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How to change a small office culture?

  • I work in an office of about 25 people, which is run by just one big boss & the hours are atrocious. I'm not the only one who thinks so, but at least 2 people have been fired in the past for daring to complain directly. How can we, the employees, either start a productive conversation with our boss about this, or somehow generate grassroots change? _The general background: I work in a desirable field, with way more job seekers than jobs. Bad hours are fairly common, but my current office is really out in its own league. Per the employee handbook, our standard hour are 8:30am to 6:30pm. Which is already kind of bad, but what's worse is literally no one leaves on-time at 6:30, even during fairly calm weeks (which are rare). When deadlines are looming, hours quickly escalate to 8:30am - 10, midnight and even later. Our office calendar is in constant flux and important (and unimportant) internal meetings, and even client meetings are regularly scheduled after 6:30 pm, often with less than an hour notice. Staff are frequently roped into "assisting" on project late in the day and end up having to stay until late at night with no notice at all. Planning activities for after work is impossible. We are all salaried, so there is no paid overtime. The office is a one-man show. There is one "big boss" and we all work for him and he has the final word on everything. There is a layer of three more senior staff, but they seem to accept our current methods. Then there's everyone else. There is not a lot of hierarchy beyond "us" and "big boss". In the past, people who have had a problem with this have either left of their own accord or been fired. I actually enjoy my job, when the hours are not being stupid and would like to keep it. My boss also really likes me, so I have more leverage than others. I've been working there for about a year. I have a longer tenure than about half our employees currently. _The problem, as I see it: We currently have about 20 active projects in an office of 25 people; most of them are on accelerated schedules. Big Boss is generally way overcommitted and so his schedule just slides later and later and there's no stopping it. We are at its mercy and expected to be available when he is. Problem 1: we promise very agressive schedules and then in order to deliver, we have to work a bunch of overtime. Problem 2: Big Boss is a bit of a control freak about project direction. He cannot let anything related to direction go to clients without several rounds of vetting. Problem 3: Big Boss goes to about 90% of the client meetings, plus business development and other misc. things. This means he's in meetings literally all day. It's next impossible to get internal feedback from him without hovering around his desk with a bunch of printouts in hand and a 30 second script memorized. When project teams are more than two people, the problem is greatly exacerbated because this method of hover & trap doesn't work with so many people. This means most internal feedback on larger & more important project happens after 6:30 at night, when he doesn't have other meetings scheduled. Because of his all day meetings and point 4 below, often these internal meetings get pushed later and later throughout the day until at last, they happen at like, 8:30pm. Problem 4: Big Boss has a family who would like to actually see him occasionally. So, since he has little kids, Big Boss sometimes will take 2 hours in the afternoon or early evening to see his kids and then come back. Thus pushing the evening meeting schedule back even further. I've spoken with several peers about how much this sucks, and none of us really know how to deal with it. Writing this out it seems like the best option would be to approach one of the senior staff and diplomatically express concerns... but I'm wondering what the best strategy is? Changing office culture is really difficult, especially when it's driven by the boss. There are also a couple (3 or 4) people who have worked at my office for 4-5 years and seems totally fine with the deal, they really buy into it. The rest of us are not so much. We've expanded significantly (like, 2x) in the last 6 months and it just seems totally unprofessional to expect a 25 person office to work like this. When you're 5 people you can be THAT invested in the work; when you're 25 not so much. My boss is an OK guy, he's good at what he does, but this management style is just not OK and is completely disrespectful of our time outside of work. What is the best way to approach this problem, knowing that everyone else who has had a problem with it has either just left or been fired?

  • Answer:

    It sounds like having all the projects needing approval held up until after hours is a real bottleneck, so maybe you all could get together and suggest a half hour window every day when the boss makes himself available to approve things. Could be the same time every day, so people know if they have something for his approval, they need to have it done by then, and the boss needs to not schedule meetings for that time. Just suggest it as, hey, we all really wanted to try this (if that is true) and wondered if you could be up for it, thought it could really help productivity. Good luck!

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What is the best way to approach this problem, knowing that everyone else who has had a problem with it has either just left or been fired? I think this probably tells you what the answer is, unfortunately.

empath

The owner/boss has gotten himself into a zone where he is too frantic to consider any change. Your company may be profitable now, but that pace tends to produce failure. You are not in a position to change this or get through to owner/boss in a any meaningful way at this point. My suggestion is that you seek other employment. When you have a viable offer in hand, you may be able to express your concerns and be heard. Even if you are promised change and stay on at this firm, change likely will not happen. RUN.

jbenben

Are you working for my previous employer? Here's what happened at my former company: after years of running a company like this, my "big boss" started to burn out. But because she was a control freak, she wouldn't let anyone else take over for her, she alienated clients with her outbursts and erratic scheduling, quality of work suffered, we lost our biggest client, everyone with any talent left, and half the remainder were fired. This is no way to run a company. There is no long-term future for you here. It is highly likely your rapid expansion will be followed by an equally rapid implosion, because as you have correctly observed, this management style does not scale. Find another job. All that said, here are a few short-term coping strategies: * When the boss leaves in the afternoon to see his family, can you take an extended lunch as well? * Schedule after-work commitments like they are vacation days. Announce them a week ahead of time, remind people they are upcoming, and line up people to cover for you in your absence. * Is there by chance also a culture of big boss favoritism, and needing to be present at every meeting lest you miss out on the good projects? You can just not play along with this. On all of your projects, deputize 1 or 2 people to speak for the entire team, and rotate this burden. * Aggressively leave on time whenever you have no emergencies. The boss likes you - use that advantage to normalize leaving the office instead of waiting for something to blow up. * Are you working the whole time, or are you spending a lot of time hanging around "in case"? If it's the latter, find someone you can alternate with to stay late, and take turns covering for the other. * Can you log on later, or call in to late meetings? Does everyone have to be at the office? Best of luck to you.

psycheslamp

You leave, and found a competing company with the working culture you want.

scruss

I agree with the others that change will not happen until there is some kind of a crisis, and in the medium term, the best solution is to find another job in a more sane environment. Te bottom line is that people do what works, and this is working for him. In the meantime, though, you can gain some sanity by setting a few boundaries. I once brought some sanity to my schedule by telling a workaholic boss that I had to leave "early" (actually on time) for twice-weekly physio appointments. (It was true for a few weeks but I never told her when the appointments ended.) She did not like it, but since I was a good performer and she liked me, and I made it clear that not fixing the problem could mean I was unable to work for weeks, she could not object. Perhaps you and your co-workers are taking classes or have family obligations that should be nonnegotiable? In my case, I did not discuss much, just said "I have to do this in order to avoid knee surgery and then did it. Also, you and your colleagues should just start leaving on time during calm periods. Don't wait around and ask for permission. It will be hard for him to call a last-minute meeting after quitting time if nobody is there. And if you all agree to do it, he won't be able to fire you all.

rpfields

Plain and simple, you are being exploited for the benefit of the owner/boss. It's up to you whether you want to keep bending over or take a stance against this (sounds like there are some legal issues here about which you could consult with a labor attorney). Nobody here can decide for you what you should do.

Dansaman

this management style is just not OK If your boss thinks that it is, anyone who disagrees is fired, and your occupation is not unionized or regulated then it doesn't matter if his management is OK or not... it is how things are. Things could be better, you see the potential to improve things for everyone, but making your boss aware of the problems you mentioned along with improving and changing up the place isn't your job and there are two recent ex employees who are evidence of that. Whether everything you said above is dead right or not doesn't matter- it isn't your job and you will not be rewarded for making it so.

variella

Yep, this is exactly what unions are for. Find whatever union is closest to the area you work in, contact someone there and tell them your story. They'll probably be more than happy to get the people in your workplace signed up. The point is to enough people to join that it will become impractical to fire all of you.

Acheman

Your boss isn't interested in making things better for his staff. He doesn't care. So anything you do will only get you shown the door. You can't fix what the guy who owns the deal doesn't want fixed. So start looking for another job. The only way a guy like this learns that his methods are shit is when it affects him negatively. So far, it hasn't and it may never happen. You can either wait around for that to happen, (and why WOULD you?) Or, you can change your own situation.

Ruthless Bunny

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