Greatest Hits: Meddling Middle-Manager Tries to 'Lean Up' Team and Push Higher Workloads, Team Leader Won’t Let That Fly

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    Font - r/Malicious Compliance u/mikemojc 3d M 1119 11 1 37 Try to pile on more work to increase your bonus? Not gonna happen... I oversee a team of a dozen folks when its fully staffed. We had a fellow move out of state for school, a lady retire to care for her grandkids when her daughter got sick, then 3 people promote up within the organization all within 4 weeks time, so almost 1/2 the team suddenly became unavailable. While I'm involved in the recruiting/on-boarding process, management up to
  • 02
    Font - The existing team was ready to 'pull together' and 'work harder!' to keep up with the work, but I took each one aside and coached them that the heavy workload they were under was NOT their problem to solve; YES, customers were complaining, YES, other groups in the organization were getting frustrated that our team wasn't getting things done in a timely fashion. I encouraged them to work efficiently, and well, but to NOT put in extra unpaid time or contribute their own resources to project
  • 03
    Font - Middle and upper manglement across the organization started vocalizing about how little work was getting done. When I played the Uno Reverse card that "Hey, all we need is adequate, well trained staff and we'll be able to keep up, and Managers 1, 2, & probably Exec 1 ALL have potential interviewees on their desk for almost a month, now...", I started getting the Stink-Eye from those folks.
  • 04
    Font - I found out later that one or a couple of those folks that I report to (and were also the next rungs in the hiring ladder) had proposed the idea that this team could run just as well a little leaner, so they arranged to find out. Oppsie-Daisy!! Metrics indicated that organizational goals weren't met because of their decision, but I was able to provide the stats that proved that the teams Individual goals WERE met, and that in many respects per person efficiencies were improved! My Team Me
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    Font - Legitimate_Drive_693. 3d 31 Award Signs of a good manager. Not letting your team kill themselves so upper management can get more money. I have seen so many times where they will just leave the team short staffed until everyone broke themselves trying to keep up. Elinor_Lore_Inkheart. 3d + Reply I left a team like that, manager pushing everyone so hard to keep up with the work that required a team twice the size. They couldn't keep staff even with fantastic benefits. The boss would thank
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    Font - torchbearer1648 • 3d Trying to run leaner sounds like they're basically taking advantage of your team and see if they can pull it off with your team worked into the ground. What a bunch of a-holes! >:( Good for you for protecting your team. I'm stuck in a similar situation at work right now, where my coworkers and I are pressured to complete unreasonable amount of work. We're currently understaffed, so heavy workloads are affecting our mental health. Reply 254 mikemojc OP • 3d Quietly rem
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    Font - Tracy MinOB 3d Well done! Congrats on backing up and looking out for your team! 2 years ago I was part of a team of 6. Then 2 were let go. Then another left for a new job. Then the pandemic and 1 was laid off. Then another hit her breaking point and left. By May I was the only one left. I tried but didn't run myself into the ground. Had a meltdown on my boss and got a substantial raise. Let a lot of things go as I prioritized my tasks. We're back up to 5 now and the auditors are asking qu
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    Font - LPT_93. 3d It borderline annoys me that this is malicious compliance and not just the standard way to behave in those circumstances. .. + Reply 909
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    Font - MtMuschmore • 3d You're the best kind of manager. Especially talking to each member individually like that and making them all aware of why you were doing it that way. Reply ... + 85 mikemojc OP • 3d People do their best work when then know exactly what both the goals and expectations are. Upper Manglement wankers were basically lying to them about the expectations parts, so I made sure each person knew, as best as I could, what the REASONABLE expectations were. ... 470 +
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    Rectangle - SpacePatrol Cadet. 3d Good on you for not letting your team kill themselves! Reply 74 ... +

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