A question for the community: Who else has been flagged on grounds of “attitude” specifically related to duties assigned but not compensated in some way?
My example: A while back, boss called me in and congratulated me on a fine performance review. He said he had a list of “responsibilities” that he felt that I should take on.
I said, “All right, you want me to take on an increased workload. I assume this means some sort of promotion?”
He frowns. “No, not workload. Responsibility.”
“Yes, you want me to assume responsibility for some things that I was not formerly responsible for. But now, I am thinking that perhaps this does NOT mean a promotion?”
He continues to frown. “We feel that you are not shouldering your share of the responsibility for this subsection.”
“I don't understand,” I said. “A minute ago, you're telling me I had a great performance review. Someone — I thought it was you — was saying I did a great job. Now you're telling me that I am NOT doing a great job. Which is it?”
“No, no,” he says. “We just feel that you could be taking on more responsibilities.”
“All right,” I said. “And what compensation, above and beyond what I have now, am I offered for taking on more responsibilities? Promotion? Raise? Or am I hearing you just want me to do more work for the same pay?”
He frowns again. “I don't think you're taking the right attitude about this,” he said.
Conversation went downhill from there. As far as I could determine, he felt that I should be shouldering more of the managerial workload without a matching increase in authority, position, title, or pay. And that I should be glad to do this. And that my failure to be glad to do this, or to agree to it, was in some way a personal failing, and would be noted in further performance reviews.
I transferred to a different section after that, but noticed not long after that this method of personnel management seemed endemic to the organization. “We don't want to raise your pay, but we want to slowly increase your workload, and your recognition of our underhandedness is NOT APPRECIATED! But if you just smile and nod and do it, we'll imply that you will be rewarded in the future in some unpromised and nebulous fashion.”
I'm new around here. Has anyone else run up against this particular method of personnel management?