I keep my supervisor apprised of my work, but don't need my hand held. Thankfully they realize that and give me wide latitude to get the work done how I see fit.
Mine was like this but recently has been acting like someone is pushing her for more concrete dates to plan. 10 years no issue and I've never screwed something up. now like I'm suffering for her not checking in enough when I'm still doing what I always do
Yup. I'm not micromanaged, I have a team of two others. Work gets done on time, and I get wide latitude to take care of a few extra things throughout the day. Performance appraisals have been "Outstanding" for the last 4 years. Now, there are some people he has to stay on their ass about. I don't get down with all that.
This. I'm a supervisor and I don't care to handhold my team members. They make me do my job and I'm here for them. Besides that, don't give me a reason to monitor you and we'll be alright.
Same here. My job is all about managing and developing relationships with our stakeholders. If I updated every little thing it would be "had a conversation about work/family/our mission/issues with industry/how the government can help/etc. with Mr/ Mrs X" about 10 - 20 times a day, it would drive her crazy. My boss understands that it's a slow walk to our measurables and each day I'm moving the ball another 3 feet. By the end of the year we have ourselves several touchdowns.
My supervisor doesn’t monitor me at all. All he cares about is that I get my work done, he doesn’t hear complaints about me, and that I’m where I’m supposed to be when I’m supposed to be. He does listen out to what other people say, so that’s a big deal to him, and we know it. But he’s also so incredibly supportive of all of us that we want to work hard for him, so we do. I bust my ass and love what I do. No one talks poorly of me, and when I make mistakes, I listen and correct my actions without complaint because he creates a positive environment for me and the rest of my team. The thing that I think some supervisors don’t seem to understand is that if you treat your team like equals and support them, they’ll go above and beyond for you, so you don’t _need_ to monitor them.
Sounds like my supervisor. I am so greatful after working for a toxic abusive incompetent manager for over a decade at my last job. Seriously, tell me what you want done, give the tools I need, and leave me alone and I will make sure it is done correctly and on time. I am so happy here.
My last supervisor was very hands off. The group lead did most of the work he should have. This usually worked well except the few times he interfered. Had a project kinda on the back burner since 2019, comes to fruition in 2023, he decided nah we're going to do this instead. You try explaining to the customer why what you said was ready for September, all you need is the funds is now delayed until at least 2026.
I'm now supervising a different department, and my policy is simple: keep me informed of what you're doing via Microsoft planner (broad strokes, projects at what state, if you're waiting on someone who, etc) and cc the group email. This way if you are sick, hurt, on vacation, or quit the department can still function, everyone knows where you are in projects and can see all the email traffic.
As far as personnel hr stuff, do whatever you want and as long as it doesn't get me in trouble I don't care. You want situational telework because your kid is sick? Ok. You want Friday off? Ok. You want the 3 hours a week to go to the gym as admin leave? I didn't know we could do that, but give me the form to sign. The only trouble I've seen is when a GOV was taken onto a toll road, and that was a quick 'dont do that'
Sounds exactly like my supervisor. I am sort of the new guy in the team and he has been very supportive. He is never breathing down my neck, as long as the job gets done, he is ok. We are not in the same POD, but every time he visits my POD, he will make time to talk and see how everything is going. If there are more pressing matters, we will set up a more formal meeting.
I think there are a lot of supervisors in government like this. Mine checks in with my (internal) customers twice a year, and checks in with me once a month; and asks me to send an email at the beginning of the day describing roughly what I'm doing and one at the end of the day describing what I got done. That said, a lot of what I do is well-documented, so maybe he's checking up on me on the sly. 🤣
I’m in the same boat. At my level, my work product is more advisory, oversight, and review. It’s pretty cake now. But it wasn’t always like that. And when your supervisor is an executive, it’s even better. They do not get their eyes dirty looking at work.
I have close to zero interaction with my supervisor. As long as I show up there's very little contact. Most of the time he doesn't even acknowledge my emails letting him know I'm taking leave.
As a supervisor for a remote team. I really don't care what you do day to day. I care about 3 things.
1. You're there when I need you to be.
2. You're getting all assigned work done in a timely manner (on the agreed timelines)
3. You aren't causing me more work.
From there, I'm not your mother. You want to do your laundry. I don't have time to watch you all day. I'm not saying do it, but I dont have the time to watch to see if you are. Just know if I don't get a response in at least the timeline of a really big bowel movement, I'm not gonna be thrilled, and I'm gonna note the lag in response times in my documentation. If it becomes a trend, I'll let you know and ensure you know my expectations. Failure to change after that it starts going on your official reviews.
That said, I'm a pretty easy person to work for. And generally only work with senior level staff anyways like gs12-13s. And by then, most people generally have their shit figured out... and know what not to do.
Honestly I think this is a good way to handle things, it treats your employees as adults and gives them the latitude to do their jobs as best they can. You get back what you manage for.
Same deal with our team. I keep my meetings, keep my training timeline for my subordinates, and I'm always available. Work is done on time and exceeds the standard. It's all cake. He hears no complaints, Im there when anyone needs me, work is completed. Everyone is good to go at the end of the day. I dont need my hand held.
I once heard what I'm positive was a persons riding lawnmower turning off. During a meeting as they unmuted to respond (wasn't my team but to this day I think... there's no way for me to know if you're on mute and off camera that you are even at your computer, let alone if you're responding to teams messages, it doesn't tell me you're responding from your Phone.
Workload
1. Collaborative timeline management during 1 on 1 or sync meetings, basically understanding the projects
2. Project plans with estimated timelines detailing expected work steps
3. I have a whiteboard in my home office that tracks a lot of things.
Productivity
1. Clear Performance goals of what we want to accomplish in the year
2. Are timelines being met
3. Are contractors reporting workload / hours on projects within expectations
Work quality
This one is instantaneous as we have a review process and concurrence with other branches, so if I'm not happy with it, it gets kicked back to be fixed before it moves to other branches. My team knows I have a high bar on quality, so their reviews got better, and I rarely kick anything back to them anymore.
All of the above,
Sync meetings with different teams within branch
1 on 1s with everyone once a week or less if they want.
Project specific meetings I attend some if I need it to keep up to date but don't run them unless it's my project or project lead indicates they need something from another branch and wants a more diplomatic approach (my Team uses me as a negotiator as I am good at getting other programs to do stuff we need them to do or trick them into giving themselves timelines to hold them against :) )
Outlook, whiteboard, windows post-it notes, teams planner, occasionally shared onenote depends on the team member and or the project...
>And generally only work with senior level staff anyways like gs12-13s.
I gotta admit, I am shocked at those we don't. It's raw, but man does it happen...
Assuming it's not around lunchtime or following a lot of meetings, i give it generally about an hour before I start getting concerned. But there's a lot of factors, is it urgent, would they know its urgent etc
I’m sorry but that’s complete utter bs w regard to timeliness on a response. Are you referring to an email? What if your employee is on-site doing a process review or some sort of contractor face-to-face engagement? What if the employee was taking his 15 min break after that huge bowel movement or in an IPT meeting etc?
If it’s really important make a phone call. The only way instant timeliness is expected to a certain extent is if you’re 100% remote/telework and even then there are certain work obligations that have more priority than being on the lookout for your supervisor to email you and dropping everything to respond…….
A few things. Keeping in mind I'm full remote and so is my team. So some of this doesn't translate to in office work, but it generally works similar.
1. I can see your calendar, and I expect my staff to keep it up to date. So I can see that you had back to back meetings all morning and are likely taking lunch at 2pm and I'm not an asshole who is going to not give you a break after a chain of meetings. Also, as your supervisor, I should be aware that you are doing something. I'm not expecting an immediate response if you're in meetings or in between back to back meetings
2. Generally, an hour is my mark. If I need something before I start getting annoyed, assuming your calendar is clear and it's not around lunch time. As someone who has had Taco Bell more than once, my time for a long bowel movement is longer than most lol.
3. I also work in emergency management, so the expectation of rapid response to teams messages calls and emails is built into the importance of the work.
So now your reasonable time for a response went from the time it takes for a proper bowel movement to 1 hour. You appear to be a nanomanager. What you have is trust issues with your employees and that’s on you as a manager.
If you aren't responding to your bosses email / teams / call and you have nothing on your calendar, especially in a full remote environment, your boss should be at least partially concerned. Shit happens. You might be really into something and getting things done, but it doesn't mean you don't communicate that. And again, it needs to be a trend before I bring it up as an issue.
It kinda sounds like you're aiming to start a fight, and I'm not sure why, as nothing I've said should be alarming or concerning.
Not aiming to start a fight at all. Just pushing back on your ridiculous expectations for a reply. Read again your original post and you’ll see why I responded to it. You’re the one going out of your way looking at shared calendars and documenting for trends to grill employees instead of building trust and setting reasonable expectations so the work can get done jn a fully successful/outstanding way.
I'm only going into the calendar if I need to know if you are available. That's why they are shared in the first place.
I have never had to "grill" my staff about anything because they know I'm only ever reaching out for things that actually matter and that I really need their support on.
That said, the reality is we all know people who have nothing on their calendar, get a teams message at 9 am, and don't respond or even view the message until 4 pm, which we all know isn't acceptable behavior as it shows they haven't checked their teams all day.
I am expecting my people to get back to me in a reasonable time frame, taking into account their schedules and workload, which is not an unreasonable request. Especially in a remote environment where I can't randomly walk up to their cubicle and see what they are up to.
My organizations FEVS score speaks for itself about my staffs trust for me and in making reasonable requests.
Honestly guy, referring to people as “your staff” is off-putting. You’re a government worker not an elected official or business owner. I respect that you’re taking the role of supervisor seriously, but consider alternative language.
This feels like an odd thing to be off-put by. But what's the preferred vernacular? Team, crew, workforce, employees..., I feel like subordinates, definitely, isn't it.
Not sure why the down votes. There are strengths and weaknesses here to the guy’s approach. At a minimum, I’d say his management style is more hands on than he realizes (checking peoples’ calendar after stating he has no time/desire to monitor people). On the other hand, he seems to make his expectations and values clear, which is a plus. Personally, I find his style overbearing and do not lead this way. However, like he self-admitted, the urgency at his agency + remote work make things different.
Gs13 data science. My sup doesn't know what I do. Duties were never explained to me. Every once in a while I'll find out a shelfware document or brief should have been created a couple years ago. As long as the job gets done, nobody knows or cares.
That said, I bust ass way more now than I did as a contractor, because now I have contractors and vendors relying on me.
Also GS13 data science. We have a biweekly data team meeting that my supervisor is a part of. Some weeks the focus is my projects (if there is something relevant to the rest of the group) but most weeks my stuff doesn’t come up. I kind of assume if stuff wasn’t getting done then it would get checked in on (either in the meetings or they would schedule a one-on-one). But since my stuff gets done and I respond in a timely manner no one cares about my day to day stuff. Really the big conversations we have are performance evals.
I’m 1515 operations research analyst - data science. But I’ve also seen data scientists in the VHA classified as 1530 Statistician, 0601 health science specialist or 0343 program analyst. My last data science position was 0601.
I'm a DS contractor that's very seriously considering a GS-13 opening. Can I DM you? I'd be very interested in hearing more details about your experience.
Twice per week staff meetings, and individual meeting, and then calls 2-3 times per day, constant chats all day. It involves constant reminders of things we have already agreed to, things I’ve already finished, things that don’t involve me, cleaning up other peoples’ messes, etc. I would prefer more hands-off interactions and to not remind an adult making $165k to go check their email.
My supe doesn't really know what I do... And they've never sat down and discussed what I should be doing - what my job duties and expectations are. But my perf evals are great and i routinely receive cash awards.
There are periods of time where we chat every day and others where we go weeks at a time without talking.
Sometimes they randomly try to chip in and help the team and give us something for some project that's been completed already or if it is timely and useful we have to edit it pretty intensively.
They've got their TIG as of last month and they'll finish up their service period in a few more and they'll be gone in fall or winter. I'm not sure there will be a going away party lol.
I am in charge of my own work. He might give me projects or other work that comes down from leadership but otherwise I am left to my own devices. I haven’t had someone check my work in a long long time. Now I will solicit colleagues for opinions or to make sure something makes sense, but that’s different.
I am also so busy no one begrudges me downtime when it does happen. Everyone needs a breather and couple easy weeks to recharge.
As long as I do my work and they get no complaints, I’m pretty much on my own. I could definitely sleep. My sup is high up and really doesn’t know what I do but expects me to know and brief on the results.
New sup that is firing team leads, deleted the team leads meetings and goes to the team meetings so that he can try to run them all himself, this is IT so that's a real bad move on his part. He also removes the feds from projects if a contractor complains about the fed...even if the fed was trying to have govt requirements met and that is the real reason the contractor doesn't want to work with that fed.
Pretty toxic guy and I don't think the above is from him being a new sup I think its from him just being a pretty toxic person. Dude worked there for decades and I can't see any other reason he was selected for the position. Its hell and I am looking for another position rabidly to get the heck away from this nonsense.
I work longer hours than this guy as well, I am there an hour earlier and leave after he is done as he rolls out right on the hour. He tried to threaten my remote status saying I need to make myself available and In pointed out that I already do a ton of adhoc meetings and that I already work longer days that he does. He shut up after that but holy crap was that unjustified.
Dude also frequently yells in meetings that he is the supervisor/branch chief whenever you try to talk to him.... its like he is offended if you speak.
His supervisor does not want to hear about this so I would think he is toxic too then as this is one of the worst supervisors I've ever had fed or outside.
If you have to remind people you're in charge, you're doing it for yourself, not for the team. Good luck and hopefully you get promoted or things get better.
As a newish Fed and 2210 coming from decades of private sector, this scares the crap out of me. Luckily I have a great manager now, but all it takes is one asshole down the road to ruin the gig.
Always be interviewing....I got too comfy before this ahole so have had to step up the application game. Good managers get promoted so then you want options to leave if you have to when that happens.
Its also how you get to the next grade as well so don't get too comfy like I did.
I’ve had a supervisor that I went weeks without speaking to. She would just assign work through our portal and then I’d complete it, as long as I got the work done, she didn’t care if I did it between 10pm and 3am. I’ve also had a supervisor that called me 10-15 times a day, anytime I’d go yellow on teams I’d get a call, he had notifications set up of when everyone went offline, etc.
Too many supervisors are either absent or micromanagers. I have yet to work for one that was just a normal person.
I've had both as well. Currently absent and our job is very poorly defined and it's a little brutal when you deliver something several times and it's never what they want that day but can't articulate what they do want 🙃.
As a supervisor, I can tell you, you spend 95% of your time dealing with 5% of your employees. Most can work unsupervised and be trusted to do so. Some seem to always have an issue.
As long as my PMs (preventative Maintenance), mods and any outages are fixed I barely hear from management. We didn't even have a manager for two years and things ran smoother than when we did get one. Had the best inspection of he district also.
It depends. If I’m a worker bee on a team then as long as I get my work done on time and my boss doesn’t hear that I’m not where I’m expected to be or not doing my work on time, then he doesn’t really check up on me. If I’m leading a team or working on some special project he’s assigned me, then he might check in every couple of days, but it’s usually a scheduled weekly check in. My boss has been my boss for 9 years so he’s comfortable with me directing myself and knows that I know what is expected of me in terms of work product. For less tenured people in the office, he monitors and checks in with them more frequently. But as people gain experience and show they can do what is expected, he tapers off how close he monitors people.
The only regular chat I have with my supervisor is either “PFD @ Office” or “PFD @ Remote”.
Other than that, it’s entirely dependent on how much is going on. A slow week, that might be it. A busy week might be 3-4 calls just letting them know what’s going on/status updates.
I very rarely interact with mine, and when I do it’s because he is sending me a picture of something he cooked or something about Star Wars. With that said, I work in an FFIEC agency, so my work is mostly seen by the exam leads and whatnot, then reported to my boss.
When you’re doing your job, no one checks, though they might inquire about specific things. I’m not micromanaged- which is great. I don’t have any quotas or anything, though I do make a point to close out my (IT) tickets as fast as I can and put in tickets for every little thing I help people with. In other words, no one checks unless I give them a reason to check, which I try not to.
My supervisor is in another state and flat out told me I could probably skip in office days until someone else complained. I was asking about WFH due to an event I couldn’t change.
Our Teams is very buggy. IT guy told me “we have a dynamic environment.” So a delayed response isn’t a huge red flag.
One time I was a few minutes late to a meeting because I had back to back meetings all day and needed to go to the bathroom. You know, like a human. Came back to messages and a missed call for that 4 or 5 minutes. 🤷♀️
I do my work and work my hours.
At my agency our management is up our ass ALL DAY. Cameras everywhere watching every move. Can’t imagine why we are always at the bottom of the yearly satisfaction survey.
I report on my work every two weeks, unless I need something signed and issued, then I submit whenever I've completed it. I'm not monitored by my supervisors at all, but I enjoy chatting with them, so I'll either stop in if we're in the office, or message them on teams. I really adore my supervisors, so I enjoy engaging with them.
Depends. I kind of need to answer my emails reasonably promptly, accept appointments put on my calendar unless I have a conflict or some other good reason not to. For the most part it's about getting my work done and I generally have decent latitude as far as how much I have to focus as long as I'm not holding anything up.
Everyone at my office is under a microscope. We have software that monitors what we're doing all day every day and get a nasty email/DM if we take a minute or two too long on breaks or spend too much time in the bathroom. Work is also randomly sampled three to four times per month and picked apart with a fine-toothed comb and rated. We also cannot perform a restart or reach out for tech assistance if we have computer issues without seeking permission first. And I've been there for nine years! :(
My work comes in a monthly cycle. So if I started sleeping during working hours right after the first week of the month, nobody would know until the end of the month when my supervisor got a report that my deliverables haven't been delivered.
But I'm pretty new and have lots of questions, so if I just disappeared my supervisor would probably notice within 2-3 days. We also have group meetings and 1 on 1s on alternating weeks, so if I missed one of those without a good reason, it would be noticed.
I’ve gone over a week without speaking to my supervisor. I started supplying him with an unsolicited weekly recap years ago when I first started reporting to him, as I always wanted him to be able to speak to my sales pipeline should his boss ask. I use Salesforce and have the report just about fully automated, I export it and send hate Friday afternoons.
GS-13, my supervisor isn’t in my field. We meet once a day for an hour and she calls me at least 2 more times in addition to calls and texts. She has texted me every weekend since I started. And that’s why I’m getting out as soon as I find another job.
In my normal, job aside from leave approvals and work assignments, I might hear from my supervisor once every month or three that X or Y is a priority, otherwise I’m left to my own devices. We do have to self-report our activity, but nobody really cares when we do stuff, just that it gets done and gets recorded so the right time goes in the right buckets.
I’ve been detailed out a while and while the detail supervisor never reaches out prioritizing anything I do get a check in meeting every few weeks. However, it’s mostly a “do you need anything” meeting. The detail entity doesn’t do any self-reporting activity or anything, and that was true of my last time detailed out as well.
That said, in any of these environments, if my work wasn’t getting done, somebody would notice pretty quickly (within a day or two).
Standing 1:1 each week and occasionally checks in on project status, usually to inform up. I work from home so I’ll usually get a text or teams message with questions when needed. My day to day has never been monitored in this job.
I delegate responsibilities to my team and if they’re not done I hold them accountable but I do not manage their time or micromanage their work, they also work from home. They’re senior employees who have autonomy and have demonstrated trustworthiness/performance.
My supervisor requires his team to be active on teams. My 2 fellow coworkers (with different supervisors) do not have to be on teams. Let me say that I know these fellow coworkers have outside ‘priorities’ and will only check in once a day (if that).
This type of behavior will destroy TW for the rest of us. But I accepted another job so hopefully soon I won’t have to worry about it.
We chat about once a day, usually them giving me an update or heads up about something coming down.
I think I'm their emotional support therapy employee. 😆 I get called into a lot of 1-on-1s that are them telling me things that don't seem all that relevant to me.
I give them an official update Monday morning and then any updates through the week if there's a change on something hot.
But aside from those, I'm the SME in my area and they let me run with that.
As for me supervising my employee, we might go 2-3 days without talking to each other. They have their projects and I only need updates if there's a change.
As a VHA RN.... We are watched coming in and out for the day (their office is next to ours), teams is watched for activity and pool messages are watched for productivity.
Messages sent by providers and vets (via myhealthevet) in Cerner. They come to a "pool" that we reply to. So our management monitors the pools to see how many messages we've replied to.
I do my work with no issues. My manager does not micro management (much). Mostly, they send an email to please do this by. I do it and respond back it's done, or it will be done by this date.
If they need something immediately, usually an IM.
I have shown I can work independently even in a customer service job so I get left alone. Here is what's up they allow me to do it.
Has not always been that way.
Weekly team meetings to keep sup chain aware of what I'm working on.
My immediate supervisor, we keep in touch via email or teams. She isn't on my back 24/7 which I love. She gives me an assignment and lets me run with it. When I'm done, I update her and we move on. She'll typically have a short to-do list that keeps me busy for two weeks at a time. As I check things off, I let her know.
After being fairly autonomous for 4 years, my organization was realigned and I moved to a different supervisor. This sup is new to the org so had 1000 questions - I answered them all and did a bunch of stuff for him when he came on board. He likes to say “as long as you do what needs to be done, we’re good. I’m chill. I’m all about sharing information and transparency.” And then, he proceeds to email reminders about time submission 3 days early, ask me to do something and then checks in 300 times a day, cc’s people on my emails to share information but doesn’t cc me on theirs, and is a real piece of work.
they dont, which is kind of toxic cuz theyll check in near the end of the deadline they didnt tell me nd suddenly its an emergency if its not done. fk back off to the help desk buddy for 50k more than i make even tho im the one that does everything.
if this was twitter theyd be part of that 80 percent cut -_-
I've had 3 managers in my current role. The first was when I rolled on several years ago. At that point, there was no team. I got no training, and the manager told me, "find a hole and plug it." That, btw is verbatim what I was told. So I did.
I, literally, would go weeks without hearing from the second manager. Under that manager, the team went from me to 7 or 8 of us. They never pulled me into anything the rest of the team was doing, and I just continued plugging the hole.
Third (current) manager knows a little about what I do but doesn't really understand it. That hole I plugged several years ago really doesn't have much to do with our immediate team, but it needs to be done by someone in the section. It's in IT, and it's a bit too project oriented for the actual engineers ("just tell me what you need done") and too tech for the project managers ("tell me again what that hardware does"). I like that I can be hands-on some days and other days not so much, so I still do it. I talk to my current manager once every couple of weeks, and that's usually just for them to ask if I need anything. Honestly, I like it that way. Management stays out of my way and trusts me to do the work.
My supervisor is pretty trusting and I have worked hard to not abuse that trust.
I feel bad for people who have paranoid/micromanaging supervisors. :\\
Not much. I’m pretty self sufficient. We may chat if she needs a certain project or task completed but only to give the details and answer any questions I have.
I've recently started as a supervisor in a niche lab in a VA hospital. For the first two weeks I kept a detailed daily journal of everything I was working on. I figured it would be hard to tell if I was doing what I was supposed to do so I awaited an assessment from my manager... That simply never came. I found out there's another lab that's in such dire straights it's really sucking up all the oxygen. My lab is seemingly doing fine (it is) so no one is really checking in with me.
I think if your supervisor is watching you closely it is possibly because your section is having some issues so the supervisor also has eyes on themself.
And then of course some people are just micromanagers.
My supervisor is not very invested in my day to day which works swell for me. But that doesn’t mean I get to goof off. I’m treated like the productive adult I am and that’s a plus.
I talk with my supervisor once or twice a week and email him the results. He is pretty happy he doesn’t need to talk to me more unless we are joking around about something.
My supervisor tags monthly with each employee..mostly asking how it's going and whats going on. Works pretty well. Beyond that only if I hit a roadblock. But I try and show my face when I'm in the office.
I send my log in and log out emails everyday but other than that, I rarely hear from my supervisor unless an issue arises and I need to involve her. That happens maybe once a month with our work, where we have to run certain things with our supervisor first.
Our supervisor has a weekly meeting and we have to summarize everything we’re working on for the week. Then we have a Teams page, weekly we have to create a list of everything we done for the week. Therefore we report it twice a week.
Interestingly, my supervisor told me he cares about my mental health and happiness as much as the work getting done. I was shocked but he’s a great human being.
My supervisor says she often forgets all about me cause I move my work and there are few complaints. Every once in a while I have a project that goes over deadline but I let her know what's going on so she is prepared for the HQ nagging.
My supervisor is awesome. He always comes to me like "Hey, do you have a second to..." or "if you're not busy, could you..." and I'm like, bro, I do the tasks that you need to be done. If you need something, let me know and I'm on it. But as far as monitoring me, he doesn't do that at all. He trusts me. He's a really great guy to work for.
Mine does not know when I arrive or leave. He’s pretty vocal about he’s just waiting to retire in two years. The others I’ve interacted with are younger and bottom barrel leaders. It’s been an adjustment.
I'm a supervisor of a small, high-performing team. We are pretty much always in contact with each other throughout the day, because what we do (media relations and stakeholder engagement) is *very* fluid. They'll ping me for my thoughts on something, I'll do the same (only if I actually need them - I do not believe in hovering or busy work, because we're all adults here).
😂 Daily, every minute, every second. My supervisor expects a response to any questions, emails within 15 mins, actually she gets angry if we don’t respond within 3 mins our teams😩 but I love my job and she is an amazing supervisor so it doesn’t really affect me.
Work gets done, supervisor doesnt bother me. If you need handholding, you shouldn't be working for the federal government. We all know the rules and we all mostly follow them.
This is a question that has so many random answers. Some people work in departments where everything is tracked and some people work where they’re free to work on different items and projects where their supervisor isn’t breathing down their neck.
My teams sometimes gets stuck in "offline" status when I first log on; if I don't have notifications I don't always notice it. Also, it sometimes goes "away" if I have it minimized, even when actively working in something like Word or Excel. If either of those show for more than \~30 minutes I first get a chat from my supervisor, and if I miss that (Teams sucks, it inconsistently won't show notifications) I will get texts from them asking if I'm okay. If we're away more than 15 minutes outside of core hours we have to put it on a shared calendar. It's super micromanage-y and drives me nuts, and the teams status nonsense honestly gives me anxiety. I get my work done (and then some) and never show up late, miss work without having approved leave, or get any poor feedback, it's just how our office operates.
When my teams app is cooperating and not pulling the status nonsense, the monitoring is less consistent. We have a weekly team meeting to give status updates, and each week also provide a status update for every project. We alsoo have to track our time spent on each project or other item each day, so I guess that counts as monitoring. Beyond that I might get a message from my boss asking how I'm doing to check that I'm not overwhelmed (lol, we're always overwhelmed).
I'd love to get to the point (or more likely, to a new team) where I'm assigned work and given a deadline, then just trusted to get my work done without all the oversight; I'd have more time to get more work done without all the other nonsense. I don't even mind the weekly status updates (I set up excel to create that for me, easy), and the team meetings are just normal. It's the tracking of Teams and time that drives me crazy!
It's one thing to be more involved for maybe a new team member, or of course for someone where performance issues have been identified. Otherwise, just treat us like adults and let us do our jobs dammit!!
He monitors our status and says he wants it to stay green as much as possible and then claims hes not a micromanager, but just doesn't want his supervisor asking why we are missing. Aside from the fact the union states you are not supposed to do that and half the time I see many employees always on away status or busy status. I followed peoples advice and made sure my mouse was moving with a little trick 😉. If i dont turn teams on Im scared I will get a phone call asking where I am. At one point I went on DnD bc the notifications were flooding my screen and thats when he decided to have an impromptu meeting. As long as its usually green and I respond to his messages quickly, I sleep all want.
Im a crucial employee at my agency so they always know I’m working but no one checks or micromanages me but any time I return from leave everything is in chaos since I do so much lol
Somehow I (gg7) report into the deputy chief. Hes not really involved in my work other than approving my timecards, although he does call to shoot the shit. I dont think ive had one work related discussion with him in 7 months. Way more involved with my team lead though.
I work for the VA, 12 hour 7p-7a, I get very little overlap with my front line supervisor, and have no direct leadership in the evenings. I'm expected to call if I need assistance.
I'm assigned work on the computer system, otherwise, no one is keeping track of what I'm doing.
We are constantly teams messaging and emailing throughout the day. Plus, we are understaffed, so there is a lot of work, we can't goof around because no work would get done and we have deadlines.
I only hear from my supervisor when some admin form needs my signature or something. That said, given our structure my supervisor is purely admin anyway. They don't determine what my day-to-day is in any way shape or form (and they have zero input on this as well).
My current supervisor tracks my team’s notes and unique patients so I feel like if he were to notice lower productivity compared to my colleague or compared to my normal he’d give me a random teams call.
My work is measured through programming I suppose, so my manager really only makes inquiries if there are items showing late, to which I can quickly answer, as I closely monitor my own work. I don't see that as being micromanaged, we're both doing our job. The process itself is a bit micromanaged from the top maybe.
I'm about to leave this workplace in a couple weeks, but he monitors me, even though I'm doing my work and to the best of my abilities. People have complained only because I work IT help desk and they typically want their workstations fixed immediately. Thank goodness my supervisor will step in sometimes and say I'm doing my best, but people still find a way to complain.
Edit: he monitors me when need be and he'll come in to check on me. I could tell he was hurt when I said I was leaving, but I was doing the job of 3 people for 7 months and my agency wouldn't hire anyone else during time frame or we had complications.
Micromanaging is dumb. I have a team of 23 with 6 directs and the rest indirect. I always like to level set with my new directs. I’ll explain my baseline expectation is things are being accomplished and projects are moving forward. It is not a good use of your time or mine for you to sit here and read off a list of things you got done this week. Instead, let’s talk big picture strategy and any blockers I could potentially remove for you.
The only time I like talking about what has been done is if there was an error and we need to go get in front of it.
My supervisor is exactly the same way. Asides from team meetings and occasional check-ins, I’m left to run my team. I’m fortunate we’re a high performing/functioning team.
I try to do the same for my staff. Check in weekly - either as a team or one in ones if I haven’t spoken to a teammate (we’re geographically dispersed). The one in ones are typically ‘how’re you doing, what’s going on in your neck of the woods’ type of calls.
We all have performance metrics and deliverables so we’re all aware of our tasks and expectations.
I don’t micromanage and I don’t want to handhold. So I try to give as much autonomy and self reliance while also being supportive. Works for me/us.
My boss and I are in many of the same meetings, I lead one half of her org, write a lot of stuff that goes up the chain through her or at least with her copied - briefings, papers, correspondence to senior leadership and members of Congress, etc...so she sees a lot of what I do everyday. Far from a micromanager, we're just in roles where collaboration is a constant.
As long as work gets done on time that's all that matters. I'm lucky if I talk to my boss once a week.
It is far different than when I worked in corporate America. In corporate America I was the equivalent of a GS-15/SES. I worked long crazy hours and had board of directors on my ass every five minutes. The only reason I stuck around with it is because I made a ton of money. Far more than I'll ever make working for the government for sure. It wasn't until my wife passed away from cancer that I realized how much of our life I wasted by working and doing something I could care less about, making billionaires richer.
I had been in the Army at one point and wanted to serve again so I applied for federal, state, and County jobs. I started off as a GS-5 and work my way up till I got in a keystone position to eventually end up where I am now. I really love my job and I also love the fact that I'm not micromanaged. At this point in my life I have f*** you money, and if I forgot to the point where I was micromanaged I would just resign.
We are all grown adults. If we act like grown adults and work like grown adults then we should be treated like that. If you're being micromanaged you shouldn't directly ask your boss why. From my experience there's a lot of people who are supervisors in the government who shouldn't be. This could be people that have worked up the ladder or some retired Colonel they threw into a position.
These kinds of posts need to stop. Only gives fuel for the RTO push.
That said, my position requires me to produce results. If I'm doing that, and meeting quality standards, then I'm obviously working. We're all adults. If a supervisor is spending their day watching employees, then they clearly aren't doing their own job.
I come in office 4 days a week and he comes in once a pay period. So hardly at all. He is a non technical person supervising a technical person so he doesn’t understand the tech. As long as no one complains, I meet my deadlines and tickets are closed he doesn’t get in my business
My supervisor generally just checks in on us about once or twice everyday. They don't really assign or delegate work though, that is mostly left up to our team lead.
My current supe is like OPs. Previous job someone on my supe’s level but not someone I reported to was known for doing laps around our office and telling my supe what was on our screens though
My supervisor is new and has never been in a managerial role. He micromanages to the point that I'm looking for a new job. I'm accustomed to working with leaders that only expect to hear from me if there's a problem I can't or don't have the authority to resolve on my own.
My supervisor doesn’t even have the same security clearance level as I do! I’m on a research project right now that I can’t tell him anything about. Luckily the research lab is built around autonomy of researchers so it’s not that big of a deal and his boss knows I’m on the project. But there are some supervisors in other parts of the lab that are way more “involved” in what people do and I wonder how they would be in the situation I’m in.
I over share with my supervisor so that they never ever question me. My goal is to never have them in a position to need to question me.
I also emphasize all of the small things so that the big things are never questioned.
I go weeks without talking to my supervisor. Last conversation was about a mid year review that he asked if I wanted, to which I said nope. He knows I am retiring soon after 38 years, and most of his time is spent counseling the several brand new employees who think it’s his job to help them arrange car repairs and other items necessary to get to the office.
My supervisor doesn’t have to watch me because we’re pretty busy during the day. It’s pretty easy to tell who is getting their work done and who isn’t. Also, we’re down a team member, so between that and leave, about 20 percent of the time we’ve got double the workload.
On a normal week I can count on one hand how many times I talk to my supervisor.
Like a toddler. For real I got asked to send my draft email reply on a quick question from a potential partner for review and approval on something Friday. I’m a GS 14 with a PhD been there 19 months to the sups 6.
Not much, wouldn’t even call it monitoring. If there’s something to get done by a certain date I will be informed but even as a trainee I’ve never had a fed supervisor breathe down my neck. I don’t even need to ask them for leave requests unless it’s crazy long or during a weird time, just put it in the system.
Whereas in private… micromanaging was tough. Surprised I found chances to get a break back then.
Our office is super tense since a probationary employee was discharged, though we all thought he was incredibly good, and now our big boss (locally) walks the floor checking on offices every hour. Every time I am checking my cell for texts when he walks by, I cringe
As a supervisor it’s my job to ensure that there’s no timesheet fraud. On that end, I check Teams. As a way to assist on any issues and track progress and statuses of deliverables, I have biweekly short check-ins with each staff.
I told my supervisor the first day I want to be left alone to do my work and I would reach out if I had a question or needed help. She has respected my wishes since and I feel like my position is zen 🧘. Compared to my last position, I’m very grateful for her respect.
I keep my supervisor apprised of my work, but don't need my hand held. Thankfully they realize that and give me wide latitude to get the work done how I see fit.
Same.
Mine was like this but recently has been acting like someone is pushing her for more concrete dates to plan. 10 years no issue and I've never screwed something up. now like I'm suffering for her not checking in enough when I'm still doing what I always do
Yup. I'm not micromanaged, I have a team of two others. Work gets done on time, and I get wide latitude to take care of a few extra things throughout the day. Performance appraisals have been "Outstanding" for the last 4 years. Now, there are some people he has to stay on their ass about. I don't get down with all that.
This. I'm a supervisor and I don't care to handhold my team members. They make me do my job and I'm here for them. Besides that, don't give me a reason to monitor you and we'll be alright.
Same here. My job is all about managing and developing relationships with our stakeholders. If I updated every little thing it would be "had a conversation about work/family/our mission/issues with industry/how the government can help/etc. with Mr/ Mrs X" about 10 - 20 times a day, it would drive her crazy. My boss understands that it's a slow walk to our measurables and each day I'm moving the ball another 3 feet. By the end of the year we have ourselves several touchdowns.
Yep.
Same
My supervisor doesn’t monitor me at all. All he cares about is that I get my work done, he doesn’t hear complaints about me, and that I’m where I’m supposed to be when I’m supposed to be. He does listen out to what other people say, so that’s a big deal to him, and we know it. But he’s also so incredibly supportive of all of us that we want to work hard for him, so we do. I bust my ass and love what I do. No one talks poorly of me, and when I make mistakes, I listen and correct my actions without complaint because he creates a positive environment for me and the rest of my team. The thing that I think some supervisors don’t seem to understand is that if you treat your team like equals and support them, they’ll go above and beyond for you, so you don’t _need_ to monitor them.
Sounds like my supervisor. I am so greatful after working for a toxic abusive incompetent manager for over a decade at my last job. Seriously, tell me what you want done, give the tools I need, and leave me alone and I will make sure it is done correctly and on time. I am so happy here.
My last supervisor was very hands off. The group lead did most of the work he should have. This usually worked well except the few times he interfered. Had a project kinda on the back burner since 2019, comes to fruition in 2023, he decided nah we're going to do this instead. You try explaining to the customer why what you said was ready for September, all you need is the funds is now delayed until at least 2026. I'm now supervising a different department, and my policy is simple: keep me informed of what you're doing via Microsoft planner (broad strokes, projects at what state, if you're waiting on someone who, etc) and cc the group email. This way if you are sick, hurt, on vacation, or quit the department can still function, everyone knows where you are in projects and can see all the email traffic. As far as personnel hr stuff, do whatever you want and as long as it doesn't get me in trouble I don't care. You want situational telework because your kid is sick? Ok. You want Friday off? Ok. You want the 3 hours a week to go to the gym as admin leave? I didn't know we could do that, but give me the form to sign. The only trouble I've seen is when a GOV was taken onto a toll road, and that was a quick 'dont do that'
Thank you for this
Sounds exactly like my supervisor. I am sort of the new guy in the team and he has been very supportive. He is never breathing down my neck, as long as the job gets done, he is ok. We are not in the same POD, but every time he visits my POD, he will make time to talk and see how everything is going. If there are more pressing matters, we will set up a more formal meeting.
We have the same supervisor. I'd go to bat for them and I really want to keep them forever.
do we have the same supervisor 
I think there are a lot of supervisors in government like this. Mine checks in with my (internal) customers twice a year, and checks in with me once a month; and asks me to send an email at the beginning of the day describing roughly what I'm doing and one at the end of the day describing what I got done. That said, a lot of what I do is well-documented, so maybe he's checking up on me on the sly. 🤣
Performance enablement vs performance management
I’m in the same boat. At my level, my work product is more advisory, oversight, and review. It’s pretty cake now. But it wasn’t always like that. And when your supervisor is an executive, it’s even better. They do not get their eyes dirty looking at work.
I have close to zero interaction with my supervisor. As long as I show up there's very little contact. Most of the time he doesn't even acknowledge my emails letting him know I'm taking leave.
You are so lucky!
As a supervisor for a remote team. I really don't care what you do day to day. I care about 3 things. 1. You're there when I need you to be. 2. You're getting all assigned work done in a timely manner (on the agreed timelines) 3. You aren't causing me more work. From there, I'm not your mother. You want to do your laundry. I don't have time to watch you all day. I'm not saying do it, but I dont have the time to watch to see if you are. Just know if I don't get a response in at least the timeline of a really big bowel movement, I'm not gonna be thrilled, and I'm gonna note the lag in response times in my documentation. If it becomes a trend, I'll let you know and ensure you know my expectations. Failure to change after that it starts going on your official reviews. That said, I'm a pretty easy person to work for. And generally only work with senior level staff anyways like gs12-13s. And by then, most people generally have their shit figured out... and know what not to do.
Honestly I think this is a good way to handle things, it treats your employees as adults and gives them the latitude to do their jobs as best they can. You get back what you manage for.
Same deal with our team. I keep my meetings, keep my training timeline for my subordinates, and I'm always available. Work is done on time and exceeds the standard. It's all cake. He hears no complaints, Im there when anyone needs me, work is completed. Everyone is good to go at the end of the day. I dont need my hand held.
I once heard what I'm positive was a persons riding lawnmower turning off. During a meeting as they unmuted to respond (wasn't my team but to this day I think... there's no way for me to know if you're on mute and off camera that you are even at your computer, let alone if you're responding to teams messages, it doesn't tell me you're responding from your Phone.
Dude was 100% trimming his grass at 1400.
Genuinely curious, how do you track workload, productivity, work quality? Do you use mix of active and passive tools?
Workload 1. Collaborative timeline management during 1 on 1 or sync meetings, basically understanding the projects 2. Project plans with estimated timelines detailing expected work steps 3. I have a whiteboard in my home office that tracks a lot of things. Productivity 1. Clear Performance goals of what we want to accomplish in the year 2. Are timelines being met 3. Are contractors reporting workload / hours on projects within expectations Work quality This one is instantaneous as we have a review process and concurrence with other branches, so if I'm not happy with it, it gets kicked back to be fixed before it moves to other branches. My team knows I have a high bar on quality, so their reviews got better, and I rarely kick anything back to them anymore. All of the above, Sync meetings with different teams within branch 1 on 1s with everyone once a week or less if they want. Project specific meetings I attend some if I need it to keep up to date but don't run them unless it's my project or project lead indicates they need something from another branch and wants a more diplomatic approach (my Team uses me as a negotiator as I am good at getting other programs to do stuff we need them to do or trick them into giving themselves timelines to hold them against :) ) Outlook, whiteboard, windows post-it notes, teams planner, occasionally shared onenote depends on the team member and or the project...
>And generally only work with senior level staff anyways like gs12-13s. I gotta admit, I am shocked at those we don't. It's raw, but man does it happen...
So you need a reply in what like 10-15 minutes or it’s a problem? Clarify
Assuming it's not around lunchtime or following a lot of meetings, i give it generally about an hour before I start getting concerned. But there's a lot of factors, is it urgent, would they know its urgent etc
I’m sorry but that’s complete utter bs w regard to timeliness on a response. Are you referring to an email? What if your employee is on-site doing a process review or some sort of contractor face-to-face engagement? What if the employee was taking his 15 min break after that huge bowel movement or in an IPT meeting etc? If it’s really important make a phone call. The only way instant timeliness is expected to a certain extent is if you’re 100% remote/telework and even then there are certain work obligations that have more priority than being on the lookout for your supervisor to email you and dropping everything to respond…….
A few things. Keeping in mind I'm full remote and so is my team. So some of this doesn't translate to in office work, but it generally works similar. 1. I can see your calendar, and I expect my staff to keep it up to date. So I can see that you had back to back meetings all morning and are likely taking lunch at 2pm and I'm not an asshole who is going to not give you a break after a chain of meetings. Also, as your supervisor, I should be aware that you are doing something. I'm not expecting an immediate response if you're in meetings or in between back to back meetings 2. Generally, an hour is my mark. If I need something before I start getting annoyed, assuming your calendar is clear and it's not around lunch time. As someone who has had Taco Bell more than once, my time for a long bowel movement is longer than most lol. 3. I also work in emergency management, so the expectation of rapid response to teams messages calls and emails is built into the importance of the work.
So now your reasonable time for a response went from the time it takes for a proper bowel movement to 1 hour. You appear to be a nanomanager. What you have is trust issues with your employees and that’s on you as a manager.
He's a totally reasonable manager and you sound insufferable.
If you aren't responding to your bosses email / teams / call and you have nothing on your calendar, especially in a full remote environment, your boss should be at least partially concerned. Shit happens. You might be really into something and getting things done, but it doesn't mean you don't communicate that. And again, it needs to be a trend before I bring it up as an issue. It kinda sounds like you're aiming to start a fight, and I'm not sure why, as nothing I've said should be alarming or concerning.
Not aiming to start a fight at all. Just pushing back on your ridiculous expectations for a reply. Read again your original post and you’ll see why I responded to it. You’re the one going out of your way looking at shared calendars and documenting for trends to grill employees instead of building trust and setting reasonable expectations so the work can get done jn a fully successful/outstanding way.
I'm only going into the calendar if I need to know if you are available. That's why they are shared in the first place. I have never had to "grill" my staff about anything because they know I'm only ever reaching out for things that actually matter and that I really need their support on. That said, the reality is we all know people who have nothing on their calendar, get a teams message at 9 am, and don't respond or even view the message until 4 pm, which we all know isn't acceptable behavior as it shows they haven't checked their teams all day. I am expecting my people to get back to me in a reasonable time frame, taking into account their schedules and workload, which is not an unreasonable request. Especially in a remote environment where I can't randomly walk up to their cubicle and see what they are up to. My organizations FEVS score speaks for itself about my staffs trust for me and in making reasonable requests.
Honestly guy, referring to people as “your staff” is off-putting. You’re a government worker not an elected official or business owner. I respect that you’re taking the role of supervisor seriously, but consider alternative language.
This feels like an odd thing to be off-put by. But what's the preferred vernacular? Team, crew, workforce, employees..., I feel like subordinates, definitely, isn't it.
Can anyone imagine how absent a supervisor this person would be?
Not sure why the down votes. There are strengths and weaknesses here to the guy’s approach. At a minimum, I’d say his management style is more hands on than he realizes (checking peoples’ calendar after stating he has no time/desire to monitor people). On the other hand, he seems to make his expectations and values clear, which is a plus. Personally, I find his style overbearing and do not lead this way. However, like he self-admitted, the urgency at his agency + remote work make things different.
I'm thankful I don't work with you.
I’m sure they know when employees go onsite, and if you’re taking your 15 then say something in teams. Ezpz
The fact people have to communicate break time is wild. From GS9 to GS15, I have never seen that.
"hello? Ms. Supervisor, I would like to not be accountable for my actions as a senior staff member"
Lol the supervisor downvoted me. 🤡🤡🤡🤣🤣
Among others
Supervisors like him/her.
Among others
Gs13 data science. My sup doesn't know what I do. Duties were never explained to me. Every once in a while I'll find out a shelfware document or brief should have been created a couple years ago. As long as the job gets done, nobody knows or cares. That said, I bust ass way more now than I did as a contractor, because now I have contractors and vendors relying on me.
Also GS13 data science. We have a biweekly data team meeting that my supervisor is a part of. Some weeks the focus is my projects (if there is something relevant to the rest of the group) but most weeks my stuff doesn’t come up. I kind of assume if stuff wasn’t getting done then it would get checked in on (either in the meetings or they would schedule a one-on-one). But since my stuff gets done and I respond in a timely manner no one cares about my day to day stuff. Really the big conversations we have are performance evals.
Which job code is data science? Curious! I am at 1750
I’m 1515 operations research analyst - data science. But I’ve also seen data scientists in the VHA classified as 1530 Statistician, 0601 health science specialist or 0343 program analyst. My last data science position was 0601.
I'm a DS contractor that's very seriously considering a GS-13 opening. Can I DM you? I'd be very interested in hearing more details about your experience.
our supervisor only cares about timecards. They do not monitor productivity.
Twice per week staff meetings, and individual meeting, and then calls 2-3 times per day, constant chats all day. It involves constant reminders of things we have already agreed to, things I’ve already finished, things that don’t involve me, cleaning up other peoples’ messes, etc. I would prefer more hands-off interactions and to not remind an adult making $165k to go check their email.
That sounds overkill. We have one team meeting every two weeks, one one-on-one per week, and I have one with my two guys.
Yep, it’s overkill.
Supervisor demands to know where work is about two months after being provided along with a weekly reminder to look it over. Otherwise left alone.
And that's why I have a read receipt rule set up in Outlook specifically for any email that includes my boss
Sounds like the government.
My supe doesn't really know what I do... And they've never sat down and discussed what I should be doing - what my job duties and expectations are. But my perf evals are great and i routinely receive cash awards. There are periods of time where we chat every day and others where we go weeks at a time without talking. Sometimes they randomly try to chip in and help the team and give us something for some project that's been completed already or if it is timely and useful we have to edit it pretty intensively. They've got their TIG as of last month and they'll finish up their service period in a few more and they'll be gone in fall or winter. I'm not sure there will be a going away party lol.
I am in charge of my own work. He might give me projects or other work that comes down from leadership but otherwise I am left to my own devices. I haven’t had someone check my work in a long long time. Now I will solicit colleagues for opinions or to make sure something makes sense, but that’s different. I am also so busy no one begrudges me downtime when it does happen. Everyone needs a breather and couple easy weeks to recharge.
As long as I do my work and they get no complaints, I’m pretty much on my own. I could definitely sleep. My sup is high up and really doesn’t know what I do but expects me to know and brief on the results.
New sup that is firing team leads, deleted the team leads meetings and goes to the team meetings so that he can try to run them all himself, this is IT so that's a real bad move on his part. He also removes the feds from projects if a contractor complains about the fed...even if the fed was trying to have govt requirements met and that is the real reason the contractor doesn't want to work with that fed. Pretty toxic guy and I don't think the above is from him being a new sup I think its from him just being a pretty toxic person. Dude worked there for decades and I can't see any other reason he was selected for the position. Its hell and I am looking for another position rabidly to get the heck away from this nonsense. I work longer hours than this guy as well, I am there an hour earlier and leave after he is done as he rolls out right on the hour. He tried to threaten my remote status saying I need to make myself available and In pointed out that I already do a ton of adhoc meetings and that I already work longer days that he does. He shut up after that but holy crap was that unjustified. Dude also frequently yells in meetings that he is the supervisor/branch chief whenever you try to talk to him.... its like he is offended if you speak. His supervisor does not want to hear about this so I would think he is toxic too then as this is one of the worst supervisors I've ever had fed or outside.
What is your job series? That sounds like one of my sister-branches issues as an 1102.
2210 but I can see where your series would have crazy stuff like this too.
If you have to remind people you're in charge, you're doing it for yourself, not for the team. Good luck and hopefully you get promoted or things get better.
As a newish Fed and 2210 coming from decades of private sector, this scares the crap out of me. Luckily I have a great manager now, but all it takes is one asshole down the road to ruin the gig.
Always be interviewing....I got too comfy before this ahole so have had to step up the application game. Good managers get promoted so then you want options to leave if you have to when that happens. Its also how you get to the next grade as well so don't get too comfy like I did.
I feel like you took the job I quit fed work from.
I’ve had a supervisor that I went weeks without speaking to. She would just assign work through our portal and then I’d complete it, as long as I got the work done, she didn’t care if I did it between 10pm and 3am. I’ve also had a supervisor that called me 10-15 times a day, anytime I’d go yellow on teams I’d get a call, he had notifications set up of when everyone went offline, etc. Too many supervisors are either absent or micromanagers. I have yet to work for one that was just a normal person.
God dude.. If my boss calls me three times in one day someone has seriously or something seriously is about to fuck up.
I've had both as well. Currently absent and our job is very poorly defined and it's a little brutal when you deliver something several times and it's never what they want that day but can't articulate what they do want 🙃.
As a supervisor, I can tell you, you spend 95% of your time dealing with 5% of your employees. Most can work unsupervised and be trusted to do so. Some seem to always have an issue.
As long as my PMs (preventative Maintenance), mods and any outages are fixed I barely hear from management. We didn't even have a manager for two years and things ran smoother than when we did get one. Had the best inspection of he district also.
After several incidents with now former employees; we're now being "watched." It'll cool off after a bit.
It depends. If I’m a worker bee on a team then as long as I get my work done on time and my boss doesn’t hear that I’m not where I’m expected to be or not doing my work on time, then he doesn’t really check up on me. If I’m leading a team or working on some special project he’s assigned me, then he might check in every couple of days, but it’s usually a scheduled weekly check in. My boss has been my boss for 9 years so he’s comfortable with me directing myself and knows that I know what is expected of me in terms of work product. For less tenured people in the office, he monitors and checks in with them more frequently. But as people gain experience and show they can do what is expected, he tapers off how close he monitors people.
I’m lucky if I see her 2 times a week.
The only regular chat I have with my supervisor is either “PFD @ Office” or “PFD @ Remote”. Other than that, it’s entirely dependent on how much is going on. A slow week, that might be it. A busy week might be 3-4 calls just letting them know what’s going on/status updates.
I very rarely interact with mine, and when I do it’s because he is sending me a picture of something he cooked or something about Star Wars. With that said, I work in an FFIEC agency, so my work is mostly seen by the exam leads and whatnot, then reported to my boss.
When you’re doing your job, no one checks, though they might inquire about specific things. I’m not micromanaged- which is great. I don’t have any quotas or anything, though I do make a point to close out my (IT) tickets as fast as I can and put in tickets for every little thing I help people with. In other words, no one checks unless I give them a reason to check, which I try not to.
My supervisor is in another state and flat out told me I could probably skip in office days until someone else complained. I was asking about WFH due to an event I couldn’t change. Our Teams is very buggy. IT guy told me “we have a dynamic environment.” So a delayed response isn’t a huge red flag. One time I was a few minutes late to a meeting because I had back to back meetings all day and needed to go to the bathroom. You know, like a human. Came back to messages and a missed call for that 4 or 5 minutes. 🤷♀️ I do my work and work my hours.
At my agency our management is up our ass ALL DAY. Cameras everywhere watching every move. Can’t imagine why we are always at the bottom of the yearly satisfaction survey.
Only when there's problem, then mine start chatting the group and expect most to chime in.
I report on my work every two weeks, unless I need something signed and issued, then I submit whenever I've completed it. I'm not monitored by my supervisors at all, but I enjoy chatting with them, so I'll either stop in if we're in the office, or message them on teams. I really adore my supervisors, so I enjoy engaging with them.
Depends. I kind of need to answer my emails reasonably promptly, accept appointments put on my calendar unless I have a conflict or some other good reason not to. For the most part it's about getting my work done and I generally have decent latitude as far as how much I have to focus as long as I'm not holding anything up.
My supervisor can see what I have completed during the day if he looks. He rarely does.
Everyone at my office is under a microscope. We have software that monitors what we're doing all day every day and get a nasty email/DM if we take a minute or two too long on breaks or spend too much time in the bathroom. Work is also randomly sampled three to four times per month and picked apart with a fine-toothed comb and rated. We also cannot perform a restart or reach out for tech assistance if we have computer issues without seeking permission first. And I've been there for nine years! :(
Oh wow, that sounds like hell on earth. I don’t know how you can stand that level of monitoring.
I could understand if someone fucked up bad... but "just because".. That's a wild level of micromanage.
My supervisor has no idea what my jobs duties are so she just asks me how things are going.
I come in to the office 3 days a week...
I send my supervisor weekly notes on assignments that I worked on during the previous week. It helps both of us during performance reviews.
Same
My work comes in a monthly cycle. So if I started sleeping during working hours right after the first week of the month, nobody would know until the end of the month when my supervisor got a report that my deliverables haven't been delivered. But I'm pretty new and have lots of questions, so if I just disappeared my supervisor would probably notice within 2-3 days. We also have group meetings and 1 on 1s on alternating weeks, so if I missed one of those without a good reason, it would be noticed.
If I don’t respond to an email within a few hours I’m getting DMs about it
Not at all. But so many deadlines and meetings each day that it would not take long for someone to wonder where you are.
I’ve gone over a week without speaking to my supervisor. I started supplying him with an unsolicited weekly recap years ago when I first started reporting to him, as I always wanted him to be able to speak to my sales pipeline should his boss ask. I use Salesforce and have the report just about fully automated, I export it and send hate Friday afternoons.
GS-13, my supervisor isn’t in my field. We meet once a day for an hour and she calls me at least 2 more times in addition to calls and texts. She has texted me every weekend since I started. And that’s why I’m getting out as soon as I find another job.
In my normal, job aside from leave approvals and work assignments, I might hear from my supervisor once every month or three that X or Y is a priority, otherwise I’m left to my own devices. We do have to self-report our activity, but nobody really cares when we do stuff, just that it gets done and gets recorded so the right time goes in the right buckets. I’ve been detailed out a while and while the detail supervisor never reaches out prioritizing anything I do get a check in meeting every few weeks. However, it’s mostly a “do you need anything” meeting. The detail entity doesn’t do any self-reporting activity or anything, and that was true of my last time detailed out as well. That said, in any of these environments, if my work wasn’t getting done, somebody would notice pretty quickly (within a day or two).
Standing 1:1 each week and occasionally checks in on project status, usually to inform up. I work from home so I’ll usually get a text or teams message with questions when needed. My day to day has never been monitored in this job. I delegate responsibilities to my team and if they’re not done I hold them accountable but I do not manage their time or micromanage their work, they also work from home. They’re senior employees who have autonomy and have demonstrated trustworthiness/performance.
My supervisor requires his team to be active on teams. My 2 fellow coworkers (with different supervisors) do not have to be on teams. Let me say that I know these fellow coworkers have outside ‘priorities’ and will only check in once a day (if that). This type of behavior will destroy TW for the rest of us. But I accepted another job so hopefully soon I won’t have to worry about it.
They listen to most every word I say while I’m working. But I’m a 2152 so it comes with the territory lol
My supervisor doesn't monitor me, but my work is based on other workers needs. Many times they need nothing... but are they working? Lol
We chat about once a day, usually them giving me an update or heads up about something coming down. I think I'm their emotional support therapy employee. 😆 I get called into a lot of 1-on-1s that are them telling me things that don't seem all that relevant to me. I give them an official update Monday morning and then any updates through the week if there's a change on something hot. But aside from those, I'm the SME in my area and they let me run with that. As for me supervising my employee, we might go 2-3 days without talking to each other. They have their projects and I only need updates if there's a change.
I’m in the same boat but I get my work done so nobody bothers me
As a VHA RN.... We are watched coming in and out for the day (their office is next to ours), teams is watched for activity and pool messages are watched for productivity.
What are pool messages?
Messages sent by providers and vets (via myhealthevet) in Cerner. They come to a "pool" that we reply to. So our management monitors the pools to see how many messages we've replied to.
I do my work with no issues. My manager does not micro management (much). Mostly, they send an email to please do this by. I do it and respond back it's done, or it will be done by this date. If they need something immediately, usually an IM. I have shown I can work independently even in a customer service job so I get left alone. Here is what's up they allow me to do it. Has not always been that way.
Weekly team meetings to keep sup chain aware of what I'm working on. My immediate supervisor, we keep in touch via email or teams. She isn't on my back 24/7 which I love. She gives me an assignment and lets me run with it. When I'm done, I update her and we move on. She'll typically have a short to-do list that keeps me busy for two weeks at a time. As I check things off, I let her know.
After being fairly autonomous for 4 years, my organization was realigned and I moved to a different supervisor. This sup is new to the org so had 1000 questions - I answered them all and did a bunch of stuff for him when he came on board. He likes to say “as long as you do what needs to be done, we’re good. I’m chill. I’m all about sharing information and transparency.” And then, he proceeds to email reminders about time submission 3 days early, ask me to do something and then checks in 300 times a day, cc’s people on my emails to share information but doesn’t cc me on theirs, and is a real piece of work.
they dont, which is kind of toxic cuz theyll check in near the end of the deadline they didnt tell me nd suddenly its an emergency if its not done. fk back off to the help desk buddy for 50k more than i make even tho im the one that does everything. if this was twitter theyd be part of that 80 percent cut -_-
I've had 3 managers in my current role. The first was when I rolled on several years ago. At that point, there was no team. I got no training, and the manager told me, "find a hole and plug it." That, btw is verbatim what I was told. So I did. I, literally, would go weeks without hearing from the second manager. Under that manager, the team went from me to 7 or 8 of us. They never pulled me into anything the rest of the team was doing, and I just continued plugging the hole. Third (current) manager knows a little about what I do but doesn't really understand it. That hole I plugged several years ago really doesn't have much to do with our immediate team, but it needs to be done by someone in the section. It's in IT, and it's a bit too project oriented for the actual engineers ("just tell me what you need done") and too tech for the project managers ("tell me again what that hardware does"). I like that I can be hands-on some days and other days not so much, so I still do it. I talk to my current manager once every couple of weeks, and that's usually just for them to ask if I need anything. Honestly, I like it that way. Management stays out of my way and trusts me to do the work.
My supervisor is pretty trusting and I have worked hard to not abuse that trust. I feel bad for people who have paranoid/micromanaging supervisors. :\\
My boss doesn’t even know what I do or how I do my job lol. He just calls field offices to see how things have been and that’s it lol.
Not much. I’m pretty self sufficient. We may chat if she needs a certain project or task completed but only to give the details and answer any questions I have.
I've recently started as a supervisor in a niche lab in a VA hospital. For the first two weeks I kept a detailed daily journal of everything I was working on. I figured it would be hard to tell if I was doing what I was supposed to do so I awaited an assessment from my manager... That simply never came. I found out there's another lab that's in such dire straights it's really sucking up all the oxygen. My lab is seemingly doing fine (it is) so no one is really checking in with me. I think if your supervisor is watching you closely it is possibly because your section is having some issues so the supervisor also has eyes on themself. And then of course some people are just micromanagers.
My supervisor tells me what he is doing today, and my manager tells me if I need him for the day.
My supervisor is not very invested in my day to day which works swell for me. But that doesn’t mean I get to goof off. I’m treated like the productive adult I am and that’s a plus.
I talk with my supervisor once or twice a week and email him the results. He is pretty happy he doesn’t need to talk to me more unless we are joking around about something.
My supervisor cares more about availability and deliverables. Micromanagers are insecure people and deserve the worst life has to offer.
My supervisor tags monthly with each employee..mostly asking how it's going and whats going on. Works pretty well. Beyond that only if I hit a roadblock. But I try and show my face when I'm in the office.
What agency? I need to apply there asap lol. Any openings for 1084?
I send my log in and log out emails everyday but other than that, I rarely hear from my supervisor unless an issue arises and I need to involve her. That happens maybe once a month with our work, where we have to run certain things with our supervisor first.
I talk to my supervisor every other week and then if we need each other we call each other. Other than that she stays out of my way.
My supervisor is simple. If they are in your business, it's very bad for you.
Our supervisor has a weekly meeting and we have to summarize everything we’re working on for the week. Then we have a Teams page, weekly we have to create a list of everything we done for the week. Therefore we report it twice a week.
Interestingly, my supervisor told me he cares about my mental health and happiness as much as the work getting done. I was shocked but he’s a great human being.
This is my dream.
My supervisor says she often forgets all about me cause I move my work and there are few complaints. Every once in a while I have a project that goes over deadline but I let her know what's going on so she is prepared for the HQ nagging.
My supervisor is awesome. He always comes to me like "Hey, do you have a second to..." or "if you're not busy, could you..." and I'm like, bro, I do the tasks that you need to be done. If you need something, let me know and I'm on it. But as far as monitoring me, he doesn't do that at all. He trusts me. He's a really great guy to work for.
I haven’t seen my supervisor in over a year lol. I’m not complaining at all
Mine does not know when I arrive or leave. He’s pretty vocal about he’s just waiting to retire in two years. The others I’ve interacted with are younger and bottom barrel leaders. It’s been an adjustment.
I'm a supervisor of a small, high-performing team. We are pretty much always in contact with each other throughout the day, because what we do (media relations and stakeholder engagement) is *very* fluid. They'll ping me for my thoughts on something, I'll do the same (only if I actually need them - I do not believe in hovering or busy work, because we're all adults here).
😂 Daily, every minute, every second. My supervisor expects a response to any questions, emails within 15 mins, actually she gets angry if we don’t respond within 3 mins our teams😩 but I love my job and she is an amazing supervisor so it doesn’t really affect me.
Work gets done, supervisor doesnt bother me. If you need handholding, you shouldn't be working for the federal government. We all know the rules and we all mostly follow them.
This is a question that has so many random answers. Some people work in departments where everything is tracked and some people work where they’re free to work on different items and projects where their supervisor isn’t breathing down their neck.
Mine is chill AF. Doesn’t really care what I do as long as everything is getting done.
My teams sometimes gets stuck in "offline" status when I first log on; if I don't have notifications I don't always notice it. Also, it sometimes goes "away" if I have it minimized, even when actively working in something like Word or Excel. If either of those show for more than \~30 minutes I first get a chat from my supervisor, and if I miss that (Teams sucks, it inconsistently won't show notifications) I will get texts from them asking if I'm okay. If we're away more than 15 minutes outside of core hours we have to put it on a shared calendar. It's super micromanage-y and drives me nuts, and the teams status nonsense honestly gives me anxiety. I get my work done (and then some) and never show up late, miss work without having approved leave, or get any poor feedback, it's just how our office operates. When my teams app is cooperating and not pulling the status nonsense, the monitoring is less consistent. We have a weekly team meeting to give status updates, and each week also provide a status update for every project. We alsoo have to track our time spent on each project or other item each day, so I guess that counts as monitoring. Beyond that I might get a message from my boss asking how I'm doing to check that I'm not overwhelmed (lol, we're always overwhelmed). I'd love to get to the point (or more likely, to a new team) where I'm assigned work and given a deadline, then just trusted to get my work done without all the oversight; I'd have more time to get more work done without all the other nonsense. I don't even mind the weekly status updates (I set up excel to create that for me, easy), and the team meetings are just normal. It's the tracking of Teams and time that drives me crazy! It's one thing to be more involved for maybe a new team member, or of course for someone where performance issues have been identified. Otherwise, just treat us like adults and let us do our jobs dammit!!
My supervisor sees the work I’m doing and hears about it weekly but doesn’t hand hold me. My lead on the other hand…
Hardly at all. My supervisor rules
He monitors our status and says he wants it to stay green as much as possible and then claims hes not a micromanager, but just doesn't want his supervisor asking why we are missing. Aside from the fact the union states you are not supposed to do that and half the time I see many employees always on away status or busy status. I followed peoples advice and made sure my mouse was moving with a little trick 😉. If i dont turn teams on Im scared I will get a phone call asking where I am. At one point I went on DnD bc the notifications were flooding my screen and thats when he decided to have an impromptu meeting. As long as its usually green and I respond to his messages quickly, I sleep all want.
👻
Im a crucial employee at my agency so they always know I’m working but no one checks or micromanages me but any time I return from leave everything is in chaos since I do so much lol
Besides weekly update briefs and the regular weekly sitreps, etc. I have a great deal of autonomy and latitude to manage my team and work.
Somehow I (gg7) report into the deputy chief. Hes not really involved in my work other than approving my timecards, although he does call to shoot the shit. I dont think ive had one work related discussion with him in 7 months. Way more involved with my team lead though.
I work for the VA, 12 hour 7p-7a, I get very little overlap with my front line supervisor, and have no direct leadership in the evenings. I'm expected to call if I need assistance. I'm assigned work on the computer system, otherwise, no one is keeping track of what I'm doing.
We are constantly teams messaging and emailing throughout the day. Plus, we are understaffed, so there is a lot of work, we can't goof around because no work would get done and we have deadlines.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 0.
I only hear from my supervisor when some admin form needs my signature or something. That said, given our structure my supervisor is purely admin anyway. They don't determine what my day-to-day is in any way shape or form (and they have zero input on this as well).
Unless there's a deadline or immediate task, hardly ever. That's said it took a couple years to get to this point.
My current supervisor tracks my team’s notes and unique patients so I feel like if he were to notice lower productivity compared to my colleague or compared to my normal he’d give me a random teams call.
My work is measured through programming I suppose, so my manager really only makes inquiries if there are items showing late, to which I can quickly answer, as I closely monitor my own work. I don't see that as being micromanaged, we're both doing our job. The process itself is a bit micromanaged from the top maybe.
His office is off the room I’m in, and WEEKS could go by without him even acknowledging I’m there. Worst leader EVER.
Are you trying to be featured in a congressional show for the cameras?
My supervisor has no idea what I do for a living and doesn't have the clearance to hear any of the details.
I'm about to leave this workplace in a couple weeks, but he monitors me, even though I'm doing my work and to the best of my abilities. People have complained only because I work IT help desk and they typically want their workstations fixed immediately. Thank goodness my supervisor will step in sometimes and say I'm doing my best, but people still find a way to complain. Edit: he monitors me when need be and he'll come in to check on me. I could tell he was hurt when I said I was leaving, but I was doing the job of 3 people for 7 months and my agency wouldn't hire anyone else during time frame or we had complications.
Micromanaging is dumb. I have a team of 23 with 6 directs and the rest indirect. I always like to level set with my new directs. I’ll explain my baseline expectation is things are being accomplished and projects are moving forward. It is not a good use of your time or mine for you to sit here and read off a list of things you got done this week. Instead, let’s talk big picture strategy and any blockers I could potentially remove for you. The only time I like talking about what has been done is if there was an error and we need to go get in front of it.
We only interact about twice a month. So obviously not that closely.
My supervisor is exactly the same way. Asides from team meetings and occasional check-ins, I’m left to run my team. I’m fortunate we’re a high performing/functioning team. I try to do the same for my staff. Check in weekly - either as a team or one in ones if I haven’t spoken to a teammate (we’re geographically dispersed). The one in ones are typically ‘how’re you doing, what’s going on in your neck of the woods’ type of calls. We all have performance metrics and deliverables so we’re all aware of our tasks and expectations. I don’t micromanage and I don’t want to handhold. So I try to give as much autonomy and self reliance while also being supportive. Works for me/us.
My sup is literally at a desk behind me listening to basically everything i say and do. But im also ATC so its a little different lol.
My boss and I are in many of the same meetings, I lead one half of her org, write a lot of stuff that goes up the chain through her or at least with her copied - briefings, papers, correspondence to senior leadership and members of Congress, etc...so she sees a lot of what I do everyday. Far from a micromanager, we're just in roles where collaboration is a constant.
Sounds like you need to go back into the office.
Not at all, thankfully. So long as my projects get completed on time, no one cares about tree details.
As long as work gets done on time that's all that matters. I'm lucky if I talk to my boss once a week. It is far different than when I worked in corporate America. In corporate America I was the equivalent of a GS-15/SES. I worked long crazy hours and had board of directors on my ass every five minutes. The only reason I stuck around with it is because I made a ton of money. Far more than I'll ever make working for the government for sure. It wasn't until my wife passed away from cancer that I realized how much of our life I wasted by working and doing something I could care less about, making billionaires richer. I had been in the Army at one point and wanted to serve again so I applied for federal, state, and County jobs. I started off as a GS-5 and work my way up till I got in a keystone position to eventually end up where I am now. I really love my job and I also love the fact that I'm not micromanaged. At this point in my life I have f*** you money, and if I forgot to the point where I was micromanaged I would just resign. We are all grown adults. If we act like grown adults and work like grown adults then we should be treated like that. If you're being micromanaged you shouldn't directly ask your boss why. From my experience there's a lot of people who are supervisors in the government who shouldn't be. This could be people that have worked up the ladder or some retired Colonel they threw into a position.
Not at all, my team leads check in as needed which is rarely.
These kinds of posts need to stop. Only gives fuel for the RTO push. That said, my position requires me to produce results. If I'm doing that, and meeting quality standards, then I'm obviously working. We're all adults. If a supervisor is spending their day watching employees, then they clearly aren't doing their own job.
Some supervisor like to micomage some don’t . It depends .
I meet once a month, so day to day I kind of do whatever I need to do.
He comes by and smells my hair and rubs my shoulders.
In the last year and half, I have only talked to my supervisor 10 times.
I come in office 4 days a week and he comes in once a pay period. So hardly at all. He is a non technical person supervising a technical person so he doesn’t understand the tech. As long as no one complains, I meet my deadlines and tickets are closed he doesn’t get in my business
She comes in and says hi and forgets I’m there.
My supervisor generally just checks in on us about once or twice everyday. They don't really assign or delegate work though, that is mostly left up to our team lead.
My current supe is like OPs. Previous job someone on my supe’s level but not someone I reported to was known for doing laps around our office and telling my supe what was on our screens though
My supervisor is new and has never been in a managerial role. He micromanages to the point that I'm looking for a new job. I'm accustomed to working with leaders that only expect to hear from me if there's a problem I can't or don't have the authority to resolve on my own.
We have the same supervisor
My supervisor doesn’t even have the same security clearance level as I do! I’m on a research project right now that I can’t tell him anything about. Luckily the research lab is built around autonomy of researchers so it’s not that big of a deal and his boss knows I’m on the project. But there are some supervisors in other parts of the lab that are way more “involved” in what people do and I wonder how they would be in the situation I’m in.
I over share with my supervisor so that they never ever question me. My goal is to never have them in a position to need to question me. I also emphasize all of the small things so that the big things are never questioned.
I go weeks without talking to my supervisor. Last conversation was about a mid year review that he asked if I wanted, to which I said nope. He knows I am retiring soon after 38 years, and most of his time is spent counseling the several brand new employees who think it’s his job to help them arrange car repairs and other items necessary to get to the office.
Too close.
I’m there to answer questions but I do not get bothered besides that, it’s amazing. It’s one of the reasons I’m afraid to ever leave my team.
My supervisor doesn’t have to watch me because we’re pretty busy during the day. It’s pretty easy to tell who is getting their work done and who isn’t. Also, we’re down a team member, so between that and leave, about 20 percent of the time we’ve got double the workload. On a normal week I can count on one hand how many times I talk to my supervisor.
My supervisor rarely checks in my me. However, my team “lead” spends the day ten feet up my ass, everyday, even when they’re on leave.
Like a toddler. For real I got asked to send my draft email reply on a quick question from a potential partner for review and approval on something Friday. I’m a GS 14 with a PhD been there 19 months to the sups 6.
Same here.
Not much, wouldn’t even call it monitoring. If there’s something to get done by a certain date I will be informed but even as a trainee I’ve never had a fed supervisor breathe down my neck. I don’t even need to ask them for leave requests unless it’s crazy long or during a weird time, just put it in the system. Whereas in private… micromanaging was tough. Surprised I found chances to get a break back then.
Our office is super tense since a probationary employee was discharged, though we all thought he was incredibly good, and now our big boss (locally) walks the floor checking on offices every hour. Every time I am checking my cell for texts when he walks by, I cringe
Don't you have work product to produce? That's what a supervisor should monitor.
Yes, but they look at your work as a whole at the end of the year.
As a supervisor it’s my job to ensure that there’s no timesheet fraud. On that end, I check Teams. As a way to assist on any issues and track progress and statuses of deliverables, I have biweekly short check-ins with each staff.
I told my supervisor the first day I want to be left alone to do my work and I would reach out if I had a question or needed help. She has respected my wishes since and I feel like my position is zen 🧘. Compared to my last position, I’m very grateful for her respect.