The Cellar - View Single Post - Ugh open floor plan office style bummin' me out

glatt · 04-11-2018, 10:53 AM

Lots of anxiety these days, and I need to vent.

My title is "Assistant to the Director" and what that means in practice is that a bunch of the administrative stuff the Director would have to do is my responsibility instead. I just do it without supervision. So I'm like a mini-director. I've been here 27 years and I have 27 years worth of good reviews sitting in my personnel file.

The director (my boss) retired at the end of 2017. It's been 3.5 months since she left. They haven't hired a new director. One of the roles the director had was to assign each new litigation to a team when those new cases came in. They got a senior paralegal to take over that role temporarily. I still do the same stuff I have always done, but it isn't keeping me 100% busy. I help out a couple days a week by running over to Veterans Affairs and reviewing files for new pro bono cases that come in. Feb and March were busy, but April is looking a little slow.

I report to the Chief Human Resources officer, but have only met with her once for 20 minutes two months ago. Basically, I have no boss. No person to keep happy. No person to review me.

Top firm management has brought in consultants to look at the structure of our department, and the IT department that works with our department. The consultants have chatted with some of our paralegals, but never bothered to talk to me.

I'm good, and well regarded. But the consultants don't know me. Our firm's CEO doesn't know me. He makes a real effort to not know anyone, presumably so it's easier on him when he fires them. Most of the big partners I have worked with in the past are retiring, and I don't have as strong relationships with the next generation. They are the ones in charge now.

All this is to say, I think my position is likely to be eliminated. I have a bunch of work I do that will be reallocated to others. Our department and the IT department will likely be merged, I suspect, and I'll be one of the casualties.

So I'm looking around for a place to leap to before I get squashed. I think I have a decent shot at being a Trademark Legal Assistant. The boss of that department is a poor manager, and the workers are overworked. They need more workers. I ran a report of their hours and they work longer hours than I am accustomed to, and they don't take vacations very often, even though they have the leave built up.

So I think I'm going to try to make this move. I'd be good in the job, but the department is poorly managed, and I may be unhappy there. I'm used to having a good boss, and having a poor manager as a boss will be a change. The attorneys in that group are not all that great either. One guy is a really nice guy though.

I could also wait and maybe things will turn out OK. Maybe I'll survive the coming shake up. That's delusional thinking though.

Yesterday morning I sent an e-mail requesting a meeting with the Chief HR person to talk this over. But she didn't acknowledge my email. Maybe I'm already too late. Or maybe she just forgot to respond. I'm going to follow up with her secretary this afternoon and see if I can get on her schedule.

My wife is being really supportive, and we have a nest egg that might last as much as a year.

No need to reply, just venting.

04-11-2018, 10:53 AM	#152
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Lots of anxiety these days, and I need to vent. My title is "Assistant to the Director" and what that means in practice is that a bunch of the administrative stuff the Director would have to do is my responsibility instead. I just do it without supervision. So I'm like a mini-director. I've been here 27 years and I have 27 years worth of good reviews sitting in my personnel file. The director (my boss) retired at the end of 2017. It's been 3.5 months since she left. They haven't hired a new director. One of the roles the director had was to assign each new litigation to a team when those new cases came in. They got a senior paralegal to take over that role temporarily. I still do the same stuff I have always done, but it isn't keeping me 100% busy. I help out a couple days a week by running over to Veterans Affairs and reviewing files for new pro bono cases that come in. Feb and March were busy, but April is looking a little slow. I report to the Chief Human Resources officer, but have only met with her once for 20 minutes two months ago. Basically, I have no boss. No person to keep happy. No person to review me. Top firm management has brought in consultants to look at the structure of our department, and the IT department that works with our department. The consultants have chatted with some of our paralegals, but never bothered to talk to me. I'm good, and well regarded. But the consultants don't know me. Our firm's CEO doesn't know me. He makes a real effort to not know anyone, presumably so it's easier on him when he fires them. Most of the big partners I have worked with in the past are retiring, and I don't have as strong relationships with the next generation. They are the ones in charge now. All this is to say, I think my position is likely to be eliminated. I have a bunch of work I do that will be reallocated to others. Our department and the IT department will likely be merged, I suspect, and I'll be one of the casualties. So I'm looking around for a place to leap to before I get squashed. I think I have a decent shot at being a Trademark Legal Assistant. The boss of that department is a poor manager, and the workers are overworked. They need more workers. I ran a report of their hours and they work longer hours than I am accustomed to, and they don't take vacations very often, even though they have the leave built up. So I think I'm going to try to make this move. I'd be good in the job, but the department is poorly managed, and I may be unhappy there. I'm used to having a good boss, and having a poor manager as a boss will be a change. The attorneys in that group are not all that great either. One guy is a really nice guy though. I could also wait and maybe things will turn out OK. Maybe I'll survive the coming shake up. That's delusional thinking though. Yesterday morning I sent an e-mail requesting a meeting with the Chief HR person to talk this over. But she didn't acknowledge my email. Maybe I'm already too late. Or maybe she just forgot to respond. I'm going to follow up with her secretary this afternoon and see if I can get on her schedule. My wife is being really supportive, and we have a nest egg that might last as much as a year. No need to reply, just venting.