Well, I said that I would wrap this up, so I will. Mike last year with the company was not a pleasant one. His boss refused to make any changes and stopped talking about doing anything about Mike's situation. Mike began to realize that, even though everyone had once been in agreement that he could be an excellent employee in a different position, that there was never going to be a different position, and that it was unlikely that he could keep the one he had in the long term, having told everyone that he really didn't want it numerous times.
As a result, Mike's relationship with his boss became outwardly hostile. He made it clear that he thought his boss was incompetent. Mike went to his boss's boss to try to straighten out the situation, then went to HR with documentation of the many (at least nine) times that Mike's boss had said that something would get done, then nothing got done. There were stupid corporate conversations about Mike not being "engaged," with no sense of awareness from his boss that maybe it wasn't Mike's fault if he wasn't thrilled with his boss's ineptitude. Nothing happened. Mike started to look for something else.
Year-end reviews came around, and Mike's review was leaked to him by accident. It was average -- not bad, considering -- but with some words about being on the low side of average. Mike didn't really believe it, but he was just looking to hang on until a position came available, either internal or external.
Then Mike met with his boss regarding the review. He agreed with his boss that extreme multitasking was not his favorite thing. He did not argue with the review. Then his boss told him that individual contributor positions would be posted soon, but that the company was trying to upgrade positions, and that multitasking was critical to any position, really super extremely critical, and that as a result Mike was not going to be considered for any position that might open up.
Mike asked if this was serious, if his boss was saying that he was incapable of handling a senior accounting position, despite 11 years of average and (mostly) above average reviews at that level and above, and his boss assured him that this was the decision. At this point Mike slammed the table between them and yelled "Bullshit!", and there followed a short and loud discussion in which Mike stated twice that this was irrational, then suggested that they continue later.
Mike went back to his desk, wrote a note to his boss and copied his boss's boss and the head of HR, and accused his boss of various wrongdoings, and stated that his boss was "personally despicable," and that this should never be in doubt. Mike told me that he wanted to let his boss know that, when you act like a piece of shit in a work environment, you are still a piece of shit. Work is not a license to be a jerk. Then Mike went home. He has never spoken to his boss since.
The next workday, Mike met with his boss's boss and the head of HR for about an hour. They suggested that, even then, Mike could possibly keep his job if he apologized. Mike refused and insisted that his boss apologize instead. Interestingly, neither of the two others said a word in defense of what Mike's boss had said to Mike; instead, they insisted that she would never have said such a thing. Mike reminded them repeatedly that he had actually been there, and they had not, and that he had asked his boss to repeat what she said just to be sure, and that he understood English perfectly well and knew what was said, and that they did not.
There were claims of impropriety, threats of legal action, and in the end, Mike was paid a lot of money to go away without suing and with a confidentiality agreement. He came out fine.
Still, it's quite a story. If there is a moral to the story, it is this: outside of a company setting, I doubt that Mike's superiors would treat anyone the way they treated Mike. They probably have at least some minimal standards of right and wrong that would prevent them from such detestable behavior. But in a corporate setting, they jettisoned any sense of decency and thought it was OK, because hey, it's business. But it's not OK.
No comments:
Post a Comment