Things are turning real bad at work and Im not sure what to do. I have been working for an oil tool company for 9 1/2yrs. I started there as a machinist, then programming while running a machine and then within about 6 months added supervisor duties while running a machine and programming ( I have been a machinist/programmer/leadman etc since 1993 ). I moved up financially and the company treated me well. There were definitely some tough times, including when the Deepwater Horizon burned and the layed off all the cnc guys except me. During this time I had a boss above me that was over the entire machine shop. Without getting too detailed, he is very favored by the owner of the company.
Approx 2yrs ago they split the machine shop and put me as manager of the CNC Dept and the other guy ( the one that was over the entire machine shop previously ) Around the beginning of the year they put me over the entire machine shop but left the other guy as a manager, though he was not over anything. ( the owners favored guy ) We weathered the oil crash very well until April of last year. We layed off a couple of guys but things started picking up this summer and we hired a few.
Then the owner sold his flagship product line in July. It was the money maker, a rental.tool that had a high margins. Now we are left with a very good product line, but one that has a low margin, with high costs to make.
I can divulge too much but things are not looking good. We layed off 2 more guys this week and now I got a 15% paycut ( supposedly all salary got the cut ) and then was put on hourly. Too many chiefs and not enough indians. The operations manager asked me, the other ( favored ) manager and the QC manager what we want to do regarding who is in charge now. Every just sat there. Nobody willing to give up "power". They expect me to run a machine, program and run the shop. So I told him I cannot effectively do it all, (while the favored guy keeps his same minimal duties). So I told him I would just run a machine and program. The other two guys duties will not change.
So now, I will admit I am quite irritated I am back on a machine. Quite irritated that I have to compete with a guy that has the owners unwavering favor, and that no matter what happens, no matter what I do, my default duty is back where I was 10yrs ago.
Now I am looking for options. I do have a few options that I am exploring. Next post will explore these.
Approx 2yrs ago they split the machine shop and put me as manager of the CNC Dept and the other guy ( the one that was over the entire machine shop previously ) Around the beginning of the year they put me over the entire machine shop but left the other guy as a manager, though he was not over anything. ( the owners favored guy ) We weathered the oil crash very well until April of last year. We layed off a couple of guys but things started picking up this summer and we hired a few.
Then the owner sold his flagship product line in July. It was the money maker, a rental.tool that had a high margins. Now we are left with a very good product line, but one that has a low margin, with high costs to make.
I can divulge too much but things are not looking good. We layed off 2 more guys this week and now I got a 15% paycut ( supposedly all salary got the cut ) and then was put on hourly. Too many chiefs and not enough indians. The operations manager asked me, the other ( favored ) manager and the QC manager what we want to do regarding who is in charge now. Every just sat there. Nobody willing to give up "power". They expect me to run a machine, program and run the shop. So I told him I cannot effectively do it all, (while the favored guy keeps his same minimal duties). So I told him I would just run a machine and program. The other two guys duties will not change.
So now, I will admit I am quite irritated I am back on a machine. Quite irritated that I have to compete with a guy that has the owners unwavering favor, and that no matter what happens, no matter what I do, my default duty is back where I was 10yrs ago.
Now I am looking for options. I do have a few options that I am exploring. Next post will explore these.
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