How to deal with workaholic boss
Been at my current shop for a few months now and my boss is a workaholic. She basically lives at the office and doesn't seem to have friends or hobbies. She's constantly working on weekends and creating work that is not necessary. This has made my life miserable since I am also expected to be at the office nonstop. This is a pretty small shop so she is more or less my "boss" and am stuck working with her on everything.
Has anyone had a similar experience and have advice on how to deal with a situation like this? Do I just have to deal with it until I become more senior and can push back more?
Can't provide advice from experience on this as I've never been in this position but depending on your relationship with your boss, you could invite your boss to drinks / social events and encourage them to spend time with you? I had this with an AS3 at a small firm like yours who really wanted to be VP. The AN1-AS1s invited everyone for drinks and food away from the office and the AS3 realised there is more to life in the end and really enjoyed his time.
Would be interested to hear from others on this too. Maybe it's some sort of self-imposter syndrome where they really want the senior position and feel they live to work as a result of some sort of past trauma / standards they suffer.
That's a good idea, but tbh I can't stand the thought of spending any additional time with her...i also have doubts that would help as she seems to treat work as her hobby
It depends where you are in your career
sub 2-3 years I’d say deal with it
if you’re more experienced then find a new boss or a new firm
You can’t fix stupid
you need to diligence future bosses really well. Sometimes they are legitimately crazy. I’ve worked for some terrors of people
Just re read your comment. If you’ve only been there a few months then lateral right away and just pull it off your resume
About 5 years into my career and been at this job for ~9 months. I will probably look to jump ship in January...i don't see anything changing anytime soon unless she leaves
I've worked with people like this and it's miserable.. only a few ways to fix it
1) just move.. find something quick and if brought up mention that it wasn't a good fit as advertised etc. I've seen plenty of people move around a year mark or so
2) make your work product really good that you buy leverage.. I did this and basically as long as I was churning out good work more efficiently, I told my PM that unnecessary facetime isn't great for me and he agreed because my work was good anyways.. this also bought me leverage for pt 3 below
3) start pushing back on unnecessary work. Also ties to 2.. but this is a bit tricky as it can backfire without having some sort of leverage/being comfortable with the worst case scenario
Appreciate the advice. I think it’s a bit difficult to push back since the firm leadership thinks of her very highly. Feels like I’d just be shooting myself in the foot if i try to push back, which makes me think there isn’t really any realistic way i could continue working under her…
Finding something new would be your best bet then unfortunately
Find a new job. I'm dead serious.
I spent a few years in consulting before going to the buyside and the Number 1 predictor of whether a junior stuck around was whether the partners they were staffed with had kids. The ones who had nothing else going for them besides the job would run teams into the ground.
The getting closer to her, pushing back on work, etc. will be effective on the margins (or episodically) but at this stage of her career, a junior person isn't going to fundamentally change her working style.
Yeah unfortunately that is the conclusion I've come to. It's unfortunate since most of the other people seem way more chill
Agree - leaving is the only choice here - you can’t influence somebody like that to change their ways…frankly nor is it worth your time
i would start working on the resume during the thanksgiving week as it slows down and start applying in December
sounds like your 1 year mark should be January - most interview processes would take at least 4 weeks due to scheduling
That's a great point. I bet she is single
I came here to say this too.
Not to judge too much, I feel bosses without kids are not great because they consider "their work their life"; only thing that can actually be worse is women without kids who are bosses. Again, not to judge, just feel women who do this live in a work where everyone is asking them when they will settle down or have kids, and they feel the only way they can combat this is to just work hard and make money (Ironic, because usually the people who ask them about having kids don't care about money anyway.). Also things that contribute I feel are women hear the "I need to work twice as hard as a man" deal; while that may be somewhat true I don't think it always holds water.
Have you tried smashing yet?
You won't make more money for extra hours. First, figure out who critical she is in your review and comp process. You have 3 options - 1) riskier but have a chat with her when you are more tenured and suggest there are diminishing returns to what you are doing and these hours are not what you signed up for unless you make more money. Easier for them to fix hours vs. comp. Is she your manager? 2) Spend some time and try to find a different manager or boss. Also not wothout risk; 3) get a new job and diligence your manager next time
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