How would you handle this work situation?

[megalicious]

Today I got called into the boss' office and was told that there's a "perception" in the department that I pick and choose the work that I want to do and then leave what I don't want for the others. It's a ridiculous "perception" and she couldn't give me any concrete examples but I could give her 100 to the contrary. I'm in a small department, so it could have only been one of 3 other people who said that--and I'm pretty sure I know who it was.

WWYD?

[heygrey]

Don't say anything, continue on as normal.

Does your boss care or was it just a relay of information?

[megalicious]

Oct 31, 2012 21:58:39 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Don't say anything, continue on as normal.

Does your boss care or was it just a relay of information?

It felt like more of a relay of information. She suggested to he overly cautious about how work was distributed. But, My review is coming up in 2 months and I was going to push for a small promotion. Now I'm worried.

[heygrey]

So try to take on a bit more of the scut, or let your coworkers pick first and take what's left. I wouldn't discuss it with anyone personally.

Honestly, it sounds like such a stupid complaint that I'd have a hard time taking it seriously.

[MrsAxilla]

Oct 31, 2012 22:03:28 GMT -5 heygrey said:

So try to take on a bit more of the scut, or let your coworkers pick first and take what's left. I wouldn't discuss it with anyone personally.

Honestly, it sounds like such a stupid complaint that I'd have a hard time taking it seriously.

This is good advice. When your review comes up, make sure to mention how you dealt with the issue. 2 months is plenty of time!

[ondaflipside]

I'm with the facing it head-on camp. You want to be in a leadership role? Face the challenge.

[pamela]

I voted for don't bring it up, just be nice. I don't think confronting the person 1 on 1 will yield a positive result here where they wanted to go to the boss, but the boss isn't going to do anything directly about it.

We have a bit of this problem, in part because of a weird seniority situation. As someone likely to end up as the next supervisor of the group, I've taken the approach of trying to get more group input on how we divy up tasks. Of course it depends on how work comes to your group, but we have set tasks that recur and then major projects. For the set tasks, we each have a "duty month" where we are responsible for those tasks (and getting someone to be our reviewer). For major projects, we each have our specialities and then every year or 2, we try to rotate who is going to be the "expert" on that area and who is their backup. That way everyone is developing in each area, but there is a person in charge of making sure things don't fall through the cracks. Then we solicit each other for backup on the individual tasks that come up within those projects.

[vanillacourage]

I would not address it directly, or be "overly" nice. But I would be more mindful of how I was coming off, even if it was just to assure myself that I wasn't doing anything wrong.

You may think the situation is dumb, but your boss did you a favor by making you aware of the perception so at least you can keep an eye on it. Even if it's incorrect or unfair, people can get a reputation around an office that can become insidious, so if it were me I'd rather know so I could head it off.