Being in Middle Management Can Suck

[lazarus141]

One of my new employees stopped coming in to work earlier this week without letting me know why.  I knew that she had been having trouble tagging her materials as quickly as everyone else, but I was unsure exactly why she had stopped coming in since she did not answer her cell phone or my email.

That changed this morning, when she finally emailed

Comments

[keelyh]

The job was not a good fit for her. It happens. The slavery comment was unkind. I hate corporate America too, but it does little to no good to sling rocks at the other cogs in the machine.

You're a smart guy, so I'm sure you'd come to this conclusion on your own anyway, but sometimes it helps to have someone else say it for you: "This was not your fault."

[lazarus141]

Thanks. It does help to hear it from other people.

[the9trances]

I think you are totally legitimate about this issue. These challenges and issues are just part of the territory for managing people and their self-focused reality where they're the protagonist and everyone who offers the slightest bit of rigidity (as is necessary in highly structured work like you do) is the antagonist.

Don't hold this against yourself; that you consider the employees feelings is more than enough and more than most managers/supervisors/bosses. Your job and your position is to do the right thing, and you did.

And, like KeelyH said, it's thoughtless destruction to throw rocks at, as she eloquently said, "other cogs in the machine."

[rae_beta]

keelyh and the9trances covered the bases pretty well, so I'll just go with "What they said."

[lazarus141]

Thanks. It helps to hear it from other people, even when you're pretty sure on your own.