A colleague in my team was recently made redundant due to so called "structural changes". The announcement came as a total shock to all of us since she was shouldering a ton of the boring administrative work that no-one else wanted to do, and she was fairly good at managing it all. Our team is actually growing (5+ new hires in the last 6 months out of ~22 globally) so downsizing isn't really an excuse. I was actually lost for ideas as to why they would let a productive, valued team member go. Then I thought back to a couple of weeks ago, the formal peer review process. We both were recently placed under the care of a new manager who is not entirely popular in our team, a political worm who manages to gain credit from higher places without doing any actual work. I remember my colleague telling me she was not happy with the way he was managing and sought to voice her disgruntled opinions to the big boss through a supposedly anonymous peer review. So it turns out this worm is the MD's favourite son so to speak. What do you know, three weeks later she is fucking axed like Ned Stark.
Moral of the story, be very careful with this formal peer review process. Everyone likes to say it's the one time of the year you are safe to put everything on the table, get out all your opinions and frustrations about your colleagues and bosses. NO. Be aware of these political allegiances even in small teams. The first agenda of power is self-preservation.
nice read, good tips (no homo)
It's better to leave these companies or teams/groups (if you can). What people in Wall Street tend to forget is that we spend more than half a day (including the commute) with people in the office. You can't say I just work with these people - that makes you sound like such a sad loser. I have met colleagues that never socialized with their peers at work. It's not cool, it's rather sad. You are saying that people you spend more than half a day with are not the kind of people you want to hang out/around with. It makes your life so much easier if you get along and be friends with colleagues (share a few jokes).
Some bosses are terrible. Unfortunately this is the price we pay for the comfort of working for someone else.
Ideally, all of us can find a good boss that is honest with you (most Wall Street guys want to **** you in your ass, giving you a hint of dream and hope), genuinely nice, fair and most importantly care about your life.
You need to grow up. No matter where you go, you'll find pricks who want to, as you put so eloquently, **** you in your ass. Doesn't mean you quit the company. The overall culture of the place might be good enough for you to stick around. If one bad apple makes you want to quit, you need to grow some cojones or you'll be job hopping every other month with your ass on fire.
Point taken, but there is more to it than just that, and he's not the only bad apple in that leadership chain. I'm not usually one to complain, but some of the shit I have to deal with just makes me rage. E.g. getting me to write a report but in the background writing that report himself (albeit poorer quality) and sending it off to management before I wake up since we work in almost opposite time zones. Or the way he politically manipulates people, talks shit about people behind their back, and even having the gall to announce hiring a new grad in our team the day after he made my colleague redundant. And as I said, he's under the MD's wing because they're both cut from the same cloth. The problem is my job is really interesting and the people I work with in my office are great, so it will be a tough decision and finding something else in my field won't be easy because it's specialised.
You just described my immediate supervisor - he has done all of the above and more. The reason I'm sticking through this is because I'm planning for b-school next year and need recommendations, which I won't get if I jump to another place now.
But if I were you, I'd start reaching out to people discreetly. Despite my original comment, I agree with @"TNA" - one can only take so much. If you believe you've reached the limit of your endurance and you're miserable even when you're not in office, and the situation is beyond salvage, it's time to leave. After all, you never know when he will turn the tables on you. Better to have an option or two in hand if and when that happens.
I also agree with your original post - in some places one does need to be careful what they go on record with - the culture is simply like that.
Incidentally, my supervisor's first so-called 360 degree review is coming up soon. Let's see how that goes.
I think life is too short for that. I would normally do thorough research on the team or group I am joining. We all do research on the exit options and salary etc., but what we don't do is to ask around in Wall Street what this boss/MD is like. I would love to work with senior (and junior) guys who used to be a semi-professional futboler, athletic type, I also enjoy working with people who have worked outside the IBD and the financial services. I can never enjoy spending time with bankers straight out of college. I find them nerdy and they have this weird passion for learning. I just want to punch them.
I am weird like that maybe because finance was not what I wanted to do. I failed at what I wanted to do. I ended up doing finance. I don't care about the IBD job as much as other bankers do in Wall Street. But sadly, I am pretty good at it.
I make it clear to the most senior guys and junior guys that I don't take a ****. At some point, you have to say, "you know what, I don't have to take this ****. Just **** off." In terms of the workload as well, if you are a junior, just say "no, I got enough on my plate and can't take any more projects." If they make the face, just ignore.
I don't know, a bad personality is pretty cancerous. Yeah, you need to suck it up and deal with it, but I have worked for some horrible bosses in the past and it can be bad. If it is impacting you outside of work it is obviously time to go.
Honestly, this girl got the best deal ever. She got laid off so no ding on her record, she can milk unemployment until she finds something else and she doesn't have to deal with this loser. I mean really, a senior dude getting vindictive because an analyst said they had poor management skills? Be glad she is gone, she is free now.
At one point I was tempted to announce that I was forming a union and getting people to sign union cards just to deal with upper level management issues in my division.
In all seriousness, some people are harder to work for than others. When you are fed up, and it is annoying you or affecting you outside of work, it's time to leave.
If by "with care" you mean "not at all", I'd agree.
The 360 degree review process is pure bullshit and giving someone a poor or even less than positive review could turn into a political mine field, especially in an office as small as the one you described.
In a small office, you give someone a bad review, they will definitely find out about it and you'll pay the price (possibly with your job as in your friend's case). At a large institutionalized bank where everything isn't as transparent, you give someone a bad review and they'll still find out about it and will likely get demoted a bucket in the bonus process, and then they will really be out for blood. Not only that but the rumor mill is pretty efficient, everyone will soon find out that you hosed X on his/her review and you'll see the political storm clouds gathering.
Not advisable. Play the game.
Truer words have never been said...I've seen this first hand so many times.
My opinion on the 360 review process is that you can voice your negative views not by virtue of what you say but by virtue of what you do not say. Coming out with directly negative feedback for a superior is obviously the work of someone whose general idiocy has metastasized to the job realm or who does not mind getting laid off, consciously or subconsciously. Given the details presented, I would be tempted to say it was the latter in this context.
Hate playing these games, but they're a necessary evil. Companies should have a wild-west style duels for 360-degree reviews, with the participants slinging mud instead of guns. Let the games begin.
Yeah, if you are unhappy, just look for a new job and leave. Reviews are largely bullshit, especially when you "review" someone above you. It is better to just say weakly positive things and move on.
Can you please add a Game of Thrones SPOILER ALERT to your article? Thanks.
You really should have seen that episode by now.
In other breaking news, the sky is still blue and there are generally 24 hours in a day....
Maybe you're new or young but when someone says, "give me your honest opinion" what they really mean is confirm what I'm thinking and you need to do your best to softly and subtly steer things if your manager's view is dumb / wrong. There's an art to tip-toeing around criticism that you'll need to learn quickly.
Yes and no, I think. It's very tricky. If you follow this it's unlikely you'll be disliked, but to earn respect sometimes you have to take a stand...it may sting a bit, may ruffle some feathers, but in the end nobody respects a yes man. Obviously don't get your boss in trouble with other people.
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