We've had a major shift in supervisory duties at my job, and Ken is now in charge of my department. After several years of reporting to John, I was expecting to face an adjustment, but things have gotten to the point where it has become an etiquette issue. To the point, Ken at once insists upon micromanaging my department while taking forever to respond to questions, if he responds at all.
My job is a telecommuting one where I have often altered my hours in order to best serve my clientele, but I also have made medical appointments and the like during my stated office hours. If I make a change for any reason, I send notice to my clients. Now, the entire department has been told that we must ask in advance for permission to be away from our desks for more than a half hour. We are also to email Ken with any questions or problems we have and are not to go elsewhere. When I worked with John, he had no problem if I asked questions from others, but I was to talk with him if I was having a bad time with a client or co-worker. The one time this year I found out a new procedure from another department and let my immediate team know, it got back to Ken. I was told, under no circumstances, that I need to filter my questions through Ken and only through Ken.
This leads to the second part of the problem. The ONLY reason Ken got that information out to my department is because I found it out for myself and it got back to him. Otherwise, we are terribly in the dark. Emails have gone unanswered for days, sometimes weeks. My coworker Jim has an outstanding email request to cap his client load (which is much higher than anyone's) for two months without an answer. I've had a question unanswered for a month about why my support is missing for a certain percentage of clients. The only answer I received was an inquiry whether a client name fell within a certain name of the alphabet (the client's name was the subject of the email). It took office gossip with someone at headquarters to inform me that the support contact had been fired.
Thanks for hanging in through that background.
How do I deal with this terrible imbalance? I've asked for time off for a doctor's appointment, but have heard nothing for a week. I'm still not getting the client backup and am playing dumb that I know why. Do I speak with my former supervisor John, with whom I still have a great rapport but who manages another department? Do I talk with Ken's boss and risk my neck? Do I sit and wait for someone else on my team to speak up before I do?
