In April 2016 I took a 14 month contract job with an end date of June 2017. However, the leadership team has decided that they want to keep me and have made some restructuring plans in order to do so. I am part of the HR team, which is very small. We have a director, I am one of two advisors and we also have a coordinator. All three of us report through to the director. With the new restructure created to keep me, the team will be changing in June. We will still have the director, I will become a manager, we are letting go of the other advisor and we will keep the coordinator (reporting to me). The leadership team believes that I will take the new role and they keep reminding me that they are putting a lot of work into keeping me.
On the plus side, this place is so fast paced that I can learn a lot and pad my resume. We have a relaxed dress code, it's out of downtown (so I'm saving $500+ month on parking), and we have a good vacation allowance.
On the not so great side, I feel extremely suffocated constantly by my boss (the director) and her micromanaging workstyle. She is like this with everyone so I know it's not personal to me, but it is causing me some serious stress! She always tells me that she's not a micromanager, but she is actually the absolute worst micromanager I have ever dealt with in my 14 year career. Whenever my phone vibrates (at work and at home), I instantly feel on edge wondering what she is checking up on now. If she doesn't receive a response through my work email (I don't have a work phone, but I have work email on my phone), she will send me a text to my personal phone. When I hear her come into the office every morning I feel like I can't breathe knowing that she is immediately walking into my office to micromanage. The feedback I get is always positive and I know there isn't an issue with my actual work, it's just the constant watching over every single thing I do, providing me with daily lists of things to do. In so many cases I actually end up completing her to-do list for her since she spends so much time reviewing and redoing what everyone else is doing. She tries to cover up me doing her work by saying things about how amazing and fantastic I am and how she shouldn't do this job with out me.
It's Wednesday morning and so far I have completed zero of my task list that I created for myself. I have spent the entire week dropping what I'm doing because I have to tend to her needs immediately. She asks for updates constantly. She will give me a deadline of a week away but want an update that same day. If it's not completed, she will do it herself.
The organization works on a "whatever hours you need" kind of schedule with an unwritten rule of a 7 hour day. My boss has now decided she would like more structure and has put us all on a strict 8.5 hour a day schedule and wants us to check in and check out with her every day. It just seems like such an old school way of working!
I was in an extremely high stress situation at my previous job (3 years) and thought this place would be better but the demands and pressure here is causing me even more stress. It's to the point that on Monday morning while driving to work my hands have started to develop some weird rash, and by Friday night it's cleared up.
One more thing.... she told the senior leadership team that she won't work here without me so if I leave, she leaves. She reminds me that she has children and there's no senior HR management jobs out there right now so if I leave, she will end up with no employment and kids to take care of.
Getting to my question... taking into account the issues listed above, do you think that there is ANY chance that things could get better for me in the new role or should I cut my losses?! My last job caused me so much anxiety and depression that I feel sick at the thought of having to go somewhere else and possibly get into another bad situation.
On the plus side, this place is so fast paced that I can learn a lot and pad my resume. We have a relaxed dress code, it's out of downtown (so I'm saving $500+ month on parking), and we have a good vacation allowance.
On the not so great side, I feel extremely suffocated constantly by my boss (the director) and her micromanaging workstyle. She is like this with everyone so I know it's not personal to me, but it is causing me some serious stress! She always tells me that she's not a micromanager, but she is actually the absolute worst micromanager I have ever dealt with in my 14 year career. Whenever my phone vibrates (at work and at home), I instantly feel on edge wondering what she is checking up on now. If she doesn't receive a response through my work email (I don't have a work phone, but I have work email on my phone), she will send me a text to my personal phone. When I hear her come into the office every morning I feel like I can't breathe knowing that she is immediately walking into my office to micromanage. The feedback I get is always positive and I know there isn't an issue with my actual work, it's just the constant watching over every single thing I do, providing me with daily lists of things to do. In so many cases I actually end up completing her to-do list for her since she spends so much time reviewing and redoing what everyone else is doing. She tries to cover up me doing her work by saying things about how amazing and fantastic I am and how she shouldn't do this job with out me.
It's Wednesday morning and so far I have completed zero of my task list that I created for myself. I have spent the entire week dropping what I'm doing because I have to tend to her needs immediately. She asks for updates constantly. She will give me a deadline of a week away but want an update that same day. If it's not completed, she will do it herself.
The organization works on a "whatever hours you need" kind of schedule with an unwritten rule of a 7 hour day. My boss has now decided she would like more structure and has put us all on a strict 8.5 hour a day schedule and wants us to check in and check out with her every day. It just seems like such an old school way of working!
I was in an extremely high stress situation at my previous job (3 years) and thought this place would be better but the demands and pressure here is causing me even more stress. It's to the point that on Monday morning while driving to work my hands have started to develop some weird rash, and by Friday night it's cleared up.
One more thing.... she told the senior leadership team that she won't work here without me so if I leave, she leaves. She reminds me that she has children and there's no senior HR management jobs out there right now so if I leave, she will end up with no employment and kids to take care of.
Getting to my question... taking into account the issues listed above, do you think that there is ANY chance that things could get better for me in the new role or should I cut my losses?! My last job caused me so much anxiety and depression that I feel sick at the thought of having to go somewhere else and possibly get into another bad situation.
Last edited:
