Mensa-Level Worker Dismayed
Q: I’ve worked as an administrative assistant, type fast and accurately, have advanced computer skills, great grammar and etiquette, wear designer suits and I passed the Mensa test. I suspect that I am not the only skilled, literate and intelligent person who has left the job market in dismay. The atmospheres I’ve encountered in temporary and permanent positions have been emotionally draining.
It saddens me to spend a full day listening to co-workers and managers ranting quietly in one-syllable epithets. The conversations allowed today would have been reprimanded in the past. If employers had the moral courage to set policies about “hate-speak” and follow those policies, intelligent people would be willing to work for them again.
A: Companies set policies according to what they can legally require. Profanity and gossip are not smiled on in the workplace, but this is a difficult area to police. You can certainly complain to your boss if a co-worker constantly swears to the point of making your working environment hostile. Gossip is harder to stop unless it is somehow damaging to the company. And if companies were allowed to hire only workers with high IQs, the work force would be filled with a lot of smart people who, nonetheless, may not be good workers.
Worker resists forced promotion and ‘Peter Principle’
Q: The maker of a software system I had used for many years at my previous job hired me as a consultant. After nearly a year in the job, my boss told me I was more qualified than my position required and he wanted to move me into another job. After hearing the new job description, which I didn’t feel qualified for, I told him I may be interested but needed more information.
Without my knowledge or approval, he hired a person to replace me and announced that I would be moving into the new position. I feel disrespected and pushed into this new job, but I have to cover for his actions. Does it always have to look bad when a person doesn’t want a management position? How can I salvage this situation?
A: Wow! A person who knows what he or she is good at and enjoys and doesn’t want to be subject to the Peter Principle (that employees rise to their level of incompetence). Don’t take your boss’ actions personally. It sounds like he doesn’t listen and bulldozes ahead with what he wants for the company.
But you don’t have to cover for his actions. Meet with him (include human resources personnel if necessary) to get your message across. If you have no desire to be part of management, you need to say that loud and clear.
Employee jumps ship; unfortunately, new one sinks
Q: My wife worked for a company owned by two men. The partnership broke up and one of the men opened his own business while the other carried on with the original company. My wife left to go with the new company. She received a very good salary and was promised 10 percent of the profits. Three weeks later, the new company closed without notice. The owner of the original company refused to take her back. Did the new owner break any laws? What can my wife do?
A: No one opens a new business to intentionally close after three weeks. It’s possible that he violated his partnership agreement and decided it wasn’t worth the fight to stay open. If she can’t convince the original owner that she left only because of the increased financial opportunity, she should chalk it up to a risk that didn’t pay off and look for another job.