How to go about reporting manager/director? [closed]

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

Warning long read ahead

So I started working at a big insurance firm 6 months ago with the intension of switching to the actuarial department. During the interview, the Manager (Jen) was completely aware and excited to have me on board. My task was to assist with completing specific reports for clients which took anywhere from 20-25 hours to complete. My first day I met my coworkers, Anya, Ryan, Isaac, and Deb. I was told by Jen that we were expecting 3 more onboarding in the coming months, and I was just the first to come on board. I was assigned to sit in the cubicle next to Anya, and felt her and Jen were very close.

Ryan and Isaac invited me to lunch, which involved them breaking down who to watch out for in the company. One of the names they quickly mentioned was Deb. Isaac specifically informed me that Deb was the epitome of the Corporate America culture. She slithers around the office looking for any mistake she can find and reports it to upper management while pretending to be your friend. She will play a role later into the story.

The next day training actually began, training was being run mostly by Anya. However, Deb was there for more of the history behind the reporting process and why they do things a certain way. Right away I was beginning to get a sense of how Anya really was. She had this superiority complex even though we were at the same level. I would walk in and say good morning to everyone, and she would not so much as acknowledge me. She had this passive aggressive attitude through emails, that borders unprofessionalism e.g ( Me:"Hi Anya, can you review these practice reports whenever you have time ?", Her:"First of all don't waste my time sending me reports to review without making appointments in my calendar beforehand. I only warn people once so consider yourself lucky”)

Once I underwent the training I noticed that A. There is no way these reports take more than 10 hours to do, and B. I can automate 90% of this in python once I learn it. However, I wanted to first master how to do the reports their way before I started coding. I started noticing that Anya was going to Jen, and reporting on how I was doing. e.g whether I was getting my stuff done or fooling around. Luckily I wasn't doing anything wrong and got an A+ in this respect.

I was getting to know the team a lot better the new members Vladimir, and Nick were real cool and down to earth and we would all frequently go out for drinks after work. Anya and Ryan would constantly bash the company on various respects. Mainly how dealing with Deb was unbearable. Anya mentioned how Deb, went to Jen’s boss and suggested that she wasn’t qualified to lead the reporting team as she didn’t have the knowledge of the reports to lead it successfully. This became a ritual every Wednesday we would all go out for drinks, and we would all complain about all the little things we hated about the company.

3 months into the job Ryan encouraged me to start coding the process in python, so I began a 2-month journey which involved me learning pandas/numpy packages well enough to automate all of the data cleaning, and 75% of the calculations that the tool did. Funny enough Ryan and Anya went to the headquarters in Texas to work with a team there to find different solutions to try and automate the process. I showed Anya my code, and played a Demo and she was shocked. She specifically said not to show Jen, because then Jen would not approve of the new tools that were coming in. It was around this time when Ryan had enough of being underpaid for doing a lot of the database/BI stuff the company made hundreds of thousands of dollars on. So as anyone would expect he found another job which paid 80% more. Needless to say Jen wasn’t happy the Ryan was leaving, and Ryan was happy I figured out the automation process, as essentially what the Texas team offered was to invest in a $35,000 software in order to do the cleaning/reporting process for us. Also Anya was recently promoted to be head of the reporting team. Which meant I would be reporting to her now instead of Jen. I started noticing some strange things when this was going on. For one, Jen moved me to sit directly outside of Anya’s new office. I had a feeling something was up, but didn’t pay to much mind to it as I new I was working hard and doing the “Innovation” these people so desperately wanted.

Her first day as manager she had a meeting and she told Vlad, Isaac, and I that she does not care what time we come in as long a we are meeting our report deadlines. I was stoked, but I didn’t abuse it I would just stroll in 5-10 min after my assigned work schedule. She encouraged me to work on my code whenever I was finished with the reports which I did. So at this point I could finish the whole reporting process in 3 hours, which meant I could dick around on python for the remaining 5 hours of my work day. In his last week Ryan was really venting to me at work, mainly about his frustrations of doing a lot of great things, and seeing no rewards. I overheard Anya, and Jen having a meeting in Jen’s office and Anya was telling her that Ryan consistently bashed the company, at every bar outing. I wasn’t surprised as I always thought she was a bit of a weasel. Ryan was able to land me an interview at his company, that was more in line with what I wanted to do. Here is where it starts to get interesting, so the manager who was interviewing me at Ryans company asked me what do I know about Anya? I said good things obviously as to not bash the manager. He then told me he was interview her as well and I didn’t think anything of it.

Next week Ryan tells me Anya proceeded to bash me to his hiring manager, and he couldn’t risk hiring me. However, he definitely didn’t want to hire Anya. That same week I get written up by Jen for a mistake I made in an Adhoc I completed. The odd thing was this was my first mistake, and Anya peer reviewed and approved for the report to get released. In this same meeting, Jen mentioned how Anya said I do no work play on youtube all day, and every report I send out is riddled with mistakes. I was so confused. I literally spent my spare time learning python to help the company out, so when I wish to transfer to a different department they could say I was a great asset.

I was furious, I got played. Jen approved for the new tools to be purchased, and my name was ruined in the company. The next day Anya had a meeting, with the other 2 members of the team, and proceeded to drop Fbombs whilst ranting about how we do fucking nothing and if we want to quit, to just leave. I recorded this conversation. However, I’m aware that I probably can’t use it, but I was hoping I could catch her saying how she lies to the project managers who present the reports about how long it actually takes to complete the projects so she has more time to study… essentially overbilling every client. But now I know Jen is compromised as well or maybe just naïve.

One of the side effects of getting written up was that I lost my work from home privileges which I just became eligible for the day of the incident. I knew this was some type of vendetta towards me. Since we were down Ryan I took over some of the task he completed. Which included helping Isaac with a few access database project. Isaac gave me a heads up that Anya wants him to document every single mistake and send it to her. On top of this, every project manager who works with me must CC her in all emails going to me (only me, no one else). Recently I now have to send Anya my workload every morning… once again only me. When I brought this up to Jen she told me to follow orders, and not to worry about other people. Here’s where I’m at now. I know realistically they wont let me transfer, I also know I have to begin applying for new positions. My question is when I have this new position, how can I go about exposing Anya? What I have proof of: I emailed her the working prototype that she told me to keep a secret. Would I have enough to go to the senior director who purchased the products? And should I get HR involved also? This is of course after I secure a new position. Thank you guys ahead of time.

manpreet 2 years ago

I recorded this conversation.

I am not a lawyer. But you screwed up if this was a two-party consent state in the US. Check your laws before doing something like this. Unless a crime is in progress, I would suspect that what you did was not legal.

As for your work, take a moment relax and think of the grand scheme of things. They didn't buy into your homemade Python script, so what? You didn't lose out on money. In fact, you learned on company time on how to automate workflow processes. Take it as a win and build on it.

If the culture and workplace relationship is so toxic to you, then it is more so than to polish your resume, put in your time, and start applying. You are not beholden to the company and it to you, especially if you are at-will.

As for your co workers, let bygones be bygones. It does not help you to participate nor hold grudges, this job is just that. A job in a series of many. Don't get held up on your problems in the workplace, there will be plenty to come in the future.