We need great people to shape the future of this company. All big companies have their drama and b—s—. How can we help each other get through it and change things for the better?
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What i try to do is just be as open and honest about everything I and those on my team are experiencing. I am not in a position of authority but I do point things out to try to drive deeper and (sometimes awkward) discussions. The goal is help create some grass roots change where i can, even if it makes me feel a bit vulnerable. I feel very lucky to have people in my close team who offer genuine support, without that support it is definitely harder... so it might not be applicable to everyone. Hang in there though and try to find a friend or mentor at work to walk through this stuff with you! I honestly have a great team but everything is harder with covid and feelings of job scarcity... we got to remember to look out for each other and not be afraid to ask for help or have our voices heard :)
How to make things better:
- Promote right people to do the job and lead the teams. Some good-for-nothing people were recently promoted to lead teams in Upstream because they were TALKERS and good presentation jockeys.
- Focus on doing the real job, as opposed to infinite culture-blah blah stuffs for limelight.
- Stop punishing people who speak up and LISTEN.
- Have team leads set clear work goals and vision to employees. Some hopeless leads set good employees to failure.
However, If it is your direct boss then RUN !!! I wish I had done that and left earlier as opposed to try and fight till the last round. My two cents on this topic are:
- Document everything and ensure there is a digital trial of communication to protect yourself from gaslighting later.
- Be prepared to fight an unconventional battle, the bosses will not fight you, they'll degrade you.
- Know your higher-ups before escalating, because in my situation my supervisor was technically clueless and incapable of even sensing the BS that my TL was peddling. These s—ers will do anything to look good and save their skin, even if it means ignoring or sidelining the truth.
- Don't share too much information, and don't ever react despite being provoked. The day you do, the battle is lost and that's what they want.
- Prepare to collect your severance pay in the worst case.
Wish you all the very best.
How to fight?
The few people I know who went to HR ended up worse off. HR is not your friend. HR is there to protect the company from lawsuits.
How can you fight when you have sh–hole dumb puppet supervisors, when you are surrounded by sarcastic pretender colleagues (not everyone off course) and when management is pushing all technical work to cheap location BTC ( that place is notorious for cheating and plagiarism) what else you can do? If you can continue with this mess you can stay. However, don’t ruined your health by continuing work with four time work loads under incompetent bosses.
Those who only worked for Imperial for long time will be in trouble. No company really care what you did for Imperial. For instance, unnecessary presentation, policy, so called diversity, useless committee, organizing events (admin job, Imperial use their Engineer for that, one criteria for high ranking though!). Other companies want your direct deliverables, your direct product. Not how you complete the task by delegating or coordinating with others for your day to day job like Imperial. Especially in this environment no one wants to pay a coordinator. Owners can do it by themselves.
Escalated one step higher for help and ended up being collectively mobbed and gaslighted so badly that my mental health went to drains.I loved this company, my job and the amazing people I worked with, but I'm equally pragmatic to know when to call quits. When your bosses are inexperienced, insecure and pure narcissistic you simply don't stand a chance, despite your best intentions and efforts.
Other workplaces have their toxins, you just have to decide what’s your toxin of choice. Many have left and come back. For all the bad things, there’s plenty good stuff. Everyone has to decide for themselves what’s important to them
Take it up with HR or elevate to their management, or both, and make sure you document everything and have offline copies.
One popular reason why Good employees leave is when they work for narcissistic bosses in a toxic environment. Promoting wrong people to leadership roles will create a dysfunctional toxic system that honest and talented folks typically struggle to survive. I stood against a covert narcissistic boss in Upstream SS who was a habitual liar, manipulative and technically clueless. Ended up getting laid off :) So not sure if speaking up is a good idea. Better to jump ships and take your talent elsewhere.
Let's do it! Be the change!
People who recommend change get punished. Better to find a less toxic workplace that doesn’t just pay lip service to change.