I have a new job in the social sector. Our boss seems to have slipped into position sideways (they did not do our work for a significant amount of time before).
I got zero onboarding when I started working there; everything I know about the organisational ins and outs I learned by asking my colleagues.
The boss seems to actively want to not inform me of things, i.e. even if I ask about something they reply in the most cursory manner or immediately refer me to somebody else. I have no idea why they do it, my guess is that they sense that they’re woefully inadequate for the job, plus me being much older triggers insecurities?
For example, when I could not log into an app to see my future shifts, I asked the boss about it first but they immediately refered me to tech support. Calling them, after a while we found out that the boss had mistyped my name. Then I could log in.
Last week I was sick and waited til Sunday noon to check this week’s shifts - but again I couldn’t log in. The boss answered neither phone nor email. Fair enough I guess, on a sunday. Thankfully tech support was working and after a long while we found out that the app for checking my shifts only allows log-ins from within the workplace network, not the open web.
I almost missed my monday shift because of that. Boss calls me, enraged. I explained the situation. They clearly did not know that the app only allows log-ins from within the workplace network.
All my coleagues tentatively/silently agree that this boss is useless. How do we keep the workplace running, and why is it me who is left in the dark? Turns out they have a Whatsapp group. I don’t use Whatsapp. They asked me repeatedly and urgently to join.
tl;dr: this workplace would fall apart if people wouldn’t communicate through Whatsapp instead of official channels.
How do we keep the workplace running, …
That’s the neat part; you don’t. Stop doing your boss’ job. They get paid for it, they can do it. Whether they do it well or do it badly is not your concern. Do not participate in workarounds to cover for bad management. All that does is push the obvious problem off to tomorrow.
For example, I have a boss who has repeatedly told me to post on reddit looking for technical solutions. I’ve told them multiple times that I don’t do reddit. My suggestion has continually been to engage vendor support (for a price, of course), which gets shot down. The problem condition continues to exist.
Record everything. Take contemporaneous notes about everything that goes down, and take them for yourself, outside the company network. That way, when you get blamed for something, you can come with receipts.
Do not participate in workarounds to cover for bad management.
I don’t. But all my colleagues do.
Record everything. Take contemporaneous notes about everything that goes down, and take them for yourself, outside the company network. That way, when you get blamed for something, you can come with receipts.
Recording phone conversations might be prudent.
But most exchange with my boss is via email anyhow, so that’s good.I’m not planning on keeping this job - it runs out before christmas - another “oversight” by my boss: it was supposed to last until next summer, but apparently the company only does contracts for 1 calendar year? - at first I was pissed, now I’m glad.
If you’re recording phone calls without notification, make sure all participants are in one party states (if in the US). But just regular note taking goes a long way in the legal system.
Just be aware: Extracting anything work related into a private account can itself be reason to fire you.
And if you’re already on the shit list, chances are you are being monitored for stuff like this.I’m not suggesting that anyone exfiltrate work product. Just to take notes on what direction you’re given, what you know other people are responsible for, and to keep those notes somewhere that you have access to them with disregard to what your permissions at work are.
My workplace introduced a “crash group” on Whatsapp. The idea was to have a channel for quick emergency communication in case the company got hacked and all other channels were taken offline. So IT was strongly encouraged to join, as well.
It quickly turned into everyone posting to Whatsapp every time they had any tiny issue or had forgotten their password, and expecting immediate tech support regardless of working hours.
So my boss, the IT team leader, left the group and told the CTO to call him directly if there’s a true emergency. He also told everyone else in IT to leave it. And when Teams was introduced, he ordered us not to accept any tech support requests through Teams, and to escalate to him if anyone complains about it.
Even the company owner and the C-suite call helpdesk or write tickets now if they need support (their tickets are automatically flagged with the highest priority).
My boss and the culture he fought for is one of the main reasons I took this job, even though I could have gotten a bit better pay elsewhere.This is good to hear, and it kinda tracks that IT people know how to take the right steps here.
In the social sector such bets are off, completely. They share photos of work related printouts via WA (because, as I described in my OP, the appropriate web apps don’t work), and nobody even has the know-how to understand why one might object.
Good boss. What happened to the crash group?
It still exists, and people still use it to vent about their issues in it. But there’s now also a mailing list with externally hosted mail addresses of the important people in case of a real emergency.
I’d turn it into meme group lol
That’s a leader!
I’ll second an old or cheap burner phone for WhatsApp use. This job sounds like a great way to have your data leaked or stolen. Put a buffer there now.
I already use this, and I’m not getting a 2nd for this job (it ends before Xmas anyhow). Also see this comment
Company phone. I don’t do work stuff on my private phone, period.
☝️
Do you selfhost anything? Apparently it’s possible to selfhost a matrix server with a bridge to Whatsapp. I’ve been procrasting testing this, so I don’t know exactly how it works, but I assume someone on the self-hosting community can provide more info.
Do you not still need a WA account tied to your real phone number, usually created on your primary phone?
Get the fuck away from that job ASAP.
I’m not planning on keeping this job - it runs out before christmas - another “oversight” by my boss: it was supposed to last until next summer, but apparently the company only does contracts until the end of the calendar year? - at first I was pissed, now I’m glad.
That may be easier said than done.
Lucky me. For my last business trip someone asked if we should create a WhatsApp group for communication. One of my colleagues said he doesn’t have WhatsApp but he could offer signal. There was an awkward silence and now we just exchanged numbers to call in case. Fuck WhatsApp for work.
I have worked with people in the defence sector.
On one hand, they keep all actual work behind an air-gap, often to the detriment of productivity.
On another, they do all their discussions on stuff like WhatsApp groups and MS Teams, as if somehow the discussions of project targets is not at all valuable in front of implementation details.Ever since I have realised that, I have tried to push for usage of local servers. Even now, after I have left them, I offer to assist with setting up text and WebRTC servers, but they somehow don’t seem to care.
If I were you, I’d get a cheap burner phone and join the stupid group. If you want to keep this job, this is clearly a must. If you have other options, this might be the time to explore those.
If you want to keep this job
I don’t. Never had such a stupid boss, and I’ve had a few weird ones.
Okay.
dies
🫡
Why is this here?
Being forced to use Whatsapp on a personal phone isn’t a privacy issue to you?
