Condesending Supervisor-HELP
agunter2
10 Posts
I am new to the HR position in a very small company. All of about 10 employees in the office. Our company has seen a slowdown, so the owner hired a new manager to try to uplift everything. The owner also placed me under this new managers supervision.
The problem...He is a mean, condesending, threatening supervisor. He has terminated employees, goes around stating he has absolute power, uses the term "Are you looking for other employment" to employees up to 3 times a day. I am even nervous writing this.
Now, I have 3 employees wanting to make formal complaints. How do I handle this.
Help!!!
The problem...He is a mean, condesending, threatening supervisor. He has terminated employees, goes around stating he has absolute power, uses the term "Are you looking for other employment" to employees up to 3 times a day. I am even nervous writing this.
Now, I have 3 employees wanting to make formal complaints. How do I handle this.
Help!!!
Comments
agunter2, no, it isn't illegal unless a member of a protected class is being singled out. The others are correct that it is not illegal to be an equal opportunity jerk. However, I would think that your employer would not want to foster a climate where employees are being treated poorly. I can't imagine it does much for productivity and it is just bad business practice. As was stated, you need to talk with you employer and if he condones this, then you might want to consider moving on.
Elizabeth
A couple of comments. It is not illegal to be rude, condescending, mean, etc. These characteristics may, in fact, be the reason the new owner hired the guy. It would not be the first time ownership did not share their real agenda with the ees of a company. I am not saying that is what is happening, but in my opinion, actions always speak louder than words.
If you are an 'At-Will' state, and the terminations don't have discriminatory actions associated with them, there may not be anything formal to complain about. If however, the complaints have some merit, you will need to deal with them just like you would any other complaint.
Have you had a chance to sit down one on one with the new owner and ask him what is going on? You may get some insight from him about how to handle the new supervisor.
My advise is to try and get together with the new leader and get a feel for what he is trying to acomplish and then offer some suggestions on how he might be a bit more motivating while trying to achieve his goal/s. I would also be polishing up the old resume just in case.
Sorry I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, good luck
If they make them to you, then take down their complaints, let them know that the only way something can be done is if you talk to the owner about their complaints & then speak with the owner. If they make their complaints to the owner - let them. If they make them to an outside agency, like others have already said, they won't get that far with their complaints.
In the HR world, this is where you have to develop objectivity with complaints - yes, you may share the employee's opinions, but when presenting complaints to the owner - you have to remain objective. Honestly, it sounds as though you are in quite a pickle. Because of your size, I bet the person hired in to 'uplift' everyone is a friend or somehow personally associated with the owner & if that's the case, you'll either have to buck up to this new manager's style or leave. If I'm wrong, then there probably is another agenda in action here. I really dislike it when HR doesn't report directly to the owner/CEO/president and this is a prime reason. Sorry I can't offer more advice - other than to say life's too short to be miserable - so be happy.
Does your place offer new manager orientation and training? His attitude may have been perfectly acceptable in his previous place of employement. Sometimes folks need to be trained on the new and different culture.
How sad.
1. I am having the employees that came to me complete an incident,Complaint form.
2. I will take this to the owner.
3. Try to find resolution in an objective manner.
4. If none found, I am afraid that we will lose the highest producing employee we have.
I know that some of them want to take legal action stating a very hostile environment. He even snoops around desks.
The owner does know of how the supervisor is, but to what extent he is going to, I don't think he knows that. When I first met the supervisor and was told what was going to happen, he was condesending and a jerk right in front of the owner. Later I said something about it to the owner and he just said "ya, I don't know why he was like that, but I am not above terminating supervisors". I also know that the owner is wanting to move onto new endeavors and move away from being in the office so much, this he has done. He is rarely here.
This supervisor is a very good, strong sales guy and I believe that is exactly what he has done, sold himself to the owner. He was previously a Loan Officer then stated what he felt he could do with the company and the owner thaught it was worth a try on a contract basis of initially 3months, but the supervisor changed it to 6months, and if he doesn't bring in revenue within that time he will no longer be here.
He called me into his office and ask me if I had been keeping track of the people coming and going late or early.
I said yes
He then asked to look at the list and stated that I obviously had not been this week. (Keep in mind it is only Weds.)
I asked who I had missed.
He said "It didn't matter he had it all up here (pointing at his head).
I then left his office.
Plan B. Go in with the complaints. How you present the complaints and your concerns is up to you. In your situation, I would ask to meet with the owner. Once the meeting has been set up, go in and give him the complaints from the employees, state your concerns regarding their complaints (loss of talented employees) and then state your own. It sounds like you will be the only voice of opposition in this scenario - so make sure you have documentation (i.e. the permission from your fellow co-workers to use their specific complaints & names). Also, see if you can have a solution as well. Right now the owner is enjoying being away from work - what can you or others do that can allow the owner to continue doing so in the case that the supervisor is let go. If you need some help with recruiting ideas/wording let me know. Good luck. p.s. The only other thing I would say - just stick to the facts - don't become overly emotional in the retelling - be prepared too, the CEO could very well take everything you say to the supervisor & then there will probably be some form of retaliation from the supervisor. Don't let this scare you, just be prepared.
If he won't listen then you can try approaching owner but I think that might be risky and could be a career limiting event at your present job.
I don't envy you, but feel strongly you can turn this unfortunate situation around and maybe be the hero.
Chari
I think this is important additional information. Being a small company, you should have some idea as to how much the owner values certain, if not all, of the ees. If some of the key ees are in danger of walking, will that change the owners tune? I usually say go directly to the source of the problem before you jump the chain of command. That may not work in this situation. If you can get to the owner in a non-threatening way, say in a breakfast or coffee meeting outside of the office, maybe you can ask him how far he wants to take this experiment. Perhaps he is willing to shake things up a lot and give this salesman a lot of room to do his thing, perhaps he is not willing to have his company completely gutted. See if you can develop enough rapport to find out how much rope he is going to give the new guy before it is used to hang the company.
After this meeting, you will know what to do with your resume.
My guess is that the owner is happy with the situation.
Your options are: (1) Have a heart-to-heart talk with the owner and let him know that the best employees are leaving because of the jerk's behavior. (2) Talk to the supervisor. Let him know that HR is a resource for management and see if he will let you in on his agenda (which is probably to reduce expense by changing higher paid employees for new lower paid ones). (3) Get your resume spiffed up and start sending it out. ...Contact the local SHRM group as they may have news of job openings in HR.
Good luck!
If Don is monitoring these posts, I am certain he would reward you with the offer of a backrub. Well done.
As for the way he is treating the ees including myself is just plain not right, I have heard ees say things like "I wanted to punch him" and "I walked out and almost did not come back" and "If he keeps this up I am going to quit". I also think that the one's who would really quit is not who they want to have quit. In my opinion with everyone as Stressed as they are, not because of thier jobs, but because of him, creates a very hostile unworkable envioronment.
Thank you everyone,,,I will keep you informed. Any advice is welcome!!
"(4) Good cause for voluntarily leaving work under ORS 657.176(2)(c) is such that a reasonable and prudent person of normal sensitivity, exercising ordinary common sense, would leave work. For an individual with a permanent or long-term "physical or mental impairment" (as defined at 29 CFR §1630.2(h)) good cause for voluntarily leaving work is such that a reasonable and prudent person with the characteristics and qualities of such individual, would leave work. For all individuals, the reason must be of such gravity that the individual has no reasonable alternative but to leave work."
A person can read more at: [url]http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/rules/OARS_400/OAR_471/471_030.html[/url]
>employees in the office.
He has terminated employees, goes around stating he has absolute power,
>uses the term "Are you looking for other employment" to employees up
>to 3 times a day.
>Now, I have 3 employees wanting to make formal complaints. How do I
>handle this.
>
>Help!!!
agunter2,
What is your current relationship with the other office employees? It looks as though you were promoted to HR. Are you viewed as a supervisor? Is HR a separate department or are you seen as a clerical person with HR functions?
The company owner doesn't strike me as a powerful supervisor - maybe business-wise, but not a good manager. He has probably allowed a clique to evolve and now can't break it up himself. He may be unhappy about the office environment and has hired a thug to take care of that business.
How has this thug terminated employees? Has he run the terminations past you as HR? I get the impression that the owner knows what's going on and will be scarce for the house cleaning.
Be very careful and observant. If he's working on constructive discharge it won't be very obvious. Even total A-@#$%'s can have "absolute power" in their company - but that's where it ends. That's why we have DOL.
The point is, he will only be condesending and a bully if you let him. If everyone likes their jobs and wants to keep working there, then you have just as much of a right to tell him he can stop his behavior and you arern't going to put up with it any more. That might be just what he needs to hear to know that everyone is willing to make the company a success but you are not willing to put up with the added stress. Is is not illegal for him to do what he is doing, but that doesn't mean you have to give up your dignity or self-respect.
For me, in the long run, the manager was I had worked for was run off from the company and the stress level dropped immensely!