Manager missing big picture by blocking growth of employee
By Joan Lloyd

Dear Joan:
I enjoy reading your columns and have learned a lot about workplace issues and how to deal with them. But, currently, I have a situation and that I just do not know how to go about overcoming. (read more...)

Boomers: After all these years, still the trend-setters?
By Bruce Tulgan

At 42% of the workforce, Baby Boomers still make up the vast plurality of the workforce (not to mention a healthy majority of our readers). What is more, Boomers hold the lion's share of leadership positions in most organizations in most industries today. So maybe I should be careful what I say... (read more...)

101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work: Tip #8
By John Putzier

Missing You
Just like your college uses alumni associations to keep in touch, and keep you contributing, your company can do the same. It's not a sign of failure to have a lot of "ex-employees." It may even be a sign of success! Your graduates are in demand! The only problem is that you paid for their tuition. Do you want to recoup your investment? (read more...)

Manager missing big picture by blocking growth of employee (^ top)
By Joan Lloyd

Dear Joan:
I enjoy reading your columns and have learned a lot about workplace issues and how to deal with them. But, currently, I have a situation and that I just do not know how to go about overcoming.

I have been working in this company for almost 6 years, in the same group. I feel it is about time that I change to a different group and learn different things. When I first went to the open house before I got hired by this company, one of the recruiting managers told me that the company encourages employees to move around within the company.

So, I spent a few years in this group but at the same time, I got certified in some new skills and also got my Master's Certificate in Project Management.

Now, I would like to move to a Project Management role but my manager does not like the fact that I am interviewing outside his group.

Things were going okay until the day I told him that I was interested in moving out of his group. He started showing his discontent in many ways, but most important, he has not assigned me new projects for the last 3 months. He also keeps telling me that there is a position in the office coming up and he is afraid to give me any project, because he thinks I am "leaving the group any way". Also, several promising interviews mysteriously turned into no offers. I am wondering if he is trying to block my leaving, although there is no way to tell if he is saying something negative to the hiring managers.

In the last performance review, he wrote negative remarks but later retracted his statements saying he "jumped the gun". He has also not approved my tuition for classes, and yet he has been approving other's tuition. He has raised his voice at me, in front of others and makes excuses for team members even if they are clearly wrong. The company also has a weird policy that prior to interviews; we should have a talk with our manager. This is fine, but what can be done with unscrupulous managers like I have, who clearly misuse the power. It seems like he is bent on "getting even" with me for having "dared to leave his group". If he cannot have me, no one else can, appears to be his motto.

I do not know what to do at this point. Is this harassment? Should I contact HR and talk about the manager or should I file a formal complaint about this? or worse, should I file a lawsuit against the company? Should I talk to HR and tell them to transfer me out of the group, or else I would resign? I really do not want to leave the company but just want to go to a different area for a change. Please advise! I really appreciate your feedback!

Answer:
I have seen cases like this before, where a manager reacts to a departure like a personal rejection. These managers appear to have a skewed idea about "loyalty." For example, several years ago I knew an entrepreneur who threw a long-time employee out the front door the day the long-time employee told the owner he was accepting another job. The owner said, "How could you do this, after everything I've done for you?" What's worse, he publicly criticized the departed employee, which soured all the remaining employees. Several others left a few months later. Sadly, the owner, like your manager, felt betrayed.

In your case, your manager is denying you opportunities to work on projects because he believes you will leave in the middle of the job. He has also cut off your tuition refund money since he feels he will never reap any benefits of your continuing education. Unfortunately, his short-sighted and self-centered view may cost the company a valuable employee, should you decide to leave the company altogether.

This is one of the reasons most interviewing employees don't say a word to their manager until they get an offer. In the case of an interview occurring within the company, the manager usually knows about it and supports it, recognizing that trying to prohibit an employee's transfer backfires. The trapped employee will leave, one way or the other.

Your career is being negatively affected by your manager's inappropriate behavior. I recommend that you set up an appointment with the HR manager and explain that you would like to move to another area within the company. Tell him or her exactly what has been happening since you announced your intentions. Your manager is already retaliating against you in subtle ways and I would express your concern that he may be killing your chances at internal positions.

Ask for assistance with your job transfer. You have little to lose, since your career growth has been blocked.

Don't threaten to resign. Simply say that you like the company and are looking for something different. At the same time, start interviewing for outside positions. If the HR manager mishandles this situation and your situation gets worse, run, don't walk to another company.

Good managers know that employee satisfaction is essential to healthy teamwork, initiative and productivity. Based on an in-depth study of the most innovative ideas in creating a culture where employees thrive, our recruiting & retention tools have all the secrets you will need to find and keep the best employees.

Boomers: After all these years, still the trend-setters? (^ top)
By Bruce Tulgan

At 42% of the workforce, Baby Boomers still make up the vast plurality of the workforce (not to mention a healthy majority of our readers). What is more, Boomers hold the lion's share of leadership positions in most organizations in most industries today. So maybe I should be careful what I say...

Boomers often tell me some variation of this story about the generational shift in the workplace: "These Generation Xers and Generation Yers think they invented youth!?! We're Baby Boomers. WE invented youth. And we'll be defining youth culture from geriatric wards. When I was growing up, my parents were real traditionalists. There were rules for everything. Heck, we had standard operating procedures for dinner. You followed the rules and respected your elders at home, in school, and in public... Of course, I came of age in the Sixties/Seventies. I had my period of youthful rebellion... you should have seen me." (That's when they get all wistful.)

Then they get serious again: "But I grew up and settled down. I hitched my wagon to the star of an established organization and started paying my dues. And MY boss was a real grown-up, like my parents, not some groovy Boomer who understood young people. I did as I was told, but most of the time it was 'sink or swim' so I had to figure out what to do and then do it. I kept my head down and worked hard. I didn't make demands. I waited for my boss to notice my hard work and reward me in due course. I figured the system would take care of me."

"Then, just as I started to earn some seniority, people started saying 'everything has changed; job security is dead.' Downsizing and restructuring became an every day thing. All of a sudden seniority doesn't matter and the only thing that counts is how much work you can do today, tomorrow and next week. Then along come these young upstarts---Generation X and now Generation Y---and they are not willing to pay their dues at all. They make demands on day one and every day thereafter: 'What's the deal around here? What do you want from me? What do you have to offer me today, tomorrow and next week?' The nerve of them!"

Remember this: There is not a trend in the western world worth its salt without the baby boomers. If most boomers had rejected the 'free agent' norms and values so often associated with Generation X and Generation Y, it would have dried up and blown away. But that's not what happened. It was when the Boomers embraced the new mindset that these trends became unstoppable.

Now for their next act, Boomers are set to expand upon and entrench the emerging trends in retirement. Many boomers (even those in their forties) tell us they are getting ready to retire. But most also tell us they will NEVER stop working. We fully expect boomers to reinvent retirement as a hodgepodge of part-time, flex-time, telecommuting, consulting, and entrepreneuring. The question you should be asking Boomer leaders is this: Are you doing the hard work of cultivating high potential employees so there will be enough bench strength to take over leadership roles? After all, you want to make sure there is someone there to facilitate your flexible work arrangements after you "retire."

101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work: Tip #8 (^ top)
By John Putzier

Missing You
Just like your college uses alumni associations to keep in touch, and keep you contributing, your company can do the same. It's not a sign of failure to have a lot of "ex-employees." It may even be a sign of success! Your graduates are in demand! The only problem is that you paid for their tuition. Do you want to recoup your investment?

Create a database of alumni and keep in touch, both electronically and by hard copy. Invite them to appropriate company events (announcements, annual meetings, socials, etc.). Send them your newsletter, press releases and other positive communications so they not only remember you exist, but see that you are doing well, even without them. Again, treat them as if they are on leave or sabbatical. They're not dead!

Booz-Allen & Hamilton really put some muscle behind their alumni efforts. They actually created a position called Manager of Alumni Programs who is responsible for managing the database (over 3,000 alumni), and coordinating the publishing of an alumni directory. The directory goes to all alumni, which lists names alphabetically, the year the alumnus left the firm and cross references for geography and even former surnames. Bain & Co., a Boston-based international consulting firm, has more people in its alumni association than they have on their payroll!

Even better, personalize it. Assign your alumni to various "linkages" (i.e., current employees) within the company to manage the relationship and to keep in touch in other ways. They can attach personal notes to your alumni mailings, or even call them or meet with them on occasion. You can even create an incentive for the linkage person in the event their alum returns to the fold; just like your other "bird dog" incentives.

A trickle-down benefit to maintaining good relationships with former employees is that they will continue to speak well of you. In Focus Systems, Inc. (a manufacturer of computer projectors based in Wilsonville, Oregon) is a good case in point. As a result of their alumni program, they get referrals all the time from former employees. People will call and say they just interviewed so and so, and they were really good, but they did not have the right position for them, so they are referring him/her to you.

One last suggestion. Be sure to get an email address for people when they leave, and preferably not their work address, but rather their personal email address at home. This is a very effective way to stay in touch with large numbers of people after they leave. It's quick and non-intrusive.

Leaving your company should not be viewed as a betrayal. It is a natural phenomenon for valuable talent to pursue new opportunities. Remember, your best people are the most vulnerable to leave, because they are the best people! Get 'em back! I recall one client, a CPA firm, who even re-hired an "average" employee so that others in the firm could see that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence!

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