, I feel like I risk burning bridges and it will definitely be a painful exit as I just came back onboard. |
Anonymous
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Document these issues with the PM. If she is the only one who can talk to the client, then email her every time you have an issue that needs to come before client and let her know when you need her to get back to you. If she won't provide phone lists or other docs you need to do your job, put those requests in writing.
Same goes for the rude comments. Send an email documenting it: "After the staff meeting this morning, you said 'XYZ.' Is there a problem with my part-time status?" And start applying for jobs. It may take longer than you think to find something else. GL. |
Anonymous
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You are my wife. She quit Friday.
Same story. Maternity, back part time. Horrible boss. She just said fuck it. |
Anonymous
I agree with the previous poster to keep it professional and document everything while you hedge your bets by looking for another job. I would also highlight the pressure that everyone will lose their jobs if you don't deliver on the main deliverable. You may be able to use this to get her to be more reasonable. There is obviously a time delay in getting the information you need if you always have to go thru her with the client. You need to address these delays and what impact it has on getting your job done and come up with a workable solution. It could be that the client only wants to deal with one person and not have questions coming from 5 different people, or could be that she is afraid you will have conversations with details or promises to the client and she will look foolish if she doesn't know about them, it could be that for something new to a client she wants to make sure you works with them first. Bottom line though is you have to say the impact and open the floor to finding a compromise that resolves your problem, maybe it is a daily meeting with you, the PM, and the client. I am very sensitive to how withholding information you need or having someone as bottleneck to information you need to do your job can set you up to fail. I've since learned the only way out of that is to be very upfront to management that you need this information by X date(with enough time to do something about it, not the last minute) in order to meet your deadline, follow-up constantly and be prepared to report on if you've followed up, don't be afraid to escalate i.e. you know in the project management meeting when they ask "is there anything else" that you say "I'm concerned that we haven't gotten the vendor answers on XYZ and deliverable A is due in two weeks". Don't ambush your manager by this being the first time you mention it but if this is a project meeting with his/her manager, your manager will have to publicly commit to getting that information for you, let you take the lead and contact the person for that information, or discuss that your group needs a plan b because you likely aren't going to get that info/ responsiveness and you help shape the discussion on what risk you take going forward without the input and you get everyone's public blessing (which you document in a follow-up email) to go forward anyway. Usually if there is going to be a big impact, management will look to your PM to handle it and in the next meeting will ask the outcome. Just make sure you are on your Ps and Qs with follow-up, communicating status and any issues, being as proactive as possible given time constraints when going to someone with an issue problem (I.e. not like you are just dropping this in their lap and not taking any ownership), and actually delivering when given the information you asked for. Yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, you have to figure out how to make yourself sound so reasonable that by not giving you what you need to do your job (which you would think was freakin obvious) the other person appears to be unreasonable. Yes, you need to do all of this in a pleasant upbeat, helpful, professional manner and not appear to be a complainer or a whiner even when dealing with crazy and irrational. Remember in sports, they rarely call the person that got in the low blow, they call unsportsmanlike conduct on the other person's reaction to it. Even if you end up someplace else, it's not a bad skill to know how to deal with the less than ideal manager, co-worker, or client and the best teacher is experience. Don't feel you have to stick it out, no one is writing on your tombstone "and she outlasted the irrational boss at Acme Inc" but don't feel you have to leave and there isn't something you can either salvage or learn from the situation. I like to believe things work out they way they are meant to work out. I feel like every job I've learned something and I've been fortunate that just at the time when I decided to move on, there was a job that gave me something different and what I needed at that time. Good luck. |
Anonymous
Oh God. This may be what I'm looking forward to in a couple of months. NP here. I want to go back part time, and I'm sure they'll try to get 100% work on a part-time paycheck. I will quit so fast if that happens, but I'd prefer not to do it. |
Anonymous
That's exactly what happened with my wife. She was working PT but they didn't adjust her workload at all so instead of 8 to 10 hour days she just started doing 12 hours.... for less pay. Few months of that shit and she was done. |
Anonymous
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Thanks everyone for your advice. It's much appreciated. I am trying to still figure it out and see how I feel in a week. No decision made yet.
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