The other middle manager in my same position is leaving and C-level wants me to take his over team

[connor24]

Good afternoon,

I am 31F, been working in a start-up since 2020. I first joined as a scientist after my Ph.D. and have worked my way up to operations manager. I currently supervise a team of 10 people. I am one of two middle managers in a company with 5 C-levels. My current team has 11 people and the other middle manager, 'Mike' supervises 7. Our current work process still needs a lot of development so I have been carrying multiple hats. Mike has quit and will be leaving at the end of August. C-level wants me to take over the team of Mike, which would result in me having 18 direct reports in the current organogram. We have no money to replace Mike. I am feeling burnt out and just the thought of it gives me panic attacks. C-level thinks that if I drop a couple of meetings it will be fine. It does not really work like that. I really do not want to take over the rest of the people. Does anyone have an idea on how to stay no? Will I get fired? what rights do I have? I believe some of the C-level should take over the other team as they seem to have way more time on their agenda than me.

Thoughts??

thanks!

 

[princehere]

@connor24 Promote one or 2 of your direct reports (either from your existing pool or the ones you are about to acquire) to your lieutenants. This can be an in name only promotion or if you can wrangle some nominal pay increase from mikes returned salary pool.

Now you are directly managing 2 people and overseeing 18. You may even want to promote a 3rd but it probably depends on your team structure if that’s possible.

The advice I’m giving you is that you need to leverage your team to push you forward. Don’t put it all on your shoulders. Management believes in your ability to do so. They will likely listen to your input on how best to make this work.

 

[kaurmmd]

@connor24 My experience having been C-level at a startup for the past 3 years has been saying "no" needs to be done tactfully. Obviously I don't know your company culture, but ours has been one that requires a LOT of everyone.

My advice would be to frame it as something that could hamper growth and speed or quality. Many times if you're able to position something as a losing scenario for the company, they may find a creative solution to the issue. Are these people that worked for "Mike" cross -functional with any other leader's team? If so, maybe you could propose splitting the extra load.

Good luck! I know that the pressure cooker is real.

 

[connor24]

@kaurmmd Thanks so much for your comment. Unfortunately, none of Mike's staff is cross-functional with any other leader's team. That leaves me a bit in the void. I am a firm believer that more support and better leadership will increase our chances of existing as a company. I was one of 20 people reporting to the same person and that was not productive. In fact, it killed everybody's productivity.

 

[kaurmmd]

@connor24 Yeah I have seen that type of scenario as well. Unfortunately, like most early-stage startups right now, we have experienced the issue of having no money to bring on that needed support/leadership also. Makes for a tough situation. I'll be interested to hear how yours plays out.

 

[doesntmatter]

@kaurmmd C level needs to understand that the rest of the company simply doesn’t care as much as c level because only c level gets rich when the company skyrockets. I shouldn’t be required to carefully say “no I don’t think I’d like to double my workload for no extra comp” and the response definitely shouldn’t be “but think of the company!” Because I guarantee the company doesnt care about anything other than the bottom line

 

[kaurmmd]

@doesntmatter In a startup, nearly all employees have equity in the company. I understand your anti-capitalist sentiments, but those are best reserved for large corporate behemoths.

 

[doesntmatter]

@kaurmmd Is it anti-capitalist for me to wish that people were treated better by their company?

 

[macheno]

@kaurmmd Sure they get something but It's literally multiple magnitudes difference between c suite and everyone else.

 

[famousmockingbird]

@connor24 First, I’ve worked predominantly in small business start ups and consulting. Second, I’m older. This situation reminds me of something my dad would say: You are paid to do what your employer needs you to do. Of course, he was old school—a retired Marine Corps officer who then did another fifteen years in manufacturing and taught a new course in being successful. It is interesting to consider.

If your job is management, being assigned a larger team is a sign of success, not a negative. The loss of Mike seems to be just one problem. The other problem is your burnout. Maybe this is an opportunity to address both issues. The key for me would be to also gain the ability to redesign my role so that I could improve on efficiency and happiness in my job functions. Although I have often found them somewhat misused in larger organizations, a roles and responsibilities chart would help to show the executives what you would do and, more importantly, what you would delegate to your team.

From a strategic standpoint, asking for a raise now just puts you at greater scrutiny, especially if the executives don’t understand management and the variables involved. Who wants to have meetings where you are told, “We thought we were paying NOT to have these problems!”? I would rather be upfront. Put together a plan of how you want to handle your job, what additional tasks you will delegate to your team and how you will interact with the executives. Set some achievable targets that when reached will trigger a review of your compensation.

One final note: I would not expect the executives to assume additional tasks. In their mind, that’s why they have you.

 

[613jono]

@connor24 40% extra work, what’s the bottom line on that?
Extra pay. Extra PTO. Better benefits. They may not have the money to replace Mike but they must have the money to pay you better.

And then we should talk equity. 2% would be fine.

 

[connor24]

@613jono

equity. 2% would be fine.

thanks so much for putting this into perspective. This is something I will discuss with them. I definitely want more salary, PTO, and a course of my preference. Also equity, I was promised some and never got any.

 

[613jono]

@connor24 That’s a big sin in my book. Promising equity and not delivering.

 

[soccerislife7]

@connor24 I wouldn't try to negotiate a better salary or benefits, I'd try to negotiate a higher position, which would come with a better salary and benefits.

For example, you'll now be leading multiple teams, so you should ask to be promoted one level up from manager, which is usually director, or possibly "head of". From my perspective, the job title is more important than the salary, although you want both.

Do some research on sites like payscale and glassdoor to see what the next level's salary range is. Now make a list of reasonable needs and wants for yourself. For example:

Need

• Job title of "Director of Operations"
• 20% salary increase

Want

• 40% salary increase
• 10 additional days of vacation per year

Now you use this list to negotiate. In my example, you ask for the job title, 40% salary increase, and 10 more days of vacation. You settle for the job title and 20% pay increase. Obviously, your list probably won't be the same as my example.

Since you've done your research, you know what salary you should make as a director. You can justify the position and salary due to the extra work and responsibilities, plus they'll save Mike's salary, so they can't say they don't have the money to pay a 40% raise... it's still cheaper than hiring another manager.

If they won't give you your needs, then you can try to refuse the new responsibilities. It's unreasonable for them to ask you to do Mike's job without giving you more compensation. If Mike's job has no value, then his team should be terminated because it's wasteful. If Mike's team has value, then they should pay you for that value.

 

[ceb420]

@soccerislife7 This OP.

You have leverage right now, use it wisely.

 

[aazhan]

@soccerislife7 You should also probably consider asking them to give budget to promote a current team member as your 2ic to help spread some of the workload. As long as the combined salary increases are less than Mike's pay, thry have no reason to say no.

 

[krista123]

@connor24 Nah, this whole line of thought is dumb.

equity, I was promised some and never got any.

If your employer lies to you, leave. It's like cockroaches: there's never just one lie, or to just one employee.

Equity is only worth anything if a company succeeds, and what is the likelihood that a company who makes a practice of lying to employees and wasting money on 5x c-level people with only 2x (soon 1x) middle manager succeeds? Unless C-level employees are over-titled ICs, they're entirely overhead (to be clear, some overhead is fine, normal, and valuable, but the ratio needs to be appropriate). It sounds like you have 7 "managers" to 17 ICs doing hands-on work, and that is not a recipe for success.

​

As for the rest of your questions:

Does anyone have an idea on how to stay no?

"No."

Will I get fired?

How would any of us possibly know that?

what rights do I have?

Very locality dependent. Since we can't read minds, how would anyone possibly know?

 

[thepapist]

@connor24 Besides better salary, you need to define your role on a way that helps the company best, but don't burn you out.

Can you promote a tech lead in both teams to offload you? If no one is a fit right now, who can grow into that role with your help? What are some things you can delegate to others?

What expectations and touch points did Mike have towards stakeholders, what would you need to take over and what could be dropped?

They promised equity and didn't give you, they think all Mike did was can be done by dropping a few meetings, the company does not have money for backfilling Mike's role - these are warning flags.

 

[wanjiku]

@connor24 Don't take on something for money equity. At the start it looks good but it will only reduce the quality if your mind is not in on it. I think best is to always say the truth. Tell them you already are burnt out and cannot take more responsibility as it will reduce the quality of your work which is not acceptable to you

 

[jarno]

@connor24 Then this can be a double-tap: equity up front (they didn’t deliver once) and additional vest after a transition period.

Apart from this, the advice from @4_teh_lulz is spot on: build your department. Delegate delivery of less komplex things to your lieutenants.

Make a plan with them and your c-Team how you all will grow into the necessary roles. Manage expectations and hold everyone to them. If everything works out you’ll elevate your own role and your team.