5 Signs Your Boss Doesn't Like You

You have been busy at work. You’re working long hours, doing your best to impress the boss. But it seems like no matter what you do, or how much effort you put into your job, more and more work keeps finding its way to you.

Does your boss just not like you?

Gasp…

Here are 5 signs that might be the case:

1. You are given all of the complex work to do

A difficult piece of work comes into the team, usually something that is going to require a lot of time and effort to work through. It’ll be fiddly (and thankless) and require potentially liaising with other teams, departments, or clients. Who is the lucky person that gets lumped with that work… you!

2. They hand-off their work to you

Over time, your boss has slowly and incrementally been allocating you some of their daily/weekly/monthly tasks — what the??

3. You are continually assigned project work

A new project has commenced, and the project team has requested help from subject matter experts across the business — again, your manager ‘kindly’ offers up some of your precious time.

4. They delegate the training of your peers to you

It’s not enough that you are given all of the complex and time-consuming work, taking on some of your bosses tasks, and being offered up for any and all initiatives — your peers are also sent your way for initial and ongoing training.

5. You are rarely checked on through the day

If you’re ‘lucky’ you hear from your manager once or twice throughout the week — sometimes with the question of “how is your day going?”, but more than likely it’s just to talk through the next task they are delegating to you.

If you read any of the 5 points above, nodding your head and thinking “that’s what is happening to me”, I’m sorry to say but….

(drumroll)

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You are actually viewed by your boss as a top performer!

The reason they are delegating complex and/or leadership tasks, offering up your time, and having you train your peers, is because:

• You are either already capable to do so, or you are being developed to do so based on the potential the organization sees in you
• You have proven you will get the work done effectively and efficiently
• They trust you to represent both them and the team, throughout the organization and to external clients and partners

You may be thinking “yeah that’s great, but how do I know for sure that my performance is being recognized, and that I don’t get overloaded with work?”

We’d all like to think that leaders automatically recognize when employees are feeling this way, unfortunately however this isn’t always the case. For leaders to understand exactly how much work each of their team members has on their plate in any given day, they need complete transparency across a range of metrics, in order to make sure tasks are fairly distributed to all. Not having this information readily available, is like trying to put together IKEA furniture without using the instructions.

If you want to take control of your career and find a happy balance between work and life, it’s important to learn how to push back. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do more than your job requires (especially if it results in career advancement), but it’s equally important your manager knows when you’re feeling completely overwhelmed. The key here is communication!

Effective communication will help you to understand what your manager wants and needs you to do for the company, and may potentially allow you to see their perspective also. Maybe they are feeling overwhelmed, overworked and underappreciated, or maybe they have never managed in any other way. By talking things through and agreeing on an expectation and communication framework moving forward, it may actually result in a more balanced work environment for both of you.