Hi all,
I'm looking for your input on a frustrating situation at work. As I'm sure nobody is surprised to hear, it stems from the fact that my boss and I have completely different world views (If we didn't, he'd have FIREd 20 years ago!), and I'm not sure how to handle it.
The company I work at has been acquired, and is going through dramatic cultural shifts. It went from a casual, freewheeling place that didn't take itself too seriously (There's a reason I joined the company) to a standard, rigid MegaCorp. One of the ways this presents itself is the change in attitudes of management. As the old guard, from the original company, retire they get replaced with people who have much more of a big company mindset. This includes my new boss who is quite a good human being, but as a boss is 100% the mouthpiece of upper management. Expectations and responsibilities are constantly dramatically increasing (I agreed to a role as a technical engineer, and now I'm managing junior staff for example). The expectation is now that people will work on billable projects 40 hr/wk, and do business development on evenings and weekends. Meanwhile, salaries completely stagnate.
Now, I know this is a job I need to leave. Especially since I've now accepted a promotion worth of additional responsibilities without pay, it's time to find somebody who will pay for them. I'm really taking my time on that as I try to identify a good move, and make a smart choice (I have historically been...impulsive). But I have a few solid leads, so let's skip this part of the conversation.
I think a lot of why this happens is that my boss has a fairly typical American attitude about work. It sucks, and there's nothing you can do about it. You show up, you do what your boss tells you to do, you receive a paycheck. Whether you're treated with respect (E.g. Increases in responsibility coming with increased pay) or not doesn't matter. Since you need a paycheck, you're grateful to have a job no matter how much you hate it.
This mindset is anathema to just about everything about me. I can't imagine spending years, much less decades of my life that way. I decided at a young age that I was either going to find a job that I love, or invest a ton of money to get out of the rat race as young as possible. Still working on both of those... But the result is that I have no debt, and a stache nearing ~$250k. Which means that this company has to start showing a dedication to making it a place that I actively want to work, or I truly have no reason to be here (Impending FU Money story?). I'm very tempted to tell my boss all of this, in the hopes that he realizes what it will take for this company to keep me, and that attitudes around here will start to shift.
Have any of you had conversations with your boss where you laid out the facts like that? Have you ever told your company that you truly don't need it in hopes of mending a breaking relationship? In hopes of getting them to take morale and staff retention seriously? If so, how did you approach it? How did it go?