My colleague resents me because her career has been stymied. What can I do?

Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, Got a Minute? This week: starting a new role with a resentful colleague, “making a fuss” about injury at work and vaping in the office.

What do you do if you feel your career has been stymied?Credit: Dionne Gain

I landed a great new management role and only once I started did I find out it had also been advertised internally. A woman who had been there for years, and was more than qualified, applied and missed out due to having a short-lived affair with my new boss that did not end well. She has been instructed to train me on their systems and has been incredibly nasty to me, leaving crucial information out and deliberately giving me the bum steer to cause embarrassment and make me look incompetent. I have tried everything to be nice to her, but I am over her behaviour. We do not have a human resources person and my boss clams up and does not wish to discuss anything to do with her. Are there any external organisations apart from Fair Work that can help with how best to deal with this situation? It is a terrible working environment.

You, and the other woman you mention, have both been put in an appalling position. While it has definitely been unfair on you having to navigate this dynamic, the woman who missed out on the role has also been treated unprofessionally. She was entitled to be considered for the role, and the fact that your boss has let his personal decisions get in the way has created the mess you are now in. Frankly, your boss needs to take a good, hard look in the mirror at the situation he has created, and which he continues to make worse by doing nothing about it.

While your boss stays in his job, I suspect you are going to continue to have deep cultural issues. The woman who is resentful at you will probably continue to feel that way while her own unfair treatment is ignored. The fact you don’t have anyone you can turn to like HR shows your boss doesn’t value the support a role like that could offer.

I can’t see how things will improve while your boss is in his role. That makes me angry because, ultimately, it ends up being people like yourself or the other woman who feel compelled to leave, and his poor leadership, poor choices and inability to accept personal responsibility for the mess he creates is not addressed. You can certainly contact Fair Work, as you suggest, and also the Human Rights Commission. Keep notes about your boss’s behaviour so you can clearly explain everything you are experiencing.

I work as a government employee and last year I injured myself at work. I broke a bone in my leg, which healed quickly. However, I also hit my head and have continued to suffer ongoing concussion symptoms. I pushed myself to get back to work as I was only being paid 80 per cent of my regular salary and couldn’t afford my expenses. I am now having blackouts as I am back at work full-time, and I am worried about making too much of a fuss. I’m in my late 50s and travel a fair bit for my job. What do you recommend?

That sounds awful, and while wanting to avoid “making a fuss” is understandable, being healthy has to be your first priority. You have entitlements under workers’ compensation and workplace safety laws, so speak to your union (if you’re a member), your public service representative, or your state’s workers’ comp provider. Please don’t minimise what you’re experiencing; in the end I think you will be glad you got on top of your health issues quickly.

I work in an enclosed space in a Commonwealth building and one of my colleagues is vaping inside when few people are around, but outside normal business hours. I’ve raised it with my colleague and with our team leader but the behaviour hasn’t changed. I worry that even if they stop when people are in the room, they will do it when people are out of the room, contaminating our workplace with air pollution. What can I do?

While your covert vaper is definitely doing the wrong thing, so is your boss by not making sure it stops. I would try to alert your boss one last time, and if they continue to ignore it, consider speaking to workplace health and safety or HR.

To submit a question about work, careers or leadership, visit kirstinferguson.com/ask. You will not be asked to provide your name or any identifying information. Letters may be edited.

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