Stay or go? Me & coworkers stuck in hell

[Stilnaught]

Hey guys,

 

i'm breaking my head over my current work situation. It has become a perfect sh*tstorm.

 

I've been working at my place for 3 years (1y trial). It's a fairly well paying job, with very good co-workers & very good conditions (close to home, can take a day off at 24 hours notice (as long as we deliver projects on time), ..). However, my organisation should be renamed into Hell Ltd.

 

My first boss blackmailed people. She gathered evidence to use against teammembers (when she saw the need, good co-workers usually got fake pats-on-the-back while she publicly claimed their accomplishments), and falsified some extra dirt on them. She also had a favourite employee, who she used to back up her critics with false testimonies about said employees. I was never the target of these practices (i worked hard and only had her as a boss for +- 2 years, but my coworkers were abused. The next team member that got hired, he got publicly denounced for something he didn't do. He was so sick of the skeletons in our closet, that he said to her (in private) that he felt like putting a few things on paper towards management. In the open office, he got the next proposition: tell people how bad things were running at our office, and he would get crushed in his trial completion evaluation. If he held his mouth, he'd get a neutral one, and be allowed to be "horizontally transferred" to another office. He was sort of sent to the archive (cfr. Morgan Freeman in Batman). He claims to be happier now, though ...

 

And things were going bad at a professional level too. My boss wasn't educated for a management position, nor for our specific field. I secretly made a forecast: if all companies who were our customer would press charges about contract breaches, the clear-cut cases alone would cost our company more or less 1,5 years of profits. If i'd include the 'shady ones', of which i knew no similar case which led to charges but weren't in line with legislation, probably double or triple that.

 

She got promoted away, since our area manager is entirely on her list. She is no longer in our office, but still reports to the same area manager. She constantly interferes in our business, doesn't send us information she gets (she still gets a lot of mails for our office, from people who don't know she got promoted), she even introduces herself as being responsible for our office as well. Our area manager bluntly ignores complaints about this, and cancels about 80% of all meetings with us/our boss.

 

Internal control mechanisms are not working. Someone got hired to look at our files, but she only looks at the completeness of our files, not at the content or the application of contract law. She spends her time studying at work for promotion, and would probably get instantly fired if a scandal broke out about our situation.

 

So, why didn't i run to the hills already?

- i'm up for promotion, not because of favouritism but by becoming a bit of a father figure to the younger people in my office, and lack of alternatives.

- i don't think i can get conditions as good as mine are now. My pay may increase if i can play out my added experience, but the easiness of taking leave at 24 hours notice is absoluty awesome.

- I am a single parent, jumping ship is véry hard on all terms right now.

- My coworkers are awesome, and want to innovate the way we work as much as i do.

- My contract has been made up rather tightly (more or less a mistake the company made), so i cannot get fired easily. They would have to constantly shell me with bad reviews for 2-3 years in order to get me out.

 

 

But the situation is heavily on our nerves. My former boss might be promoted again, and have several offices (including ours) under her command. One of my coworkers got a burnout (he had a longer history in the company, so he had been building up stress for a longer time. We fully understand what happened to him at the office).

 

What would you guys recommend? Try to put this situation off my shoulders for a while and see if things get better (while my kid grows, my bank accounts prospers), or take a hike while i'm still young and can build a career at a healthier place? I'm pondering and pondering and pondering ....

 

Additional question: should i stay quiet about the mess i'm in towards management?

 

My best friend told me to quit, and write a book about it ...

Edited June 9, 2019 by Stilnaught
Layout got scrambled

[Marc878]

It's tough to fight city hall. Most often from what I've seen they'll find ways to terminate what they consider non team layers.

 

Upper management will protect one another unless it's blatantly obvious but in some cases I've seen they'll even take care of those as well.

 

You have to accept it or leave it.

 

There are zero perfect scenarios.

[Mr. Lucky]

Just have to wonder if you’re not overreacting to her influence, especially now she’s out of your office. You seem a little over-invested in the drama, perhaps as the “father figure” you’re at the center of the circle.

 

I’ve had some truly bad bosses, and if what you describe is Hell then it’s seventh circle at best. I’d be tempted to take up kickboxing or spin class, blow off some steam and focus on my own progress and financial well-being. Seems a certain amount of your energy currently expended unproductively. YMMV...

 

Mr. Lucky

[Stilnaught]

Just have to wonder if you’re not overreacting to her influence, especially now she’s out of your office.

 

 

The main problem there is that she may be physically gone, but she's our biggest 'internal customer'. So, with her withholding information (going as far as blaming us publicly for not acting faster/better in certain situations we don't even know about) and smearing us, she's constantly under our skin.

 

 

I kept a lot of 'the little things' out of this story, to keep it readable. We try to dodge confrontations and fights with her, but every week something new surfaces.

 

 

For instance: one of my coworkers even had HR suddenly investigating him, as someone had complained about 'stealing company materials' while he was going home with a few dossiers (entirely by the book). By coïncidence, we found out that she had made the complaint, as she was present at our site for a big meeting that day and after commenting on my leaving coworker she started raging there, about us and how worse we got since she was gone. Some of the other area managers openly admit being baffled by her behaviour, but don't want to risk their own positions by confronting her.

[Foxhall]

I could not even begin to try to answer your question,

 

just reading this I realise what a lone ranger I am really,

 

I have no time for office backbiting or of trying to fit in, trying to understand a workplace dynamics,

 

I am happy enough actually, I fell into teaching recently and this suits me,

 

I am more or less my own boss, I deliver the material, I maintain detached from the students although I will do my best for them,

 

this type of scenario fitting in with the crowd in an office, No thanks.

[ChatroomHero]

I am a firm believer that if your personal life is happy due to the freedom and perks of your professional life, focus on that as a reason to stay.

 

 

 

 

You might find other jobs don't allow you freedom, insist you work late without notice, don't respect your need to do things for your kid, have the same 'issues' in different forms, less job security, etc.

 

 

 

 

Basically document everything you do or more directly, CYA with anything you are working on with a journal and dates, emails etc. to cover yourself if things go south. Basically if you can't change the world for the better in your company's culture, protect yourself and do the right thing and let others do what they are going to do. If you find that the stress is bleeding into your personal life or they are doing things to other co workers that you can't stand for, then maybe look somewhere else.