Got promotion, but it has made things worse

rated

Hi,

Last month I got promoted in my job. I was told that I will be given an assistant to help me and they hired someone without even my consent. Actually the person they hired came from a strong reference and is related to someone in top in our company (this I found out internally), but he is no good. He is unable to perform at least the basic tasks in Excel, let alone Macros and Pivots.

Now the problem is that they have like doubled my responsiblity with the assumption that I am able to delegate most of the work to my assistant. If I delegate something to him, he will always screw it up and I will need to check everything again. Its better that I do it myself as this way I can atleast save sometime.

For e.g. last friday, we were preparing for a big meeting with a client on Monday. So I gave him basic task to do some minor calculations where he screwed up big time. I didnt double check it and had to listen all sorts of things from my reporting boss. They think that I am not capable of handling such big responsibility. Before getting promotion I used to work from 9am-7pm max, but now its usually till 9am-10pm or sometimes even 9am-12am. I tried talking about this with my reporting boss, but he says that I need to train him. I am willing, but they can't expect me to teach him 'how to insert new slide in ppt'. I can guide him, but dont have time to do teach him.

To be honest, I feel like few extra buck is not worth all of this. Dont get me wrong, I am ambitious, but spending my time on doing my juniors work rather than trying to develop my own wont take me anywhere.

Now I have been thinking over this weekend to do something on Monday, but dont know what?

Regards

Giblet

You need a paper trail. Email him the work with your own estimates and ask for an update 60% into the estimate time. Keep a copy of the reply and cc a superior if possible. There is no reason for you to sink. All it is is you doing your job and auditing that work. Keep all estimates and use MS Project if possible.

gandalf

A couple of things. When he makes mistakes have you pointed them out to him? Has he continued to make the same mistakes after you have pointed them out to him? Has he requested any additional training? Have you suggested additional training to him?

As stated by Giblet you need to keep a good documented account of the work they have been asked to do and what they have done in error. If it continues you need to have a frank discussion with your line manager saying quite strongly that this person is not fit for the position and that far from assisting you they are actually creating more work for you to do which is putting you under undue and unnecessary stress. Document your hours as well and make sure you let your manager know the additional work load this unsuitable employee is adding to your day.

tenchi-fan

Giblet wrote: »

Keep a copy of the reply and cc a superior if possible.

Be careful CC'ing. It can be extremely unprofessional to cc managers for simple requests or over minor mistakes.

Simply send an email with a clear instruction "e.g. please find file attached. Column D to be updated as discussed. This is due by Wednesday morning, let me know if you expect any delays"

On Wednesday afternoon if you haven't received a reply, simply reply to the entire email and cc their manager.

If you share a manager it would probably be best to discuss it in private with your manager.

Slasher

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Be careful CC'ing. It can be extremely unprofessional to cc managers for simple requests or over minor mistakes.

I agree. Don't CC unless it is necessary. And don't complain too much to your manager.

It seems you have no choice but to coach this individual to improve his performance. You may find it rewarding in the end, even if it means putting in extra hours.

murphym7

Create a performance improvement plan. Make your expectations very clear - your job then is to give him the tools to complete the work.

Send him on an Intermediate level Excel course, coaching on the Powerpoint is something you can do yourself.

Refer back to the performance improvement plan and again make expectations clear - i.e "you now have the tools to complete the tasks I assign you, this is the level of performance I expect"

Arrange regualar 1:1 meetings that are structured, give him every chance to voice concerns he has on barriers to him completing the tasks you assign on time.

After this point, if you are still having issues it is time to head down the road of warnings and dismisal. Make sure everything is documented and above all FAIR, get advice from HR on what the policy is and make sure you stick to the letter of it.

Don't be intimidated that he is related to a top person in the company, if you follow the policies you will be covered.

paulgalway

Get him signed up to a ECDL course or show them how to use help in Microsoft.

delos

murphym7 wrote: »

Create a performance improvement plan.

You might want to consult with your HR Dept before you create a PIP as the implications of being on a PIP vary from company to company. For example, if I ended up on a PIP I'd be looking at no bonus, salary increment or career progression for the 6 months I'd be on the thing.

I'm not saying the rest of the post isn't good advice, just be careful and check any compnay policy that might be in place before you do anything like this, not after it hasn't worked.

rated

Hi again,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I had a big argument with my reporting boss today and I took a walk. He felt like I am unable to handle any responsibilities and just using the new guy as an excuse. I still havent received calls or messages from any top bosses, so I am suspecting either they are unaware of the situation or dont care. As of now I am not feeling anything and not even thinking about future. Dont know what I will do tommorow.

Just wanted to get this off my chest...

Thx and once again I appreciate any suggestions.

BostonB

While I think you could have handled that better, but it doesn't really matter now. There always seems to be jobs for Excel VBA people. So you should have no problem getting another job.

InReality

Its something new you have to deal with. There are a few good suggestions here ; just don't try and do 2 jobs for the price of one !