Plan B
As a maintenance and project engineer my job is to determine if equipment is working and get it fixed if it is broke AND develop and implement plans to improve testing capabilities. In order to accomplish either of these responsibilities I need approval to spend money (since I have no spending authority of my own). Without a boss to sign off I am dead in the water.
Since my boss left the company December 1st no replacement has been identified, nor a temporary boss assigned. It's the goddamnessest thing I've witnessed in 42 years of work. So, basically, I identify broken equipment, shut it down and shrug. All projects are dead so I shrug again. And then I go see HR to get my guys timecards approved. Bizarre.
And then there is the matter of communication. Without a reporting structure, a boss, all communication has ended. No emails. Zip. Right in the middle of a reorganization, apparently including a holding company bankruptcy and negotiation with vendors that I use. And I neither know what's going on nor am I asked for input. All I know is rumors.
With 28 years of experience in various manufacturing and research/development roles I've typically been almost overwhelmed at times with information. I've never been completely outside the loop. I always imagined that if I was cutoff from the information loop that I was targeted for being fired. This time is different. The company is literally falling apart as people flee to other opportunities.
Some of my coworkers suggest that I'm lucky to be unattached and without a boss. I'm unaccountable to anyone and have gotten the oddest looks when someone asks "Who's your boss?" and I respond "I don't have one". But I have the feeling that I'm coasting to disaster.
Plan B is looking like the way to go.
Since my boss left the company December 1st no replacement has been identified, nor a temporary boss assigned. It's the goddamnessest thing I've witnessed in 42 years of work. So, basically, I identify broken equipment, shut it down and shrug. All projects are dead so I shrug again. And then I go see HR to get my guys timecards approved. Bizarre.
And then there is the matter of communication. Without a reporting structure, a boss, all communication has ended. No emails. Zip. Right in the middle of a reorganization, apparently including a holding company bankruptcy and negotiation with vendors that I use. And I neither know what's going on nor am I asked for input. All I know is rumors.
With 28 years of experience in various manufacturing and research/development roles I've typically been almost overwhelmed at times with information. I've never been completely outside the loop. I always imagined that if I was cutoff from the information loop that I was targeted for being fired. This time is different. The company is literally falling apart as people flee to other opportunities.
Some of my coworkers suggest that I'm lucky to be unattached and without a boss. I'm unaccountable to anyone and have gotten the oddest looks when someone asks "Who's your boss?" and I respond "I don't have one". But I have the feeling that I'm coasting to disaster.
Plan B is looking like the way to go.
posted by lugh lampfhota at 8:07 PM
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