It feels backwards that doing well at work could make someone more expensive to keep, while being good at office politics might make them safer.

That's the part of layoffs I struggle with. If a manager likes you, how much does that outweigh the quality of your work? And if you're a strong performer who's earned raises, does the higher compensation ever count against you when the budget gets cut?

Then add the uncertainty around AI taking on more work. I can see why someone would start wondering whether getting better at the job is still the best use of their effort.

Keeping outside options open seems reasonable, even without deciding to leave. If repeated forms are what's putting someone off applying, autofill for job applications is one way to cut that part down. It still leaves the more important decision of which employers are worth moving to.

For people who've navigated this, what helped you build influence without feeling like you were spending the day kissing ass?

I operate LandOffer, linked above.

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Long time ago in the state of New Delhi , there was a good man ( Ajay ) who started this firm.

As the firm grew, new people joined in. Amongst them was Dhatrashtra Gupta( Tech enthusiast partner) who takes care of the Global Audit profile. With Dhatrashra, came in another slacker, who hardly have any experience in Global Audit , Gandhari Shreedhar  (Associate Director).

Lady shreedhar has no Audit background and is a Director who does the basic clerical work along with hating the male community and promoting south Indian candidates in the firm. She also have issues with qualified Chartered Accountants, since they are more knowledgeable and make her look irrelevant in the firm. Since we are talking about Dhatrashtra and Gandhari , we also got a Duryodhan Maheshwari, who is a oversmart and arrogant ACCA, who just take care of the operations and is a super favourite of Shreedhar. Duryodhan manages all the tasks on behalf of Gandhari so she can can sit and irritate the workings of the people who are actually working on a difficult client. Duryodhan got promoted recently, coz she's the favourite of her adopted mommy.

As a normal employees didn't had time to check social media platforms in between our working hours , coz of the work load , but duryodhan is supper fast in her work , that she had the time to make new recipes, and sing song for Instagram people. Along with maintaining the timesheet , communicating with the client ,unnecessarily making SOPs for how to do basic things and putting in false accusation on the Team mates, so that she can rank up her postion.

If you guys are planning to join the Audit practice of this firm , be very careful of Duryodhan amd Gandhari , coz if u are not a women and your position is aligned with Duryodhan , then she will just order gandhari with a false accusation list to fire this employee. Dhatrashtra being a ignorant leader , doesn't have the brain to see what is happening under his nose.

All in all , Audit practice is very Toxic and as long as these 2 ladies are there in the firm, it is a shit hole to work here. Join only if you don't have any back up , and leave as soon as you get another good opportunity.

I hava a micro-manager, so I get really few valuable tasks or chances to develop. And whenever we have an intern, she gives my worthwhile work to them and puts me last.

For example, at company public events, someone needs to take photos. When I first volunteered, she refused by saying it was a major event with important guests and that she had high standards for the photos, and hired a professional photographer instead. Only when the photographer was unavailable did I get a chance, colleagues and guests were happy with my photos. Yet she still complains about the tight budget while hiring a photographer for every event.

But when there's an intern, she suddenly lets the intern shoot—even if they're not good at it. Her reason: interns are here to gain experience, so they can't keep doing simple, repetitive work. Even I'd told her in advance i will take photos for one event, and she'd conveniently forget and let the intern practice.

I think it's double standards and unfair, but I can't just refuse and say I don't want interns involved—that would make me the selfish, uncooperative one.

I don't dislike the interns or see them as rivals. I just don't understand why I keep feeling like my work is being taken away from me. If you've been through something similar, how would you handle it?

I’ve been in my current role for about 8 months and I’m trying to figure out how to navigate some workplace dynamics.

I’ve built relationships with people higher up in the organization, and my work and visibility has caught their attention (all way way up to the national VP level). At the same time, things with my immediate team have been more complicated. I’ve dealt with hostility from a colleague, tension around responsibilities, and comments that my personality can come across as intense.
Recently, during a leadership meeting a newer team member was presenting, which made the situation interesting given the dynamics on our team.
I’m confident, direct, and good at building relationships, but I’m also aware that I can have a strong presence. I can’t tell if I’m overthinking things, if there’s some territorial behavior happening, or if there’s something about my approach I need to adjust.
I like my job and want to stay long-term. I’m not trying to climb the corporate ladder; I just want to do my job well without getting caught up in unnecessary politics.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? How would you handle it, and what would you watch out for? I genuinely want honest perspectives, including ones that might challenge my own.

We're a group of engineering students from DTU (Technical University of Denmark) researching temperature comfort in office environments.

We're curious about a few things:

1. Do you often feel too hot or too cold at work?

2. Do your coworkers have different temperature preferences?

3. How does your workplace handle these differences?

4. Have you found any solutions that actually work?

We're particularly interested in whether this is a common issue and how workplaces deal with it.

Any experiences or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I am on a sales team and we are in office essentially every day, though it’s outside sales so there’s an understood “come and go as needed” policy to go meet prospective clients and whatnot. I am currently on a team of 5, and am the most senior on the team. This has resulted in me being something of a point-man for the rest of the more junior salespeople, often considered the SME on anything and everything to do with our work. This alone doesn’t bother me, in fact I want to eventually do people leadership, and most of the team are very respectful of my time, and in fact tend to only ask for my help/input after they have tried to solve a problem themselves.

One coworker, however, who sits directly across from my cube (behind me), is a different story. Roughly 8-10 times a day he’s calling me over to his desk to ask for clarification, advice, consults, one-offs, you name it. I don’t have a problem with this in a vacuum, it’s better to ask your questions than sit in silence, but he relies on me for everything and I fear he doesn’t trust himself to handle mundane tasks without running it by me first, and he doesn’t try to solve things on his own before calling me over to ask what I would do. I gave him a pass for the first 6 or so months as he was the new guy, and am constantly trying to “teach him to fish”, but it doesn’t matter.

The constant trips over to his desk to answer his questions break my focus and it takes me a while to get back in my groove. I don’t want to be rude to him, but I also have my own metrics I’m held to, and the amount of help I’m giving this guy is far beyond my job description. Our manager is in our office and though he is often in the field, has office hours about 3 days a week minimum. I find myself making excuses to dip out of the office early so I can WFH and focus.

I am getting promoted at the end of the year to work on larger enterprise accounts. There is an open cubicle opposite to mine that is a few feet closer to the team I will be working on, and the closest desk to my new manager’s office. I could theoretically claim this desk (I have a convenient enough excuse for doing so), but I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. I still want to be helpful to the people in my old role but I need to focus on my work first.

Any advice for how to handle this is appreciated. I’d prefer to keep my current desk and just have my colleague be more self sufficient, but after nearly a year I’m not so sure that’s coming any time soon.

TL;DR: coworker is constantly bombarding me with questions. I want to be helpful, but it is distracting to me getting my work done. I have the option to move desks due to a new promotion, should I do it?

Somehow, I managed to lose a job before I even showed up for work. I interviewed at as a data entry job on Thursday, and the manager said I would probably start the following Tuesday. A few hours later, I had access to their employee system, and I filled out the tax forms, direct deposit information, and my availability.

Tuesday came and went without anyone sending me anything. No schedule was posted, no one called me, and the employee directory had everyone's contact information hidden. The shop also didn't have a direct phone number listed anywhere - there was only the chain's general customer service number - so I had no useful way to ask what was going on.

Eleven days after the interview, I received an automated email saying that they had end my employment. I never clocked in, never wore a uniform, and never earned a single dollar, but according to their system, apparently I worked there long enough for them to fire me.

I've been at this company for a year and a half. I do my job well. Never missed a deadline. Never had a client complaint. But my manager has this habit of scheduling "quick chats" — usually 15 minutes on the calendar — that turn into 45-minute monologues about my "attitude" and "energy."

The first time, she said I seemed "disengaged" in a team meeting. I asked for specifics. She said it was "a vibe thing." I let it go.

The second time, she said I was "not demonstrating enough enthusiasm" in my emails. I asked if there was a specific email. She said it was "a pattern."

The third time, she said I was "resistant to feedback." When I asked what feedback, she said I was "being defensive right now." I genuinely didn't know what to say.

Here's the thing. I'm not a bubbly person. I'm professional, polite, and I get my work done. But apparently "professional" isn't enough. She wants me to be excited. She wants me to smile more in meetings. She wants me to "bring energy."

Last week, she pulled me into another "quick chat." This time, she said she was "concerned" because I hadn't been "engaging socially" with the team. I told her I have a two-hour commute and a toddler at home. I do my job. I go home. That's the deal.

She said she was "disappointed" because she "sees so much potential" in me. Then she suggested I "work on my visibility."

I'm not asking for legal advice. I'm asking: has anyone else been managed by vibes? How do you handle a manager who can't give you concrete feedback but keeps telling you your "energy" is wrong? Do I just fake it? Do I talk to HR? Do I start looking?

TL;DR: Manager keeps scheduling "quick chats" to tell me my attitude and energy are wrong. I do my job well. I'm tired.

Especially those who shout at you and call you out in calls/teams chat etc.

Edit: currently I’m working on one incident service now ticket and this ticket needs further investigation where I asked almost 5 6 people from different team and own team and including manager not a single person would like to help me out and also I have other pending tasks ongoing when I ask help to ey shout at me

I work in a medical college under an HOD who moved from Vijayawada to Hyderabad to direct and self-produce his second film after his first movie flopped.
I was initially close to him, but I soon noticed that he frequently gossiped about colleagues and manipulated people. I stayed close to understand what was happening around me.
Things turned personal when he asked me to invest in his movie. I initially agreed to consider it, but after learning more, I declined. Since he knew I also ran a business, he started pressuring me to resign, isolating me from colleagues, and repeatedly complaining about me to the head of the institution. He even tried to get my 15 days of leave rejected, which could have cost me half my salary.
I stayed calm, avoided arguments, and explained my side privately to the head of the institution, who seemed to recognize that the issue was personal.
Then I filed an RTI application with his wife’s government institution, requesting information about her appointment and official duties. I suspected she might not have been fulfilling her duties properly while staying in Hyderabad, but I wanted official information rather than relying on assumptions.
My HOD then approached the head of the institution again, complaining about the RTI. The head of the institution explained the matter to me but recognized that it was separate from my workplace dispute.
So, Reddit, did I handle this situation wisely by staying silent and using official channels, or did I escalate things unnecessarily? Is there anything else I should do to protect my job?

Greetings,

I’m a construction professional trainee and recently I’ve started my career off post M.Tech.
I was a hired in a company X where last year I did my internship. At this site since January.

New manager joined in August and my immediate senior resigned in September. As trainee I gave my all in to meet the deadlines, targets and all. However, the manager has this hate for Gujjus and trying to transfer them over small things and hires his older staffs. Recently he hired his son and nephew and when being called upon by HR, he said anyone can have the same title or address and he’s unaware about this thing.

My probation was about to end and he extended by 2 months. When I confronted; he said I recently joined and you’re only alone in your department since 1 month so I need more time to evaluate. But he stated in the mail that the employee doesn’t meet our performance requirement. I showed all my work and whole team supported me as I was working here for 12 months almost.
Made him accept his mistake to higher management but still it pisses me off.

He has a tendency of saying ill things for Gujjus; quality nahi hai, log sirf dhandhe me lootte hai, kaam nahi karte and all. All Gujju and Non Gujju staff is tired of him.

He says that I’ve done such professional courses and all still shits in basic softwares such as excel or powerpoint. When I told him I hold an M.Tech degree; he said it is quite a big degree and I didn’t expect you to do that; I don’t see those qualities in you. Straight up demotivating me.
Funny how company’s top management were our visiting faculties and they hired me in a campus placement where they only selected 4/7.

Please tell me things which I can do to make his life miserable. Can be ethical or unethical. Whole team is with me so we can team up.

Thankyou.