At what point do you decide to go over your bosses head?

[NetWareHead]

Work in a tech company with a NOC. NOC is 24/7/365 mission critical operation servicing internal and external customers. We have an emergency generator that can auto start to provide backup AC power. We also have a UPS sized for the entire building that can float the load while the generator starts. Properly functioning infrastructure is obviously critical for our business. Having a generator and UPS is also critical towards maintaining an industry certification (cant say what this cert is here). Being certified and compliant with this standard costs us big bucks. We market our compliance to customers who turn to us specifically because of this certification. As well as some customers who will only dealer with us because of this cert. This cert is intertwined with the generator and UPS and is vital for our business operation.

The problem lies with the fact that I cannot get my immediate manager to approve a renewal contract for the building generator and UPS. We renew every year and should have been renewed back in March/April. It is now almost 7 months later and still nothing. No renewal, no explanation. The only thing he says is "I am trying to work with accounting to get us renewed." I am almost every month and am feeling like a broken record at this point. Always the same answer. This manager is new and the previous manager had no problem getting the funds approved every year for a renewal. Im not sure what type of obstacles he is facing but he is unsuccessful in getting this done for our business.

Today, I ran a generator test and the engine threw an error code that i cannot diagnose. I do not have diagnostic capabilities nor the ability to troubleshoot this system. I could speculate but my diagnosis is not certain. Needless to say, we need a technician, especially now that we have an error. But the techs wont schedule an appointment with me unless we have a maintenance contract and I am not authorized to approve that sort of expenditure.

We have our yearly audit coming for this mega-important certification and this morning's error is looming. We may be asked to demonstrate the generator for the inspector and if it errors, that could mean a failure in our ability to renew. Catastrophic for business. If we experience a power event and an electrical problem results in downtime, also catastrophic.

I dont want to go over this manager's head and alert his boss. But the circumstances Ive outlined seem to me like the appropriate situation to in fact do just that. I dont want to sabotage my working relationship with my own boss either. But I know if we experience a business loss, my own job is on the line. Not just mine, many other jobs in this department perhaps. Even if I can prove with plenty of emails that I have been raising this issue for months, a downturn in business might result in a layoff even if I was "correct". I just cant understand why something so critical for our business operation is not being fixed. So what to do?

 

[Ruptga]

"Hey bossman, shit's fucked and we're all gonna be fucked too if you don't get it fixed now. You need to kick this up the chain because it's almost too late already."

Then whip your dick out and pee on his desk to assert dominance. Don't break eye contact.

 

[NetWareHead]

"Hey bossman, shit's fucked and we're all gonna be fucked too if you don't get it fixed now. You need to kick this up the chain because it's almost too late already."

Then whip your dick out and pee on his desk to assert dominance. Don't break eye contact.

Ive said this already albeit in professional polite language suitable for an office environment and minus the dick part.

We've already missed 2 of our quarterly preventative maintenance inspections due tolack of contract and are on track to miss the third this year. Generator engine needs an oil change. The lack of maintenance is maddening.

 

[Majes]

I work in education which is pretty far from what you're doing but there are chains of command here too.
I'd make sure that the manager is aware of the seriousness of the issue. If he is, then he might be having his own issues with the renewal process and you can both take it up the chain of command together.

The only times I would consider chain jumping is if the person is the following...
Deliberately negligent (They aren't performing their job and don't care at all)
Doing something illegal (embezzlement, harassment, etc.)

Your situation sounds like you still have a working relationship with said manager and could possibly work together to get this resolved. You do need to make it clear how dangerous this could be for the company. I think once you've done that then feel free to climb the ladder if you don't get any response.

 

[olds]

I am assuming the lack of a maintenance contract means your cert is invalid? You inline for the job when the customers ask for a refund and this manager gets fired?

 

[MtnMan]

When he is a lying scumbag, and you have the proof. He was demoted and transferred within two weeks.

 

[NetWareHead]

I work in education which is pretty far from what you're doing but there are chains of command here too.
I'd make sure that the manager is aware of the seriousness of the issue. If he is, then he might be having his own issues with the renewal process and you can both take it up the chain of command together.

The only times I would consider chain jumping is if the person is the following...
Deliberately negligent (They aren't performing their job and don't care at all)
Doing something illegal (embezzlement, harassment, etc.)

Your situation sounds like you still have a working relationship with said manager and could possibly work together to get this resolved. You do need to make it clear how dangerous this could be for the company. I think once you've done that then feel free to climb the ladder if you don't get any response.

Yes I do have a good relationship with him and we communicate often. His answers never change though. Its always him trying to get it approved. At first I thought he was experiencing difficulties in getting this expenditure approved; he is new.

Im starting to feel like a broken record and like his answer just doesnt make any sense anymore. I have no idea if he is telling me a lie or just trying to placate me. Or if accounting or some other higher-up is really tying his hands. The urgency of the situation is making me doubt him and the risk to the business is making me consider going around him. I just cant get a read on him to know enough if his answer is genuine or not...

 

[Ancalagon44]

Looks like the business is trying to cut down costs while still meeting the certification. This is probably why they are doing what they are doing. Your manager most likely knows how critical the renewal is - there is a reason he is not doing it. He may even have been instructed to do so from his boss.

Remember that a lot of these executives are incentivized according to how much money they can save. Somebody is probably thinking that they can get away with no maintenance contract for a year.

What should you do? I have had a case where I should have gone up the chain, over my bosses head. There was a project that I was working on, that I could see was going to be a disaster. Missed deadlines etc - overpromising to the client. I should have gone over my bosses head, but thinking about it, I'm not sure it would have done much good.

There were reasons why my boss did what he did - they were only explained to me afterwards and were ultimately flawed.

This is what I recommend you do.

Ask your boss to explain why he is not renewing the contract. You aren't disagreeing with his decision, you just want to know why. Tell him this job is important to you, and you would hate to see anything negative happen at the company. You are looking after the best interests of the company, in other words. A good boss should then explain the decision to you, even if it was not his decision to make.

If he doesn't want to tell you, I would say he probably didn't make the decision. It could be privileged information.

If he tells you, then either you agree with the reason or you don't. If you don't, you can then take it up the chain. You have attempted to find out the reason behind the decision before doing so.

 

[Jeeebus]

I'd probably fire you for taking the time to write the equivalent of War & Peace while at work.

 

[NetWareHead]

I am assuming the lack of a maintenance contract means your cert is invalid? You inline for the job when the customers ask for a refund and this manager gets fired?

Sent an email to him this morning explaining the error's from the generator test. We have never been asked to demonstrate the generator but it is an item on the inspector's checklist. We have an inspector visit in October, a few weeks from now. He could ask us to show him the generator, or not. All depends on how thorough the inspector wants to be. We are playing with fire.

No Im not in line for this job.

 

[highland145]

When? When you know he'll be gone after you do it. And CYA^10

 

[glenn1]

Yes I do have a good relationship with him and we communicate often. His answers never change though. Its always him trying to get it approved. At first I thought he was experiencing difficulties in getting this expenditure approved; he is new.

Im starting to feel like a broken record and like his answer just doesnt make any sense anymore. I have no idea if he is telling me a lie or just trying to placate me. Or if accounting or some other higher-up is really tying his hands. The urgency of the situation is making me doubt him and the risk to the business is making me consider going around him. I just cant get a read on him to know enough if his answer is genuine or not...

Just use the correct avenue. If you work in a tech company I'm sure the PMO maintains a Risk/Issues log. Just tell him you're going to add the generator to the list and you've both covered yourself and aren't "tattling" on him up the chain of command.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Ask him frankly, and more bluntly. Impress upon him that jobs could actually be at stake as a result of this.

If he still waffles about, get shit in writing so when the roof caves in on his head you have some CYA for you and your team.

 

[BoomerD]

Just document your attempts to notify him of the problem...CYA so it can't blow back on you.
" it was NetWareHead's job to notify me of this problem before it became a problem. Frankly, I've been having problems with him lately, but have been trying to coach him like the excellent manager I am. Unfortunately, it appears I've been wasting my time on him."

 

[MrDudeMan]

If it's truly as critical as you say, I'd have gone around him by now. Taking 7 months to do something that's mission critical is incompetence and/or based on a story that has been completely fabricated for reasons that are currently unknown. No one can hide something that important for that long unless the people who function as the checks and balances (you) are quiet, which seems to be the case.

I'm not doubting you, but you're either somewhat cowardly for not speaking up sooner given the alleged importance of this issue or you're being overly dramatic about the importance of the maintenance contract. If something at my job that was totally foreseeable and avoidable wasn't being handled, especially if it was known to end with devastating or catastrophic consequences, I would have been complaining loudly and publicly days after the deadline was missed, not months. Also, I would have been a squeaky wheel for several weeks leading up to the deadline in an effort to avoid this entire scenario. I understand the chain of command, but losing a major part of what makes your business successful over something apparently idiotic is a fantastic reason to circumvent standard processes.

 

[iCyborg]

As BoomerD said, make sure there's documents like emails etc. to cover you a**.

I would also talk to him about the issues and suggest escalating this to someone who can speed it up or do something about it, I'm sure there's a diplomatic way to phrase it. This assumes you're on good terms and he isn't an obvious jerk, otherwise he may think you're threatening him with going over his head. Although at least he wouldn't be blindsided...

 

[OverVolt]

Work in a tech company with a NOC. NOC is 24/7/365 mission critical operation servicing internal and external customers. We have an emergency generator that can auto start to provide backup AC power. We also have a UPS sized for the entire building that can float the load while the generator starts. Properly functioning infrastructure is obviously critical for our business. Having a generator and UPS is also critical towards maintaining an industry certification (cant say what this cert is here). Being certified and compliant with this standard costs us big bucks. We market our compliance to customers who turn to us specifically because of this certification. As well as some customers who will only dealer with us because of this cert. This cert is intertwined with the generator and UPS and is vital for our business operation.

The problem lies with the fact that I cannot get my immediate manager to approve a renewal contract for the building generator and UPS. We renew every year and should have been renewed back in March/April. It is now almost 7 months later and still nothing. No renewal, no explanation. The only thing he says is "I am trying to work with accounting to get us renewed." I am almost every month and am feeling like a broken record at this point....................................

Thats where I stopped reading and already knew the answer.

#1 You're thinking about this too much, so chill out, think about pictures of puppy's playing fetch or something, breath.

#2 This is a money issue. Management is fully aware. Going "Hey guys aren't you gonna renew the XYZ contract thing because its what we do and what we're known for..." doesn't help the situation at all.

#3 Management... being already aware, is probably deciding if it is indeed a money problem if they want to continue with the cert or not. Who knows. But I wouldn't concern yourself with it.

THEY KNOW.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Thats where I stopped reading and already knew the answer.

#1 You're thinking about this too much, so chill out, think about pictures of puppy's playing fetch or something, breath.

#2 This is a money issue. Management is fully aware. Going "Hey guys aren't you gonna renew the XYZ contract thing because its what we do and what we're known for..." doesn't help the situation at all.

#3 Management... being already aware, is probably deciding if it is indeed a money problem if they want to continue with the cert or not. Who knows. But I wouldn't concern yourself with it.

THEY KNOW.

If the OP's job is truly on the line, being passive is just about the worst way to handle the situation. Just because the people in management should know and understand the situation doesn't mean they do. That's further evidenced by the total lack of transparency and the line the OP is being fed over and over. If they knew about it and had a valid reason not to renew the contract, there would be no reason to let the issue linger for the better part of a year. Add all of that up and it smells like incompetence or some other type of managerial bullshit. At the very least, it smells bad enough to not be quiet until an adequate reason to not feel concerned about your job is provided.

 

[NetWareHead]

Between the generator, auto xfer switch, ups, batteries, monitoring/mgmt software, permits, labor to install, integration... I dunno, we are talking about an investment of over $300k in electrical infrastructure. We tout this infrastrure when we have potential clients visit as well a our cert. The cert renewal and inspection coming up in weeks in being taken quite seriously with the expectation we will pass by the same management who won't renew a gen and ups contract. The same management who should know by now that the cert is dependant on a working gen and UPS. It's not cheap to get inspected and recertify either but they'll pay that and not for basic maintenance? Makes no logical sense to me.

 

[sourceninja]

...

 

[DaveSimmons]

I work at a small company so I'd talk directly to our CEO.

At a large company, at this point I'd probably do the same. If middle management is hiding this from him, he'd want to know.

But in my case I have more than enough rainy day funds, so if I was fired as a result then hey, vacation time woohoo!

 

[Carson Dyle]

So, did the generator fire itself up when you tested it? And, in your estimation, is the backup power system still functioning?

The maintenance contract itself can't be critical for the facility to pass certification, can it? You have the power backup systems in place, so even if everything was inspected, sounds like you'd still pass.

If your manager is in fact telling you the truth, and the company is either dragging its heels or planning on not renewing the contract, you could really do some damage to yourself by going over his head.

 

[sourceninja]

...

 

[Carson Dyle]

if I found out our provider wasn't meeting SSAE-16 SOC 2 compliance and didn't have regular testing, maintenance and support of critical infrastructure

Sounds like the OP is regularly testing the system. Is there some requirement written in to this compliance that states a data center must contract with a 3rd party to support and maintain backup power systems? I don't see how they'd fail the audit if they can document that they're doing periodic testing. Maintenance is likely minimal and I would guess that going several months without touching a thing is typical.

 

[Capt Caveman]

If this contract has been renewed repeatedly in past years, there's a reason why it hasn't been renewed yet. I'm sure there are multiple people in your company that are aware of the situation b/c the generator company would be contacting multiple people in your company to renew. If a requisition has been put in for the renewal, it could be held up by any of the approvers or even legal. I'd just continue to document your communication with your supervisor in regards to the error and needing a technician. Going over his head, could cost you your job.