Work drama

[luvsJack]

Have none of you ever worked in an environment like the OP is describing? Wow. The college campus I work for now is a lot like this. We don't do a whole lot of leaving early but we are a close bunch and we do a lot together. When I managed a business we were the same way and I am still very good friends with some of those employees.

The difference is in everyone acting like adults. And it sounds like these two would rather cause drama than to act like adults. Nothing about working in a close office atmosphere justifys their going over their boss's head.

OP, if you can't justify the assistants job and she may get laid off; I am not sure I see any harm in warning her (even if it is to put a little fear in her). Just make sure there is documentation to back up what you say.

Maybe it needs to be said that it has come to your attention that some would prefer a more "professional" environment and there will be no more selling tuperware, doing other things on company time, clocking out early, or taking vacations without the required notification. I am sure others in the office will realize why this change has come without being told and they may make these ladies feel its time to move on without you or the other boss doing anything. And truthfully, you will have not done anything other than what these two seem to be suggesting.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

Have none of you ever worked in an environment like the OP is describing?

No.... and if I encountered it, I would probably find a different place to work. I don't like blurring the lines between "life" and "job". That's not to say that I don't have friends at work. But what she's describing seems to Dunder-Mifflin to me that it would definitely make me run screaming in the other direction.

Like I said earlier... that's not necessarily wrong. But when someone feels that something isn't right and goes above the boss's head, now that person is being lynched. I totally disagree that nothing justifies that. And I don't think that would happen in a regular work environment. The OP said that everyone liked the boss (or thought they did). My job isn't to like the boss. My job is to do my job. She admitted that she didn't think it was right for the boss to leave early just because. (Not like she had to run home for a sick child, etc). She also said the numbers were down, but somehow everyone is getting their work done, leaving early, and ordering tupperware.

IDK... I just find it completely strange. If I were the boss's boss... I'd be finding a way to split up that office. (Of course, I don't know what the industry is or where the next closest office is, etc.....)

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

...If I were the boss's boss... I'd be finding a way to split up that office...

If I were the boss's boss, my meeting with my manager would be a strategy session to get rid of the rats that called me. I just don't understand how you could be so supportive of the rats.

 

[phamton]

Just remember, there is a fine line between a whistle blower and a snitch. One is applauded for being courageous enough to blow the whistle and the other is looked upon as a tattletale.

 

[RadioNate]

I would hate to work with some of you. Snitching, tattletailing, all business all the time. Yuck. Where's the fun in that?

I would LOVE to make friends at work and the corporative, teamwork filled environment sounds great. Happy hours after work, Christmas parties...I'm IN!

I think most people commenting must not have worked in a salaried environment. Coming and going based on the work to do is EXTREMELY common. People come in early, leave early, come in late, stay late...no one is clocking in and out at 40 hours. Some weeks you work 60 hours and some you work 35...as long as the work is complete no one cares.

 

[Gigi22]

Agreed with DisneyBamaFan. I think the Monday meeting will turn out to be about the state of morale among staff, and will include active forward planning to remedy the situation.

 

[Carly_Roach]

I think most people commenting must not have worked in a salaried environment. Coming and going based on the work to do is EXTREMELY common. People come in early, leave early, come in late, stay late...no one is clocking in and out at 40 hours. Some weeks you work 60 hours and some you work 35...as long as the work is complete no one cares.

I think you're right. I've worked in environments where we had a set amount of work to complete in any given week and I've worked as a salaried worker with the perks (leaving early when the work is done) and downfalls (80 hour panic/deadline weeks with no O/T). Given the choice, I'll take salaried classification every time.

It seems that most salaried workers are adults who are way too busy focusing on the project at hand to have time for the petty BS that comes from hourly workers with too much time on their hands. Can you have petty, childish people in salaried positions? Yup. But as a general rule they fall into one of two classifications:

1). They're the first to go when layoffs occur.
2). They're so deep into upper management's butts that they're protected until the department or the company itself fails. Then everyone's let go.

I agree with RadioNate, though - I'd hate to work with some of you. People can be professional and still have a friendly team/co-habiting work environment. I don't see it often, but when I happen into one of these extraordinary situations I try to stay there for as long as I can. As I said before, it will live until someone gets hired who, for whatever reason, doesn't want to or CAN'T (personality, lack of talent or an intellectual issue) be a part of the team and resorts to P/A tactics to disguise their own shortfalls.

I also agree with Gigi. I think Monday morning will find upper management trying to figure out how to fix a team that was doing so well for so long but suddenly has a problem.

 

[Allison]

I would hate to work with some of you. Snitching, tattletailing, all business all the time. Yuck. Where's the fun in that?

I would LOVE to make friends at work and the corporative, teamwork filled environment sounds great. Happy hours after work, Christmas parties...I'm IN!

I think most people commenting must not have worked in a salaried environment. Coming and going based on the work to do is EXTREMELY common. People come in early, leave early, come in late, stay late...no one is clocking in and out at 40 hours. Some weeks you work 60 hours and some you work 35...as long as the work is complete no one cares.

Nope-I've always worked in a salaried environment. That does afford some flexibility but it doesn't mean you aren't there when expected to be. Sounds like someone's superior didn't know when they were coming and going and that's created a problem.

 

[Tink888]

Work place drama totally sucks doesn't it. I am dreading going to work Monday. I have no idea what to expect. Yes I am a salary person and so is my boss and yes we put in more than 40 hours a week. I had to make 2 trips to the office already this weekend to fix some stuff. I love my job but hate the drama. I am not a drama person at all.

And this is part of the problem right here.....you and your boss are salaried so when the two of your choose to cut out early regardless of all the other extra hours you might put in, those two hourly employees just see you leaving early and still getting paid for the time.

When the hourly employees leave early, they clock out and don't get paid. Do they have a choice as to whether they can go early and lose the money or stay and get all of their hours? Because if they don't, it creates resentment. They might need the money more than they need the time.

And by creating the "we're all pals" workplace, you've put them in the position that they really can't come to you or your boss if they feel something is unfair because doing so will create waves in the click you've all established.

I've been in salaried positions so I know all about how your "work" time might not necessarily be from 9 to 5 and people adjust for that by leaving early etc. Also know that when that happens, I still clear it with my boss before doing so, like your boss should've done with hers right from the get go. Probably would've been fine with her boss, since she does put in the extra hours and her butt would've been covered with her boss when the other two complained.

I really do hate an office snitch but when people in a position of authority create a workplace where the professional and social lines are skewed and then react to job issues in a passive aggressive manner, it's really not much better than the office snitch. It's not a good way to build a team.

 

[manning]

Once again, I agree with Bama. I've worked in offices where everyone was a team player and bent over backward to get projects in on time, and we also had a great time going out in our off hours and lunches. That is until a rat got hired and started office politics.

Rats destroy productivity, morale and teamwork with their gossip, innuendo and passive/aggressive attitudes. It's been my experience that people who behave like this do it to cover the fact that they're not all that talented to begin with. Their only talent seems to be seeking out the highest ranking member of the company and kissing butt.

People like this leave a paper trail, however. I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to set them up; I'd merely start with the paper trail already in progress and build on it. If the OP's rat had already enjoyed the boss going to bat for her to keep her even though the company could ill afford to keep her, I think her last rat tactic is about to backfire on her. She obviously misjudged her actions last Friday when she decided to stab that boss in the back by instigating an email "whistleblow" on an activity that had been going on and was overlooked for a long time.

Agreed. This is your best action. I doubt seriously that you'll take the tactic of never speaking to her because that's not professional. But taking it to a professional level and holding her accountable for accomplishing her work in a timely manner cannot be judged as unprofessional. My attitude would be "Sorry, but the tupperware party is over. You're here to work, you're getting paid by the hour to do that work, so you'd better be working."

If it were me and I knew how long it takes to complete specific tasks, I'd start setting (reasonable) deadlines. Each time these deadlines were missed I'd be documenting it. I'd probably also start limiting internet time and put a monitor on all hourly employee's computers for the websites visited during business hours. If your numbers already state that the company can't afford two assistants, then the added documentation of how the second assistant doesn't do much anyway will push the decision into the "cut" column.

In all my years of working I've seen great teams destroyed by the introduction of rats and snitches. They nearly always rely on the "I'm just enforcing the business rules" defense and, with investigation, they nearly always turn out to be the worst offenders at not getting anything done.

I wish you the best of luck tomorrow, OP. Keep it professional and stick with the "everyone's here to work, not make friends" attitude until this issue is resolved. You can always try to rebuild the team after the rats have been exterminated. It's difficult to earn the trust the of team members back, and it'll take months or years to do so, but recovering from a rat can be done with patience.

Agreed, this is the way to go.

 

[Myothername]

I really do not know what to expect tomorrow. If the big boss meets with me and it comes up I am going to keep some of these comments in mind. Her position is not justified right now and having a rat is not a good work environment. Also, for those who say this is not a good work environment we have actually been complimented on how well our office works together. I have been told we are unique in our company. We really do all get along and honestly up until Friday I could have gone on vacation with anyone of our employees. Not now.

 

[manning]

I worked with a rat once. All of a sudden I'm getting accused of things, like the payments are late etc

It was a job that involved a lot of phone work and invoice processing. The problem was many of us would process the invoices for the same company. He was telling them it was me.

I was respossible for programming the speed dial for the phones.

This is what I did. I convinced the boss to assign each of us to specific companies for invoice processing so only one of us would handle a company, I then found the 800 numbers for all the companies we did busness with and programmed them into the speed dial. (Of couse I didn't tell anyone this.)
After that I sat back and let the situation take care of itself. Within several months it became obvious who abused the phone usage (his personal calls stood out like a sore thumb on the phone bill) and who was slow with invoice processing.

I was helpful, I did offer to help him carry his personal things to his car. Only one caught on what I was doing and thanked me for it. I guess you can say I made it possible for him to document his own demise.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

If I were the boss's boss, my meeting with my manager would be a strategy session to get rid of the rats that called me. I just don't understand how you could be so supportive of the rats.

Because I don't see it as being supportive of rats. I see it as an employee who felt that something wasn't right and voiced an opinion about it. Maybe it's because my industry is so highly regulated that I'm looking at it differently. But there is no way that something like this would happen in my company and the ending result would be to try to figure out a way to get rid of the person who opened her mouth.

The concept of "being done with my work" is not something I'm familiar with, so that could also be part of the disparity. Luckily, I don't have to be DONE in order to go home!

I would hate to work with some of you. Snitching, tattletailing, all business all the time. Yuck. Where's the fun in that?

I would LOVE to make friends at work and the corporative, teamwork filled environment sounds great. Happy hours after work, Christmas parties...I'm IN!

I think most people commenting must not have worked in a salaried environment. Coming and going based on the work to do is EXTREMELY common. People come in early, leave early, come in late, stay late...no one is clocking in and out at 40 hours. Some weeks you work 60 hours and some you work 35...as long as the work is complete no one cares.

You can have a cooperative, team-filled environment without being buddy-buddy. I get along fine with my coworkers and we work very well together. I do not want to spend time with them outside of work. I just don't. As for the Where's the fun in that" comment... well, it's work. We don't have TIME to be off having fun.

Also, in my company salaried employees cannot work less than 40 hours a week. If they do, they have to put in for sick/personal time. And like I said... the work is NEVER done.

 

[manning]

Also, in my company salaried employees cannot work less than 40 hours a week. If they do, they have to put in for sick/personal time. And like I said... the work is NEVER done.

I don't think that is correct. Salaried you are on call and paid for 24 hours 365 days.

Years ago I had to leave work early once a week for chemo. I was salaried. Hourly workers had to work 6 weeks straight 8 hours a day to get their used medical benefits back. After 3 months I didn't. Come to find out I was being reported as hourly and working less than eight hours that day. It had to be explained that as I showed up, even for a short time, at my work place to work I was considered there with no time off. We had salaried people who worked combinations of 4,8,12 16 hour days and they were paid the same. No overtime or deductions

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I don't think that is correct. Salaried you are on call and paid for 24 hours 365 days.

Umm, no.

 

[luvsJack]

Because I don't see it as being supportive of rats. I see it as an employee who felt that something wasn't right and voiced an opinion about it. Maybe it's because my industry is so highly regulated that I'm looking at it differently. But there is no way that something like this would happen in my company and the ending result would be to try to figure out a way to get rid of the person who opened her mouth.

The concept of "being done with my work" is not something I'm familiar with, so that could also be part of the disparity. Luckily, I don't have to be DONE in order to go home!



You can have a cooperative, team-filled environment without being buddy-buddy. I get along fine with my coworkers and we work very well together. I do not want to spend time with them outside of work. I just don't. As for the Where's the fun in that" comment... well, it's work. We don't have TIME to be off having fun.

Also, in my company salaried employees cannot work less than 40 hours a week. If they do, they have to put in for sick/personal time. And like I said... the work is NEVER done.

Since I spend more time at work than I do at home, I prefer an environment that I do enjoy being in. What you say may be true but you can also have a close, "buddy-buddy" environment and do a good job. The office I work in is proof of that.

I am not paid to like my boss or even my coworkers either, but it sure does make the days more pleasant.

 

[Myothername]

I worked with a rat once. All of a sudden I'm getting accused of things, like the payments are late etc

It was a job that involved a lot of phone work and invoice processing. The problem was many of us would process the invoices for the same company. He was telling them it was me.

I was respossible for programming the speed dial for the phones.

This is what I did. I convinced the boss to assign each of us to specific companies for invoice processing so only one of us would handle a company, I then found the 800 numbers for all the companies we did busness with and programmed them into the speed dial. (Of couse I didn't tell anyone this.)
After that I sat back and let the situation take care of itself. Within several months it became obvious who abused the phone usage (his personal calls stood out like a sore thumb on the phone bill) and who was slow with invoice processing.

I was helpful, I did offer to help him carry his personal things to his car. Only one caught on what I was doing and thanked me for it. I guess you can say I made it possible for him to document his own demise.

Taking notes.

 

[manning]

Umm, no.

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/salary_definition.html

Don't know your situation but it looks like you shuold be paid as long as you worked any hours during the week. I didn't look at the exceptions, but I think they can dock you if you don't show up for a day.

 

[Disney Doll]

You have been given some good advice as to how to handle the situation. Chances are if your boss has been agood employee, she probably won't be fired, but she might be reprimanded, which means that now the Bigger Boss(es) will be watching. After your boss comes back from the meeting, I'd probably do something like send out an email saying something to the effect of "Boss met with the Bigger Boss today and there will be some changes in how we perform our duties. Everyone will be assigned their tasks to complete. We will be working with you to make sure you have the tools and ability to complete your tasks. If need be, we will rework or rearrange assignments in an effort ot make sure we are able to complete what is required of us. Please feel free to come to us if you are having difficulty with anything we assign you so that we can look at it again and come up with a new game plan. There may be times when, as hourly employees, you will be able to punch out and leave early if your tasks are completed, but that will be at the discretion of the Boss from now on." I would make no mention of the fact that anyone ratted you out to the Bigger Boss...I would keep it on a completely professional level...realisitically, what I described above is the way a business should be run for maximum efficiency anyway. You guys have been trying to be nice....

Unfortunately you and the Boss made the mistake that a lot of people do...you determined that you could make a "nice" work environment for everyone. But the old "give them an inch and they want a mile" rule came in to play. The rat decided that her ability to do personal stuff at work and goof off wasn't enough and she opened her mouth. So now, the price must be paid. You must go from being a nice office where the work got done in a relaxed and casual manner to being a "professional" office where people and productivity are closely montiored. The rat has no one to blame but herself for what is about to rain down upon her...it may be distinctly illustrated that she is not a necessary cog in the wheel, once you and the Boss get the office working at absolute professional maximum efficiently.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I'm not sure what that has to do with needing to use sick/personal time?? Our salaried employees are expected to work at least 40 hours per week. I'm sure it's just a formality, because they automatically get a ton of sick time, but at least this way it can be documented.

Because of the amount of work everyone else is doing, it would cause a riot if a salaried employee (especially a manager) worked less than that.