To want to punch my maternity cover in his egotistical face?!

[McFox]

I come off work in 11 weeks - yipee! However the boss has thrown me a massive project before I go off, so I've had very little time to go through the whole advertising and interview process to find a replacement. We were offered someone from a sister organisation with the same background to me, albeit from a completely different industry (I work in a very specialised part of the healthcare industry) and so we hired him and brought him in early to take over the more routine bits of my job while I concentrate on directing the major project.

So far so sensible, but he is really ambitious, a total climber. When I've asked him to do something over the past 2 weeks (that's how long he's been here) comments I've had back include "I don't understand the context so I can't give you an opinion on whether that's the right thing to do or not" and "I'm not sure that you're coming at this from the right angle, I would suggest..." - I want to scream. I wasn’t asking for opinions, I was asking for it to be done!

He has also: kept ideas to himself until we're in external meetings with clients where he makes the suggestion, putting me in an awkward position; been telling my staff to make changes to things without discussing it with me first; telling me that I should be considering doing x/y/z. This is all driving me mad – partly because I’m a control freak and have built and been successfully running this department for 3 ½ years, and partly because I have a horrible feeling that the minute I leave he is going to dismantle lots of my hard work to show what he’s achieved while he’s been in the post.

He’s on a fixed term contract, I’ll only be off for 9 months, and will be working a couple of days a month from December onwards, so he knows that I’m not walking away entirely (and I don’t think that he’s happy with that, but tough, my CEO is very happy with that plan).

So, what do I do – he has an awful lot to learn about this industry and is going to cause problems if he carries on being so opinionated. Several colleagues have commented that he rubs people up the wrong way/thinks a lot of himself, so should I keep schtum and let him hang himself so to speak, or speak to my boss and raise these concerns? I am so nervous about leaving at a critical time in the growth of the business anyway, and my boss knows this, that I don’t want to come across paranoid, but neither do I want him messing things up!

Good luck!

Thanks all :)

I think I'll add the latest email from him, in which he has rewritten a major piece of strategic work without prior discussion, saying "Clearly some of my suggestions will need further discussion and approval from senior management but I thought I’d share my thoughts anyway as these will be crucial going forward." Yes, that's why it was all done in the first place!!

If I am not done for murder soon it will be a bloody miracle.

Try to separate the things that are strictly speaking your concern from the things that are your boss's concern.

Things for you to worry about: what happens to your role / dept / resources in your absence and what shape your job is in when you come back to it

Things for your boss to worry about: how to manage staff at your level, including this prick, and how to manage recruitment and staffing, including your maternity cover

In other words: cover your arse but don't get above yourself because

a - you will look like a control freak
b - getting ideas above his station is exactly what you are accusing him of so don't be seen to do it yourself (yes i know it is completely different, but I am talking about them)
c - you are about to have a baby, let your bosses do their jobs while you do yours ie create a new human being (when you are on leave)
d - he will hang himself, given enough rope. You don't need to be seen to be the hangman. You can comment - and will be asked to comment - on what he does, and you should express clearly and unemotionally why so far he has done things that he shouldn't have done. Don't talk about how annoying he is because everyone else will do this and you won't have to. Complaining about certain things will make you look petty, eg, "he is a massive dick" (although he is and that is a huge problem)

The key point for you to remember is that it is not your job to recruit your maternity cover, so if this doesn't work out, and it doesn't look like it is, just let it not work out and let them let him go and don't worry about who will do it. Whatever happens you will be remembered fondly and welcomed back with open arms!

Throat punch sounds ideal. Good luck tomorrow! I've taken a couple of maternity cover contracts, and my last cover was for a control freak. She gave me 12 folders full of information, told me what would cause problems, what she wanted to happen, and kept in touch throughout. I gave the portfolio back to her in fantastic fashion, because that was the point of my contract.

Does he think that if he makes a big enough splash, he'll get your job and you'll be redeployed?

It does rather sound like you've been hoodwinked into taking on someone else's problem staff member.

Can you get childcare in place earlier and get agreement to come back earlier but part-time initially or would your department end up having to pay extra salary costs that way.

Could your boss to stipulate that you are copied in on ALL of his e-mails and correspondence, presumably you can access these from home over internet ?

He sounds horrendous, a serial jobber at 35, no settled department/position...speaks volumes really.

I particularly despise the way he tried to get out of carrying out the work you had delegated to him on the pretext that he didn't understand the brief, hadn't been able to decide whether it was the right decision etc etc. Right there and then I'd have told him that he wasn't the one being held responsible for the outcome, you were, so you wanted the task completed as per the original brief.

Is he expecting to report to your boss and not to you ? It would seem reasonable for maternity cover, otherwise they end up with an extra line manager that you don't have, however if he fails to keep your boss informed what he is up to, it's a recipe for disaster.

Perhaps a chat with your boss about his role being temporary and his role is to run things as they are now (a caretaker role) and not to overhaul the department. This needs nipping in the bud. Is the staff member happy about being told their part time/other department role will be changed, surely he has to consult with staff/HR to do anything that bold ?

Oh don't forget that contract staff are very rarely given line management responsibilities, especially those on short-ish and/or fixed term - for very good reasons. Changing people's working patterns e.g. "One of my staff works part-time for another department and he's told her today that she won't be doing that anymore" is a complete no-no without line manager approval plus agreement of the other department. If where you work is unionised, he could find himself in deep poo doing this kind of thing.

Yy, include the email and couch it all as concerns for the team and how this person has construed his role as maternity cover.

I have also worked mat/sickness leave cover and always saw my job as to keep the ship running for the person who was away.

Good luck op, sorry you're having this nightmare. This guy for sure has form...

Thanks everyone :)

littlepurplealien, I did tell him that I wasn't after opinions, I was after action. No response from him on that.

He is expected to report to my boss after I leave, but he's really hands off anyway - we meet a few times a month and I give him a run down of what I've done - I've built up a lot of trust here and tend to just be able to get on with stuff and deliver it without much interference.

I spoke to the staff member concerned, then sent an email to everyone clarifying what had been agreed and that this will not change. She's fine about it.

Kerosene, I think that's what he is looking for. Tough luck though, because I'm being lined up for promotion to head of department, so all that will happen when I come back - if by some miracle they do want to keep him - is that I end up being his boss and he'll really not like that.

Stressful times!

As you're very much valued, I'd be really interested in how your meeting with your boss goes, and especially how Mr Gung-Ho takes any subsequent direction.

I have worked with people like this. There is only one way to deal with them. Only one:

Fire them.

Seriously. There is no win-win. You and/or your Boss will end up micro managing them, clearing up all their messes etc. They will be a canker that spreads across the whole team.

If you are in the Bristol area and their name starts with P I think I have met them (and fired them) in the past...

I had one of these, he came in about 8 weeks before i was due to go on mat leave.

From day 1 he was throwing his weight around, refusing to do anything he decided was menial etc. He drove me to distraction and then left 10 days before i was due to go off.

At that point i ended up working all hours, stressed to high heaven etc. Good luck for tomorrow, get it sorted now - don't let him ruin your last few weeks.

I agree that getting rid is the best option at this point. Either that or seriously restrict his freedom within the role.

Things like him telling somebody she wasn't going to be working split between two departments is actually great as it shows that he has a complete lack of understanding of what is required of him to do this role, of the bigger picture implications of what he is doing and quite how dangerous he could be if left without somebody keeping a strong rein on him. It's completely and unequivocally wrong.

Whereas something like rewriting the report if he does believe his own bullshit he's going to argue that it needed rewriting or that it's his professional opinion it needed doing and although you know he is wrong, there's a part of him that's going to point out that this is a subjective thing and he's not going to believe what he is told.

Also make sure that you document your concerns that he doesn't seem able to do the simple tasks you've asked him to because he deems them too menial and flag up that if he isn't even able to do these then he certainly shouldn't be trusted to anything that is more senior or difficult. And separately - dismissal of this aspect of the job means that he might ignore it whilst he is in charge, leading to x,y and z problems.

Does your boss understand the differences in the approach needed for his specialist subject and yours? If the maternity leave bloke was asked to explain about these differences and what he has learnt about your specialist area, the approach needed etc would he be able to talk the talk or would he be really keen to expound on how he knows how to do things better and shake things up? And in the process show how he is so wrong for the role?

Given how bad he is, 1- could you send him back to the people who were so keen to foist him on you and 2- is there anyone in your department (or 2 people that could take particular aspects) that could step up for you to do what he was going to do? Then you/they could recruit somebody to help do their old roles which might be easier if they dont need quite as much specialist knowledge and the others would be there to help them.

Finally on a completely separate and very nosy note - how much is the jerk paid bs what he is worth? Reading what he is like he sounds like the sort of idiot that will haves talked himself into a great salary just because he is so convinced of his own brilliance...

Agree with the "get rid" opinions, then find someone who will do a great maintenance job whilst you're away - that will be much less stressful than trying to restrict someone who doesn't even seem to know what reins are, let alone how to apply them.

Any update OP?

oooooo yes I want to know what kind of relative salary he is on too.

Any news? My old boss was bloody awful at dealing with my maternity leave and cover for that. So it's brilliant your boss is so supportive

Oh God if this turns out to be one of those threads where the OP doesn't come back to update I will be furious!

Just checking thread to find out what has happened today, I really hope the OP does come back, I can't believe how keen I am to know the outcome.

wave goodbye to the little scrote. He is using your position and will abuse it.
From bitter personal experience please deal with this now and get him shifted, if your CEO wants the department to run as if you are there you need to make it clear that it wont be if he stays.
I had virtually nothing left when I came back after only 5 months after someone like this landed on my team - external connections had been severed, projects ended, forward planning diverted and I had lost 3 key members of staff who just could not manage another day and were head hunted
I am sure your organisation wont let that happen, but you need to be calm, relaxed and not fretting about work when you are off.. I don't think that you will be able to relax

How did it go OP?

Well?? I need resolution - both my maternity covers were AWFUL. One disappeared after three months and left my part time junior member of staff covering my role while trying to juggle her caring responsibilities and the other basically let everyone pinch my best bits of policy without moving the shit bit forward at all in six months. Please tell me you have managed yours with more success!

This guy sounds like a right pain in the Arse! How did the meeting go!!

How did it go?