Attrition of good employees for a few buddies

by Matt
(West Branch, Iowa, USA)

I was hired by a startup company in 2007. I was one of 6 employees at the time. My boss reported to the VP of Operations in our corporate office, and the company hired additional management at her same level. The following year, my department hired 4 additional employees. I received a raise to $42K/year, and learned later that one of my co-workers hired after me, doing the same job with less responsibility was earning $50K. Another one of the new hires was promoted twice that year and made department head, making $55K. I changed superiors later. The company has a policy of posting positions for internal hiring. However, the person is first slotted, and then the position is created FOR them. Another employee that was hired in 2008 was put into my department. I was asked to train him on my job, and did this for 3-4 weeks. The result was he was placed in my position. I was left with very little work to do. This put me in a poor position during the recession. To add insult to injury, the new guy was always hanging out with our Plant Manager, and the Plant Manager was placed above my boss in the Organization. Multiple employees have expressed their frustration with this superior, changed jobs because of him, or left the company. For self-preservation I moved into another department. The company laid off 60 of 120 employees. My new boss reported to the VP of Operations, so I was out from under the umbrella of the Plant Manager. Then, the guy that took my job, who I trained, was promoted to the department manager. I was virtually ousted from my department to make room for the Plant Managers "buddy" to get a promotion. It gets worse. My new department boss was lowered on the Org Chart to serve under the Plant Manager. I went from one step lateral and one down from this guy, to 2 steps directly below him. My boss who was wonderful to work for has become a psuedo-supervisor. He no longer has control in his department personnel, so basically I report to the (expletive deleted). Recently, the Plant Manager instructed my boss to give me a new position which someone making $84K left behind in a career move. I was excited to take it, but soon learned that I would not receive a raise from my $42K to the new position. Instead, I was expected to carry out my normal duties, AND take on the new position as a "career development opportunity". I am disgusted, but I loved my job and what our company does. We are one of a kind, so I cannot move elsewhere in the industry. I will probably end up leaving the company, but would prefer to eliminate the ONE person making my days impossible. On a side note, he recently addressed my hours. I am salary, and come in between 7AM and 8:30AM. Occasionally, it will be 9AM. Sometimes I do not take lunch, other times, an hour. I leave typically at 5:00-5:30, but occasionally at 4:00 and often stay until 6:00-7:00PM. I put in more than 40 hours, and accomplish my work. My 3 reviews by 2 different supervisors have been excellent. Our front office comes in at 9AM and leaves at 5:00PM. My office, some are in at 8:00 others at 8:30, and only one guy stays past 5:00. The plant manager works 6:30-3:30PM almost daily, and his "buddy" that took my position and is dept manager works 7AM-4PM. My boss is 7AM-4PM. I was asked to work "regular hours". OK??? If my regular hours are like my coworkers, it would be 8:30-5:00. I am within that time unless I come in early, and leave by 4:00. In that case, I am no different than the management hours. I asked for clarification, or specific hours, and none was given. Just stated as "regular hours", so I guess I will work the same shift everyday, and not stay late.


Response from Carl: Thanks Matt and sorry for your predicament. It seems from what you mention that both yourself and the boss that you like are but two people who have been negatively affected by obvious favoritism towards other people?

What can you do? You can certainly stick it out or look for something different as you mention. I'm not sure what else your options are given what you've mentioned.

Carl