Should I rat out my boss?

Dear Evil HR Lady,

My manager, who is a bruiser as a personality type, has drawn the ire of managers of his rank in other departments for refusing to work on their programs or undermining the work when he does allow members of our department to participate in it. (We are a specialty department with a mission to provide our expertise within and across the organization.)

He also tends to treat employees in our department as though they are more support than professional staff. His behavior includes: micro-management of start of day/end of day, including for top performers; obsessive monitoring of the details of work in which he also has expertise; working seven days a week to both manage and to maintain his dominance in his area of expertise; reading emails over employee's shoulders, possibly reading electronically; crowding employees physically in their offices; and losing his temper with staff as well as with other managers at his rank. The last is a persistent problem.

Basically, this is someone who does not adhere to professional or personal boundaries well. But he is, nonetheless, effective in demanding people do things and appears to present well up the hierarchy.

During this performance review season, I was asked to provide an evaluation of my boss in confidence by his boss. My initial thought was to avoid doing so, partly because I suspect he reads employee email, partly because I do not understand the dynamic up the hierarchy (who supports him, who does not, it's not uniform). Yesterday, I got a follow up email pushing me to submit an evaluation. I could recite a laundry list of bad behavior, but I think a vague description of the anger problem is probably best. What do you think?

You are wise to be cautious when trashing your boss. There are numerous problems, and (unfortunately) problematic bosses also tend to be utterly irrational when confronted by their bad behavior. Micro-managing, boundary busting managers who scream at people don't take kindly to people going over their heads to higher management or behind their backs to HR.

However, in this case, it's his boss who is coming to you. This makes all the difference in the world. It's not a situation where higher management (at least not all of it) is ignoring the problem. You're in a situation where his manager is desperately trying to handle the problem.

Doe that mean there won't be fall out that smacks you in the face? Of course not. It all depends on your boss's boss. If she is the type that will take your evaluation in and thrust it into your boss's face and say, "See! Even your star performer thinks you're a jerk!" well, then don't. But, since this has been asked in confidence, I would be willing to take the risk to detail the very real problems.

Now, in detailing them, I mean give specific examples. Don't write, "He's a micro-manager!" Write, "During the course of project X, I received 42 emails from boss regarding minor details, including A, B, and C, frequently multiple times per day" or whatever the true situation is. Micro-managing can be very difficult to define on paper, as it can seem far more like a feeling of being monitored and crushed.

The temper problem should also be documented with specific examples. Not just that he's a screamer, but what he screams about, when, and who the victim is. Frequency also matters here. A one time screaming fest because the company lost a major client or a server crashed is very different from daily yelling.

Because you're concerned about email monitoring (which, by the way, is perfectly legal and more bosses probably do this than we think), you can always do this the old fashioned way and actually hand a piece of paper in. It seems so strange, but honestly, for years people did it that way. You should also make a copy of what you wrote and keep it at home, not the office.

If you want things to get better, though, you need to take the risk to speak up when asked. As long as you write it in a business type manner, with factual examples, the risk of something bad happening to you are low. And the potential good is high.

Have a workplace dilemma? Send your questions to [e-mail].

[patrickx8]

Our coaching and consulting firm specializes in working with bad bosses. Providing feedback about them, even when asked, is a risky though necessary process. I think you have articulated most of the challenges well.

Two things to consider: 1) What kind of person is the boss' boss and what kind of relationship do you have with them? If she/he is someone you trust and you have a quality relationship with them that changes significantly what you can share with them with safety. In many organizations this process of getting feedback from you about your boss is done because "that is what is done" and there may be no real safety in the process for you. Quality of relationship is the difference maker.

2) We have found the best way to present your concerns is by crafting a business case for change. Identifying, with concrete examples, the potential costs and risks of the behavior of your boss is a useful and more safe process. This approach focuses on the business issue not the person and is usually more successful because of the business focus. Again, though, relationship matters. If you don't think that you have a trusting relationship with your boss' boss or with HR then this approach can also be limited unless you enroll others in signing up and supporting the business case. This approach where you gather the support of a number of people will take you out of the isolated whiny employee role into a place with increased protection via the numbers.

Patrick Reilly
Resources In Action

[RobJ8989]

Good advice, Suzanne. Things are never simple in these situations. And complaining about a boss who is just being a jerk, as opposed to doing something illegal, carries no legal protection against retaliation. If they fire you, well, too bad. I noticed there's a pretty good narrative going on over at Kim Urban's blog about how tangled things can get. If you don't mind I'll post the link here, but if you object don't hesitate to remove it: http://******/sFZj2

[harvyk100]

I don't envy the position this person is in at all. But I'd almost consider sussing out why the bosses boss wants to know before doing anything. Remember that your bosses boss may simply have been asked by their boss to do a review to "look like they are doing management stuff".

By speaking up you may very well find that your bosses boss had no real intention of acting on any bad news, especially if your boss has the wool pulled over upper managements eyes, which if he gets any sort of results he may very well have. The end result if this is the case is you'll find yourself without a job, and they will of course have a "valid" reason for it. Not a "team player" will probably come into it.

Perhaps the best way forwards is to type up the review letter (at home), and arrange a meeting with your bosses boss, depending on the tone of the meeting you can decide if handing the letter over is a good idea or not. Mae sure you have some good things to report about your boss if the tone of the meeting goes that way, following by polishing your resume.