Walking back into a ****storm tomorrow

[ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay]

I've been away on holiday for a week, back in the office tomorrow. There was a bit of a crisis happening before I went so I wrapped up as much as I could and did a decent handover. It's all blown up, my boss (CEO) has been sending furious emails and I've spent the week keeping a face on for DH and the DC while lying awake for hours at night thinking about it. My team have handled it like troopers but have also been messaging me and have set up a meeting first thing tomorrow before CEO gets in so I'm not blindsided, bless their thoughtfulness.

I'm going in extra early to clear my desk before my team get in, in case I'm getting fired. I don't know how I'm going to hold it together TBH. I've told DH that it's bad, but not how bad. He just said it's a bank holiday, don't worry about it until tomorrow. I'm tired, my holiday was ruined and I just want to go in and get it over with.

Well I think it's feckin disgraceful that the CEO thought it was ok to behave like this whilst you were on your hard earned holiday. Hope you are OK and can hopefully enjoy whats left - I'm sorry, but what a BASTARD! (you can tell I've been there also).

I agree, but if the CEO themselves wasn't contactable in this case then others must surely have that right too.

I hope everything goes well. I feel for OP. This looks like a system-level flaw, not individual flaw.

In my last sector, things would blow up badly in August because so many layers of senior people were away, and the rest of us would have to use our judgement. Mostly this worked fine (we stuck to policy, with warmth and proactiveness) until the decision was rethought with hindsight bias by more senior people on return. And sometimes the situation was not solvable, regardless of who was around, but the system wanted a scapegoat.

I often felt the buck stopped with me & people at my level, since we were a bit more vulnerable (lower-middle, not senior enough to feel protected, perceived as less experienced despite tons of experience) so didn't ever take my full leave in case of a crisis escalating. I hated August.

It was really shit and some policies/provision for resource being in place during quiet periods would have sorted it out - but nobody wanted to lose the option of taking leave in August.

But did you actually make an error

You said you made the decision on the information you had therefore it was the right choice at the time

You didnt have the additional info so how could you have made a different choice?

I hope all is well and you’re just busy getting things on track. Good luck

@ThatCyanCat

I agree, but if the CEO themselves wasn't contactable in this case then others must surely have that right too.

Of course. It's very poorly managed and the CEO has behaved badly.

I'm just making the point that it's not always as simple as "switch off, don't read emails, put boundaries up."

I can tell you I haven't had a holiday in 15 years in which I haven't had to check emails. That doesn't mean I'm "working", but as a senior person the price of my job and my salary is that I have to be alert to things that are going on, even if nine times out of ten I'm not expected to act on them.

I agree, @Thepeopleversuswork - but up to a point. I understand what you mean by always just keeping on top of urgent stuff while on holiday - as a manager I've had to do that for over 20 years. But the OP's CEO expected to be able to go on holiday & be uncontactable, but didn't respect the OP's equal right to do so.

It's the CEO who's at fault here, but it sounds as though they're the type to make those below them in the hierarchy take the fall ...

A lot of people,even up to senior managers, don't need to take their laptops away or check their emails when on holiday - they so because it makes them feel important & necessary.

Executive level - C suite, just below, and above is different, granted. But for most - if you cam cover in place and have done a decent handover, it's unnecessary (and a waste of your life)

OP, hope you are alright and the day is going better than you thought it would.

When I worked for large financial organisations there was a rule that you must NOT have your laptop or work phone with you so that you couldn't be contacted (& so had a holiday) but also so that you couldn't be working and covering up whatever scams you might be working. The Barings Bank disaster made sure that companies were sure to adhere to this so that anything "bad" could be uncovered in an employee's absence. Not that the OP is in that league of course but just saying this is part of why someone shouldn't be available when they are not working. Of course I think the attitude must have changed somewhat with covid and so many people WFH.

In any case - I'm hoping it's a storm in a teacup and the OP is ok. Well done for the team for supporting her.

@ParmaVioletTea No I agree. It sounds a very poorly managed company. OP hope you're OK...

Good luck with it all. 💪

Who knows whether she made an error or not?

Sometimes the error is making the decision at all - I.e. it was not her decision to make and she should have waited until she could get in touch with the CEO/external counsel/the relevant decision maker

sometimes the error is panicking and making it too early - I.e. she should have waited until X/Y/Z was known

carting your laptop off on your med cruise may not be written into contract but it’s is absolutely an expectation in many c-suite roles and is often what stands between continued employment/a big bonus and a quiet push and an NDA

Quick update - this morning's been horrible. CEO isn't in yet so I'm still waiting for the big bollocking, but I've been in back-to-back meetings with my team, various VPs and experts to go over what's happening. It turns out it's worse than I knew because the investigation has turned up another area where we're not in compliance. I'm performing a gap analysis now while our legal team talks to a specialist firm.

Someone said a while ago that I might need to think about whether this is the right role for me. I've worked bloody hard to get here and done all sorts in my working life, including retail, cleaning, delivery driving... I worked just as hard in all of those jobs, but didn't have to take the work worry home with me. Instead, I was constantly worrying about where the money for the next set of school shoes or grocery shop was coming from. Assuming I can stick it out, I'm financially tied to this job for another 2 years, then can have a rethink about the trade-off between stress and salary and where I want to sit on that scale.

Good luck, OP. Hold your head up and know that you made the best decision you could in the time available to you. If the shit truly hits the fan, know that you have held up your side of the bargain and the primary failing is not with you

@ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay Where the fuck is the CEO? Doing something even more important, I hope?

No amount of money is worth this stress OP no amount at all. Put your health first and get out x

Well done OP. Keep on keeping on.

Edit - or perhaps this is much better advice! No amount of money is worth this stress OP no amount at all. Put your health first and get out x

How is the CEO still not in?! What an arse.

Keep going OP

Fingers crossed for you.

@ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay it sounds as though the company's procedures are not up to scratch. That's the responsibility of the VPs and the CEO.

Silver lining of the horror shpw you're trying to managge is that maybe there'll be an overhaul of compliance procedures. Sounds like it's very necessary.

Some big questions need to be asked of everyone involved if a major decision was made without awareness that there was a compliance risk.
Even if there was scope for you to stay would you really want to?
Financial security is a big deal but maybe not at the expense of your self esteem and general well being.

This is a systems failure OP. You’ve made an on the hoof decision with incomplete info because the CEO was on holiday - why were you ever put in that position?

Who’s head of compliance, what was their input?

where is the ceo??