Small rant...new boss and people from their old job

[sparkles_95130]

I've never run across this before in a job and was wondering if anyone else had:

I feel like my boss almost still works for their old company.

I must get 10 emails a day with multiple action items -- sent to my boss from people at bossie's old job. Boss even still emails old assistant with items/requests and I've had to coodinate things with said assistant. I feel like this is adding a lot to my workload and since it's been a couple of months now I don't see it going away.

I'm a bit stunned by this - at first I thought it was nice they have such a good rapport (and I do really like my new boss) but this seems odd and as I said, adds to my already overflowing workload.

Has this happened to any of you?

[laurafmcdermott]

Maybe s/he does still work for the employer?  With that amount of work I would certainly expect to get paid!  But if it adds to your workload, it would stand to reason that said company would also be paying you.....

I haven't had this with a boss, I have had it with coworkers.  We were a new startup company and a similar company had just closed down operations so we had 7 staff hired in from old company (large percentage in a staff of 30).  To this day, 2.5 years later, I still hear "well when we were at such-n-such company, we always did things this way".  It has been a constant battle to get them to let go of the past and bring them around to a new way of doing things.  Very different from your situation, of course, but I can see your struggle with past "ghosts" and trying to get boss to cut the cord.

My advice would depend on the relationship you have with boss.  Are you comfortable having a sit-down meeting with him/her and just putting it on the table: "I appreciate the confidence you have in me in handling all aspects of your workday; however, the demands put on me by your continuing duties from your old position are not feasible given the demands of our current employer.  I will need to step away from anything to do with old company in order to focus on my current workload."

[rose.winter1980]

Sometimes, there is some overlap between one job and another for senior managers and that is understood by the new company.  This happened to one of my old bosses.  It shouldn't impact on you, though (and certainly didn't on me).  You've received good advice from Laura, above, about how to approach this and I would recommend you do that as it would clarify things for you.

[peaches2160]

I understand your frustration, but think of it this way.  You are his assistant.  his "right arm".  If new employer is in agreement with him transitioning this way, you should support him.  It may give you insight in working with him too.  Establish a rapport with the previous assistant and use it to your advantage to gain insight on the new bosses habits, etc.  Just a thought.  He will see you are a team player and support him. 

[sparkles_95130]

I've come to realize this isn't a transition time, it's more like a networking opportunity for my new mgr. My mgr keeps in strong contact with all these people, and my work mostly now is in the areas of setting up breakfast/lunches/dinners/meetings with them personally or tracking them down "I can't remember xyz's phone number - get out the phone book and call everyone in it with that (really common) name"/etc which creates a higher workload from an already fast-track, high demanding mgr -- and it was a bit worrisome in talking to the old EA who said to me rather bluntly "good luck."

I'm hoping that comment was directed to the workload as I do like bossie personally. And I like how much bossie includes me even if it now entails me reading their email as well as my own. However, as an example we've had cuts to the team and folks out on leave so we are down to 5 on our team and 3 of them have sat at my desk in tears over the workload. And all have mentioned it to me.

Several of the team asked me to speak to bossie about the workloads/deadlines/long hours. Not sure how I can approach bossie with this but I do need to address how much overtime I'm putting in. So far I haven't put in for all my actual hours as I know it would generate a report to the division head (a previous boss) who personally told me before new boss was hired I was not to work any overtime due to cost saving measures.

I'm not that comfortable having a sit-down meeting with bossie and just putting it on the table to say you're asking too much. If I sit down with bossie I need to be armed with very solid information that clearly shows, no it's not inefficient people, yes it does take that long to do xyz because I think that is the disconnect. I am creating a Gantt chart for the rest of the year with all the deadlines in hopes bossie might see what is being asked of everyone and I thought of tracking how much time it takes for me to do things but I'm worried they will think it takes me too long to do tasks. I'm not sure how to include the learning curve time as all of us are being asked to do things we haven't done (or haven't done in the way being asked) before so the learning curve is a big impact.

The true answer for me is both the level of detail asked (see example above) plus the extra outside things like speeches/interviews/memberships/people/etc bossie also takes on personally, especially given I've had to take over 1 large project/committee of a Director who is out. I'm an EA not PA (very different in my area of the world, PA's get paid $$$$ more than me).

Any ideas on best practices on how to compile good data on this are welcome!

[gee4]

I read this post previously but hadn't replied yet.

Firstly I would ask, is this legal?  Your boss has left his previous company to take up a new job and you are getting email requests?

1)  How did the previous company obtain your email address?
2)  Have you been asked by your boss to take on this additional work?
3)  Who is sending the email requests?  Another PA/Admin?
4)  Have you spoken to your boss and discussed the matter?

If this is just a case of him moving department within the same company, then I could understand.  However if this is a completely different company I think you should speak to him and sort this out.

[sparkles_95130]

My non-company work for bossie mostly now is in the areas of setting up breakfast/lunches/dinners/meetings with them personally or tracking them down

1)  How did the previous company obtain your email address?
        Bossie copies me on email replies to them and introduces me via email to take over
        Bossie also had me call former EA to follow-up on issues, who Bossie still makes requests from to track down people as well. "I don't have current email addresses for xyz (people who don't work at either of our companies), call old EA and have her find out what the current ones are. Then contact them to set up a dinner."
2)  Have you been asked by your boss to take on this additional work?
        I doubt they see it as additional work given it's been like this from the start
3)  Who is sending the email requests?  Another PA/Admin?
        Bossie forwards emails to me to handle
4)  Have you spoken to your boss and discussed the matter?
        I thought it was something that would go away completely once Bossie settled into new job (at our new to them company), but now I see bossie considers this as keeping in touch with their network of people and bossie likes to keep in the spotlight by maintaining lots of outside memberships, doing speeches/interviews, etc.

I'm not sure how to approach. Example: Bossie just did an interview the other day where it was suppose to be an interview of them personally - not co related, bossie (with cc to me) just days before got an email from div head stating any company related interviews must be approved and partner with PR. I sat there listening to bossie answering all kinds of questions about company knowing this is all going to be blamed on me if any quotes on the company are used. I will be blamed for not vetting enough information about the intervew if anything goes south. This I know. I've already found out from others my name was used for reasons of things bossie forgot to do or for showing up late to meetings when it was out of my control etc so I know it will be my fault for setting up the intervew, even though I did it at bossie's direction. Hopefully no quotes on the company will be used.

[Cathy S]

I am still thinking about the how to suggest you address the overall situation and with whom ... but one thing is for sure you need urgently to find a way to reiterate that you are not his scapegoat.

I had an example of this the other day where my boss was told I had given his availability incorrectly ... I keep an audit trail of everything and was able to demonstrate that I had done nothing wrong.  My boss knew that I would have this trail but that only comes with working with someone over time.

So first off please make sure you do keep a trail of what you do on behalf of this person.  Then you need to let them know directly that you are not to blame for their lateness, etc.  You may be able to adapt this technique:  Ask to have a brief discussion and explain using BOFF (Behaviour, Outcome, Feelings, Future) - eg:

B  “I have just taken a call from Mr X's office and I understand that you told him that I had given him the wrong time for his appointment; I had e-mailed his Secretary with the arrangements, as well as phoning her,
O  and it is clear that he was given the correct time which was also the time in your diary.
F  I am upset that you took this action but I also feel it undermines your professional image with an important client. 
F  I am committed to working with you to help you establish yourself in XYZ Corp; which means I recognise the importance of your appointments being appropriately scheduled.  If you need me to allow additional time between appointments in future please let me know so we can ensure you are not late again."

It takes a little practise to phrase the statements in a careful way that makes the point but is not accusing.  Practice on friends and family first if you can.  But remember the longer you leave this unaddressed the worse it will get.

It is equally powerful for giving positive reinforcement - so if there is something your boss does really well, that makes you feel valued and you feel you can develop with/for them use that as an introduction phrased as a BOFF.

Do please let us know how you get on.

[peaches2160]

1..You need to start keeping hard copy records of the e-mails requesting this activity of settingup outside dinners, interviews against co. policy, etc.

2.  Turn in your time worked.  You should be paid for any work you do.  Justify why you are having to do this if your Div head comes to you.

3.  Watch your back and keep it covered.