Supervisor’s behaviour sabotages employees’
I work at a non-profit organisation that pays well, but I steadily am becoming more miserable. There are four of us in our department, but we each have enough work to keep several people busy. I have the largest caseload. Two weeks ago, a co-worker quit in the middle of a busy day, and another co-worker went on vacation. As a result, I fell behind on a monthly project. I updated my supervisor daily on my progress and told her when I finished it. She seemed fine with that. Then last week, she called me in and demanded to know why I hadn’t finished the project on time. She spent 10 minutes grilling me on what I hadn’t finished yet. I didn’t know what to say because I had kept her up-to-date on everything. Today I was written up for not completing my work on time. I plan on appealing it.
We get regular pep talks, during which she changes gears. She tells us to just do our best, and then the next time, she tells us we have to manage our time better. She will reschedule and add additional appointments in the same day, which throws our planning and prioritising out the window. Is there any way to deal with this supervisor, or should I look for a new job?
YOUR supervisor seems to want to sabotage your and your co-workers’ performances.
Assuming she does not have a serious health condition, such as a brain tumour or the onset of dementia, that type of behaviour may arise out of a personality disorder, which neither you nor she can change.
In your formal appeal to the board of directors, present a calendar of when you completed the tasks and the dates and times you informed her of your progress. Take a chance on trying to form a liaison with one of the board members. If you are successful, feed the board up-to-date information on her behaviour. If your supervisor has a history of such abuse toward employees, you will be able to tolerate her as long as you have the board’s backing. If the board seems fooled by her and does not accept the facts you supply, look for another job, but don’t quit and walk out as one of your co-workers did.
— Creators News Service
