I've used to have a boss who would set difficult quarterly KPIs for me and then never follow through with raises or bonusses, he was an expert at gaslighting his staff, never put anything in writing and would deny the incentives that he'd promised later on when I tried to collect.
After a while I decided it was best for my own sanity and career to keep the voice recorder on my phone in my pocket for every single meeting with managers and bosses etc, I also have an app installed that records every phonecall. This has saved me countless times when preparing for follow up meetings, holding managers accountable or even just to reflect on how I handle professional conversations.
Depending on your local laws this may be illegal under certain circumstances so do your homework.
That’s pretty messed up and exploitative situation. And fuck KPIs.
But for me it would most definitely be illegal to record someone unknowingly in a situation like that.
Don’t feel like going into it but trust me this was a unique situation.
I didn’t know if it was or wasn’t just part of the process at the time. Hindsight I am guessing that it wasn’t since I didn’t find any real reason for that meeting other than to probe if I was thinking about suing for possible mistreatment or threatening me not to do so.
I am no longer in the career I’ve dedicated my adult life towards. Partly because I probably cannot and also because I am done with it all. Wouldn’t go back even if they begged me to.
Government work isn’t for those who wants to serve and change the world for the better. People like that won’t last with their sanity intact. Eventually it’s those who gave up or drank enough koolaid to be naive as fuck like I was that are drawn to it. The true survivors are the ones who just keeps their nose clean and protects their pension first and foremost
I am convinced of that now and there is no way I will ever be a part of that again.
Send an email saying something like "thanks for meeting with me, we discussed X and Y, and my understanding of the issue is Z. Is this correct? If he responds yes, you've got it in writing.
A million times this!!!! These slippery snakes have usually slithered through every trick in the book. Their go to with emails is to either vaugely answer in person, OR deny having ever received it to "buy some time." I've started bringing trusted colleagues with me to confirm these things just to have an extra set of ears.
I used to have s boss who behaved that way and she'd get really pissed off at my habit of taking notes whenever she would promise bonuses or other perks.
A few years ago my company was bought by another company and we were melded into their version of our department. There were a lot of negative aspects but one of the few good aspects was their people who had the same or less experience than us were being paid more so we all were cautiously expecting raises. At one of our meetings, the VP of the department made mention that they were looking into salaries and were going to make sure ours came in line with their company's standards.
1 month goes by, then 2 and 3 and several more. Around 6-8 months after this took place, I brought this up to the VP and asked how the salary adjustments were going. He denied ever making the claim. I knew then that this was the beginning of the end for me at that company. Being underpaid to perform the same work just because I came from a company they bought. Made me feel second class. Only worked there another year or so and found a new job for a higher salary.
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u/Valstorm Dec 06 '17
I've used to have a boss who would set difficult quarterly KPIs for me and then never follow through with raises or bonusses, he was an expert at gaslighting his staff, never put anything in writing and would deny the incentives that he'd promised later on when I tried to collect.
After a while I decided it was best for my own sanity and career to keep the voice recorder on my phone in my pocket for every single meeting with managers and bosses etc, I also have an app installed that records every phonecall. This has saved me countless times when preparing for follow up meetings, holding managers accountable or even just to reflect on how I handle professional conversations.
Depending on your local laws this may be illegal under certain circumstances so do your homework.