Targetted Mistreatment?
August 11, 2018
So it is 5:42am and I cannot sleep. Yesterday, was another demotivating day where I had a meeting with my manager to discuss project updates again. About 2 weeks ago, I was asked(but really just assigned) to pick up another project by a rotation engineer who left the group. I had no prior experience or background in this project(new tool I never used or had training for, new board design I had never seen, new programming language I had never used). Personally, I think I picked up this project and made a lot of progress on it so far, working a majority of the time on it.
However, a point that both my direct manager as well as the one above him have made is that this additional task should not affect the schedule and tasks for my main project. This seems like a very unreasonable request as essentially it is saying that the new project should require 0 time and effort, making no impact on my current workload.
In our weekly meetings, I am constantly and consistently being demeaned and demotivated. Both of these managers constantly are telling me that I should be able to pick up multiple project due to my "job grade". I am a job grade 28 and of course there will be higher expectations. A few weeks ago, I mentioned to my direct boss that I was feeling demotivated and not really enjoying my main project anymore(after months of suffering quietly). He exploded and told me to not saying anything outside the room because it would be "a very bad idea". He then berated me for asking for this project and not being grateful for such a generous opportunity. This has been a point that was reinforced by the upper manager as well(many times). They are constantly using my education pursuits as a reason to justify why I must enjoy this type of work and how could I possibly show disinterest when I asked for this and they so graciously gave me this opportunity. As employees, should we not let it be known if we are not enjoying our work?
After these discussions, I have noticed that every meeting we have is very negative and attacking. I always feel mentally and physically stressed/anxious prior to our meetings. I am consistently being told I am underperforming and more and more is expected of me. I am not performing at the level or speed expected. However, I am more and more feeling as though this is actually targetting by my managers.
I have a feeling that they are trying to push me to quit the company. And really to their benefit, if I quit before December 31, I do not get any profit sharing payout(no prorated payout either). Is this ethical? Is this legal? Unfortunately, it seems that for at-will employment states, this is very hard to prove as illegal unless it is discriminatory with respect to race or religion or forcing me to do illegal activities.
My concern is that even though I may choose to endure through this mistreatment, they will simply lay me off before the end of the year due to "poor performance" and prevent me from receiving any payout benefits as well.
I guess my only option is to continue looking for alternative work and try to get a good deal that will cover the loss of any profit sharing payout anyways. To my dissatisfaction, I assume my managers will be smiling if I hand in that letter of resignation rather than them passive aggressively pushing me out the door.
A very relevant and accurate article on these type of people:
https://toughnickel.com/business/How-To-Make-An-Employee-Want-To-Leave
So it is 5:42am and I cannot sleep. Yesterday, was another demotivating day where I had a meeting with my manager to discuss project updates again. About 2 weeks ago, I was asked(but really just assigned) to pick up another project by a rotation engineer who left the group. I had no prior experience or background in this project(new tool I never used or had training for, new board design I had never seen, new programming language I had never used). Personally, I think I picked up this project and made a lot of progress on it so far, working a majority of the time on it.
However, a point that both my direct manager as well as the one above him have made is that this additional task should not affect the schedule and tasks for my main project. This seems like a very unreasonable request as essentially it is saying that the new project should require 0 time and effort, making no impact on my current workload.
In our weekly meetings, I am constantly and consistently being demeaned and demotivated. Both of these managers constantly are telling me that I should be able to pick up multiple project due to my "job grade". I am a job grade 28 and of course there will be higher expectations. A few weeks ago, I mentioned to my direct boss that I was feeling demotivated and not really enjoying my main project anymore(after months of suffering quietly). He exploded and told me to not saying anything outside the room because it would be "a very bad idea". He then berated me for asking for this project and not being grateful for such a generous opportunity. This has been a point that was reinforced by the upper manager as well(many times). They are constantly using my education pursuits as a reason to justify why I must enjoy this type of work and how could I possibly show disinterest when I asked for this and they so graciously gave me this opportunity. As employees, should we not let it be known if we are not enjoying our work?
After these discussions, I have noticed that every meeting we have is very negative and attacking. I always feel mentally and physically stressed/anxious prior to our meetings. I am consistently being told I am underperforming and more and more is expected of me. I am not performing at the level or speed expected. However, I am more and more feeling as though this is actually targetting by my managers.
I have a feeling that they are trying to push me to quit the company. And really to their benefit, if I quit before December 31, I do not get any profit sharing payout(no prorated payout either). Is this ethical? Is this legal? Unfortunately, it seems that for at-will employment states, this is very hard to prove as illegal unless it is discriminatory with respect to race or religion or forcing me to do illegal activities.
My concern is that even though I may choose to endure through this mistreatment, they will simply lay me off before the end of the year due to "poor performance" and prevent me from receiving any payout benefits as well.
I guess my only option is to continue looking for alternative work and try to get a good deal that will cover the loss of any profit sharing payout anyways. To my dissatisfaction, I assume my managers will be smiling if I hand in that letter of resignation rather than them passive aggressively pushing me out the door.
A very relevant and accurate article on these type of people:
https://toughnickel.com/business/How-To-Make-An-Employee-Want-To-Leave
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