So I am taking off a branch of the company along with three men. One of whom is the %26quot;head of the department.%26quot; He has no experience in running a company as large as we are projected to become. He has also hired his best friends, yes friends he's known since grade-school, none of which are nearly qualified to be handling the amount of money that flows through our hands. One has only had one job, as a fast food manager, and the other working in a call center for AT%26amp;T. We are a company that deals with millions of dollars and gives cash loans to people and determine their eligibility. I have worked in finance for quite sometime, both profitable and non-profit and have single-handedly controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars. None of these men have degrees of any form past a high school diploma. They slack off and play on the internet all day and do not do the work required of them, and yet they are given no disipline because of their personal realationship to the department head. I have intruduced new, fast moving, cost efficient ideas, but they are dropped seconds later and we go back to talking about Halo in our weekly meetings. When something goes wrong, even if I'm not to blame, I get the heat. I am the last person in the department to find out of any changes or see our numbers. These men all room together by the way. I work 9-10 hours days because they don't want to get out of bed early and want to leave early to go get dinner. They all leave for lunch together, leaving me to handle the entire department alone. I am being so underminded. The deparment head is taking advantage of my work abilities and ethic, I am seriously underpaid too. What whould I do? I have let the department head know that I prefer he hire outside of his group of friends but he has assured me each time that they are great workers and very expirience. I have yet to see either. Should I start looking for a new job or voice my concerns with a more commanding tone than that of an outsider. I truely feel that his folly business choices will bring down the company we have created, losing millions in the process.
Should I confront my boss on his poor business decisions?
Ah office politics, gotta love it. Yes. I would tactfully ask for a lunch alone with the boss and then slowly explain what you told us.
I would then give it a month to see how brick-headed the boss is. After that I would go over his head if possible. the cronyism will kill you.
Your ambition and big-picture thinking shows. Maybe some of it can rub off on your boss.
BTW I head a small firm and I hear the office politics complaints. It's not easy.
Should I confront my boss on his poor business decisions?
Company structure is a bit unclear to me.
If your dept head has a boss, you can go voice your concerns to him or ask for a transfer to another dept. Maybe he will do something about it. But it could be risky too, depending on how good a boss HE is.
Otherwise, just look for another job now. If you wait until later, dept will be gone and you will have the bad rep of the money-losing dept to follow you in your search for a new job.
FIND ANOTHER JOB IF YOU CAN
THERE'S REALLY NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
GO OVER HIS HEAD IF YOU MUST BUT THAT WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BACKFIRE ON YOU
START YOUR OWN COMPANY AND HIRE ME
lifes a gamble heres your bet
make notes of thier start and leaving times,note how often they skip work go on the internetect, list your ideas in the shape of a business plan make enough copies and send to tthe directors / bosses with a letter explaining your concerns thier behaviour will have on the company /department, DO NOT put yourself forward to run the department as this will take away credibility of your complaint let the board decide ,
by sending to all in charge this circumnavigates any chance of your boss being one of the directors friend
if after this your job is put under threat see a lawyer and sue for sexual discimination
good luck
If you don't own the business, you have no say in what goes on, period.
If you are going to work in a big corporation and hope to do well you must learn to play the game by their rules.
1. When you make suggestions put them in a memo and send copies to your co-workers and to your bosses boss.
2. Do not be a whistle blower! In the corporate world the person you blow the whistle on has friends and they will get you. Don't criticize your co-workers. Instead suggest improvements in the procedures and practices.
3. If you have a concern submit a memo expressing your opinion that there is a better way, suggest the better approach and then don't bring it up again.
4. Save copies of all of your memos -- at home where they are safe and always accessible.
If your manager is a political animal he will be aware of what you are doing and will be forced to pay attention and give you more than lip service. If he isn't very sharp there is a good chance that you will wind up with his job.
Hope this helps
Jerry-the-bookkeeper
