To be fuming with colleague who's taken the credit for my work?

[cabbagequeen]

But more importantly to ask for advice as to what to do about it without looking petty?

I work in the construction industry, I'm the second most senior female in the company but there are way more men above me and I struggle to get noticed as it is in such a male dominated environment. I spent all day on a piece of work, showed it to my colleague before I left who said it was really good and that we would sit down with top boss on Monday and run through it together. So after I left, he emailed the documents straight to our boss saying we'd worked on it together. Despite the fact he contributed literally nothing...

What should I do? I am fuming but can't think of a response that doesn't make me sound like I'm being unprofessional. But at the same time I don't want him passing off my work as his own.

want to put prawns in his desk drawer but that's clearly not professional

I don't know but this happened to me too.

When your boss talks to you about it, say “I thought this and I thought that etc so then I showed XX before finishing work yesterday and I was really pleased he agreed so we are having this discussion about my work now.”

Can you put some time in your boss’ diary for first thing, and just day you don’t want to be telling tales but he’s forced your hand by claiming half the credit for a piece of work you’re actually really proud of? Or just take him through the documents alone and feign ignorance that he’d claimed partial credit.

That’s probably what I would do anyway, not sure if it’s appropriate in your like.

Go straight to your boss first thing on Monday and tell him that colleague had nothing to do with it, and is claiming credit for your work. That's how those wankers get ahead, because other people are too nice to challenge them.

Did he cc you into the email that was sent to the boss? Or did you find out about it some other way?

Send this message to where he sent the work.
Hi X. Barstool told me he had sent you a copy of the work I was doing, when I showed it too him for the first time tonight I did not realise he was forwarding it straight to you.
Do you have any feedback which I can use when barstard and I have our first meeting about it on Monday .

You confront him privately and rip him a new one, telling him what will happen is that you will lead the meeting and present your idea and you will apologise for his excitement and jumping the gun by emailing it to your boss, giving the impression he was a contributor rather than a sounding board and helped to do a peer review.

A man wouldn’t cower and worry about coming off petty. So stop acting like a girl and kick his fucking ass.

Or he will do it again.

Reply to all and say 'So glad Geoff agreed I've taken the right approach to this. Really enjoyed working on it!

Looking forward to talking it through with you on Monday'

If your boss doesn't get it, ask Geoff to answer questions on Monday. He'll be shown up for the lying snake he is.

And this is totally a thing men fo go women.

I would stamp on this right away as if your colleague gets away with this once it will only become a pattern. It doesn’t need to be a big thing but just mention something to your boss along the lines of

‘I don’t want to make a big deal of this but that document that X sent through on Friday was not work that we completed together as he said, it was solely my work. Possibly his email was just badly phrased but I just want to ensure that this doesn’t become a pattern by mentioning this to you now before it becomes an issue.

It isn't petty to raise it surely? Call him out, he is banking on you not!

Say you are concerned at his statement that you had worked on it together , clarify that he hadn't and it was solely yours.

Short, and to the point.

Your problem was showing it to someone for approval when it wasn't needed by the sound of it.

Follow up with an email to the big boss and cc in the CF like 'thanks for forwarding this CF, I enjoyed producing this work and I look forward to leading the discussion on its potential uses on Monday. If you have any queries I'll be happy to deal with them.

I suggest you change CF to his real name though.

Send the boss an email enough of the background that only the person who had done the work would know as preparation for the meeting on Monday. Add an agenda including any action points/decisions needed. Copy your colleague in but don’t make any reference to him in your email. Don’t include useful background detail your colleague doesn’t have.

In the meeting, let you colleague sweat for a second if it’s clear he is stuck before stepping in.

Next time can you email it to your boss directly?

I’m senior management and I hate to say it but it gets very tiring when I have staff coming to me saying “but this is my work”.

I appreciate it’s frustrating but chalk it up to experience and I’m sure if you’re talented it will get noticed! Shitty move from him though! When I was a more junior manager I would make sure I always credited the junior member of staff if I were using something they’d done.

Yes to @Batqueen 's reply and @nekoness in that a man wouldn't worry about looking petty! Please bring it up.

Also OP, assuming this colleague is not senior to you, please don’t have imposter syndrome as I am sure you’re more than good enough to take this work to your boss without needing him to do it “together”.

What is the role of your colleague in relation to :
A) you (ie. senior / equal / junior);
B) the project (ie. just as involved as you; less involved) ...

How long have you both been in your roles? Have there been any previous similar incidents? What levels of experience do you both have? How long have you both been with the company?

All this and more is relevant background.

Were you supposed to work on it together? Or has he jumped aboard something that has nothing to do with him?

Either way, I'd never give him the opportunity again. I'd also probably be pissed off enough to state quite clearly that this was MY work, and my work alone, in front of boss, and ask if you'd misunderstood, as it looked awfully like colleague had said they'd worked on it.

“Hi colleague, sorry didn’t realise you were planning to show Top Boss this so soon, I hadn’t quite finished it and it probably won’t make sense. I’ll explain the crucial missing bit when I get in on Monday.”

Hi both,

Thank you for sharing my work, cf. Just wanted to clarify - sorry if I’ve missed it - but I can’t see any additions to these documents of my work I sent you this evening? Have you added something I’ve missed? Otherwise I assume you mean you are looking forward to working with me on it going forward.

I’ll be very happy to answer any questions either of you have about this on Monday morning.’

Had he not done this when would you have emailed it to the boss?

A follow up email with a little more info saying ' I was going to email my report to you on Monday once I'd checked xy and z. Looking forward to discussing it. Or similar.

Especially if it is just a colleague take back charge.

How did you find out he'd done this? We're you copied in on the email?

If so is go for the passive aggressive approach and play dumb "I think you've attached the wrong document colleague, this is the one I have been working on and showed to you just before I left."

I think I’d send the colleague a message along the lines of ‘thanks for trying to be my secretary and set up my meetings, but I can manage my work just fine, you stick to your job.’

You could say omg I had an email from big boss man, he is furious the work was sub par and he is angry at x y z was wrong what do I do?

As a woman with a long career in engineering (including engineering construction), kill it now.
Go to your boss first thing in the morning.
Stand your ground. Better be know as a “bitch that achieves” than a meek doormat. It’d serve you better in the long run because wankers will not think of crossing you or taking advantage of you.
Let the wanker thief know you told the boss and rip him a new one too. Never lose your temper or raise your voice. Deadpan and kinda bored (“I do this shit everyday and eat wankers like you for snacks” style).

Trust me don’t let these things go like that. The longer you leave the worse they become. Wankers like that get ahead because women and other men like us don’t have the courage to put them in their place.

And valuable lesson, keep your cards close to your chest. You’ll meet plenty like this bellend in your career.