Using FU Money to Renegotiate Job Responsibilities

[Zach]

Have any of you used your FU money to successfully negotiate changes to your job? If so, how did you approach it?

Some background: I consider myself very fortunate. I have a job where I really enjoy my core function. However, over the past few years, my employer has assigned me several new responsibilities in areas where I have far less enthusiasm (and skill). They involve working with very difficult people, dealing with petty office politics, and planning large events (I have no idea how an INTJ like myself got assigned to organize social events ).

I've tried to see this as a good opportunity to learn new skills, and I have been learning a lot. But I would be lying if I said that it wasn't taking a toll on my quality of life.

My ideal solution would be to go back to just doing my core function, which is a back-end role with far fewer public-facing responsibilities. I've been thinking about asking my manager if this would be possible, but I'm a bit nervous about having that conversation. I'm hesitant because:

1. The culture at my organization is that we're all happy all the time: any expression of discontent could put a target on my back.

2. There's no obvious person who could take over my responsibilities, meaning it would be a big request for me to ask my manager to take on the headache of finding and training someone else.

3. This might sound weird, but I'm only 26 in a workplace filled with middle-aged people. I'm concerned I could get a reputation for arrogance if I tried to dictate terms. My industry is fairly small, so having a reputation like that could be a problem if I tried to find another job in the field.

On the one hand, this is a very good job where I have a lot of flexibility, I get paid well, and I'm well established. In other words, golden handcuffs firmly attached.

On the other hand, I think this job needs me much more than I need this job. I still have a ways to go to full financial independence, but I currently have 7 years of living expenses saved, which in my mind is a decent amount of FU money. I'm not sure yet whether I would be prepared to quit if they declined my request, but it is a nice option to have. I do think, though, that invoking the FU money isn't something to do lightly, and that it's important to choose my battles and save it for the ones that really matter.

I'd be interested to hear how others have approached scenarios like this. What are some situations where you thought it was necessary to bring out the big guns?

[FBeyer]

...
1. The culture at my organization is that we're all happy all the time: any expression of discontent could put a target on my back.
...

Why don't you say something like this:


You know boss? I can feel how everyone around me seem to be very happy with what they do, and they seem to be happy about all the time. My current responsibilities are starting to take a toll on me, and I really don't want to be 'that guy' who starts to feel down about the work I do.

I really feel a lot more competent and valuable handling the more technical challenges we have, and I feel that my work output per hour is much much higher when I'm dealing less with people, which I don't feel very competent about, compared to the tech side of things.

I know some might think of this as a sort of demotion, but I'd much rather do something where I feel competent and more valuable than something that has a higher sense of prestige attached to it. I care more about results for our company than advancing my career at all costs.

Solving analytical problems is what makes me tick, not solving social problems. You might think a problem is a problem but to me those two feel like very different things. I feel like we can make much greater use of my strengths if I worked more on the analytical side rather than the inter-personal side of our company.

[plantingourpennies]

I'll be doing this sometime in early 2018.

Since I'll have all the leverage on my side (I'm a good performer, don't need the job, and the company is actively trying to expand my team...my absence will mean more work for them to fill my slot, etc), I'll be looking forward to it.

Your manager may not budge until you submit your resignation. If you're not willing to take it to that level, then you may not be ready for the conversation.

[wood]

It sounds smart to renegotiate and try. You get nowhere unless you ask. But I wouldn't use FU money as leverage unless you are ready to quit. It's called FU money for a reason:)

[7Wannabe5]

I don't know if it would be possible in your field or given structure, but maybe rather than front-end demotion, you could create a back-end promotion for yourself? For instance, one time when I was thrust into a human resources management position, rather than the more technical management position for which I actually applied, I spent a good deal of my time devising a new layer for the spread-sheet management of staff scheduling after suggesting the project myself.

If you could create and promote a fairly large project, you might also be able to ask for an assistant to whom you could delegate all the party planning etc. that you do not enjoy.

I have had other circumstances in which I mommy-tracked myself a demotion and found that the reduced work obligations were off-set by boredom due to completely taking myself off the learning curve.

[Chris]

It's normal for executive-level workers to add additional responsibilities to promote their career growth. And to drop these responsibilities as they move on.

I would try telling your boss that you want to add some other responsibility (closer to your core function) and shed the unwanted responsibility, since you feel you gained <whatever> after having done it for x amount of time. Other team members should be given the opportunity to have that responsibility instead. If that doesn't work, try just deprioritizing the unwanted work on a personal level. You don't need to show that you're unhappy doing it, but you feel that you are more valuable doing other things.

[Riggerjack]

Well, different offices have different cultures. Make sure your actions don't cross the values of your office.

Also, negotiation is not the art of delivering ultimatums. If I were to try this, I would bring it up at my next review, and because my boss has lots on his plate, just work on getting his approval to cross train a co-worker in the responsibilities I wanted to lose. Then I would just fill my time with the kind of core work I like.

But in my case, if he had to officially change my responsibilities, or job description, there would be push back. Just shaping my job is perfectly acceptable, so long as coworkers are happy. It shouldn't be hard to find someone who would rather do the party planning than the technical work.

I would go into the meeting, having identified said coworkers, and talked to them about the cross training, to ensure they were interested.

At this point, I would be offering to increase team functionality, at no cost, and helping to match talents and tasks, without my boss having to do anything. This would work with my boss, in that he is busy with other work, flexible on most subjects, and doesn't touch on the ones he isn't flexible on.

Other bosses may need to be approached in different ways. Look to the ways others have gotten their deals modified, and more importantly, ways they have been shot down.

If you are doing this right, shooting you down won't even occur to him. So FU$ never even comes up.

[JamesR]

FU money is never actually mentioned. It just means that you are not desperate to keep the job.

Since you have savings, you are confident you have enough money to take time to find another job.

Re-negotiating your current job circumstances would be based on the attitude of "Hey, I can get a better job elsewhere, so if you want to keep me here and avoid re-training someone else and miss out on my experience, I expect some changes to be made"

[saving-10-years]

Are you being asked to do the job because none of the others will? You mention difficult people and it may be that yours is a organisation where its easier to give you the task because others would be more resistant to changing _their_ roles. Have management given you any clue as to why they are pushing you out of your comfort zone?

Are you doing these jobs really really well (even the ones that you don't actually like)? You may find that giving more care to the parts that you do enjoy (shining brightly in these) and not being such a star at things you don't enjoy could be a useful strategy. I've had bosses who thought that because I would do even unpopular jobs to a high standard (professional pride) it was a good idea to give me more of those jobs to me and allocate other roles which I really wanted to someone less flexible and easy to talk to.

[Zach]

Thanks for the great advice everyone. Because of a few conversations and a few lucky events, I managed to successfully get some of my responsibilities changed without FU money even entering the picture

Not all the responsibilities from my "to unload" list got removed, but based on your feedback it seems like it makes the most sense to play a long game if I'm not prepared to quit right now. What I've done is try to make several "deposits" of goodwill with my manager (strong performance, handling extraordinary requests, being flexible on high-stress days, etc.) for every "withdrawal" I make (asking for job changes, flexibility with hours, time off, etc.). With patience, I think I can get the rest removed over time.

If I were to try this, I would bring it up at my next review, and because my boss has lots on his plate, just work on getting his approval to cross train a co-worker in the responsibilities I wanted to lose. Then I would just fill my time with the kind of core work I like.

But in my case, if he had to officially change my responsibilities, or job description, there would be push back. Just shaping my job is perfectly acceptable, so long as coworkers are happy. It shouldn't be hard to find someone who would rather do the party planning than the technical work.

I would go into the meeting, having identified said coworkers, and talked to them about the cross training, to ensure they were interested.

I did this for one of the projects I dislike, and it worked very well. I just happened to ask another coworker where she saw herself going with her career down the line, and she explicitly expressed interest in managing one of the items on my to-get-rid-of list. A quick conversation with the boss and that project was reassigned. One less burden, and I come across looking like a nice guy

Are you being asked to do the job because none of the others will? You mention difficult people and it may be that yours is a organisation where its easier to give you the task because others would be more resistant to changing _their_ roles. Have management given you any clue as to why they are pushing you out of your comfort zone?

Yes, essentially. Nobody really wants to deal with some of the folks (both internal and external) that it's my responsibility to handle relationships with. As you said, I've typically tried to put my best efforts into my core functions and spend less energy handling these unpleasant tasks, but the relationships with these people have actually been so bad historically that I come off as looking amazing because I've improved them from the dumpster fires they were.

A stroke of good luck in this area: two different sets of difficult people I work with have actually been so difficult lately that senior management (1) issued a very strong reprimand to one of my internal "tough customers" and (2) decided to cut ties with a very demanding outside group. This means that the internal difficult person has effectively been de-fanged for the time being (which will hopefully make my life easier), and I eventually won't even have to deal with the outsiders anymore.

I guess there's something to be said for being patient and letting things take their course. If I had demanded being re-assigned from managing these relationships, the big wigs might have had to push back on me to set an example and been less willing to act against the difficult folks. Instead I get what I want without damaging my social capital at the organization. I'd certainly call that a win.

Thanks again everyone!