For the past 4 months I've been temping at the local University, getting paid very well as a temp. About three weeks ago I moved departments to start working as the project administrator for a small team, working closely with the Project Director.
Initially I had my doubts about working within this area as a very old friend is one of the computer geeks on the project and I thought this wouldn't work out - could compromise our friendship. This has proved to be untrue, as we still get on very well, in fact we are getting on better than we have done in about ten years.
The problem is the Project Director. I just don't like him.
I'd heard a rumour before I went to work with him that he had been investigated for sexual harrassment within the workplace. Last week the woman who accused him told me what had happened - I've known her since I've started working at the University and have found her to be credible and not one for exageration. We have gotten quite friendly, as we worked closely together for a few weeks, and she knows I'm not a blabbermouth. Hearing this from the horse's mouth just makes me think how much more of a ba#&?*d he is. He had promised her a higher paid job within the project, then took her off on conference to Scotland and tried "it" on, she refused and told him to leave her alone. When they came home he then bombarded her home with telephone calls - sometimes up to 15 a day. She went to see his boss and asked about this job offer (refusing to speak to the man in question) to be told that there was no job.... She eventually complained about him after months of telephone calls and emails from him to her home. He was suspended for 6 months.
He has temper tantrums if things don't go as well as he thinks they should. I think it is the "little man" syndrome. The tantrums would be funny in a six year old, but not in a 40 year old man. I feel very uncomfortable when he has them in the middle of the office. His communication skills with me leave a lot to be desired - he has accused me of not doing things he has requested, when he hasn't asked me to do them. He shouted at me on Friday accusing me of messing up a meeting booking, when he was looking at the wrong information. I haven't been shouted at in the workplace for years!!! I felt very uncomfortable.
The project has recently received a new grant of half a million pounds, to be spread around the various partners. He has decided which of the partners will receive the monies, and is currently working on changing an audit to justify his decisions. While this is not uncommon in academic circles I find it smacks of favouritism and old-boy networks - and makes me feel uncomfortable, having come from a private company where we were very focused on fairness in our relationships with customers and suppliers.
A previous temp also left after a few months (to move to a different department) - however, she no-longer works within the University and came from a different agency, so I can't find out why she moved on so quickly.
Are my feelings of unease coloured by the sexual harrassment thing? Am I just being too sensitive?
Do I tell my agency that I want out? If I do request a move, do I just say it isn't working out? I fear that "rocking the boat" will move me down the pecking order with jobs through the agency, so losing the element of stability.
Initially I had my doubts about working within this area as a very old friend is one of the computer geeks on the project and I thought this wouldn't work out - could compromise our friendship. This has proved to be untrue, as we still get on very well, in fact we are getting on better than we have done in about ten years.
The problem is the Project Director. I just don't like him.
I'd heard a rumour before I went to work with him that he had been investigated for sexual harrassment within the workplace. Last week the woman who accused him told me what had happened - I've known her since I've started working at the University and have found her to be credible and not one for exageration. We have gotten quite friendly, as we worked closely together for a few weeks, and she knows I'm not a blabbermouth. Hearing this from the horse's mouth just makes me think how much more of a ba#&?*d he is. He had promised her a higher paid job within the project, then took her off on conference to Scotland and tried "it" on, she refused and told him to leave her alone. When they came home he then bombarded her home with telephone calls - sometimes up to 15 a day. She went to see his boss and asked about this job offer (refusing to speak to the man in question) to be told that there was no job.... She eventually complained about him after months of telephone calls and emails from him to her home. He was suspended for 6 months.
He has temper tantrums if things don't go as well as he thinks they should. I think it is the "little man" syndrome. The tantrums would be funny in a six year old, but not in a 40 year old man. I feel very uncomfortable when he has them in the middle of the office. His communication skills with me leave a lot to be desired - he has accused me of not doing things he has requested, when he hasn't asked me to do them. He shouted at me on Friday accusing me of messing up a meeting booking, when he was looking at the wrong information. I haven't been shouted at in the workplace for years!!! I felt very uncomfortable.
The project has recently received a new grant of half a million pounds, to be spread around the various partners. He has decided which of the partners will receive the monies, and is currently working on changing an audit to justify his decisions. While this is not uncommon in academic circles I find it smacks of favouritism and old-boy networks - and makes me feel uncomfortable, having come from a private company where we were very focused on fairness in our relationships with customers and suppliers.
A previous temp also left after a few months (to move to a different department) - however, she no-longer works within the University and came from a different agency, so I can't find out why she moved on so quickly.
Are my feelings of unease coloured by the sexual harrassment thing? Am I just being too sensitive?
Do I tell my agency that I want out? If I do request a move, do I just say it isn't working out? I fear that "rocking the boat" will move me down the pecking order with jobs through the agency, so losing the element of stability.