Dear Joan:
I work in an office and have been in the particular department for over 10 years. I am at my wits end, and wonder if you can see any solution, or if I need to look elsewhere.
Our boss supervises eight of us. She has been here six years, and things have never been good as far as the favoritism, but now it is completely out of hand. By her own admission, she does not like confrontation, although it seems she is willing to confront those she doesn´t particularly care for, even doing so in front of the others in the department.
Other employees are cut no end of slack, and it is severely damaging morale. These people are chronically late, usually 30 minutes or more each day, or sneak out early, or both. Because we don´t use a time clock, these very same people still miraculously manage to work a 40-hour workweek. How do I know that? Because they are so brazen they brag about getting away with it, week after week. It has become a game to them.
One in particular also sleeps at work (I wish I could say I was making this up), reads at her desk, and worst of all, is a vicious office gossip, running around telling the others in our department what someone else supposedly said about them, real or imagined. She will also go to our boss with things she claims to have overheard, and instead of being told to go back to work, the "offender" is called in and confronted, even though there is no basis other than that this employee claims to have heard it said. It has caused more fights than I can even begin to tell you.
Other employees will start complaining about the behavior of these two, it escalates, and then everyone is called together for a meeting, yelled at and told to be on time and not to worry about what anyone else does. Of course, this goes right over the heads of the two offenders (or they choose to ignore it), and everyone is resentful for getting yelled at for things they haven´t even done.
I fall somewhere in the middle. I don´t seem to be one of the favorites, but I am not one of the targets, either. However, I too am getting very sick of seeing the horrible work ethic of these two employees allowed to go on day after day. One person in our office has tried going to HR with no results (she was told there are other jobs out there if she is that unhappy), and our boss´s boss has said she doesn´t want to get in the middle of this. Do you see any hope, or do I need to look elsewhere? I enjoy the job itself, but this is beginning to overshadow everything else.
Answer:
The easy answer is to advise you to pay attention to your own job and not worry about what your coworkers are getting away with. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, that is easier said than done.
There´s plenty of wrongdoing on all fronts: your coworkers should be fired for their gross misconduct, your boss is clueless about how to lead, your boss´s boss isn´t doing her job, and sadly, the person in HR is either incompetent of ignorant about her role.
Your coworkers have made a game out breaking the rules because your boss is so easy to manipulate. Instead of stepping in closer to monitor their behavior when she hears a complaint, the manager punishes the whole team. I´ve worked with managers like this before and they will often say, "Supervising is like babysitting! I can´t stand the way they tattle on each other!" Tattling is a huge red flag that something is very wrong and should be addressed. Instead, these managers ignore the complaint because it would mean they have to do something. They look the other way and assume all employees are like children. "Why can´t they just get along?" they whine. Duh...they aren´t getting along because the playing field isn´t level.
I can understand why your boss´s boss doesn´t want to get in the "middle of it," but that doesn´t excuse her. Her job is to act on complaints like this. If her manager isn´t doing her job, she should step in as the leader, have a conversation with her manager, and if necessary, involve HR.
For instance, she should ask this manager to give her a full accounting of her people´s performance, share her concerns and insist that she monitor her employees more closely. She may want to ask HR to do an investigation regarding the complaints. This might involve a series of interviews, a review of exit interviews, or a 360-degree assessment of the manager.
To prevent a situation like this, some executives have lunch periodically with a rotating list of employees at all levels (without the manager), just to stay in touch with what is going on at all levels in their divisions. This isn´t spying, it´s responsible leadership.
I suggest you begin a job search. Honest attempts have been made to rectify the situation to no avail. When you leave, perhaps you can staple this column to your exit interview.
Joan Lloyd is an executive coach, management consultant, facilitator and professional trainer/speaker. Reach her at Joan Lloyd & Associates, (800) 348-1944, info@joanlloyd.com or www.JoanLloyd.com © Joan Lloyd & Associates, Inc.
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