My new boss knows nothing and wants an excuse to sack me. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I work for a multi-layer organisation and our little sector has always been a great, close-knit team.

Problem is, the next layer up is causing problems and making my colleagues leave one by one. Now she’s picking on me and says because my direct manager is leaving, she will be taking over as my online boss. I work from home with a small child, and this is just a Big Brother excuse to find some way to fire me as well.

As it goes, it’s inappropriate for her to be my boss, as she knows nothing of the area of the organisation that I work in (we have a multi disciplinary office space).

How can I have a boss who is shrewd, horrid and a bitch, constantly belittling me and looking for stuff ups with a fine-toothed comb? And how as a worker am I supposed to thrive in the industry when my new manager has no idea about the work that I do?

Over it,
Victoria

Dear Over it,

It’s funny you sent this letter in at the same time as this one…

I work for a multi-layer organisation and our little sector is under extreme pressure. My targets are enormous and I am under daily pressure to take action. We have new competitors with great technology eating our lunch. And we are stuck with old proprietary systems that mean we are unproductive and behind the times.

One of my managers has quit and I have inherited a very difficult person to work with. I am her online boss. I never see her because she works from home. (She has a small child and we have accommodated her needs as best we can.)

She is very hostile to me taking over as her online boss and I heard that she thinks I don’t know anything about her job and shouldn’t be her boss. Well, I do know the targets she has to meet and that I am accountable for her meeting them.

Whenever I talk to her she is resentful and seems to misinterpret my comments about her performance. How do I deal with massive pressure coming from above and her obvious resentment towards me and my attempts to improve her performance? How do I get her to sit down with me, go over her job description and her targets so it is very clear to both of us what she is doing and the ways we will measure it? How do I work with someone who is so negative, is paranoid she is going to be sacked when we have gone out of our way to accommodate her need to work from home and around her schedule and who, when I point out problems with her work, tells people that I am “obsessed with looking for stuff ups?”

Over it,
Victoria

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Your Aunty B

To read more Aunty B advice, click here.

Email your questions, problems and issues to auntyb@smartcompany.com.au right now!