Does my boss actually want me to do any work?

The title of this article was the crescendo of my friend Rob*, during an impassioned call with him last week. Rob has recently taken on a new junior leadership role in a great company. I say recently, but he signed the contract in March 2020, had his first day scheduled for the beginning of April 2020, before this was deferred, first to June, and finally to August. Rob works in an office for a meetings and events company. The reasons for the deferral of his start date? Take a wild guess.

Despite his tumultuous onboarding, Rob remained cautiously excited. The delayed start date allowed him to collect furlough money from the employer he was leaving, as well as enabling him to get on with a qualification he was studying for, completing it ahead of time. The new employer was communicative, optimistic, and clearly valued Rob’s potential contribution, seeing as they were adamant he was to join. “Why aren’t they just pulling the offer?” Rob asked me at the time, citing the somewhat dire projections for the hospitality industry in Spring 2020. Such actions in the U.K. are usually regarded as a breach of contract but used by as an action of last resort by many companies in the early stages of the pandemic.

Rob has now joined his new employer. He is furloughed from time to time, but on the days where he is working, he apparently isn’t. His team, a small-ish cadre of one manager and two colleagues (excluding him) are close-knit and seem content dividing up what little work there is to do amongst themselves. Rob – who, on paper at least, should be second in command – is left to scrabble for crumbs of entry-level or administrative tasks which are way below his capabilities.

“Why aren’t they just making me redundant?” Rob lamented, clearly feeling little better than he was while he was waiting to join ranks. I first suggested to Rob that he addresses these concerns to his manager, who, despite seeming to lack effective delegation skills, Rob described as a good-natured person who was always happy to listen. She did, apparently promising to Rob that things would change. A couple of weeks later, he told me that things were exactly as they had been.

Even I was not sure what to do in this situation; I completely struggled to relate to it, although I can see how an unlucky mix of a new kid on the block, remote working and a half-closed operation may make assignment of duties a whole new beast. After some noodle scratching, I laid out to Rob what I would do if I were in his shoes, in the following order.

Of course, if you the reader have any other ideas, or have been through this situation yourself, I would love to your thoughts. As soon as the pubs re-open, I am sure Rob would take you for a pint.

First: “Remind them that you are there”.

Rob mentioned a few things which may contribute to him, as a new starter, unintentionally fading into the background. He never had an orientation; just a series of calls with his manager explaining to him how things were going to work, mainly geared towards the eventual end of lockdown, when hospitality could reopen (as opposed to a rebuilding strategy taking the company to this point).

The team, as well as being close, are all quite introverted. They also disliked having their camera on during video calls. Of course, no one can force anyone to do this (there are days where my lockdown-afflicted hairstyles are best viewed by only my partner and my cat) but I did suggest to Rob to at least make himself a visible presence, reminding everyone that he is very much there and ‘ready for action’.

Second: “Don’t wait to be asked”.

An inward-looking or introverted team may not reach out to newbies for assistance; concurrently, said newbies maybe will not feel it is their place to wade in with suggestions. I explained to Rob that given the circumstances, maybe it is best for him to err on the side of assertiveness, grabbing jobs and tasks as and when they present themselves, even if they may not be completely aligned with his ideal duties.

One such example was Rob’s team apparently needing a local policy for a new process which had been cascaded down to them from their regional office, but the idea being shelved as it “wasn’t a priority”. Rob, being at a loose end, could just state on the call that he will take care of the policy, no questions asked. This way, if the manager was not happy with Rob completing this project, it forces her hand in suggesting other things for him to be getting on with.

Third: “Show them what you can do”.

One of the worst side-effects to what Rob is going through is that it is becoming demotivating for him. He is slowly discovering that even getting on with completing the meagre and straightforward tasks he is given is difficult, as, in his own words, he “simply does not want to be doing these things”. I get him, but there is a catch-22 here. If Rob only deigns to work, he runs the risk being perceived as standoffish, unhelpful, or disengaged (even though he may well be the latter).

Rob’s a smart cookie. I advised that him that he should just inwardly roll his eyes and play the game, grasping any tasks with ardour and over-achieve on them, screaming his achievements from the rooftop. This infracts Rob’s leading trait of modesty, but needs must.

Fourth: “Don’t let the issue go away”.

One of my favourite lessons that I have learned in my career is to be extraordinarily irritating if I’m not getting straight answers (and I have a natural ability to be so inclined). Rob is becoming worried about job security as he feels increasingly surplus to requirements.

I don’t think Rob is at risk, but my concern is him allowing the stagnation to become incessant, especially as things get busier and the team might need more support. I advised Rob to start hammering his feelings into his manager. If speaking up, being overly proactive and exceeding expectations all try and fail, then get the manager on a one-to-one call and tell her the cold, hard facts, from hinty statements such as,

“Mark said on the call last week that he has no time to complete that audit so you said it can be left for a month or so. I have done this in my previous workplace; give it to me to do!”…

..to more in-your-face ‘get-it-sorted-isms’ like,

“I am not busy and have told you that this has been the case since August 2020. You are giving other people work to do, even though I have been telling you repeatedly I have the time and capabilities to assist. What can we do to change this?”.

Despite growing pessimism regarding the present situation, Rob is optimistic for the future. “They’re good people”, he says. “Just set in their ways and struggling to adapt to home-work and less work”. I agree with him. Before we end our call, I express regret that I cannot help more. Rob smiles. “Even if nothing changes, I can boast to anyone that I am the best-paid administrator in the world”.

*Name has been changed.