Learning new skills, then had it shut down by co-worker, response?

August 23, 2013 1:46 PM

I've been learning new skills to grow at my company, and seemingly successfully, but then suddenly asked to stop by a co-worker (who's been here longer but isn't my supervisor or anything). Story of details inside, but looking for the best response: accept this, or if I can argue against it how best to do so.

I do pretty well at my job; I was hired on as a receptionist and less than two years later I've created my own position at double the original salary. (We're a v small company) For the past few months I feel like I've plateaued again at my current position, just in terms of personal boredom v creativity, and so wanted to learn some new things for future growth. I work at a web design company in customer service. As basically the only person overseeing QC I see a ton of bugs, and have been learning some basic HTML, PHP, SQL ect so that I can go in and fix things immediately for the customer without having to turn it over to our programming team. So far my clients have been really happy with our turnaround time, our lead programmer is satisfied and encouraging with my work, and I haven't caused any kind of major issues or problems while mucking around. (Out of 50 tasks, maybe 2 had to be looked back over.)

I'd describe it as turning myself into "level 1". We have a "level 2" guy, and our lead programmer is doing "level 3 and 4". The level 2 guy was originally hired on as a designer, not a programmer, and in that position now just because we had Lead Guy doing everything. I used to turn everything into Lv 2, now I turn what I can't to him.

Lv 2 Guy does not like me for personal reasons. I've had multiple other employees come up to me and bring up the fact, ("have you noticed...?!") and reassured me they think it's for completely personal reasons vs work reasons (religion and sexuality, basically - we got along fine if not super friendly-y until I came out). So I know it's not just my imagination. I deal with this by pretending it's not true and being as polite and helpful as I can be. If he didn't like me for work reasons, I would accommodate any requested changes to the greatest extent possible. I haven't otherwise received any complaints about my work output or quality from other co-workers or my boss, nor have I received or overheard any personal complaints about me from anyone else. Everyone else seems to personally like me or at least find me sufficiently agreeable as a co-worker.

Now, just the other day we hired a new programmer - someone to do the level 2 and 3 stuff so Lead Guy could do 3 and 4, working a lot faster and building new things. I had a hand in finding and hiring him and so far Lead Guy really likes New Guy. Yay! Possibly related, Lv 2 Guy tried to have a friend hired for that position who was turned down by Lead Guy.

Just early today, now that New Guy has been here a few days and seems like he's going to be a solid long-term hire, I quietly asked Lead Guy if he thought Lv 2 Guy was going to end up back in design, or stay where he was, or what (unstated: since he's going to have a lot less work to do in the programming side of things very soon). I have to know that for my own work flow and Lead Guy is someone I trust both personally and as a good eye for big-picture company stuff. (Plus it seemed like a rude question to ask of Lv 2 Guy, at least for now). Lead Guy just shrugged his shoulders and said "probably not design, so I really don't know where he'll fit".

Coming to the point here. This afternoon, Lv 2 Guy comes down and asks me to stop doing any kind of HTML/ect work. He said it was better just to send everything to him. I asked if a specific event triggered this, and another co-worker did have a question about something I did - but that was handled between us quickly and co-worker didn't say "you shouldn't be doing the HTML" but rather "man we really need to get you Dreamweaver". It wasn't anything that caused a complaint from our client or a lot of work, just a "huh, *I* don't remember doing that". Nothing out of the ordinary workflow.

I was very disappointed because I'm really enjoying this new work and I think it'll make me a lot more useful to the company. I definitely want to do well here and earn the opportunity I've been given. But of course, if I wasn't doing a good job I should stay out of their way.

I feel like, though, the timing of this seems a little suspicious. Because if I say "okay, this is your way now - here's all the work I was doing for you", well, he has a lot of work to fill up his time when otherwise it'd be a question. I also haven't had any complaints from anyone else but him, and I've directly been told by other co-workers to take what he says about me with a HUGE grain of salt. This new work of mine has been going on for the last three months, minimum, and it's now when he says anything about it.

So I'm not sure what best to do - if I should shrug my shoulders and accept this turn of events forever, pay some online certification to "prove" I know enough to continue in the future, or do something about it now i.e. if there is a polite and work-appropriate way to bring this up to the boss, Lead Programmer, someone. (Note: Since this is a small company we don't really have a hierarchy). I AM about to leave for a month on maternity leave, give or take a few weeks, so maybe I should for now obey this new order and then do something else when I return?

I really am flummoxed and would appreciate any kind of feedback, including "this is a good decision by Lv 2 Guy" if that's the conclusion reached!

posted by blue_and_bronze to Work & Money (26 answers total)

Did he say that you won't be doing the work anymore, or that he is going to be the filter that directs the work to each person?
posted by Kololo at 1:51 PM on August 23, 2013

So you've been doing his stuff for him because you're bored and you like it? But now that his job is in jeopardy because he hasn't very much to do, he wants his tasks back?

This is kind of a no-brainer and all the "some dude doesn't like me" stuff has nothing to do with it.

You were doing his job, now he doesn't want you to. Deal with that.

Also, enjoy maternity leave, and start looking for a new gig. Because if there's a new guy, and someone doesn't have any work to do because of it.....
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:56 PM on August 23, 2013 [9 favorites]

So I've been in LV2 guy's position, and I gotta tell you, it's galling to discover that someone else has been doing my work when really they should have checked with me first to see if them doing minor edits off the cuff would interfere with my workflow and quality assurance testing.

It's great that you've been learning a lot in doing these minor edits, but you've stepped on LV2 guy's toes here -- and believe it or not, I don't think it has anything at all to do with the personal issues between the two of you. You're trying to do his job out from under him. That's actually really frustrating and while you're trying to be helpful, you're actually not following the chain of command, and if the lead programmer would prefer that you handle these bugs, it should have been officially discussed and a new workflow established. That's on the lead programmer, really, but if you didn't ask permission to do this in the first place, lead programmer may have thought you did, and just blithely went along with it without really considering LV2's thoughts on the matter.

So yes, to me, having been in LV2's position, I feel like he's being pretty polite in saying, hey, this needs to start coming back to me please. Think of it this way -- if you're always taking care of the little stuff, how does he ever know that the little stuff is slipping through the cracks to the customers? That's his job to address so stuff doesn't get kicked back to your team. He's not growing as a designer if he's never told about half the problems because you're taking care of them.

And you don't have to stop learning these new skills. You just need to do it on your own time, or advocate for yourself to the lead programmer and say, "I really have been enjoying the QA process and want to learn more about that. What could I do to help our pipeline that would enable me to keep growing my skills in those areas?" I imagine that if the lead programmer was pleased with your work before LV2 said stop, he or she will be able to find another place for you to continue on.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 1:57 PM on August 23, 2013 [14 favorites]

It depends on how you took on this work. If you're officially part of the workflow process, then this should be addressed with the Lead person. However, if you've just been unofficially filling in, under your own initiative, then you should agree to turn over any work that LV2 asks you to, because you could be getting in the way of the process without realizing it.

I would get through maternity leave and address your career goals and your goals in this position when you return. No reason why you can't continue learning and growing, but it might have to be something that's more formalized.
posted by xingcat at 2:01 PM on August 23, 2013 [3 favorites]

I don't think it has anything to do with his personal feelings towards you, but the fact that you are stepping on his toes. Also, they hired someone to be the LV2 programmer, correct? Between your work and the new guy, LV2 Guy is probably trying to figure out what he's supposed to do now. Even the Lead Programmer doesn't know where LV2 Guy is going to fit now. There's a workflow issue here, and perhaps a communication problem, too.

My advice would be to stop doing the work for now; go on maternity leave and come back with a clear idea of where you want to go and what you want to do with this company. Get everybody on the same page with it.
posted by sm1tten at 2:04 PM on August 23, 2013

I would be diplomatic in handling this, because it's never good to create outright enemies in the workplace, but honestly: Lv2 is not your supervisor and you shouldn't give up your goal of taking on a more substantive or technical role just because he's getting territorial. Of course, if this has all been happening informally and you've kind of grown into the position of handling small things, you have to go about this in a more careful way than just ignoring what LV2 is asking.

If it were me, I'd go to the Lv3/Lv4 coworker (am I correct in guessing he leads the technical team?) and ask for some off-the-record career advice. And I'd lay out for him that I was interested in continuing to expand my skillset and take on these small fixes in the context of doing customer service, but that I wasn't sure how to continue on now that staffing was being shaken up and Lv2 coworker is telling me I'm stepping on his toes. I imagine the Lv3/Lv4 coworker would have good advice for you, both big-picture (is this what you should be focusing on in terms of growing your career) and very possibly also strategic advice about how to deal with Lv2. People LOVE to give advice and be in a mentoring role, and when it's someone who is also senior to you in a company asking them for advice also has the nice effect of getting them invested in advocating for you upward.

If Lv3/Lv4 isn't your boss, you should ask for how he or she thinks you should broach this with them. Possibly they'll say that they want to broach it (especially if they're in a formal technical lead position), or they'll give you advice about how to have the conversation--and hopefully after you've had the conversation, they'll advocate for your position to whoever is making the decisions.

Don't wait until after you're out and back from maternity leave. You can definitely bring up your maternity leave a factor that you realize is relevant when you're talking with your boss, but it seems to me that if you cede back this work you're finding so rewarding to Lv2, you are putting your boss in the position of potentially taking it away from him when you have the discussion of your career growth--versus getting management blessing to retain that work you're already doing.
posted by iminurmefi at 2:15 PM on August 23, 2013 [4 favorites]

As basically the only person overseeing QC

So far my clients have been really happy with our turnaround time, our lead programmer is satisfied and encouraging with my work,

Sounds like everyone was aware of what's been going on?

And Lead hired a person you recommended. And not Lv 2's rec. You tend to hire people based on what will best fit the team, not what will most piss off a member of the team. Unless you don't really intend to keep one of those team members around for much longer.

So, to me, it sounds like Lv 2 is threatened because it sounds like he doesn't have much of a job to do there and knows he's potentially on the way out and part of that seems to be because you've turned out to be quite good for the team.

"man we really need to get you Dreamweaver".

Sounds like they want you to keep doing what you're doing.

I think you should actually ask the person you're actually reporting to what they would like you to do.
posted by heyjude at 2:16 PM on August 23, 2013 [11 favorites]

Go talk to Lead Guy, and talk to whomever you directly report to. I'd do before you go on maternity leave. These Birds of a Feather has a point that there are often procedures that hacking things together can stomp on processes and make things more difficult, but it's likely that what you need is an introduction to those processes, not additions to your HTML skill.

As the company is growing technical staff, those processes are going to have to better accommodate simultaneous developers anyway, and the better they can distribute those changes across multiple people, the more responsive development is going to be to your users/customers.

Basically: Level 2 guy isn't your boss. You should get confirmation from someone who does have control over the development processes before you just accept what he wants. There are valid reasons why Level 2 guy may want to be the sole conduit for changes, but those valid reasons may also stand in the way of the company being responsive to customer needs, and to growing. This could just be Level 2 guy protecting his turf, or it could be that there are processes, version control, automated testing and deployment systems, etc., that the company needs, and the only thing he's doing is reacting to the lack of them.

Pointing out that you can do some of this stuff may point out to others higher up that those processes are necessary sooner rather than later.
posted by straw at 2:17 PM on August 23, 2013 [3 favorites]

Also, am I correct in assuming you're a woman, potentially in a male-dominated company or industry? Because this sounds SO MUCH like the mindset that a million studies have pointed to as a huge factor in why women with equivalent education and experience tend to lag behind men in title and salary:

So I'm not sure what best to do - if I should shrug my shoulders and accept this turn of events forever, pay some online certification to "prove" I know enough to continue in the future, or do something about it now i.e. if there is a polite and work-appropriate way to bring this up to the boss, Lead Programmer, someone. (Note: Since this is a small company we don't really have a hierarchy).

No one is ever going to care more about your career than you do, or being willing to go to bat to develop that career more than you are willing to. Regardless of how others in your company ultimately come down on the question of whether it makes sense for you to continue doing the minor technical fixes you've been doing, I think there's SO MUCH value in you learning to be assertive and tell your boss and the Lv3/Lv4 plainly that you'd like to take on a bigger, more technical role. The fear of asking for what you want straight-out hinders so many women's careers, and oftentimes it's totally unnecessary. I mean, Lv2 isn't shrugging his shoulders about you taking on a role that he sees as his; you shouldn't just give up if you really want this. Reading between the lines of your question, it seems as though your company sees you as a reliable and valuable member of the team, potentially more so than Lv2, and even if they're not willing to give you this, I bet you $10 they'd be willing to start thinking about how to grow you into a satisfying technical position if you voice that desire to them. Don't undercut yourself by being timid or afraid to make waves or worrying about overstepping.
posted by iminurmefi at 2:27 PM on August 23, 2013 [11 favorites]

This is Lead Programmer's problem, and he needs to step up and manage the team.
posted by rhizome at 2:28 PM on August 23, 2013 [10 favorites]

I feel like, though, the timing of this seems a little suspicious. Because if I say "okay, this is your way now - here's all the work I was doing for you", well, he has a lot of work to fill up his time when otherwise it'd be a question.

Congratulations on your ability to spot blindingly obvious things? LV2 is about to be let go because he doesn't have any work to do and he's trying to prevent that. Why should he prioritise your career growth over his having a job? He'd be crazy to do that, whether he hates you for being gay or thinks you're the best person ever to walk the planet. If you want to do part of the technical work, make a case to your management for actually assigning it to you.
posted by jacalata at 2:36 PM on August 23, 2013 [3 favorites]

I think you need to acknowledge that you've been playing the political game (for example, you asked the Lead privately about the future of a coworker), and for that reason the usual calculus does not work (I work hard and I work smart, and do my best to be part of a team).

It's not a negative thing, but playing politics does fundamentally come down to a contest between personalities, and not between abilities.

Politics are pretty normal in many workplaces, but to win you are going to have to be good at politics, or at least become more comfortable playing at politics (I don't like politics so I am self-employed).

With that in mind, you can tell your coworker to fuck off, confident the lead will back you up, or you can go on mat leave and forget about it.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:38 PM on August 23, 2013

It makes sense to go to your manager, who I assume is not Lv2 Guy, or Lv3-4Guy, but someone else related to admin staff rather than programming, and tell them you could be doing more for the company. You're glad things are working out with NewHire but now that the overwork is redistributed, you're not as busy as you used to be.
Talk to your boss about what's important: you've got the desire, skills, and time to do more work (and more interesting work) than you're listed as doing.
There is no need to talk to your boss about what's not important: the particular tasks you were doing which had been Guy1's job and now that NewGuy is hired Guy1 is going to do it again, and omg he was kind of mean to you but everyone else said it was fine. No. If they ask, you give the facts, but it is not sad-story time.
posted by aimedwander at 2:44 PM on August 23, 2013

My answer presupposes that you are a woman. If this is not the case, please ignore me.

I disagree with These Birds of a Feather. You know the skills, you've taken the time to learn your shit, so why shouldn't you be allowed to exercise the full extent of your capabilities? I may be slightly prejudiced because I am in a very similar position to you where I am a woman starting in a typically "female" role, then had the opportunity to learn more about IT and began taking over many of the tasks the menz used to handle. I think if you back down, you will potentially be sabotaging your career.

But you don't want to make an enemy. Be polite and respectful to Lv 2 guy, of course, but don't give in to his demands if he's not your boss. Go to his boss and have a conversation about what Lv 2 guy told you, and make it clear that you are interested in continuing to pursue your current career path of learning more about IT and helping them. (Be sure to frame it in the context of helping the team and freeing up their time to work on other problems).

Hope this helps. MeMail if you want, as I said, I'm in a very similar position myself now and have managed to navigate it without making an enemy out of my "Lv 2 guy".
posted by Librarypt at 3:01 PM on August 23, 2013

Response by poster: Quick clarification (apologies if thread-sitty): it *was* known that I was doing this ahead of time vs just me grabbing things!; I asked the Boss (who approved), Lead (who approved and is giving me some mentoring), and Lv2 (who...didn't say anything and probably that was where I slipped up!)

V good points about workflow above, so just wanted to clarify that we do not have any org flow yet and that there's no QA process being done by Lv2, only at this point by each person as they're working on it and then by myself for the client. I don't want to drag down his day or ruin his job*, I just don't want to forgo improving myself as an employee for the company if there's an alternative (eg, talk to Lead) I'm personally hesitant as a non-confrontational person to try. (*I am also not concerned about losing my job given this new guy; I do things the programmers do not and anyway my boss has told me I'm receiving a raise when I return from leave.)

Also sorry if the personal parts are irrelevant, I'm just honestly not used to being disliked by co-workers and thought that some of his comments reported back to me ("well, what do you expect from that kind") could be slightly affecting his view of my work.
posted by blue_and_bronze at 3:03 PM on August 23, 2013

My read on what Lead said to you is that Lv2 is on his way out, except that he's probably going to be covering for you on mat leave. I suspect they'll wait and see if you're going to come back and then there will be some sort of shakeup.

I'd say you should discuss this with Lead and Boss.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:19 PM on August 23, 2013 [4 favorites]

Talk to Lead Guy and Boss and say everything you said to us about why it's a great idea for you to be doing this work - that you've been saving time, improving your skills, making clients oh-so-happy. And then tell them what Lv2 guy said to you, and say you are pretty confused. You'd like to keep doing this work, and take on more of it. You think this is a good thing for the customers and company.

And then stop talking and see what they say. They need to go tell Lv2 guy that you are going to keep doing it - or tell you to stop. This isn't for you and Lv2 to work out, this is for the managers to sort out.
posted by amaire at 3:20 PM on August 23, 2013 [2 favorites]

I think this might be one of those situations where you just have to let go of what Lv2 thinks of you or his reaction to your push to get better work. The fact that you don't want to drag down his day or ruin his job means you're probably a kind and empathetic person, but the flip side to that is you might lean too far in the direction of screwing yourself in order to avoid doing something that would ruin his day.

Honestly, Lv2 will sink or swim in his job (or maybe already has) based on the work he does. If talking to the Lead means that you are formally given a role of QA, client support, and minor bug-fixing, and if that new role means there's not enough work left for Lv2 to do, that is not on you. If Lv2 had been a stellar performer then your approaching the Lead about moving into this role would have had different results; they either would tell you "no" or would give it to you and move Lv2 into a higher Lv3/Lv4 role.

I can sympathize with how rotten it probably feels to watch yourself being made redundant, but even if Lv2 was a super-nice guy who wasn't kind of a jerk to you, I really think you should try to not feel bad about being good at your job and the fact that he's not so great at his. Frankly, if he was hired as a designer and isn't playing that role (not an uncommon thing in a small startup), it's likely that him being cut loose and finding a job that is a better fit will be better for everyone in the long run anyway. (He'll still hate you, but again: his continued employment or non-employment is NOT ON YOU, it's on him, so long as you're not lying or intentionally sabotaging him.)
posted by iminurmefi at 3:21 PM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

Lv2 (who...didn't say anything and probably that was where I slipped up!)

No, you didn't slip up - he did. Which sucks immensely for him.

some of his comments reported back to me ("well, what do you expect from that kind") could be slightly affecting his view of my work.

I think your quality of work is more than likely why he's making things personal. It's the only leverage he has over you. How this has backfired for him though is that you can't actually go around saying "well, what do you expect from that kind" as that puts the business at significant risk (and is, you know, unprofessional, inappropriate, and offensive).

amaire: This isn't for you and Lv2 to work out, this is for the managers to sort out.

This. There's a good chance Lead has no idea at all that Lv2 asked you to do this OR this is just a maternity leave thing but Lv2 deliberately didn't explain it to you in that way.
posted by heyjude at 3:24 PM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was curious what distinguished a Level 3 programmer from a Level 1 and 2. Programmer Competency Matrix is helpful for that.
posted by mlis at 3:30 PM on August 23, 2013 [2 favorites]

You described Level 2 as a "co-worker"; you said that both your boss and your tech lead had approved your expanded job description; you detailed how your work benefits the customer; you noted that there isn't any hierarchy at your company. So I am genuinely confused at to why you feel that you need to jump through any hoops whatsoever to appease the Level 2 guy. Personally, I would go to the tech lead guy or the big boss - whomever you think will be more receptive - and ask them if Level 2 was told to take over your work, or if he took it upon himself to approach you. Go armed with a list of examples of how your work has benefited the customers or the bottom line and try to keep the conversation to that, as opposed to personal stuff.

I also think your maternity leave is a red herring. One, Level 2 guy is already more experienced than you so there is no learning curve and therefore no reason for him to take over your tasks a month in advance. Two, everybody in the web development world has one foot out the door so it's irrelevant - and hugely unfair - to single out the [statistically] rare maternity leave as the reason to take away someone's responsibilities.

I would also like to address your question about certification but I feel like it's more of a general career discussion, not related to this particular question. You certainly shouldn't do it because some homophobe with a stick up his butt doesn't like you! But if you want to have a discussion about your career in general, feel free to email me.
posted by rada at 3:49 PM on August 23, 2013 [3 favorites]

Boss, I like doing x but Lv2 asked me to stop doing it, do you have a problem if I continue doing it?
posted by bq at 4:07 PM on August 23, 2013 [6 favorites]

You have a Boss; the Boss approved your actions. Before you go on leave, write up any documentation that will help the person who fills in for you while you're gone. And use it as a starting point to discuss your job description and role with your Boss. Then ask Boss if Boss still wants you to resolve Level 2 issues. You might also look up your stats to show the amount and quality of work you do.

By learning more, you're able to assist customers quickly and accurately. That's the key issue, and your small company would be nuts to want to slow down the resolution of issues. Unless customers are getting busy signals or not getting basic help because you're exceeding your job description, which I doubt.

You're a nice person. You want everybody to like you, want everybody to behave well, etc. Lvl 2 guy is maybe not super smart, is threatened by you, and possibly unable to recognize technical excellence in a woman. Small companies hate firing people, so he may not get canned, but he may get put on combined 1st & 2nd Level with you. While you're out, customers will miss you. He may be the one who covers for you. In any case, it's probably going to get untidy, and you have to be prepared to be tough and protect your ability to rise due to your own competence. Good luck, keep doing great work.
posted by theora55 at 5:24 PM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

Definitely don't give up.

L2 is not that important here. If Lead and Boss want you to keep doing the web stuff, he'll just have to grit his teeth and go along. Try that path.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably ask for a meeting to talk about how much you like doing the web stuff and can it be an official part of your role (details appropriate to your org). You might float the idea by Lead before you get started, mostly to let him know that you want him to go to bat for you, maybe to get advice on when/how to proceed.

The conversation should be about you, and how much you like the web stuff, and how happy you are that you're in a position that gives you room to grow and advance, and you especially enjoyed what you did for CUSTOMER that they really liked too, etc. You might be able to leave the subject of L2 & associated pettiness out of the discussion entirely. That would be just fine if it happened.

The maternity leave complicates things, but you might be able to use it as a pretext for wanting the meeting in the first place. "I've really been enjoying doing the programmery stuff, you know I'll be out for a month, I was wondering if we could make a plan for it to become more official when I get back?"

Good luck.
posted by mattu at 9:05 PM on August 23, 2013 [2 favorites]

What do you want to be doing in a year or two? As a startup grows, it strikes me as unlikely that the same person will be doing customer support and web development. Processes are going to be put into place, source control systems put in, a QA person hired...

If that happens, which path would you choose? I'm guessing you'd enjoy the development path more. If that's the case, then taking a step away from that direction (i.e. giving the development work back to Lv 2) would seem to be bad for your career.

It also seems like your boss and the lead guy both already see your merit and want to keep you. (As they should! An employee who takes the initiative to learn new things and make the customers happier faster-- mm, good.) So I'd talk with them along the lines mattu suggests: "I've been doing this stuff and it turns out I like it a lot; how can I do more of it?" You might not even have to bring up Lv2 and his request... if they agree that your position is going to move toward more development, then it's up to them to figure out and manage the conflict with Lv2.
posted by zompist at 9:23 PM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

One of the CURSES of a small/mid size company (like where I work) is there's an emerging hierarchy but seniors/owners dance around its existence. It makes me stabby every time someone says "he/she's 'sorta' the team lead" or the like, 'cause it leads to stuff just like this. Wearing multiple hats also leads to games like this one where the more desirable hats can get claimed by those who are just better at grabbing things (i.e. assholes) - in fairness both of you are grabbing after the same brass ring, but assuming you're on the level about asking your boss and the lead guy about whether you should do this work, I'd say that's been asked and answered.

I would have a conversation, like, yesterday, with as high level people as you can manage, preferably your boss and the person who is acknowledged as team lead. If you can manage to get an owner or partner in the firm in on it, even better. Topic: what does my job look like when I come back from leave, and how do I help you before or perhaps even during leave?

Best case: Lvl 2 guy is on his way out the door and they're just waiting for when you come back.

Worst case: you come back and you've been pushed back down into a smaller role while Lvl 2 guy has gained ground in your absence.

I think if you have that meeting, you'll get some pretty good clues as to which way it's going.

Keep this in mind, esp. in light of the personal insults and his apparent under-employment - in a smaller company, we managers can't always let go of someone when we'd like, or at least that's what we think. Over and over I see situations where we spot a rising talent (or explicitly hire someone hoping we can promote them past an under performer) and this awkward interval ensues where it becomes painfully obvious to all concerned how this is shaping up. Personally I think it would be both more ethical and more efficient to give someone their pink slip as soon as you know it isn't working out, but most owners/senior managers have a hard time doing that, both due to lack of resources and a tendency to avoid conflict, even when it needs to get resolved.
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:15 AM on August 24, 2013 [3 favorites]