Raising Concern

D'Agger

I'm working in IT as a Sysadmin basically, with the company 8months and I'm having my 6 month review tomorrow. (The delay doesn't overly bother me, it's a permanent contract and the review is a formality) I like the company, I like the work, but the issue I have is with my boss.

The company has roughly 170 or so employees across 3 sites. I basically look after all deskside, exchange, server and level 1/2 network issues.

When I came, the place was in a bit of disarray - multiple things needed to be setup with regards to internal infrastructure, which I have been able to do to an extent, however, much, much more needs to be done.

My issue is that my boss is proving a huge stumbling block to this. Anytime I request anything, or undergo a task that involves his help, it drags on, it doesn't get done and I end up having to pretty much hound the guy into doing the work, or assume responsibility for it and sort it myself.

The excuse could be made that this is a case when you have a busy boss - however this isn't the case, my boss constantly falls asleep at his desk, watches videos, is constantly over an hour late in every morning, doesn't use the ticketing system that I created in order to track all IT issues which impacts on work I need to do/prioritize. I feel aggrieved that I seem to be shouldering the vast majority of the work, whilst not being able to rely on him to provide support or direction.

It's as though I'm swimming against the tide here, I need to fulfill project work on more enterprise stuff such as the way our mail works, our antivirus across the three sites, and yet I'm so overburdened with smaller tasks such as software installs that I don't get time to do this during the working day. I've been doing overtime & working through lunch in order to get around to project work, however it's unpaid and I'm not on massive wages, which somedays leaves me with the feeling that I'm not getting paid enough to be doing this extra work, that I could do during the day if I was receiving more help from my boss.

It's gotten to the point where I need to raise my concerns and this is where I need advice as I don't want to have an awkward situation on my hands.

1) Do I say this directly to my boss?

2) Do I air my grievances to HR, which will inevitably result in them speaking with my boss - this is almost the same as going to him directly - who could have taken issue with him, I'm his only employee.

3) Do I raise concerns at my meeting tomorrow (My boss and one of his superiors will be present)

4) Do I try to follow up with my bosses superior after the meeting and raise concerns then.

5) Do I play it safe and raise the concerns, or go whole hogg and state that I'm not happy with my current pay, given the amount of work I'm undertaking?


I'm sure I'm coming across as the run of the mill disgruntled worker, but I've never worked with somebody this unprofessional before and I'm not sure how to approach it given the family-run nature of the business, and the affiliation this worker has with the company, having been here for over 20 years.

It's a difficult situation and I'd appreciate some advice.

TIA

Nody

I'd wait to rock the boat until you're through the formality of being on a permanent contract. Remember that you can still easily be fired during the first year even after the trial period so on 1 year + 1 day I'd discuss with your boss about salary increase due to expanded responsibility. I'd very clearly list out your listed work duties and the additional tasks you've taken on to get things running and inc. historical examples of this rather then generic terms.

Eoin

I'd definitely would attempt to air my grievances with him on his own first.

I'd say "no" to options 2 & 4. If he's not the most professional, then the odds are that you'll kill whatever working relationship you have.

3) Do I raise concerns at my meeting tomorrow (My boss and one of his superiors will be present)

What you could do is talk about the issues but - importantly - without assigning blame. Talk about how the ticketing system, if used, will help productivity etc. Get his boss to buy into your ideas, so hopefully they'll be pushed down on to your boss, rather than you trying to manage upwards - which can be tricky.

5) Do I play it safe and raise the concerns, or go whole hogg and state that I'm not happy with my current pay, given the amount of work I'm undertaking?

It doesn't really sound like this is fundamentally about pay. While more cash would be great,it sounds they need to sort out the organisational side first. You're not going to be any less stressed if they throw a few quid extra your way.

Try getting the boss to think ideas are his (lots of leading questions instead of suggestions). Also, try and sell him on how his life will be (even) easier if some stuff can be sorted out.

D'Agger

Nody wrote: »

I'd wait to rock the boat until you're through the formality of being on a permanent contract. Remember that you can still easily be fired during the first year even after the trial period so on 1 year + 1 day I'd discuss with your boss about salary increase due to expanded responsibility. I'd very clearly list out your listed work duties and the additional tasks you've taken on to get things running and inc. historical examples of this rather then generic terms.

I've been on a permanent contract since the start, 6months of probation has ceased so I believe that this is a meeting to discuss setting up of additional benefits which I now qualify for such as VHI etc. But I do see your point - I just get the feeling if I leave this be and stop chasing things down then I'll just end up accepting it as the status quo.

The thing is, I'm not sure if my boss directly deals with pay upgrades or not I'll need to get that clarified, and on top of that, given his lethargy in getting simple tasks done, this can be close on guaranteed to be left on the wayside. However, it's not a bad idea to bring to his attention that I'm under pressure and suggest the possibility of overtime for project work that I need to complete, that'll be rebuffed, however it'll basically point out that I'm not happy with my wages.

D'Agger

Eoin wrote: »

I'd definitely would attempt to air my grievances with him on his own first.

I'd say "no" to options 2 & 4. If he's not the most professional, then the odds are that you'll kill whatever working relationship you have.

I've attempted to air grievances before but it's not worked. We had a meeting before where I ran through some problems I had with how we were running things. He nodded his head, said 'absolutely' and that was it, nothing changed.

What you could do is talk about the issues but - importantly - without assigning blame. Talk about how the ticketing system, if used, will help productivity etc. Get his boss to buy into your ideas, so hopefully they'll be pushed down on to your boss, rather than you trying to manage upwards - which can be tricky.

Good advice here thanks, I have planned to create reports based on the information on the ticketing system - might be no harm to suggest we offer a weekly/monthly IT report for his superiors to see, in which case (a) He'll have to use the software (b) The majority of the work I complete will not go unnoticed both by my boss and his boss etc.

It doesn't really sound like this is fundamentally about pay. While more cash would be great,it sounds they need to sort out the organisational side first. You're not going to be any less stressed if they throw a few quid extra your way.

Try getting the boss to think ideas are his (lots of leading questions instead of suggestions). Also, try and sell him on how his life will be (even) easier if some stuff can be sorted out.

Mo'Money'mo'xanax' :pac:

I do see the point though, my problem is when forwarding jobs that I feel need to be done, they could easily just be delegated to me - for example - removal of old PCs - we need a company to come in and take away the old junk. A very simple task, yet I've followed up 3/4 times now and requested responsibility for it, yet I've been told he'll sort it himself. I don't really know how to get around that one because it's a job that, in his own words, really needs to be done, and yet it's been talked about since I've arrived with no action.

Also, anytime it's been discussed I've had the nodding head/'absolutely'/'we must get around to that' treatment so it's fairly frustrating it has to be said.

Nody

Was your discussions documented? If not I'd start documenting them and putting down dates for delivery and set up regular monthly/weekly follow up calls under the guise of progress on your projects.

D'Agger

Nody wrote: »

Was your discussions documented? If not I'd start documenting them and putting down dates for delivery and set up regular monthly/weekly follow up calls under the guise of progress on your projects.

I've only started documenting from the start of this year.

Trying to get everything in a mail, and I'm saving those mails to an encrypted folder in order to have myself covered.