My boss told us Friday he intends to break the law!

[Wcross]

My boss, while a nice guy, is not too sharp. He is the son of the personnel manager and obtained his current position through nepotisim.
I work in an idustrial setting, the work is dirty and difficult. Often requires lifting up 90lbs, and there is a chance of serious injury or death. In other words, not a nice work environment.
There are 9 guys, no women in our department. We have tried to hire women but they usually quit or find a better position in the company.
He comes in to our meeting and says " Guys, we are hiring A woman, she's real sharp, we are going to start her in this job, move her around to the different positions, then move her "upstream"! Now, I have been trying to move up but have been blocked. There are other guys that have tried to move with the same qualifications as this new hire and haven't had any luck. The last opening to a supervisor position in our dept. went to a woman that had less qualifications than myself or the other guy that put into it. The reason I was passed over was " I know you like the grunt work", this job is going to be a lot of paper work. The other guy was told he needed more supurvisory experience. The woman they hired had no degree, nor did she have any supervisory experience.

Now, my company is a large multi-national with over 50,000 employee's. There has been preasure to hire more women in management positions, I have no problem with doing that as it is the right thing to do. But how can you come in and say, "we don't know how good of a worker she is, but she is going to be promoted over you guys in short order"?

I just had to rant!

[Democrats unite]

1. Sometimes life just sucks!

You have to roll with the punches & keep fighting to try to right the wrongs. But never give up hope.

[Wcross]

2. I know it

How could he be so stupid though? Rapid promotion of females and minority people is the norm right now, we would have figured it out without him rubbing our noses in it.

[soupkitchen]

3. File a reverse discrimination lawsuit

You have witnesses, and your company had deep pockets.
You might not get a promotion, but you'll end up getting compensated.

[newyawker99]

9. Congrats Democrats unite!! 300 posts

:toast:

[demnan]

4. No wonder the women hired by your boss usually quit

He uses her fellow employees to help undermine her before she even comes on board.

You are being used, just remember that. Yes things are unjust sometimes to make up for past injustices, but please tell me you see through what this man is trying to do.

[MaineDem]

5. Do you believe him?

Perhaps he's just saying this and the new employee (regardless of gender) IS more qualified. Maybe he's just sore that he's being passed over again.

[Wcross]

6. Perhaps she is.

From what my boss said, we have the same type of degree. I have 12 years experience in the industry and have recieved above average reviews, the new employee has been working in the insurance industry and is untested. It is also a small coincidence that the bosses wife works with this new hire now. After one or two interveiws, can the guy really know she is more qualified? I wish he would let her put in a month or two on the job before he decides that she is the right person to move up the ladder.

Anyways, that really wasn't the point. Why would this boss of ours rub our noses in it? He doesn't have to come right out and SAY what his plans are.
It seems as if management just does some silly shit in our department. The head manager brought in a family friend with a marketing degree as a temp four years ago. She rose to junior quality engineer in one short year, three years later she is manager of quality engineering. She is over quality engineers with 25-30 years experience. Some of those engineers are women who have degrees in engineering.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. They may be responding to a lawsuit that required them

to hire women. It's sounds like there is, in your business, what is known as "manifest imbalance." However, the way he's going about it is all wrong. He most definitely has to select someone that qualifies for the position and, though, their decision may slow down the opportunities for white male workers to be promoted, they can not put up permanent obstacles to advancement.

[Booberdawg]

8. I think they can do it

I suggest you just go talk to your boss about it. I have found more times than not in workplace issues that just taking an honest approach and discussing it or asking some questions resolves any lingering doubts and concerns and rarely does the reality resemble what I initially thought.

Just go talk to the boss about it.

[leftofthedial]

10. okay, rant time over--get back to work!

and you will have to put in some unpaid overtime today too.

[Blue-Jay]

11. See how it plays out first.

If it turns out that she is completely unfit for being promoted, maybe then you should raise a stink with a sympathetic upper management-type.

[Wcross]

12. I wouldn't do that!

I will not try to hinder anyone- The whole thing is, how can he say- "we will move her upstream"? How does he know she is the most qualified before she puts in the first hour of work? I am pissed about the fact he said what he said.

This same guy was going to take me and another guy out for lunch for completing a project quickly. Other people in the office contributed to the effort, though not as much. I had to tell him that maybe we should just do a cheaper pizza lunch for everybody in the office. I know that if he took out two of us, and overlooked the other guys it would cause resentment.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Two points:

1) What your supervisor/boss did is lay the foundation of resentment which will surely ambush the female worker's chances. This resentment would have existed anyways, because that's the nature of traditional mono-gender departments, but now the s/b is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2) If you want to be promoted over the other men in the office, you have to stand-out. That means that when management recognizes your efforts and decides to take you out for special recognition, accept it. Don't dilute your chances of promotion. When you get to be boss, if you want to be Mr. Democratic, then make those kind of decisions if you like -- at your own risk.

[cliss]

13. Here's my suggestion:

WCross: you should never have to be in a work environment where you are unhappy. We all know that work sometimes sucks, but if it goes on for a long period of time, and we can see that things will probably not get better but possibly worse, it's time to think about moving on.

I think it is important to do whatever we can first, though. Some have suggested talking to the boss, to see if there is anything that can be done. However, since he got his position through nepotism, he probably doesn't have real qualifications and won't care as much (I've run into these types before). Working at a job that we hate, from morning until quitting time, is a very bad way to live. It wrecks the rest of our day. The weekends are no fun because we know we have to go back on Monday. It causes stress and frustration.

My suggestion: start saving up as much money as you can. Start looking for other jobs. Be ready to go when you can find something better. GOOD LUCK!

[cally]

14. Keep a written record of this

at home. Get other's statements if you can. Watch what happens then go to a central personnel division and ask for an outside review. See what happens.

[mistertrickster]

16. Don't fall into the trap of pitting yourself against your co-workers.

If your company suddenly needs to put more "women and minorities" into management positions, that means they haven't been putting them in those positions in the past--probably BECAUSE they were women and minorities.

So if you've been at the company for any length of time, you may have had a better chance of moving up in the past than you should have because you were a white male.

My point is though that your problem is not the woman who is going to get promoted, it's the idiots who are running the company, and probably hauling down the big bucks in spite of their ineptness.

The idea that capitalism "naturally" weeds out the poor administrators and companies and rewards the good ones is a childish fantasy that capitalists have forced down our throats. It's like communist propaganda except in reverse.

Studies show that people increase their pay and responsibility level primarilly through changing jobs. Again showing the block-headedness of bosses who would rather hire the unknown for more money than they give their existing employees whom they take for granted.

Anyway, I wouldn't be in any big hurry to switch jobs in this economy. As bad as our jobs are at times . . . at least we've got work.

[Wcross]

17. Not the woman

I don't resent the woman, I hope she does well. I just resented the matter of fact way he said what he said.
I interveiwed for a new job within the company last week, I am being offered this job. My boss approached me and offered to match the pay of the new job if I stuck around doing the same thing I am doing. I guess it is true about being under appreciated!