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The Case of the Missing Boss
My manager (who is in charge of a team of six) doesn’t work. Of the three days she’s supposed to be in the office, she has an excuse to “be remote” at least two or three of those days. But when she’s remote, she’s not online working. She only makes an appearance in the office two to five days a month!
The days she does come in, she’s late or leaves early, or both. Excuses have ranged from having “tired kids, gonna let them sleep” to “traffic, commute too long today.” There have been a myriad medical ailments, family issues and drama, days where she is taking kids to the park or beach, falling on ice, getting hit by a car. She cites midday appointments and sleeping through alarms. I wait for her messages to show up around 9 a.m. each day. I have been keeping track for two years and have 22 PAGES of excuses (in 10-point font).
She does this all while flying under the radar of the higher-ups and shows her face when they are around. The rest of the team carries the workload and shows up on the regular. I tried having a conversation with H.R. and they were not helpful. She needs to get fired! How can I report this behavior without jeopardizing my own job?
— Anonymous
I wonder how much this has to do with Covid. Which is to say: I wonder how much Covid-era work policies so accustomed your manager to remote work that she can’t seem to get back into the swing of things.
This is the case for a lot of people. Not that it is an excuse; but it might help explain why she’s not coming into the office with any regularity. (If I were to create a list of reasons I could wield in order to avoid the office, medical issues, traffic, and alarms would definitely be included. Also: “Falling on ice” made me laugh.)
But there are other possibilities, and a few things I’m confused about.
1. The higher-ups. You say that your manager’s absences are not apparent to her superiors because she’s usually visible (meaning: in the office) when they’re around. Are the higher-ups also not in the office very often? Could it be that she’s taking a page from their example? And why are you so sure that they’re unaware of her absenteeism?
2. “They were not helpful,” doesn’t tell me what, exactly, you said to the H.R. department, and what evidence — if any — you wielded to buttress your argument. Did you provide examples of the extra work that you and your colleagues have had to engage in? The most compelling argument you can make is to explain — and, if possible, show — the ways in which you and your colleagues are taking on additional duties. (Don’t show H.R. the list you made of your manager’s excuses. It comes across as obsessive.)
As for the other possibilities: It’s quite likely that it’s you who doesn’t know the whole story. Maybe there are no performance issues. Maybe her children need a lot of care. (Kids do have a lot of appointments and medical emergencies.)
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The post What to Do When Your Manager Doesn’t Work. Like, at All. appeared first on New York Times.
