Hi everyone,
I joined an american company in Tokyo in February and my manager has been quite abusive/harrassing me in the last months (excluding me from meetings / emails / blaming me for mistakes that I have not done etc.).
Anyway, in the last few months she did her best in making me look bad in front of her superior.
She made me fail or hide crucial information before the meeting with her superior. Also she built narratives with colleagues that I am not performing and that I am racist (?), only because I am a white guy (never made any racist comments). (Is this defamation btw?)
Anyway, I passed the 3 months probation period, but after I passed, she sent an email with her superior in copy saying that there is a gap between my position and my work.
I have been working a lot in the last few months and didn’t receive much feedback on my work. I got by email an anonymous survey asking for feedback about managers and the company in general and I say everything: that I am excluded, that I am not supported and in general that I asked training many times without anything coming to me.
She planned a meeting last Friday and I smelled something was off, so I said I would work from home because of the heat. So the meeting was rescheduled to today.
I come in the meeting room and I see the HR representative sitting next to her. I press immediately the recording button on my phone.
They propose me an exit plan with 2 months severance and job seeking support for 1 year.
I said that the reason I fail at work is that I am not in the loop of information, not because of the performance.
For them the problem is not the performance but the “basic skills” I have, that don’t fit the role (it is a senior manager position, but I am paid as a senior analyst btw). I wonder why they are doubting my skills after passing the probation period and working a lot in the last few months. I wonder if this is retailation for the survey I compiled only 2 weeks ago and the results came in the last few days.
When they see that I am not happy at all about the severance package, they say there could be other options and they mention a PIP (performance improvement plan), that in my opinion would be just a way to show how bad I am, while making me fail constantly with unrealistic goals.
Now they want me to have a chat with the superior of my manager abotu this.
I didn’t sign anything. What should I do?
Thank you!
8 comments
You’re five months in, so to be honest, 2 months and a year’s job seeking support is not horrible.
You should definitely get proper legal advice, you’re in deep water. In the meantime, document everything as far back as you can. Every meeting you were excluded from, false allegations, all of it.Then face that you are done at this company – and that you’re basically down to negotiating a better package. Gather your ammo, and remember that you can’t be dismissed easily, but that the longer you stay there, the more you’re damaging your career.
Resist the urge to put the boots to anyone on the way out. If the manager is what you say they are, then it’ll come out in the end, and the senior managers will remember the people that left professionally (not necessarily easily). I’ve been in the position of hiring people from a previous workplace who (in my opinion) were unfairly dismissed, and the people who handled the situation professionally (again, that doesn’t mean letting the company walk over you) went straight to the front of the line.
What they’re offering is pretty good considering you’ve only been there 5 months.
Today is much hotter than last Friday
Lawyer.
Lawyer lawyer lawyer.
Lawyer.
Go spend ¥10,000 for an hour-long consultation with a labor lawyer (or two) and see what they say. It’s all messy case law rather than crisp statutes, so you need informed expert input on the details of your particular situation rather than generic Redditor opinions, including mine.
You’re almost certainly leaving the company at this point, but there’s a strong chance you can negotiate more than two months from them.
Of course, sign nothing that the company gives you in the meantime.
How is that possible this sub told me that all gaishikeis are amazing and have amazing culture and wlb compared to Japanese companies /s
Take the PIP option and start your plan to record their mistakes and build a harassment case by the next performance review round; I think I know your company and my suggestion above is the way others went through similar cases. Don’t quit unless they give you 6 months severance pay
It is almost impossible to be fired if the situation is as you say. Don’t sign anything until you are absolutely sure what it is and that you are happy with it.
Not knowing the specifics, I would either ask for a high severance package (6-12 months) or, request a change in manager, continue on but also start looking for a new job.
You got the bad luck of getting a boss out to get you out. Unless the money is too good and you will have trouble finding a new job, I would take the severance package.