Dear Admin, please post this, as I really need an advice urgently.
Hi all, I have a big question regarding my decision to file it to the executive director or HR of my company, hence I need some suggestions from you guys. I’m a biomedical science researcher and have completed a BSc, a MSc, and a PhD in a local autonomous uni, and had 2 years of work experience. I had very little issues with my previous bosses, and I was even offered a new contract, which I rejected due to my pursuit of my PhD.
Never have I ever expect myself to fail a job probation, ever! Unfortunately, a few days ago my boss told me that I couldn’t meet his expectations, and hence he won’t let me pass my probation. Honestly speaking, as a scientist, I’ve done whatever he asked, and in fact I actually did more than what he expected, like trying out new solutions, thinking of new projects, troubleshooting, etc. I’ve also never once failed to update him whenever he asked for results. Hence, I honestly think this is an extremely unfair treatment to me, and I would like to file a complaint to the HR or executive director of my company.
The way I record my experimental results was one of his reasons to not pass my probation Since the day I joined, I have been doing all data recording based on my own format using powerpoint, excel, and word, which my previous bosses had no problem with at all. However, I was in a big shock when he only told me that my format doesn’t meet his preference at all after 4 freaking months, and demanded me to redo all my data recording according to his ridiculously strict formatting, which certainly takes plenty of time to do, considering the large amount of data accumulated over the past 4 months. I did try my best to do, but bear in mind that his format is ridiculously specific, and it’s not even meant for publication, presentation, conferences, seminars, these results are merely just to show him what I’ve done. Since then, every week he would approach me to complain about very minor issues here and there, and I did tell him that I’m trying my best, and on top of that, I still have to fulfull other duties at work. Imagine having to organize my data in all powerpoint, word, and excel files that I’ve accumulated for 4 months, it really wasn’t easy to do all within a short period of time. If he wasn’t satisfied with the way I record my data, shouldn’t he have told me from the start, instead of telling me after 4 freaking months?
Second was his bad science. I believe the reason why he hired me is due to my experience and expertise in this particular research field, but he refused to take my suggestions/advice positively. I have friends working in big pharma who are experts in this field and I’ve actually consulted them to discuss my ideas before I suggested them to my boss, but my boss always thinks he is right, and doesn’t give me the chance to suggest or execute my ideas as a scientist. To me, as a phd level scientist, I strongly think I should be given the freedom to come out with my own ideas and discuss with him, and be less micromanaged, but his style is totally opposite, where he plans everything on his own without discussing with me, and I can only do as he asked, which really makes me feel as if I’m just a research assistant rather than a postdoc/research fellow.
There was also once where something in our project plan actually went wrong, and he put the blame on me, though it was 100% his fault. All these while I have been trying my best to get the results out as soon as possible, but he asked me to do something else rather than focusing on my experiments, so when the results weren’t out on time, he blamed me for not being to deliver my results as scheduled.
There were also a few things that he asked me to do, and I did as he said, but during the confrontation with him, he said he asked me to do these stuff but I didn’t deliver. I then listed out the tasks that I actually did as he told, and he just brushed it off by saying “it’s okay, I’ve already made my decision anyway”.
What stunt me the most is that I soon found out that he is actually running out of funding as his grant application has failed, and the lab funding was worsened after the institute decided to cut funding, so in order to keep the lab going, he has to cut cost by laying off staff. Since I’m still on probation, he can actually leverage my probation to kick me out, just by simply saying that I can’t meet his expectations, which is actually not true.
What should I do? Should I just let him terminate me? Should I resign? Or should I file a complain to the company’s HR or director?
Thanks.