Robert Jenrick is THAT guy at work

[Ihatethistimeline]

I’m fairly sure that almost every woman in a senior role has encountered a Robert Jenrick. The guy just below you who is convinced he’s better at your job than you are, and who quietly works to undermine you as part of his impatient plan to replace you.

I was never Kemi Badenoch’s biggest fan, but credit where it’s due for handling him as she has. He was clearly hanging around to see whether there’d be a quick opportunity to step in, but now that she’s stabilising the party, he’s sulked off.

You can almost imagine some printed mantra on his bedroom wall about it being his destiny to become party leader by 40.

I had a major ‘Jenrick’ in my own career. I let him rattle me for nearly a year and came close to quitting, until I sought advice from a senior female colleague who’d been through the same thing. She helped me see that my Jenrick was deeply insecure, and that I didn’t need to dance to his tune. Since then, I can spot Jenrick types and their games from a mile away and manage them accordingly.

Do these Jenricks really not realise how transparent they are?

I had this with actual Jenrick. Government lawyer here, charged with taking him to task on planning matters some time ago. Assured me he knew the law. He knew commercial law. He didn’t bloody know public law. I also remember he rocked up to an online meeting in his trackies which wasn’t a good look whilst trying to be condescending or, indeed, at all.

He sounds like the ‘upside down’ version of a mix of Alan Partridge and David Brent!

Would you be able to share any of you tactics for managing these types please? I encounter them a lot and always looking for ways to manage them. Thank you!

Keeping an eye out for whatever highly confidential thing they've abandoned on the photocopier seems to be quite fruitful.

I’d say watch their behaviour closely because they’re predictable. These Jenrick types rarely build anything of their own, instead, they position themselves around the possibility of your failure, auditioning for your job and hoping senior people will notice.

You should stop seeing their behaviour as evidence about you and start seeing it as evidence about them. They are driven by insecurity, not insight. Once you see that, it’s hard to unsee, and they move from being a threat to irritating background noise.

Stop giving them headspace, focus on delivering and managing upwards, and project confidence. Once you do this their attempts to undermine you will reduce. If you don’t react, they lose leverage and will hopefully eventually fuck off.

I read that as "looking for ways to murder* them" and thought "Me too sister, me too!"

I had one, several years ago. He covered for me whilst I was on extended leave. He told the team that I was too fussy and he was going to be more relaxed. Broke a load of safety protocols. The day before I returned he buggered off at lunch and we never saw him again. We ended up having a compliance inspection. It's a bloody miracle no one got West Nile Virus.

If they send you emails pointing out a minor verbal error you made which has zero impact on what you were actually saying and asking you to publicly chastise yourself for the error you made and backing themselves up with some obscure document they must have spent hours trying to find.

Do you just ignore or email them back defending yourself whilst singing 'fuck you, fuck you very very much' to yourself.

Asking for a friend obviously.

And I'll be singing it either way.

Ignore or 👍 reaction to email (if outlook)

Would you rather work with Zack "how does your husband feel about your body" Polanski?

Tiresomely familiar. The City is full of men like this who are professional sycophants, brilliant at knowing which bandwagon they need to get on and who they need to suck up to and expert at knowing how to subtly undermine people at their level who they could compete with. Particularly women.

I have to say I really respect the way Kemi has handled herself through this, I've been quietly cheering her on. She's managed to be both brutally swift and incredibly professional without breaking a sweat.

It's almost enough to make me vote for her.

I'd rather not work with either of them.

My own Jenrick was so convinced he was so much better than me, he took over one of my projects while i was on leave, and cocked it up so much it could have cost the company a few million if my assistant hadn't called me and i could get in over his head and have him stopped.

And like pp up there it was because i was "too invested in processes" and he would "wing it". Processes i had instigated because my predecessor was a "wing it" too who actually did cost the company a couple of million. Sigh.

God give me the confidence of a Jenrick.

This is very outing. Surely you’re under some sort of NDA about this?!

I'm sure that never occured to the lawyer who posted the message. Is that you, Robert?

What has been shared other than Jenrick is a twat?

It's already public knowledge he's a twat, the NDA doesn't apply there.

He used to be a Minster, he'll have worked with a lot of gov lawyers. I suspect the poster feels that in posting anonymously about a fairly non-specific thing with fairly non-specific details, the risk of prosecution is very low.

Yes. IME the Jenrick type also thinks everyone fancies them too despite them being repulsive.

I have worked with some odious little shits over the years, but thankfully none quite as ghastly as Jenrick.

They always makes me think of this https://thespark.company/products/may-you-have-the-confidence-of-a-mediocre-white-man-t-shirt?variant=49088244449574

Loving this post and user name 😀

Oh, I get them all the time. Usually young grad trainees who think they know everything because they have a degree. I work for the Tube, and the first time a customer wants to "speak to the manager" they hide in the staff room. They hate confrontation!

As a supervisor I'm given a portfolio and in addition to running a shift I also work on that. The Jenrick will look at what I'm doing, ask to help in some way, then try & claim the glory. Luckily a lot of my managers can spot a snake at 50 paces. Slippery f*ckers.

Also, pay close attention to how they behave towards other staff, especially the ones who aren't anywhere as important as you.

It's almost guaranteed that they'll be foul to admin/support staff, dumping the inconsequential (as they see it) grunt work onto somebody else, claiming credit for it/blaming them for everything or charm personified because they could get useful information out of them - because the support team is regarded as unimportant/is practically invisible, the Jenrick's behaviour doesn't get picked up upon until it starts to affect the senior team.

In that, also bear in mind that somebody on significantly lower pay and with different contract terms would be considerably more vulnerable, so is far less likely to take risks for your benefit; whilst they may be OK with picking up something left on the photocopier and leaving it on the boss's desk or at the back of a bundle of papers for plausible deniability, if you've never given them a moment's thought or have even been less than perfect towards them yourself, they may drop it in the recycling instead, thinking that a) it's not as if you've been anything different towards them, b) at least he's said please and thank you occasionally or c) their loyalty is towards their mortgage provider, not your personality.

Robert Jenrick defects to Reform UK the party that welcomes Bonnie Blue’s support because they’re not fussy and will take all the votes they can get: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/niXZxRW2cG8
With Jenrick having three young daughters, I thought he would want better role models.

I don't have one political party as a favourite/ follower.
I have only started warming to Kemi.

But now, total respect. She was decisive and fast. No messing around. Leadership at its best.

Thanks for the advice on dealing with some of these types. Liking the funny replies too!

Dear X
Thanks so much for pointing out the spelling mistake. As I focus on my work, I will not be able to review your output with the same attention to details, but be sure I fully appreciate your meaningful contribution,
Best,