Why is new boss being such a knob?

[Buggeroffboss]

Our old boss took ill suddenly in December last year and died shortly after. They been the boss for 20+ years, so appreciate we were all very used to them.

Following their illness I became interim boss. In April I was offered the role permanently but declined as it would mean returning to full time work. I'm bitterly regretting not taking it due to new boss!

We're a remote team, have been since many years before COVID. New boss clearly hates remote working. We do have an office, but it seats 10 people and us open to the whole business (approx 300 people) not just our department (40 people). New boss wants everyone in the office 2 days a week. HR have told him to go whistle - we are all on remote contracts and live across the whole of the UK, including channel Islands and 2 in France!

New boss is now insisting we schedule any "coffee breaks" (you know, where you brew up between meetings) and that under no circumstances are we to appear on screen with tea/ coffee if it isn't adjacent to our scheduled break. In addition he's put an embargo on lunch time errands, such as laundry, popping to the post office or collecting the car from the garage. All time is to be accounted for.

As you can imagine, morale has gone down the pan. We're a high performing department, there is 0 issues with productivity. Our work is largely invisible most of the time, lots of thinking time and idea generation which makes monitoring our day to day workloads difficult, but we always exceed our targets at quarter and year ends - so people are clearly working. In the 6 weeks he's been in there's been a noticeable change in how people are working, fewer people on early or late, most just working to their hours.

AIBU to think he's being a bit of a dick and just needs to chill the fuck out?

Will you be in a position to accept the job promotion at Christmas? He sounds like a right tool.

This kinda shit is why I left office work.

Nobody works in the office. We all have the same t&C's re flexibility apart from help desk staff who have to cover the desk between set hours, but manage breaks and flexibility amongst themselves.

I don't want to work full time. I can work full time, but I don't want to, so I don't want the job.

He is clearly totally blind to the effect he is having. Also he is wasting time, ie money with his obsessive micro-management. Has he no idea of the value of that old fashioned term goodwill? I'm curious about how he was appointed and what his previous job was.

Fair enough. Hopefully your company will find someone more suitable for the role. I would definitely arrange a meeting with the higher up so they are in the loop of how everyone is feeling. I'm sure the morale has dropped significantly.

Do you think his behavior might be influenced by previous employees 'WFH' who were taking the p*
There are plenty around.

If he's spending so much time micro-managing you, his own work will slip. How does any manager have time to supervise adults as if they're toddlers in this way?

The only time I have seen this was when the company brought in a new hotel manager. It was a hatchet job. He sacked/made redundant all the managers bar the head chef and the restaurant manager. They were replaced by staff from his previous hotel. It was utter chaos.

Funnily enough I googled him recently. He's running a hotel that went into receivership 🙄

What a Jonah.

@Conniecoconut that sounds terrible for your friend and I’m sure that goes against any dignity at work policy. If I were her I’d be asking HR to investigate.

Oh, YANBU, not even slightly — that new boss sounds like a nightmare of controlling, trust-no-one management dropped straight onto a team that's clearly been working just fine without it.
A few things jump out:
The micromanagement is the actual problem, not "remote working." A team that's been remote for years, consistently hits targets, and does thinking-heavy/invisible work is the textbook case for output-based management, not clock-watching. Demanding people log tea breaks and can't be seen on screen with a coffee "off schedule" isn't about productivity — it's about a new boss who's uncomfortable not being able to see people, so he's inventing ways to feel in control.
The office mandate is borderline unworkable and HR already told him so. A 10-person office shared across 300 people, for a 40-person team spread across the UK, Channel Islands and France — that's not a policy, that's a tantrum. HR pushing back is the tell that even the organisation thinks he's overreaching.
The morale drop is the real KPI here. Fewer people going early/late and everyone clocking exactly their hours isn't "people slacking now they're monitored" — it's the opposite. It's people withdrawing discretionary effort because trust has been withdrawn from them. That's usually the first sign a manager is about to turn a high-performing team into a mediocre one.
AIBU verdict: Not remotely. He's a new boss trying to stamp his authority on a team grieving a boss of 20+ years, and doing it via surveillance-lite tactics instead of actually learning how the team works first.

What an absolute bullying wanker!

I am in same position as your new boss. Very old school team who couldn't be any more averse to change. There are all kinds of rumours about some of the tactics I am meant to have implemented too...... including implementing a new sickness policy apparently as the previous manager never enforced it. You mention you're a high performing department, so do my team, however looking at departmental KPIs, they are far from it. Most likely new boss has been given direction to shake up the department to achieve what's expected. You mention yourself that you were offered the role, so if you are of that level, why don't you have an open conversation perhaps in a one to one session about how why do they feel that level of change is necessary. You may be surprised at the answers and look at a way on how you can all move forward successfully and harmoniously.

I have tried to talk to him and he won't discuss it, so either he's been told to keep the need for change from us (me and the other heads of) or he doesn't have one. I don't know which it is and I'm going to speak to bosses boss to find out.

When he arrived I was very "work with you, not against", were a management team etc, but he doesn't want that. He wants his own style and I get that but it's so adversarial and incongruous with the rest of the company.

We are a high performing team, we exceeded all our KPIs at year end and this quarter (and previous ones) - I did the last 3 reports, so I know exactly how we performed and the comparison with other departments. My bonus is paid 50% based on department KPIs and 50% my own targets and I got 100% of my bonus.

I'm going to have a last try at talking with him and then go over his head he if won't or can't talk to me.

Could be they're looking to slim down the department people resigning is cheaper than redundancy.

Who knows what goes on at the top.

I haven't read the whole thread, but I have experienced bosses like this before. It sounds to me like he is a bit insecure and trying to make his own mark and stamp his authority, after taking over from a longstanding, well-liked boss. The fact that you were acting manager and that you were offered the job probably makes him even more insecure. Has he come from the same industry? Sometimes people react like this if they don't fully know what they are doing, but don't want to admit it and want to make an impact in some way. This is the reason that the large company I work for no longer externally hire for senior positions.
Sounds like you have a decent HR, so I'd just record all issues and take it to them to deal with. Hopefully they will get him to chill out a bit.

So atm he’s actually only monitoring you and other senior managers? Given you’ve told your team to ignore him and he hasn’t pulled any of them up yet.

Perhaps he’s been told to laser in on the management level?

Honestly, he sounds absolutely enough ridiculous.

Just one question, if you exceed your KPIs, is there a world where he thinks that if he stamps his big foot on things, and tightens everything up in terms of hours. That you will exceed them even further if that makes sense… I don’t really know what they even mean. I work in a creative industry, which is extremely flexible, and extremely well paid. But it doesn’t work on any sort of KPI, so I guess what I’m saying is is it something which can be more than it currently is, and he thinks if he tightens everything up then it will be.

In my experience these kinds of managers aren’t very talented at the higher level kind of responsibilities, the strategies and the managing change. So they micromanage to make themselves seem like they’re being important and making a difference. They also tend to have an ego problem so don’t like collaborative working or problem solving, they want to be very clearly ‘in charge’. For that reason they’re very hard to work with/for.

He’s unlikely to change so you have to hope he doesn’t pass his probation. Incidentally there seem to be quite a few of those on MN so I wouldn’t be surprised if you get quite a lot of criticism on here but I haven’t read the full thread, just your replies.

And he couldn't prove otherwise either.

Now I think about it it's definitely a control thing. If my last boss was pissed off about one of his cases he would chuck us all in a room and bark that we were no longer to use a particular empty desk to eat lunch at for a screen break or that if one team was calling the other there was to be no small talk on company phones (Morning, how was your weekend, fine thanks - I've got X on the phone for you was FORBIDDEN).

So you were meant to pretend to be machines?

We were supposed to stick to "Hi X, I have Y on the phone for you" and press transfer. The end. Once his mood was better he'd get bored of policing that and decide something else like we all had to take turns to bake cupcakes for the weekly meeting. It was exhausting and one of the many reasons I left after 5 years with no job to go to.

Working hours policy wording as requested:

The organisation recognises the value of flexible working arrangements in supporting colleagues to balance work and personal commitments while maintaining effective service delivery, collaboration and operational requirements.

It then goes on about location and working patterns and rights to request formal changes via other policy.

Then says:

Colleagues are required to be available during the organisations core operating hours of 10-12, Monday to Friday unless alternative agreements have been made, either on a temporary or permanent basis. Outside of core hours, colleagues may manage their working time flexibly provided that they remain contactable as necessary (we all have work phones with emails and teams on which fulfills this) and deliver agreed outputs.

Reasonable time off during the working day is permitted for short personal commitments, wellbeing requirements, medical or caring responsibilities or other necessary appointments. Colleagues are expected to exercise appropriate judgement, ensure any absence does not adversely affect meetings, team commitments or service delivery. Where such time is likely to materially affect these, colleagues should discuss with managers in advance.

It goes on to talk about specific job roles needing to do different core hours, keeping diary and teams updated and breaks inline with legal requirements, reasonable time off not to be denied etc.

Based on that and your more senior role it's your job to raise this with HR sooner rather than later. All the flexibility isn't just a custom; it's written down.