Hi, sorry for formatting, im on mobile.
So, I've been working as a data analyst at a large company for about a year now, and I need some advice on what i should do in this situation. For some background, when I joined the company, I was added to a brand new team, along with my coworkers, who were also fairly new to the company. From day one, none of us received proper training and were never given clear responsibilities.
Our boss (this is his first management position), started micromanaging us. He gets upset about tasks we didn't even know we were supposed to do, and he's often unreasonably mean and condescending when we don't meet his unclear expectations. Theres a lot of things hes done/said that has upset me and my coworkers in private and in public. I wont get into all of it because its a lot, but he just contradicts himself a lot and will just be really rude out of nowhere and tries to blame us for his mistakes.
After a coworker quit, she contacted us and told us that she told HR EVERYTHING in her exit interview and encouraged us to come forward with our experiences too. So we all decide to go to hr separately an complained about how he was treating us. Following our complaints, HR started an investigation, and for about a month, our boss disappeared from all meetings and day-to-day activities. During that month, my coworkers and I finally got the chance to work together more closely. We supported each other, shadowed on various projects, and even taught each other some new things. It was really nice, and we actually got a lot done with our manager gone
However, last week our boss suddenly reappeared in meetings without any sort of notice or communication from HR about the status of the investigation. We have no idea if the investigation is over or if any actions have been taken to address the issues we raised. Additionally, we were supposed to have our midyear reviews a month ago, but they were delayed. He finally did our reviews this week and they were horrible, mine being the worst. Some of the reasons my boss had for giving me a bad review were:
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Taking too long on a project and doing it wrong. This was my very first project and i didnt have any guidance, and my boss failed to check in for two whole months. When he eventually reviewed it, he claimed I did a horrible job and scrapped the project. However, I regularly posted my work for his review, but he never bothered to provide feedback or support.
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Not completing a project that i had been working on, but the reason i didnt complete it is because he said it was no longer a priority and i had to work on something else
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I also received a negative remark because I didn't acknowledge him letting us go home early in the team's chat. Like i didnt say “cool!” or “thanks!” or something like that. It seems like he's nitpicking for minor reasons to justify his negative review.
The situation is even worse because my coworker and I were part of a training recruitment program when we joined, entitling us to receive raises every six months for the first two years, contingent on good midyear reviews. Due to the unfair evaluation, my coworker is only eligible for the smallest possible raise, and I won't receive any raise at all.
I'm truly at a loss as to how to proceed from here. It feels incredibly unjust to have someone who was under HR investigation be the one conducting our midyear reviews. I spoke to a supervisor from the training program, who was genuinely shocked by the reasons for my poor review, and she suggested I challenge it or reach out to HR.
Confronting my boss or HR is incredibly difficult for me. It often leads to severe anxiety and tears, and i feel like no one will take me seriously if im crying. The whole HR complaint process caused me daily anxiety attacks and overwhelming emotions. Im scared if i go through that whole process again im gonna give up and quit without a backup plan
To be honest, I dont even care about being a data analyst. I just want to be happy and have a cat cafe/sanctuary some day, i just need a job in the mean time to pay the bills. While I've applied to numerous jobs in the past couple of months, I haven't received any responses yet. Im scared that with only a year of experience, switching jobs might be really hard and no one will hire me
I would really appreciate any advice, support, or similar experiences anyone has
TLDR: After an HR investigation, my micromanaging boss handed out unfair midyear reviews, with my evaluation being the worst. He docked me for trivial reasons and failed to consider the lack of training and guidance. The unjust evaluation impacts my raise eligibility. Confrontation with my boss or HR causes severe anxiety, and I'm unsure how to proceed.