Hey all!
I'm seeking some of your friendly advice on behalf of my wife and her job situation. Currently it's sort of a love-hate relationship where she really likes her coworkers but it's that one or two managers that really spoils things for her.
One of her managers is very bureaucratic and wants her to take all these accounting courses IN PERSON before she will think about promoting her. My wife has been taking an online course via Coursera for Financial Accounting (offered and taught by a Wharton/Penn professor so it's more than legit) which caught both our eyes since it was free and heck, why not? If anything, you would think taking this kind of initiative might impress a manager even as a goodwill gesture before committing to take an "in person" course. Today they told her that they don't think that's enough and they will still probably require her to take an IN PERSON accounting course at the local junior college. I find that kind of ridiculous but whatever. Now, they do offer "tuition assistance" but I don't think it fully covers the cost of everything like books (which do add up in cost) etc. I know most companies won't cover things like that but sometimes managers, if they really want to invest in you, will offer to cover at least some of those extraneous expenses. This particular manager shows no sign of that whatsoever.
Her other manager (direct report) is just a jerk. He makes borderline inappropriate jokes with her, some of which could probably qualify as harassment (non-sexual). And he's a terrible manager who displaces all responsibility and blame on others or just puts things off and never addresses them (e.g. when she has questions for him about a task, he'll tell her he'll get back to her [and never does] or to go bother someone else). All her other co-workers feel the same way about this manager as he was recently promoted to this position and obviously for the prestige and money without really accepting the responsibilities of it. The part that stinks most is that she is the only one working under him with very specific responsibilities (e.g. where only he and my wife know how to do certain bank recs or whatever, and where he has more knowledge, so no other backups/fallbacks/references when either are out or when she has questions, especially)
Anyway, I've talked with her about looking for something else but she's hesitant to (mostly scared of the unknown). I was wondering if you guys think this Wharton course is something that adds a lot more value (even over an in-person junior college course) assuming she has a certificate to show something for it. And would it be enough to help her find something else easily? Currently she's a "staff accountant" and I don't know the full details of her job but she tells me a lot of things she does aren't necessarily all accounting (e.g. she'll have to make bank runs and be the backup office assistant when the office assistant is out, among other things). For her to be "promoted" to "senior" level accountant (staff or not) they threw this stipulation on her to take an accounting course at the local junior college. She's been studying her rear off for this Wharton course and I can't imagine how much different or harder the material is in an equivalent JC course. Not to mention, what benefits does taking an in-person course at a JC have over an online course that teaches the same material in the context of learning the material for your job and being able to perform at a higher level because of it?
Other than all these issues with management, she likes most of her coworkers and enjoys being at her work. But she's constantly venting to me about her managers which makes me think she's really not happy at all. I know, the first and most important thing is just to listen to her, right? And I have been :) For the past few years now :) hahaha