Help with bad boss
 

(I apologize in advance for this being so long)

First off a little background with my work. I have worked at this place for over 2 years, the first year and a half was great. I enjoyed my work, my boss and I got along great, never a complaint out of me. Over the past 6 months my boss has been increasingly hostile towards his workers. Coming into work in bad moods daily, taking it out on us, kicking us out of the office (we share an office space, 2 desks in a room) when he wants to be alone. Which takes me away from the computer, and my tasks come to me over Microsoft Outlook. Then he yells at us for not performing said tasks. He whores us out to other departments to pick up their slack, sometimes keeping us from our own work. He'll (out of the business account) buy fans, for people that are too hot; heaters for people that are too cold; desk lamps for people that don't like our flourescent office lights; but when we ask for something that will legitimately make our jobs/lives easier and more efficient he tells us to suck it up.

Today (monday) we completed all of our tasks well before the end of the day (we even all the tasks set to be done the next day completed, putting us a day ahead). So we are takin a well deserved break and he comes back from lunch all "fire and brimstone" and yells and scolds us for not making good use of our time and telling us we should have gotten more work done and didn't need to be taking a break. He then tell us what needs to be done, and I reassure him (and show him) that all the work is done for the day and the next. He then starts pulling out random stuff for us to do that we weren't previously told to do.

So at this point I am hot and pissed off cause I take my work seriously and don't like people crapping on it for no reason. And he has been making a lot of peoples lives a living hell. So my coworkers and I take our case to the Human Resources Director. She agrees that it has become a problem, and seeing people wanting to "mutiny" doesn't reflect highly upon the organization.

Well apparently he was listening at the door and heard some of what we said and called a meeting immediately afterwards. To paraphrase what he said to us:
"I don't know what you told (the HR director) and I don't care either but I will not quit. If you guys don't like the way I run things then you quit, or I will make you quit."

He then proceeded to ask us what we were going to do, work or quit. I told him I will do the work that is required of me by the company. He then sent me home early, and told another guy to not bother coming in tomorrow, and said he would call me on Wed. to tell me whether or not I was to ever come back to work.

So any advice on what I should do or how I should proceed?

Go tell aforementioned HR Director his exact reaction to the conversation he thought he overheard. Perferably... now. :)

Since you told your HR director BEFORE he started firing people, you've got perfect timing and a great case to boot..

That sucks, confederate. I know firsthad how a shitty atmosphere can ruin one's joy and motivation at work.

As to why he's acting that way: does anyone know? Has something major changed in his life that caused him to go from being easy to work for into what he's become?

Also, I'd do just what JinnKai said to do. Isn't that kind of retribution illegal? Well, not necessarily illegal, but I think you know what I mean.

Good luck with this. I hope you can return it to a place you enjoy working.

He's fucked already. HR will have him replaced by the start of next week if they're any good.

that was the conscensus we got to when we talked after we got sent home. :thumbsup:

If you can, document everything. It'll be a much stronger case than a "he said, she said" incident.

But as it stands, it sounds like he's pretty fucked already. Just keep your cool and keep us apprised.

The first part is key......go back to HR, and do NOT waste any time at all!!! Wish you the best! :thumbsup:

I appreciate the thoughts and concerns.

I know he got a DWI that im not sure his superior knows about. He can't keep a girlfriend to save his life. We used to all go out for happy hour but he stopped going with us so noone is real friendly to him anymore.

His behaviour is absolutely inexcusable. What it sounds like to me is that he has some personal problems and he's allowing them to carry over to his work environment. As a manager it's his responsibility to seperate his professional life from his private life (everybody's responsibility, really, but for someone in a managerial position it goes double). You and your colleagues were absolutely right to go to HR over the issue and if he isn't severely reprimanded and/or gotten rid of I qould question why you would want to remain at that place anyway.

These things have way of working themselves out. Persevere, keep in touch with HR and do not let this go and you'll end up better off in the long run.

I agree with FNGKestrel.

Write a summation of what has been happening.
Both a personal diary of sorts and a daily list of events that's brought this about and ask others to verify it with their signature NOW!

If pressure is brought to bear on weaker folks in your department, you might be left standing alone, but if the record exists with their signature, EVERYONE is in it.

From the HR person's reaction, he's clearly boned. Actually, HR probably said more than she should have. Saying she knew there was a problem and giving you verbal agreement to your position isn't a particularly professional way to deal with it from an HR standpoint. She actually gave you ammunition for a lawsuit against the company, if you were so inclined. She should have dispassionately noted your concern and thanked you for your input, then promptly but discreetly brought the issue up with your boss's boss. Still, your boss's days are numbered.

Be prepared for him to lash out in final desperation. From the heart of hell he stabs at you!

as people have said.. document everything.

from emails to phone calls to quick quips in the hallways... document document document. Also, remember it's not going to be instantaneous. When I wanted to fire someone on my team it took em 6 months of solid documentation.

Now about lawsuits... lawsuits can only happen when there's an infraction of employment law. As my employment lawyer reminds me on a regular basis, there is no tort or legal recourse for having a bad boss.