We are a software team of 6 in a large software company, 3 of us are more senior and have been here for years. Our manager is incompetent and a bully, within less than 2 years my manager have been here, they bullied 3 of our engineers until they left in bad mental health state and 2 interns weren't given return offers due to their negligence.

I will not go into the details of how incompetent the manager is. We who are still here just want them out ASAP.

The upper management is aware that our team has problems and the problems are mainly due to my manager, but they are slow to take action.

It is particularly hard because 2 of us are H1b, they can not risk losing jobs.

We want to oust the manager. What can we do? How do we handle it professionally?

Merry Christmas btw.

  • 4
    If you cannot risk your job, you have basically no leverage. So you are on an impossible mission. Even sitting by, not ratting out the other 4 who want change could risk your job. There is nothing you can do. All you could do is take a different path entirely. Get another job. Get another Visa. Win the lottery. – nvoigt Dec 25 '18 at 9:31
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    Bully, they are very good at networking, manipulating things, peoples opinion and mentality and presenting everything done because of them. Whatever "nvoigt" mentioned is unfortunately very true. Companies, upper management generally don't see people particular as bully or mobber, as they care only for work done. – Saar Dec 25 '18 at 10:50
  • The resources who left with a bad mental health state were supposed to speak out to the HR on the reasons of their departure. You need to highlight in your post what makes him a "bad manager" in order to validate it's legit reason to escalate the issue to the upper management. If you come up to the upper management saying "He is a bad manager" without relevant inputs, you will never succeed. Other than that, if your team suffered several burn-outs, the upper management or the HR should be suspecting something is not going right. – Answers_Seeker Dec 25 '18 at 10:50
  • Advice questions are off topic, you need to talk about what you want to do and we can respond. Voting to close – The Wandering Dev Manager Dec 25 '18 at 16:22
  • We want to oust the manager. – user97136 Dec 25 '18 at 19:17

One easy trick is to consult a specialist psychologist called an Industrial Relations Psychologist - they deal with workplace issues. They are often used to rein in bullies.

Here's what I learned:

  1. Perhaps sorting out among the team who wants to offer to take the place of that bully - your candidate can ask what HR/upper management would require in order to promote the team member to manager - "What can I do - TODAY - to earn my way into a promotion?"

  2. Stick to a facts-based, all-business, approach when on the clock and in the office.

  3. Support each other on and off the clock - if one of you is getting picked on, collaborate and find out why, and resolve the issue.

  4. Document, document, document. Something as simple as Google Keep accounts and jotting down each problem this bully causes - you all want a record in case someone gets targeted for harassment.

  5. Goals - what goals is the group tasked with meeting? Are you proactive and what are you doing to rah-rah the group into putting a little more into your work? Set your own group goals and nominate your own team lead in the group and support his or her rise into that manager's shoes, if you can.

Hope this helps, and I wish you the best of success.

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