Language Discrimination, etc

[Anonymous]

This is a bit lengthy, but I would truly appreciate some honest advice and insight:

Today, I was blindsided by my current manager at work (large bank headquarter), who forwarded me her comments for my mid-year review, which were shockingly scathing. In it, she suggested that my position has become too advanced for my skill set and that I have taken too long to complete projects and my communication skills are not good enough.

To give you some background, I have worked at this company's headquarters for 8 years and have gone up in the ranks from Accounts Payable to Reconciliation Control and finally Quality Assurance Analyst. I started out when I first moved to the United States, and also went back to school to complete my bachelor's degree in Business Administration and A.S. in Accounting. My department has shifted roles and joined other division three times and most recently (about a year and a half ago) a new manager was brought on and my then-manager became my coworker. I should note, she had worked at the bank for 20 years and only has a high school diploma.

I was one of three people who started out the department, and we had no handbook or procedures and figured everything out on our own. Since then, we have added ten more employees, many of whom are personal friends of the new manager. Things have definitely solidified. As my manager has hired more people, she also put on a lot of extra pressure on me, especially regarding my grammar errors (mostly commas/periods/spaces) and about a year ago she flat out required that I send her every single email I send out so she can check for grammar. Again, my job is in finance not journalism, but I complied because I did not want any headaches.. I should also note, that this very same manager had grammatical mistakes in her mid-year remarks about me today. In it, she also alleges that I am taking too long to complete projects, which is a flat out lie, and as evidence she is referencing two project: one where she changed the entire data set more than midway through and I was forced to start all over, and another when the department was just formed and all of us, my manager included, were figuring out how to work things out.

I have never been written up, and with the exception of her obsession with grammar, spaces and commas, I have never been told that my work was less than satisfactory. Quite to the contrary, my last mid-year review went extremely well and we have weekly one-on-ones in which she has not mentioned anything about my performance that she has brought up in her mid-year review. Our last one-on-one was last week and she said I was doing a good job.

Over these past years, I really have gotten the feeling that my accent/communication has always been a problem for management, and they have tried to single me out by monitoring my grammar for a long time. I should note that all my coworker and managers have been native-born English speakers and I am and have been the only foreign-born person in my department. There is no one else who is targeted so much for grammar as I am. Another important factor is that while communicating via email is an important part of our work, most of the work we do is in Excel. This is a numbers-drive and not an advisory/analytic position.

I am looking for some advice on what to do. I have gotten sick of being singled out and have been looking for a new job for a few months now -- came close twice, but both fell through due to bad recruiters. My current manager, trying to move forward with her plan, has already indicated that she wants to help me find a job that better suits my "skills" (i.e. demote me). Should I file a complaint with the company? Should I just keep my head down?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a bit lengthy, but I would truly appreciate some honest advice and insight:

Today, I was blindsided by my current manager at work (large bank headquarter), who forwarded me her comments for my mid-year review, which were shockingly scathing. In it, she suggested that my position has become too advanced for my skill set and that I have taken too long to complete projects and my communication skills are not good enough.

To give you some background, I have worked at this company's headquarters for 8 years and have gone up in the ranks from Accounts Payable to Reconciliation Control and finally Quality Assurance Analyst. I started out when I first moved to the United States, and also went back to school to complete my bachelor's degree in Business Administration and A.S. in Accounting. My department has shifted roles and joined other division three times and most recently (about a year and a half ago) a new manager was brought on and my then-manager became my coworker. I should note, she had worked at the bank for 20 years and only has a high school diploma.

I was one of three people who started out the department, and we had no handbook or procedures and figured everything out on our own. Since then, we have added ten more employees, many of whom are personal friends of the new manager. Things have definitely solidified. As my manager has hired more people, she also put on a lot of extra pressure on me, especially regarding my grammar errors (mostly commas/periods/spaces) and about a year ago she flat out required that I send her every single email I send out so she can check for grammar. Again, my job is in finance not journalism, but I complied because I did not want any headaches.. I should also note, that this very same manager had grammatical mistakes in her mid-year remarks about me today. In it, she also alleges that I am taking too long to complete projects, which is a flat out lie, and as evidence she is referencing two project: one where she changed the entire data set more than midway through and I was forced to start all over, and another when the department was just formed and all of us, my manager included, were figuring out how to work things out.

I have never been written up, and with the exception of her obsession with grammar, spaces and commas, I have never been told that my work was less than satisfactory. Quite to the contrary, my last mid-year review went extremely well and we have weekly one-on-ones in which she has not mentioned anything about my performance that she has brought up in her mid-year review. Our last one-on-one was last week and she said I was doing a good job.

Over these past years, I really have gotten the feeling that my accent/communication has always been a problem for management, and they have tried to single me out by monitoring my grammar for a long time. I should note that all my coworker and managers have been native-born English speakers and I am and have been the only foreign-born person in my department. There is no one else who is targeted so much for grammar as I am. Another important factor is that while communicating via email is an important part of our work, most of the work we do is in Excel. This is a numbers-drive and not an advisory/analytic position.

I am looking for some advice on what to do. I have gotten sick of being singled out and have been looking for a new job for a few months now -- came close twice, but both fell through due to bad recruiters. My current manager, trying to move forward with her plan, has already indicated that she wants to help me find a job that better suits my "skills" (i.e. demote me). Should I file a complaint with the company? Should I just keep my head down?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Your writing seems fine to me, but I am a fellow immigrant. I've been in a similar situation, and what helped is paying an editor to proof-read my work. There are tons of editors out there, google them or ask for references from friends. GL

[Anonymous]

American born daughter and granddaughter of teachers, and I also think your grammar/ spacing / commas seem fine.

What is your accent? I have noticed that some accents are met with disgust and some are met with intrigue.

Examples: French = love, but Indian = hate

Are your weekly one-on-ones in writing? Can you ask her to show you in writing where your grammar is not correct? Definitely keep looking for a new job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:American born daughter and granddaughter of teachers, and I also think your grammar/ spacing / commas seem fine.

What is your accent? I have noticed that some accents are met with disgust and some are met with intrigue.

Examples: French = love, but Indian = hate

Are your weekly one-on-ones in writing? Can you ask her to show you in writing where your grammar is not correct? Definitely keep looking for a new job.

Thank you. My accent is Albanian, so Eastern European. Some comments from weekly one-on-ones are in writing, yes. I am the only foreign person in the group and am often not included in post-work social gatherings (which I have no hard feelings about). However, as the new manager has hired more people whom she knew from her past social/professional life, I think she has viewed me as an outsider. I suspect that is spilling over into my work (with me being singled out for my language & communication skills) and is actually the driving force for trying to find a way to get rid of me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:American born daughter and granddaughter of teachers, and I also think your grammar/ spacing / commas seem fine.

What is your accent? I have noticed that some accents are met with disgust and some are met with intrigue.

Examples: French = love, but Indian = hate

Are your weekly one-on-ones in writing? Can you ask her to show you in writing where your grammar is not correct? Definitely keep looking for a new job.

Thank you. My accent is Albanian, so Eastern European. Some comments from weekly one-on-ones are in writing, yes. I am the only foreign person in the group and am often not included in post-work social gatherings (which I have no hard feelings about). However, as the new manager has hired more people whom she knew from her past social/professional life, I think she has viewed me as an outsider. I suspect that is spilling over into my work (with me being singled out for my language & communication skills) and is actually the driving force for trying to find a way to get rid of me.

Yeah, Eastern European accents are harsh- sounding to Americans. Nobody thinks German is a romantic language, for example. You may not be able to tell this, but is your accent thick? Eh you know what? Fuck that. It doesn't matter since you're not doing customer service. Gather all the weekly one-on-one reviews that are in writing and make sure you use commas properly when writing large numbers. I think, from a legal standpoint, that this would be a very hard case to prove. You might be right, but proving you're right might be difficult. Where I work, there's no shame in always asking a coworker to review your work for errors. Do you have a(n American) coworker you can ask to review things that are going out? We do this consistently and nobody minds and everyone would rather take the two minutes to make sure nothing goes out with mistakes. Keep looking for another job.

[Anonymous]

Keep your head down and keep looking for another job. I don't see any indication of grammar issues in your email. I would not start having someone proofread or make other changes to your work process unless your manager specifically requests that. You said she has been reviewing all of your emails for the past year. Did she give you any indication in this meeting as to how she feels like that process is going, ie will that continue, is she any more confident in your grammar than she was a year ago, etc?

[Anonymous]

Your grammar and usage are perfect.

If you feel that the grammar patrol is a proxy for discrimination (and it very well may be), file a complaint. Having every email proofread is outrageous. As a manager, I can tell you that native-born Americans do not write as well as you.

There is something strange about the way you are being managed if everything you say is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, Eastern European accents are harsh- sounding to Americans. Nobody thinks German is a romantic language, for example. You may not be able to tell this, but is your accent thick? Eh you know what? Fuck that. It doesn't matter since you're not doing customer service. Gather all the weekly one-on-one reviews that are in writing and make sure you use commas properly when writing large numbers. I think, from a legal standpoint, that this would be a very hard case to prove. You might be right, but proving you're right might be difficult. Where I work, there's no shame in always asking a coworker to review your work for errors. Do you have a(n American) coworker you can ask to review things that are going out? We do this consistently and nobody minds and everyone would rather take the two minutes to make sure nothing goes out with mistakes. Keep looking for another job.

Honestly, I wouldn't call my accent or manner of speaking harsh. I actually am very soft-spoken, though as you say not that it matters. I have co-workers who I communicate with us and discuss work projects with, however in my mid-year review, the manager actually noted that I rely on others too much and do not try to solve problems myself first. Again, this was deceptively written as the entire department was new and everyone was consulting with each other about what we were doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep your head down and keep looking for another job. I don't see any indication of grammar issues in your email. I would not start having someone proofread or make other changes to your work process unless your manager specifically requests that. You said she has been reviewing all of your emails for the past year. Did she give you any indication in this meeting as to how she feels like that process is going, ie will that continue, is she any more confident in your grammar than she was a year ago, etc?

In the weekly one-on-ones, she did not say anything about it. There have been emails I sent her her that just say something like "okay, thank you very much and have a great weekend," or "can you email me this data set," so it really became quite ridiculous. In the mid-year review, she once again brought this up and tried to make an issue out of it, even though I have had no major grammar problems whatsoever. To be honest, everyone makes a type and given we are only communicating internally between departments and other low or mid-level employees, I don't think it it's that big of a deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your grammar and usage are perfect.

If you feel that the grammar patrol is a proxy for discrimination (and it very well may be), file a complaint. Having every email proofread is outrageous. As a manager, I can tell you that native-born Americans do not write as well as you.

There is something strange about the way you are being managed if everything you say is true.

Thank you. I feel that it just might be discrimination too. I never signed up to be a writer and I am also not in customer service where I have to communicate with the public on a regular basis. It's definitely very belittling and to help set up the department (documenting new procedures/processes) one and a half years ago, only for her to come back and tell me my skill set and communication are not good enough. It feels like a stab in the back.

[Anonymous]

It does seem bizarre, OP. Your writing and grammar seem perfectly fine to me and I was a copy editor! There is such a thing as national origin discrimination -- does not have to be race. If you feel you are being discriminated against due to being foreign-born, you may wish to (a) complain to HR and (b) consult a lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Dear OP.I am an immigrant myself and I ve been in your shoes.However it's not always about being an immigrant.My DH is American and had similar boss in the past ,who,what a coincidence, also had only high school diploma.He worked at the company for 8 years under same boss, never been promoted, was severely depressed because she was constantly putting him down etc.Eventually he found another job,and 5 years later he is a VP in a great company.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PPs. Your writing is great and I wouldn't have guessed you were foreign born. My advice is to keep your head down and actively look for another job. Even if you file a complaint, it's not going to be worth it. Better to take your skills somewhere you can thrive - or at least not have to worry about the faux-grammar police.

[Anonymous]

I would not want to stay in that toxic environment. Perhaps a new job is what you need

[Anonymous]

The manager just wants to give all the jobs to her buddies. The OP is the last holdout and the boss is latching on her language skills, because like many uneducated Americans she thinks foreigners are inferior and illiterate.
Still, I recommend you look for another job. You come across as a quiet, reserved individual not well suited for workplace battles.
Just in case, do not sign your acceptance of the mid-year review.