I have worked in the same admin job for 4 years.
Our boss wanted an open plan office so had walls knocked down so that 8 of us, including him, were together in a very small space. We don’t all need to work together but that’s how he wanted it.
since then there have been a number of issues that he has never addressed. We have an open door policy that makes things difficult. He encourages everyone to come to the office but when he needs to concentrate, he works from home. We are not allowed.
He chats often, mostly about himself and he gossips about staff. This is the office culture he has created. It’s very relaxed which isn’t always a bad thing. However, me and a colleague had worked hard all day and was having a laugh at the end of the day about something and the next day he called us in to tell us off. We are always on top of our work and it doesn’t happen all the time. He told us that a manager had heard us laughing when they called the office. This is fine and we took it on the chin but this is normal in our office. He is always talking and laughing. It appears he now wants to change the office culture he created and encourages and it feels like he is using us to blame.
He is very unprofessional. I applied for an internal job and he is telling me private things about other candidates. He once offered me a job only to take it back a few hours later. He has revealed private things about staff members when they have been under investigation. The list goes on and on.
How would you deal with him? I feel
old higher management may be on his back about things. He had an employee that was really difficult and she upset many people in the office whilst he did nothing. We got a new CEO and within weeks, she was out! He then got another new person who was stealing and again, he did nothing. The mess he left when he left was unbelievable. He agrees to things despite these decisions having negative consequences to the team. He just doesn’t seem to know what he is doing.