Unemployment Support Group
Recently unemployed or frustrated with the job search? Unemployment can affect more than just the bank account - it has a negative effect on motivation and self-esteem, even sense of identity. This community addresses the challenges associated with unemployment and how to cope.
Last February I started a job with a new company. The owner was someone who was a contact at my previous job and I also had consulted on some projects for him.
A lot of promises were made in terms of raises/bonuses as we signed on more member companies and creative control. None have been fulfilled. He weasled out of a promised bonus and I haven't gotten a raise even though we have gone from 2 members to 5 and my responsibilities have gone up. He is a micromanager and takes no advice from me or the other member of the editorial team.
It is chaos, there is no planning, he decides we should do things on a whim, asks people to research things and then nothing ever happens. He has fired 3 people and another has quit, of the 8 people that started last year.
Now he wants me to get involved in an additional project. He vaguely mentioned he might need my assistance with something, but we never agreed on any erms or details. Now he is saying he'll pay me extra to participate in this project, but after so many unfulfilled promises, I don't trust him to do that. Also, on attending a meeting about the project details, I realized it would be extremely time consuming and it also sounds unethical (think borderline industrial spying).
He never takes his type of news well in person, so I e-mailed him about it and left the WhatsApp group that he set up for project. Obviously, he is mad and said I promised to do this (not true) and he doesn't understand what I am doing. He wants to meet for coffee to discuss, but I am sure he is going to make a scene if I go meet him.
I am thinking he is going to either fire me outright or give me an ultimatum to do that project as part of my continued employment. If the second possibility happens I will quit. I really think it's a sinking ship anyways. Team meetings have a toxic atmosphere, and he is oblivious to it. It's sad, though. I started with a good attitutde and wanting contribute, but I can only take so many lies and feeling like I am being taken advantage of.
A lot of promises were made in terms of raises/bonuses as we signed on more member companies and creative control. None have been fulfilled. He weasled out of a promised bonus and I haven't gotten a raise even though we have gone from 2 members to 5 and my responsibilities have gone up. He is a micromanager and takes no advice from me or the other member of the editorial team.
It is chaos, there is no planning, he decides we should do things on a whim, asks people to research things and then nothing ever happens. He has fired 3 people and another has quit, of the 8 people that started last year.
Now he wants me to get involved in an additional project. He vaguely mentioned he might need my assistance with something, but we never agreed on any erms or details. Now he is saying he'll pay me extra to participate in this project, but after so many unfulfilled promises, I don't trust him to do that. Also, on attending a meeting about the project details, I realized it would be extremely time consuming and it also sounds unethical (think borderline industrial spying).
He never takes his type of news well in person, so I e-mailed him about it and left the WhatsApp group that he set up for project. Obviously, he is mad and said I promised to do this (not true) and he doesn't understand what I am doing. He wants to meet for coffee to discuss, but I am sure he is going to make a scene if I go meet him.
I am thinking he is going to either fire me outright or give me an ultimatum to do that project as part of my continued employment. If the second possibility happens I will quit. I really think it's a sinking ship anyways. Team meetings have a toxic atmosphere, and he is oblivious to it. It's sad, though. I started with a good attitutde and wanting contribute, but I can only take so many lies and feeling like I am being taken advantage of.
as for your payment make sure to contact him personally and if you don't receive your pay then make sure to take the appropriate procedures which would guarantee your right as a resigned employee.
Unfortunately, the job market is really tough where I live, so waiting to find another permanent job would mean I would still be there. The money I was making was so low, it doesn't make a huge difference in our household finances. Plus, the stress was so much, I was having panic attacks. Those stopped when I quit.
I am now doing some freelance things and trying to launch a small business. That is more likely to work than trying to find a typical job. At least I received my tax refund so I have some extra money.
The worst thing is that he treats everyone freelance, making it harder to force payment from him since there are no work contracts. In my case, he did eventually pay me for April, but I had to follow up several times. He knows I am married to a lawyer, so I am sure that helped. I have since heard that he has not paid a former co-worker in more than a year!! She has a complicated tax situation, and can't bill him as an independent contractor. However, she went to the tax service and they gave her a solution. Still, he says that his accountant doesn't know how to do it, more excuses and lies, like always. I might be able to sue him under the labor law here, because for as long as I worked there, he was supposed to give me a work contract (another unfulfilled promise). But, I don't know if it is worth it.
He has hired a replacement for me, with a higher title (director) so he is probably earning more than what I was making, even though supposedly they never had money to give me a raise. That makes it clear that they were never going to appreciate me or pay me what I was worth. How is he suddenly a director with more pay when he is doing the same work I was?
The work he does is visibie on the website, and it is awful. Instead of researching and writing, he takes articles in English and puts them through google translate to get the Spanish version. You can tell because there are a lot of errors in the translation that are typical of computer translations and they follow the structure of the source articles in English. There are also spelling and grammar errors. Plus, they can get in legal trouble for reproducing articles from other websites.
There is another woman who proofreads everything. We used to work well together. Occasionally there would be a typo, but they were rare. She is still working there, but seems to not care anymore, judging by all the errors. I guess the GM doesn't check things either, because poor work continues every week. Plus, the prior errors would have been corrected by now. In one way I hate it because I worked hard to develop the web content and in a month he has destroyed it!
The company is clearly circling the drain. The woman who isn't being paid told me she will quit soon too. That will make things worse. Some member companies have the option to leave in July, and if that happens the whole thing comes crashing down. I didn't want to be there for that. The GM will blame everyone but himself, as he always does. He never takes responsibility for anything. He lies and when you call him on it, he says it was a misunderstanding - even though I understood clearly. It is so unprofessional.