Is this bullshit or am I nuts? Workplace edition.
October 21, 2016 11:25 AM Subscribe
I was hired a year and a half ago to a position that I very much like and work very hard at in an extremely niche field. Everything has gone swimmingly until this week. Looking for some extra outside insight into this situation. Anybody had this happen to them? Or something similar?
So to be as succinct as possible, I was hired into a very specific position at the organization where I work. In fact, I am the first person to hold this position at this organization. I have not held this position at a previous company, as this is more or less an entry-level professional position in my discipline (biology). Anyhow, I am very well qualified for my job and spent several years after college in the workforce before I was offered this position. Additionally, I moved to another state to accept this job.
As I mentioned previously, work has gone well until recently. What I do is highly technical and requires a high degree of understanding of biological relationships (which I have). I am working on a project of unprecedented scale that has never been attempted in my field. I have the responsibilities of what a comparable department at a similar organization would need 3 people to do. I'm doing the very best I can at this.
The project has accelerated to the point where I am (literally) running all over the place trying to keep up. I am receiving inaccurate data on a daily basis from a partner organization and I am expected to not only catch all of their mistakes but fix them and be ultra efficient too. At times, I miss some of the inaccurate data I am sent and it falls on my supervisor's desk to fix. She gets really irritated about this and doesn't understand why I would miss any mistakes that are sent to me.
Enter this week. My coworker, let's call him Joe, has more experience with this particular type of biological data than myself. However, Joe has not only worked here for several more years than myself but has lived in this geographic area for 20 years. Strelitzia, 1.5 years here. Joe, though, does not have the educational background necessary for my position. Anyway, yesterday my supervisor suggested that Joe collect the raw data (inaccurate data from other agency) for me to process b/c he "knows the stuff a lot better than you do, strelitzia".
Joe is in no way my supervisor. And after what my supervisor said to me, I couldn't help but think, "well if he is so fucking knowledgeable about this data, why didn't you hire him to do this job, instead of have me move here from another state play this game with you?" I felt so hurt and undermined in all my efforts here. And everything I have learned about what I need to do for my position I have taught myself b/c my supervisor is the last person who wants to teach me anything.
Last but not least, Joe is a butt-kisser who treats all of his co-workers like shit and literally (this is no lie) stands around and watches other people work. My supervisor seems to indirectly condone whatever kind of douchebaggery du jour he has up his sleeve b/c it never changes.
N.B. - I am actively looking for other work and am in fact taking vacation time next month to visit some colleagues in my field from another state/institution. Yay!
TL;DR What do you do when you are working yourself into the ground and your co-worker is perceived as more competent than you and your job may be getting ready to be handed to someone else?
So to be as succinct as possible, I was hired into a very specific position at the organization where I work. In fact, I am the first person to hold this position at this organization. I have not held this position at a previous company, as this is more or less an entry-level professional position in my discipline (biology). Anyhow, I am very well qualified for my job and spent several years after college in the workforce before I was offered this position. Additionally, I moved to another state to accept this job.
As I mentioned previously, work has gone well until recently. What I do is highly technical and requires a high degree of understanding of biological relationships (which I have). I am working on a project of unprecedented scale that has never been attempted in my field. I have the responsibilities of what a comparable department at a similar organization would need 3 people to do. I'm doing the very best I can at this.
The project has accelerated to the point where I am (literally) running all over the place trying to keep up. I am receiving inaccurate data on a daily basis from a partner organization and I am expected to not only catch all of their mistakes but fix them and be ultra efficient too. At times, I miss some of the inaccurate data I am sent and it falls on my supervisor's desk to fix. She gets really irritated about this and doesn't understand why I would miss any mistakes that are sent to me.
Enter this week. My coworker, let's call him Joe, has more experience with this particular type of biological data than myself. However, Joe has not only worked here for several more years than myself but has lived in this geographic area for 20 years. Strelitzia, 1.5 years here. Joe, though, does not have the educational background necessary for my position. Anyway, yesterday my supervisor suggested that Joe collect the raw data (inaccurate data from other agency) for me to process b/c he "knows the stuff a lot better than you do, strelitzia".
Joe is in no way my supervisor. And after what my supervisor said to me, I couldn't help but think, "well if he is so fucking knowledgeable about this data, why didn't you hire him to do this job, instead of have me move here from another state play this game with you?" I felt so hurt and undermined in all my efforts here. And everything I have learned about what I need to do for my position I have taught myself b/c my supervisor is the last person who wants to teach me anything.
Last but not least, Joe is a butt-kisser who treats all of his co-workers like shit and literally (this is no lie) stands around and watches other people work. My supervisor seems to indirectly condone whatever kind of douchebaggery du jour he has up his sleeve b/c it never changes.
N.B. - I am actively looking for other work and am in fact taking vacation time next month to visit some colleagues in my field from another state/institution. Yay!
TL;DR What do you do when you are working yourself into the ground and your co-worker is perceived as more competent than you and your job may be getting ready to be handed to someone else?
If Joe was the one processing the raw data, would it be his responsibility and not yours to catch the errors? And even if it wasn't his ultimate responsibility, would he be capable of doing so? Having Joe help you out on this project could be an asset. If you don't agree, you have to figure out a better way to prevent errors from creeping into your work, because obviously that cannot continue.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:48 AM on October 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:48 AM on October 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
I'm not sure I understand the issue. You are overworked. Joe sits around and doesn't do work. Your supervisor is having Joe take over some of your work. This seems like a benefit to you.
Obviously the culture and politics of the organization are going to color your experience of this, and it's quite possible, even likely, that these people are incompetent jerks. But the specific case you describe doesn't sound like a bad thing?
posted by mskyle at 11:48 AM on October 21, 2016 [20 favorites]
Obviously the culture and politics of the organization are going to color your experience of this, and it's quite possible, even likely, that these people are incompetent jerks. But the specific case you describe doesn't sound like a bad thing?
posted by mskyle at 11:48 AM on October 21, 2016 [20 favorites]
Is Joe handling all the data and doing whatever it is you do? Or is he just collecting and correcting the raw data, and then you take it from there? Your boss may be trying to find something for Joe to do, and a way to help you with your work, too.
If he's just correcting the mistakes in the raw data, that might help you in the long run, and shouldn't be seen as direct competition. If he's taking over part of your job entirely, that's a different matter.
posted by jhope71 at 11:54 AM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
If he's just correcting the mistakes in the raw data, that might help you in the long run, and shouldn't be seen as direct competition. If he's taking over part of your job entirely, that's a different matter.
posted by jhope71 at 11:54 AM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
I agree with mskyle and others. Maybe your supervisor was a bit terse in how they worded it, but it sounds like he does have a lot more experience with this kind of data than you, and getting that job off your plate is a good thing. Several years more of professional experience is worth way more than the "correct" educational background.
Take a deep breath, put your personal feelings for Joe aside, and remind yourself that this was a stupid part of your job that you didn't want to do and didn't have time for, and now someone else is responsible for it. If you don't like your job then feel free to look, but this should not be the primary reason.
posted by brainmouse at 11:55 AM on October 21, 2016
Take a deep breath, put your personal feelings for Joe aside, and remind yourself that this was a stupid part of your job that you didn't want to do and didn't have time for, and now someone else is responsible for it. If you don't like your job then feel free to look, but this should not be the primary reason.
posted by brainmouse at 11:55 AM on October 21, 2016
Response by poster: Let me be very clear. I don't want the mistakes any more than my supervisor does. And there were exceedingly few until the volume of work became so extreme that hardly anyone would be able to keep it straight.
The culture of the organization is definitely not helping with this situation, either. One word. Government.
posted by strelitzia at 12:06 PM on October 21, 2016
The culture of the organization is definitely not helping with this situation, either. One word. Government.
posted by strelitzia at 12:06 PM on October 21, 2016
You acknowledge yourself that you do not have enough time to appropriately clean the data. If this is a position that would ordinarily be filled by three people, and if you are "running all over the place trying to keep up," then your manager's identification of a resource to assist sounds win-win for the success of this initiative.
Were I your manager, I too would be interested in finding you help in order to improve data quality, and if there was an internal resource who knew the data, it would be a slam dunk for me.
You sound young and inexperienced. Again, were I your manager, I would in fact look to you to (1) identify the risk ("I receive a very high volume of inaccurate data") and (2) recommend solutions ("we can either [do something to make our partners submit accurate data, e.g., reduce payments or something] or [get me xyz training or software or a consultant that would automate data QC] or identify an internal or external resource to offload some of the work, since it is too much.")
I don't know enough about the dynamics to know whether your job is on the line, and maybe this organization is not a great fit regardless. However, from what you have written, your manager realizes that more than 1 FTE is needed to do this effectively - that is not the same thing as looking to fire you. Regardless of whether you are also looking to leave, you should do what you can now to knock it out of the park with the additional help.
- a friendly manager in a government agency
posted by teragram at 12:10 PM on October 21, 2016 [12 favorites]
Were I your manager, I too would be interested in finding you help in order to improve data quality, and if there was an internal resource who knew the data, it would be a slam dunk for me.
You sound young and inexperienced. Again, were I your manager, I would in fact look to you to (1) identify the risk ("I receive a very high volume of inaccurate data") and (2) recommend solutions ("we can either [do something to make our partners submit accurate data, e.g., reduce payments or something] or [get me xyz training or software or a consultant that would automate data QC] or identify an internal or external resource to offload some of the work, since it is too much.")
I don't know enough about the dynamics to know whether your job is on the line, and maybe this organization is not a great fit regardless. However, from what you have written, your manager realizes that more than 1 FTE is needed to do this effectively - that is not the same thing as looking to fire you. Regardless of whether you are also looking to leave, you should do what you can now to knock it out of the park with the additional help.
- a friendly manager in a government agency
posted by teragram at 12:10 PM on October 21, 2016 [12 favorites]
Best answer: I'm not sure I understand the issue. You are overworked. Joe sits around and doesn't do work. Your supervisor is having Joe take over some of your work. This seems like a benefit to you.
Yes, is this not just the same as them giving you an assistant? He has the time to help; you have the expertise to make use of what he gathers. You are doing three jobs, and he has one (or fewer).
Your supervisor obviously didn't word this well, unfortunately, and this came on top of a pattern of criticism from him, so I can see why it hurt. But I think it's possible to treat this as a way of helping you succeed and letting you focus on the pieces that either you really want to do, or that truly only you can do.
I'd parry by either saying, "that would be fantastic, thanks," or "what would really help is if Joe could take on XYZ instead?" It sounds like your supervisor really wants him to take on this piece, though, so I'd probably try to make that work. If your supervisor is really giving away the most important and interesting part of your job, then I'd ask if you could have a discussion about it. Come in ready to admit that the mistakes need to be caught and discuss an alternative plan.
Here is some tough talk for just a moment. Apparently, your supervisor thinks it's your job to catch mistakes. Your supervisor can't make the other organization stop sending mistakes, so someone has to catch them. You're interpreting things through the lens of "what's fair to you" and what you "deserve" and whether or not this means that they think you're doing a good job, that sort of thing. (That's all understandable and to me suggests that you're probably a perfectionist who hates screwing up, so I'm not saying this in a harsh or negative way.)
But that's not the way your supervisor looks at it. There's a job to do, and somehow it has to get done. Try to think about it through the lens of "what has to get done" and "how are we as an organization going to get it done," whether it's by you and Joe working together, or whatever alternative. Right now, it sounds like you're saying "well, I'm overworked, so some mistakes are just going to slip through, but that's just the way it's going to be (unless those jerks at the other organization shape up) because I'm the only one who can do any of this job!" And on preview, you're coming across as really defensive and ready to blame others to protect yourself. Try to focus on organizational solutions. The high volume is an immutable fact. What solution will bring your workload down to a manageable level where you can again catch the mistakes?
It sounds like you really care about being good at your job, so I'm sure you can figure out some ideas. Good luck!
posted by salvia at 12:10 PM on October 21, 2016 [17 favorites]
Yes, is this not just the same as them giving you an assistant? He has the time to help; you have the expertise to make use of what he gathers. You are doing three jobs, and he has one (or fewer).
Your supervisor obviously didn't word this well, unfortunately, and this came on top of a pattern of criticism from him, so I can see why it hurt. But I think it's possible to treat this as a way of helping you succeed and letting you focus on the pieces that either you really want to do, or that truly only you can do.
I'd parry by either saying, "that would be fantastic, thanks," or "what would really help is if Joe could take on XYZ instead?" It sounds like your supervisor really wants him to take on this piece, though, so I'd probably try to make that work. If your supervisor is really giving away the most important and interesting part of your job, then I'd ask if you could have a discussion about it. Come in ready to admit that the mistakes need to be caught and discuss an alternative plan.
Here is some tough talk for just a moment. Apparently, your supervisor thinks it's your job to catch mistakes. Your supervisor can't make the other organization stop sending mistakes, so someone has to catch them. You're interpreting things through the lens of "what's fair to you" and what you "deserve" and whether or not this means that they think you're doing a good job, that sort of thing. (That's all understandable and to me suggests that you're probably a perfectionist who hates screwing up, so I'm not saying this in a harsh or negative way.)
But that's not the way your supervisor looks at it. There's a job to do, and somehow it has to get done. Try to think about it through the lens of "what has to get done" and "how are we as an organization going to get it done," whether it's by you and Joe working together, or whatever alternative. Right now, it sounds like you're saying "well, I'm overworked, so some mistakes are just going to slip through, but that's just the way it's going to be (unless those jerks at the other organization shape up) because I'm the only one who can do any of this job!" And on preview, you're coming across as really defensive and ready to blame others to protect yourself. Try to focus on organizational solutions. The high volume is an immutable fact. What solution will bring your workload down to a manageable level where you can again catch the mistakes?
It sounds like you really care about being good at your job, so I'm sure you can figure out some ideas. Good luck!
posted by salvia at 12:10 PM on October 21, 2016 [17 favorites]
If I were confident that I was doing a difficult and demanding job fairly well, but was not properly appreciated, and that Joe was skating, I wouldn't hesitate to resort to something like 'by all means, lets see how Joe does with this; we've been wondering what he might be good for.'
posted by jamjam at 12:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 12:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have in the past had this tendency at work to take on a lot of projects, get stressed out, and then treat every attempt to assign some of the work to other people as a sign that I'm not valued. It can be a career killer; please don't let it do that. Help Joe help you be great. Give him clear instructions on what you need, for which deadlines, and have at it. Then let your supervisor know you appreciate Joe being made available to you as a resource and you have assigned him XYZ so you can focus on ABC.
posted by warriorqueen at 1:01 PM on October 21, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by warriorqueen at 1:01 PM on October 21, 2016 [17 favorites]
Your boss has to ensure that the project gets completed successfully and, if at all possible, efficiently, with the resources at her disposal.
And if she is any good she'll also want you to have a somewhat sustainable workload so she can retain you as employee for the organisation. And she is definitely interested in not having to finish your work for you. If she needs to catch stuff you should be catching you can assume that this takes time away from other things she should be doing so her performance is also impacted in the long-term.
And if allowed to continue/get worse these things could cause the project to fail. You say the project is accelerating/growing so this is not just a short term increase in activity that can be covered by you stretching some, this level of activity is here to stay or increase further.
Now, a more experienced employee would have sat her down and highlighted this and asked for help in prioritising in the short-term and suggested ways to manage the problem in the long-term. You've been so busy trying to catch up with yourself that you've not been able to do that. So she is addressing it by reducing your load to a sustainable level without increasing her load.
And your boss is probably well aware of Joe standing around watching people work. If data cleaning is his area of expertise why shouldn't he take on some of the work? This reduces your workload, and her workload because she can focus on her job again and it has zero budget impact because the guy is already on the payroll. Everybody wins, even Joe, who must have felt undervalued standing there watching people work….
Unless there are other problems you've not mentioned this is not about you. Any responsible boss would be concerned based on what you describe and would work out a way to rebalance things. Do yourself a favour and interpret this in the best possible way because between feeling threatened and your animosity towards Joe you are setting yourself up for failure otherwise.
On Monday, your objectives should be to meet with your boss to a) clarify both of your roles and b) confirm expectations of you and c) agree when to next check in with her to see how the new set up is working. And then you go and do your job focusing on your newly defined core competencies. You can always start looking for a new job as well. But in the meantime you have to be positive and professional and do your job.
As a general takeaway here - realise that nobody will cut you a lot of slack if your performance suffers because you are overcommitted. People will make short-term allowances if they are aware but ultimately these things cause wider problems that make your boss look bad. So it is always down to you to highlight this as a problem and to manage it. That sometimes means asking for and accepting help, refocusing on some core competencies etc. Never assume your boss is fully aware of what you have on - they have any number of people to supervise, other internal and external relationships to manage and generally all kinds of things to worry about that you have no idea of.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:19 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
And if she is any good she'll also want you to have a somewhat sustainable workload so she can retain you as employee for the organisation. And she is definitely interested in not having to finish your work for you. If she needs to catch stuff you should be catching you can assume that this takes time away from other things she should be doing so her performance is also impacted in the long-term.
And if allowed to continue/get worse these things could cause the project to fail. You say the project is accelerating/growing so this is not just a short term increase in activity that can be covered by you stretching some, this level of activity is here to stay or increase further.
Now, a more experienced employee would have sat her down and highlighted this and asked for help in prioritising in the short-term and suggested ways to manage the problem in the long-term. You've been so busy trying to catch up with yourself that you've not been able to do that. So she is addressing it by reducing your load to a sustainable level without increasing her load.
And your boss is probably well aware of Joe standing around watching people work. If data cleaning is his area of expertise why shouldn't he take on some of the work? This reduces your workload, and her workload because she can focus on her job again and it has zero budget impact because the guy is already on the payroll. Everybody wins, even Joe, who must have felt undervalued standing there watching people work….
Unless there are other problems you've not mentioned this is not about you. Any responsible boss would be concerned based on what you describe and would work out a way to rebalance things. Do yourself a favour and interpret this in the best possible way because between feeling threatened and your animosity towards Joe you are setting yourself up for failure otherwise.
On Monday, your objectives should be to meet with your boss to a) clarify both of your roles and b) confirm expectations of you and c) agree when to next check in with her to see how the new set up is working. And then you go and do your job focusing on your newly defined core competencies. You can always start looking for a new job as well. But in the meantime you have to be positive and professional and do your job.
As a general takeaway here - realise that nobody will cut you a lot of slack if your performance suffers because you are overcommitted. People will make short-term allowances if they are aware but ultimately these things cause wider problems that make your boss look bad. So it is always down to you to highlight this as a problem and to manage it. That sometimes means asking for and accepting help, refocusing on some core competencies etc. Never assume your boss is fully aware of what you have on - they have any number of people to supervise, other internal and external relationships to manage and generally all kinds of things to worry about that you have no idea of.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:19 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
Seems to me you would have more reason to worry if it was the other way around - if Joe was brought on to analyze the raw data after you cleaned it. In my experience analysis requires more brain power than finding errors does.
Maybe they didn't give your job to Joe in the first place because they know he doesn't have the background/know how to do it, but this one piece of it, he can do. Let him do it, and if you're still totally unhappy, look for something new while excelling at your redefined role.
posted by lyssabee at 1:46 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Maybe they didn't give your job to Joe in the first place because they know he doesn't have the background/know how to do it, but this one piece of it, he can do. Let him do it, and if you're still totally unhappy, look for something new while excelling at your redefined role.
posted by lyssabee at 1:46 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I don't see much of a problem here. More people need to be put onto this task because you're doing too much and errors are getting through. Getting Joe to help is part of a potential solution. Don't read this as a slight, and don't hold onto stuff until it makes you emotional - it's just work. Let your supervisor know if you're being asked to do more work than is possible without making mistakes - if things STILL don't get better after you've communicated, then maybe start looking for another job.
posted by destructive cactus at 1:57 PM on October 21, 2016
posted by destructive cactus at 1:57 PM on October 21, 2016
I lived with, and still know several people who (reading between the lines) do very, very similar work to what you do in very similar environments in the same field. Take the help, concentrate on the high value analysis that you provide.
posted by Kreiger at 2:03 PM on October 21, 2016
posted by Kreiger at 2:03 PM on October 21, 2016
I don't... really understand?
You literally said:"Let me be very clear. I don't want the mistakes any more than my supervisor does. And there were exceedingly few until the volume of work became so extreme that hardly anyone would be able to keep it straight."
The solution: "Get someone else to do half the work" sounds really good?
You acknowledge that you are making mistakes, and that you don't have the resource to stop this from happening. Your manager is getting additional resource to help with that; I really wouldn't take this as a slight on your performance.
FYI, managers work with people of varying abilities and strengths all the time. Most of them don't really care about this, per se, they care about results. Managing people with different abilities and getting the team as a whole to produce is what they really care about, it's their jobs. You never have a team of clones.
It sounds like you feel like you're failing, and you feel like your manager is saying, "yep, you're failing", and you're hurt and resentful that they... agree with your assessment about the errors. They don't care about the cause, they care way more about fixing it. I would really urge you to take a step back and focus on what will get the best results: managers want people who come to them with solutions to proposed problems, rather than presenting themselves as part of the problem.
I can't comment on broader issues of workplace culture, which may be totally valid for you. But, to answer your question "is this bullshit?", from what you've written here, no it is not: it would be standard operating procedure basically everywhere I've ever worked.
Best of luck OP.
posted by smoke at 4:25 PM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
You literally said:"Let me be very clear. I don't want the mistakes any more than my supervisor does. And there were exceedingly few until the volume of work became so extreme that hardly anyone would be able to keep it straight."
The solution: "Get someone else to do half the work" sounds really good?
You acknowledge that you are making mistakes, and that you don't have the resource to stop this from happening. Your manager is getting additional resource to help with that; I really wouldn't take this as a slight on your performance.
FYI, managers work with people of varying abilities and strengths all the time. Most of them don't really care about this, per se, they care about results. Managing people with different abilities and getting the team as a whole to produce is what they really care about, it's their jobs. You never have a team of clones.
It sounds like you feel like you're failing, and you feel like your manager is saying, "yep, you're failing", and you're hurt and resentful that they... agree with your assessment about the errors. They don't care about the cause, they care way more about fixing it. I would really urge you to take a step back and focus on what will get the best results: managers want people who come to them with solutions to proposed problems, rather than presenting themselves as part of the problem.
I can't comment on broader issues of workplace culture, which may be totally valid for you. But, to answer your question "is this bullshit?", from what you've written here, no it is not: it would be standard operating procedure basically everywhere I've ever worked.
Best of luck OP.
posted by smoke at 4:25 PM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
I would also take this fabulous opportunity to "bundle" any other crap duties (stuff you don't want to do) that might be attached to the part he's talking and send them over to him as well. This will take a little finesse...."while you are co piling A, you need to document B and cool t C at the same time because it all works together.
posted by raisingsand at 6:36 PM on October 21, 2016
posted by raisingsand at 6:36 PM on October 21, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
You need to communicate with your supervisor; if they don't have an accurate picture of your current responsibilities, then you need to give them one so they can make informed choices. If they make shitty choices afterwards, that's definitely on them, and really if they were great at their job, they'd be coming to you and trying to figure out why, but you can't change them, only yourself.
Beyond that, looking for a better position is a great idea. And, if and when you manage people, think about how your boss should have prevented this issue, and keep that in mind, and you'll be a better manager for it.
posted by gryftir at 11:47 AM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]