Surviving through turbulences 10

[g2015]

Hello,

I have recently joined a new engineering company (Automotive industry). I have about 10 years previous experience in the same industry working mainly in multinational companies.

After about 4 weeks of work, the boss started to attack by blaming me for very minors things. This boss has now no complex in blaming me anytime. Currently I am working very hard to not leave any chance of finding mistakes. I focus all my energy to try to do a good work.
This boss is allergic to any contradictors (including other very senior people), and is always willing to impose their view on how to do anything (I really mean anything, like how to answer to the phone, how to organize my own desk, also commenting on why this short cut key is used instead of another, it really goes to this level of details!). What troubles me is that this boss started to criticize some very gentle people (at least I found them gentle) and do not tolerate to be contradicted. I just said I respect their view and tried to escape such conversations. Normally I would respect the experience of this boss, but unethical misconduct triggers a real alarm signal at this point.

When it feels like I sympathize with other colleagues who seems to appreciate me, could become good allies, this boss litteraly asked me to not have further conversation with them.

Lastly this boss rejected to validate a calculation because I did a mistake that I tried to recover (still possible) even at the price of running the risk that the wrong work calculation will be released to manufacturing center. So all in all this manager prefers to make sure that the mistake stays in the calculation so that it can possibly be used against me. It is the only explanations. Noone would be irresponsable to voluntarly leave a mistake somewhere.

I have really poor experience (5 months) in this new company but the atmosphere is very hostile and insecure and I feel there is a permanent threat on me. It creates lot of difficulties to concentrate and focus on the current work. There is really no efforts to encourage trust to develop.

I am trying to keep up and deliver a good work, avoid mistake/defects with all my forces.
However it feels like there a kind of abuse. Obviously I have started to look for other opportunities but with the current economy especially in the automotive industry, it is very tough.

Appreciate if you can share some strategies on how to deal on a daily manner with such context. If alreayd someome experienced the same trouble please kindly share how you succeeded to overcome or survive.

Thank you!

 

[MikeHalloran]

>>>his boss litteraly asked me to not have further conversation with them.<<< So, don't.
The subject boss appears to not be comfortable with the way you socialize, and with the way you do your work.

Working harder won't fix that.
At least, that's what my experience says.
I've been in similar situations, and tried working harder, and working differently.
It didn't help.

It smells to me like the subject boss is building a case to fire you for cause.
That would not be good for your career.

Get another job, then quit.
Nothing fancy, just a note: "I, <name> hereby resign, effective <date>."
That's it. No explanation. No exit interview. ... but get the other job first.

Subject boss is probably in a hurry, so don't be real fussy about your next job.
You can get a better one later.

You may have to change industries.
Don't let that frighten you.
Bolts is bolts.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Pmatherne]

Honestly
If this is not the big boss at the top, I would go talk with HR and let them know he is creating a poisonous mentality and also let them know about him allowing an error to pass through him. It could be he is natrually like that or something is setting him off.
It almost seems like he has a bully mentality,

Future PE Engineer
Pet project I am working on to help other engineers, not much yet hoping to get it grow as I learn more

http://www.peexamquestions.com

 

[g2015]

Mike,

Thank you for your comment. It is my impression too.
Then next question to you is : how to buy time then ?
Getting a new job takes a while, that is a real worry. I have no problem changing industry. It might be that I appeared arrogant at some times. Is that sufficient to initiate such agressivity ? Ok maybe. But starting by blaming the new employee on very first weeks looks very weird to me as I have really done efforts. The work I did was not perfect, but I achieved some progress and it has been acknowledged to be good enough by some others.

What strategy would you suggest to build some allies ?

If this boss wants to build a case against me, what type of error could be fatal to me so that I work hard enough tp prevent it or at least try to fight against it ?

You have been through such situations before, was it so intense ?

Pmatherne,

I understand your point. I got the same idea. But problem is that I dont trust none in this company. Certainly not the HR.

What I am trying right now is to gain sympathy of the others and network a bit, just to make the task of this boss not easy.


Anyhow I thank you for your contributions. It helps as I try very hard to let none aroune me in my family knows about my troubles.

 

[77JQX]

I disagree with Pmatherne. HR is not your friend. HR is there to protect the organization from the individuals that make it up. Sometimes HR protects the organization from the rouge boss, but mostly, it protects the organization from disgruntled workers. When HR protects workers, it's because the law requires them to - the worker is in a protected class (disabled, etc.) or the boss' behavior is clearly illegal (sexual harassment, etc.). You might have some claim that they are isolating you and creating a hostile environment, but the burden of proof is on you, and it's just as likely that they'll claim they told you not to talk with anyone else is that you were poisoning the work environment with your complaints. It's easier for everyone involved (except you), HR included, if they make sure you're fired for the proper reason - job performance. Your claim that a mistake has been allow to go through can be seen as a difference of professional opinion, and that you're not willing to accept direction from your boss.

My advice is to get another job as soon as possible. Even if they weren't going to fire you soon, why would you want to stay there? In the meantime, be quiet - no complaining to anyone, especially not on job interviews.

 

[g2015]

77JQX,

''My advice is to get another job as soon as possible. Even if they weren't going to fire you soon, why would you want to stay there? In the meantime, be quiet - no complaining to anyone, especially not on job interviews. ''

At the moment, I have adopted as golden rule to never complain. A colleague who were already disguted by the manager came to me to complain, I managed to skip the subject or at least not let them know that I am upset. I beleive it will only bring me more troubles.

However it is good that you point out to not complain during job interviews.
Something I have to keep in mind. And yes I dont feel comfortable staying in this organization but just need to find a way out.

It is a pitty because when they hired me it seemed to be because they needed some set of skills. So I left an other good career path for them and basically the capital I have and that I could loose now at any time, as you can imagine, costed me a lot to build and that just because of one person who - apparently - will have absolutely no problem to sleep at night in doing so.
But that is a moral aspect sorry for being a little beside the main subject.

 

[KENAT]

What country are you in geronimo2015? I believe most of the responders so far have been from the US.

The reason I ask is some other jurisdictions can have more protections for workers etc. than most US states have. Now, even there I suspect if you use the law to get them to fire your boss then long term it may not play out for you but I would recommend you spend a little time acquainting yourself with relevant local employment law.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[1gibson]

How can you by time? Gladly accept the boss's comments and tell him he is right, why didn't you think of doing it that way because it is clearly much better!

He will get bored picking on you, and focus more on people that he knows he can irritate.

There is a mistake in your work? I don't know how that could happen Boss, I did it exactly like you told me. What should I do differently?

 

[IRstuff]

Unfortunately, there are those that do indeed go unstable over the course of a career. I once had a manager who called a coworker and me into his office and then proceeded to vociferously and loudly berate my coworker for the better part of half an hour. After he slowed down, my coworker was finally able to get a word in edgewise, "Boss, what exactly is the problem?" The reply, "You didn't turn in your weekly report!!!"

Why was I there? No reason whatsoever; I was no-way, no-how, involved, and shouldn't have even been there in the first place.

This was the same manager who insisted that we have our regular 3pm staff meeting on the same afternoon that all hell was breaking loose during the LA riots. Also, the same manager where a "short" staff meeting would ONLY take 3 hrs, wherein, 2.5 hrs was him yakking away on totally irrelevant subjects.

I agree with those that suggest finding a different job ASAP, and bailing as quickly as humanly possible. Whatever benefit you might have gotten by working in his group is either dissipating or has already dissipated. Such a group is clearly doomed with this type of boss at the helm.

TTFN
faq731-376

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[tygerdawg]

I've worked under someone like that, is very toxic. He's never wrong, blames everyone else for everything, micro-manages to a point of destruction, is obviously incompetent. You follow their direction exactly, it blows up, you still get blamed for everything. Is not a team builder or works towards any type of collaboration, but constantly uses Machiavellian tactics to disrupt the entire organization. Toxic.

There may be many reasons for this behavior. In my experience, most are of a personal nature and should never show up in the workplace, especially if one is managing people. Money problems, prejudice problems, family problems, he may have his own 'boss' problems...many things can trigger this. None of it is acceptable, but human nature being what it is...

This is a problem for upper level management to fix & correct. If that is not possible, then pursue other jobs discreetly.

Here's how I handled a couple of scenarios in my own experience:

BadBoss1:
Incompetent, insecure bully, he told everyone in earshot he was the world's best engineer but everyone in the company of 1200 people hated the guy and thought he was a buffoon. Two weeks on the job, he's bullying me, purposely destroying me in presentations (to the shock and chagrin of other department heads), and so on. Finally I decided to go to HIS boss (very risky move). I went to his boss and said, "I'm trying to handle this at MY level, but I think you should know what BadBoss1 is doing." And recounted instances of BadBoss1's behavior, no opinion just facts, witnesses, etc. A few days later I noticed a very distinct change...apparently ManagerBoss had asked around, confirmed the negative behavior, and told BadBoss1 to stop it. BadBoss1 was eventually fired, but it certainly didn't happen soon enough to avoid damage to the entire organization.

BadBoss2:
Another company, another toxic boss. BadBoss2 had taken a chance on firing my co-worker and gotten away with it. Then he started setting me up for the same action. At the time my child was having severe health issues and I decided to attack this problem. 77JQX makes a good point about HR not being your friend. But in this case I had no other option. I went to HR Vice President and asked for appointment. I explained what BadBoss2's behavior was, why it was unjustified (5 years of excellent performance reviews), how it was destroying the teamwork ethic in the group, reminded him of my daughter's conditions and pleaded with him that I did not "need to be looking for another health benefits package," and then I delivered the punchline to the HR VP:"Jim, I don't understand why I am being persecuted like this. Harrassment is a very strong word, but I am getting ready to start using it." Within two days, HR VP confirmed the behavior and fooooom shipped BadBoss2 off to a "How to be a better manager" class. For the remaining years I was with that company, any time I felt abuse from BadBoss2, I would return to HR VP, and fooooom off BadBoss2 would go to another class.

The lessons I learned: there are several Kryptonite Words (harassment, discrimination, etc) that send a cold chill down the HR folks' spine and spur them to action. Those words are like plutonium, so use them very carefully since they can cause your own career death. But with them, those HR Weasels and Upper Level Managers can be used as tools to control bad behavior.

But sometimes, you just need to leave. That's another story, for another time, about BadBoss3.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[Jboggs]

One of my many jobs only lasted one week. Your boss sounds like the guy I worked for. He was a great talker, had big dreams, and could paint a wonderful picture. But he was also paranoid, insecure, and impulsive. He would decide to fire a department manager, but couldn't tell him directly. He would tell one the employees in the department to inform that manager he had been fired. Crazy. If there is a good side to this, it is that now you will be MUCH more careful and selective in the future. Lesson learned. Another thing you can count on is this: he will eventually run himself out of business. Of course in his mind it will all be someone else's fault. In my case, I ended up having to sue the guy to get my one week's pay. I googled him about a year later and learned he was in jail for fraud on government contracts. Get out of there as soon as you can, but be careful not to jump into a worse situation. Try to learn something about the culture and the employee morale of any company you are considering. If you know some vendors that work with them, they can be good network sources.

 

[casseopeia]

geronimo,

You have described in painful detail my experience at my last three jobs. I endured verbal abuse, irrational arguments, and micromanagement that set the benchmark for dysfunctional, psychopathic administration.

I tried everything that you have mentioned to no avail. Nothing worked. You can't fight crazy with logic. It's like trying to fix a bad marriage. You can delay the inevitable by going to couples therapy, but it will fail.

My suggestion is to GET OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! There is no hope.

If you are offended by the things I say, imagine the stuff I hold back.

 

[fegenbush]

Jboggs,

I think we worked for the same company. I don't mean that jokingly. I could write a book about my three years at that place, but I don't think anyone would believe it's nonfiction.

This is one of those instances where I wish it were possible to contact other members outside of this particular forum.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Well, fegenbush, this discussion is pretty much the sort of thing we hoped would appear on or migrate to our affiliated LinkedIn group, "Networking for Eng-Tips.com Forums Members".

The upside of using LI is that you can connect with other discussion participants privately.
The downside of using LI is that you can be identified by present or potential employers or other third parties if they bother to look you up. ...
so discussions on LI about issues on the job are probably not a good idea until you have retired.

You could, however, all use the LI group to link up with each other and share a beer, real or virtual, and maybe set up some other communication channels.






Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[ornerynorsk]

I also have worked where satan was the owner. Any scrap produced in the toolroom would receive a cursory examination, followed by the owner's face going beet red, the wind-up, the pitch, into the far wall of the shop, after which he'd storm out of the building in a rage, only to return an hour later to apologize after he'd calmed down. I made it a year and a half at that firm. Walked out with nary a prospect in hand, but the year of hardship that followed was like vacation compared to going to work at that place every day.

I also concur that there is no cure for cancer when it's at the very top of the chain. Your best strategy is a quick exit, whilst your own sanity and self-confidence is still somewhat intact. There are situations where there simply isn't a good end or even a rational or constructive cure. To thine ownself be true in those situations.

Good luck.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[TheTick]

Echoing the sentiment that HR is not your friend. HR works for the company, and works in the company's best interest.

That said, if you do go to HR, do not go simply to lodge a complaint. Ask for help with what you can do to improve the situation. Be ready with your own ideas of what you can do, and come as one seeking clarity in the situation. That puts the conflict on a whole different footing with HR.

 

[stanweld]

Sometimes HR does not work for the companies best interest; it works for HR's perceived best interest. The greater the turnover, the greater their perceived need. Of course management must drink their Cool-Aid.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Maybe I am misreading it, but in this case the situation seems unrepairable, i.e., all that HR can do is put you in touch with a good recruiter.

HR will also recognize that the situation is toxic for the company, so they will be in a hurry to resolve it, by expediting your absence.

This is of no importance whatsoever to HR, but the situation is also toxic for you, and you will feel a strong sense of relief when it ends. Leaving soon is in your interest, too, but so is having another job to leave to. So get crackin'.









Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[g2015]

Mike got it all right. Thank you guys for the feedback.

Meanwhile I actively prospect for a new job, which is tough actually, poisonous boss continue and keep up their toxic mentality.

I cannot understand why the management let this happen. I strongly doubt the upper management will do anything or fire the boss.

Boss has good technical skills, is smart and experienced. Is it a good reason for upper management to protect the boss.
Maybe yes. I am really puzzled; maybe I am too young in life to have a clue as all this goes over my head.

 

[TheTick]

Tick's Golden Rule of Management Anthropology:

Bull$#!+ persists because it is allowed to persist.