Words to Live By

Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid it will never begin.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

More on "The Boss"

So now the issue is: total micro-management. This is to the point where I think I've had just about enough. The following is a message from my boss with the subject line of "Time and Attendance": I didn’t receive your email today when you arrived letting me know when you came in this morning. Please be reminded, I need to receive this email everyday when you log onto your computer and every evening before you log off. If it helps, a reminder message can be set up in Outlook through establishing a recurring task, with a reminder message so that it appears as soon as you sign into Outlook. You need to send this email everyday, even when it has been arranged in advance that you will be coming in late. For today’s occurrence, I will seek assistance from security. But please make note of this and ensure that I receive this data daily. I believe this is creating a hostile work environment for me and my co-worker. We are in a professional environment, nobody punches a clock. We enter our time into PeopleSoft every day. Furthermore, when the boss stated that this would be a requirement, I asked her if we had given her any reason to be doing this, and she responded, "No, I'm just keeping track of time and attendance." I thought that's what PeopleSoft was for. This goes against one of our company's core values which is: Create and maintain an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. In addition to the "Time and Attendance" rule, we now have to 'filter' everything through the boss. That is, everything we send out (reports/data due) we have to send to the boss first, and then wait for her approval before we send to the party that is expecting it. We also have to 'filter' all requests through her as well. Like, if we need data from someone that is critical to a report, we cannot go to the source, we have to go to the boss and she will request said data. This goes against the aforementioned core value, and two more: 1. Encourage every team member to take risks, exercise initiative, deliver quality results and never be afraid to make honest mistakes. 2. Create a supportive environment that nurtures personal and professional growth. I don't feel like my personal or professional growth is being nurtured, and this is definitely not a supportive environment! I am also not being encouraged to take risks, and certainly not to exercise initiatives!!! The good news is, I have a meeting with the boss's boss on Tuesday. There are many more issues that could go into some ethical areas. That's for another blog.

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