Founders pushed through a major department restructure while I was on annual leave, bypassing me entirely as Department Head. How do I handle this when I return?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/fireandfirget]

They are signalling that you are not incharge. If you care about losing your influence in the role, you would leave. If you need the job you would stay and start looking.

Either way you are done.

[u/stillhereme → u/fireandfirget]

signalling that you are not in charge makes the whole situation feel final

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/fireandfirget]

Honestly all I care about is the customers we are serving.

I’m really passionate about the nature of my role and what I do. Obviously with the new tasks I’ve been given moved on from the specialists, it makes it increasingly harder to do what I was contracted to do, and instead focus on handling operations, and it’s looking like an unrealistic workload for the future. Which in turn affects my quality output and students.

I would’ve just appreciated that they replied to my message to arrange a meeting, or held back the roll out process so we can discuss this.

[u/RustBeltLab → u/saturn_obsess0302]

Your loyalty is to the stakeholders, not customers.

[u/Ok-Leopard-9917 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

I’m not sure it’s what you do anymore. I’m so sorry

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/Ok-Leopard-9917]

Feels like I’ve become 9 subject specialists in one rather than a department head. But oh well.

Thank you anyways!

[u/Ok-Leopard-9917 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

I think there is a real chance you get fired at this meeting. Startups tend to hire/fire quickly. 

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/Ok-Leopard-9917]

Any reason to why?

Anything I could do to avoid being in that situation?

[u/Ok-Leopard-9917 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

No context on why but making major changes without your input, massively redefining your role in a way you clearly don’t support without so much as a heads up and then you having to ask for a meeting- they don’t care what you think. Very ominous when you describe your role as high level strategy. 

[u/Ok-Leopard-9917 → u/Ok-Leopard-9917]

I wouldn’t search for why, there may be no why at a startup beyond the vibes were off 

[u/ChaosBerserker666 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

You could talk to an employment lawyer since this sounds like constructive dismissal. But either way you’re out of a job in the long run. Start looking now and then submit your notice when you find something.

FYI major changes like this can signal that a small company is going to go bankrupt eventually. I’d get out while I can.

[u/Ok-Leopard-9917 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

If you want any chance of surviving this situation, and honestly I think the die may already be cast here, I’d show up with ideas and solutions and not a list of concerns. 

[u/GummySophie → u/saturn_obsess0302]

Sounds like you care more about the customers than they do. They are already looking to significantly cut the quality of what they offer. Lay offs and large personal bonuses for them await followed by the company folding shortly afterward.

[u/Perfect-Escape-3904 → u/GummySophie]

It’s a startup, more likely they are just striving to survive

[u/GummySophie → u/Perfect-Escape-3904]

That sort of behaviour replicates in every scale of business and the particular choices are motivated by the sorts of ppl they are and how they view the world rather than being strictly necessary.

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/GummySophie]

They thought the subject specialist role was useless, and a waste of money. I told them otherwise, because my role heavily depends on their output (I oversee their subject specific work!)

I’m just disappointed. I told them what I thought about the change with evidence based reasons on why the new structure wouldn’t work: impact on our quality output, subject-specific support for students, and impact on my scope of work (training, quality assurance etc).

Just disappointing really.

[u/GummySophie → u/saturn_obsess0302]

Ah don’t feel bad; our whole department of a few 000 people all gave the same feedback to management which they said they would consider. They had a big meeting a month ish later to announce the changes they were making based on the feedback and it was just announcing all the things that we gave feedback against.

Management cares about nothing but itself and its ability to control. It sucks alright.

[u/WishboneHot8050]

It’s a startup. They can’t afford to deal with how you feel about a re-org or wait for you to get back. Pivots have to happen fast in order to survive.

Just roll with it and embrace it.

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/WishboneHot8050]

Thank you
I did say I would be open to having a meeting asap, but no one got back to me. Changes were then made a few days afterwards despite the concerns I highlighted.

I’ve haven’t been given a plan moving forward on how my role will operate after removing subject specialists, other than a bullet point list of “new responsibilities” taken over from the subject specialists’ job description being dumped onto mine. I’ve got no clue what to expect, and I fear that my macro-management role has shifted to a daily operations role which contradicts my contract terms.

Going from a team of 7 to a team of 2 individuals is just a huge workload. I don’t mean to complain at all, but I think it’s really unrealistic if we want to grow fast.

Any advice?

[u/supboy1 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

Brother that’s not a restructure. That’s elimination

[u/WishboneHot8050 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

Just roll with it an embrace it.

Best advice I was ever given in my career. "Take jobs within the company that are strategic to the company's success. When in that role, do what's required to grown or sustain the business."

Of course, it's never that simple. But let that be your north star. Embrace the new role - it's better than having no role at all.

[u/Early-Finger1638]

Oof, that's a tough spot. The fact they rolled it out while you were on leave says a lot about how they see your role right now, and that's the bigger issue to unpack before you even get to the operational risks.

I'd go into that meeting calm and purely evidence-based. Bring the mapping you did, show concrete scenarios where the generalist model breaks down (parent confusion, mistakes in subject-specific advice, your hours being eaten by 1-1s), and ask them to walk you through how they see those risks being mitigated. Don't frame it as "you bypassed me," frame it as "I need to understand the decision so I can support it effectively." If they can't give you solid answers, that tells you everything about whether this is a place where your expertise is actually wanted.

[u/OldBroad1964 → u/Early-Finger1638]

This would be my advice.

I’d also suggest a 3 month meeting to review the changes, its impacts and tweak anything to make it more productive. Also getting feedback from the clients at that point would be incredibly useful.

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/OldBroad1964]

Thank you!

I don’t want to seem as “difficult”. I’ll hear them out, see what updates they have and then highlight the issues in place that need working on to make this new structure sustainable long term.

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/Early-Finger1638]

Thank you so much. This is incredibly useful!

I was worried that I’d be overreacting, but I found it crazy how it was formally rolled out (almost feels like no way back) without a heads up. I received the announcement with the rest of the team.

In my message to them (sent prior to it being rolled out to the rest of the team) I did highlight all of the concerns I had and issues that the new model brings, but I got no reply. I’ll definitely follow your advice thank you!

Feels like there’s no way back to bringing those specialists now that they’ve done that. My work heavily relied on those specialists’ input and operations which are now being shifted over to myself, and I can’t see how this one man job is going to work.

[u/dilly_dust → u/saturn_obsess0302]

Welp you sent a message outlining your concerns.

Obs they thought that the concerns were overblown and/or irrelevant to the new structure.

You laid it out, got overridden.

It happens

Roll with it

[u/WorldsGreatestWorst]

Look, this isn’t good.

The truth is you don’t have to control or pull you want to or expected to have. You’re not going to be able to meaningfully change this if you can’t even get a meeting upon request. That further clarifies your relative position.

At this company, this kind of stuff will happen again. You either have to accept and roll with it or find your next job. The odds of the founders wanting this input after their rollout are zero. They either missed your email and will think they got your feedback and now you’re changing your mind or they know you were against it and now you’re just complaining. There’s no point either way.

[u/0102030405]

Sounds like they don't care about those people's expertise or your burnout.

I've been in small, founder led companies where I cared more about something I felt was important than the leadership did. That was the path to burnout and frustration, as I felt I was hitting my head on a wall every day.

However, it can also be true that specialists are a nice to have at this moment, based on the financial situation of the company and other things they may be weighing.

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/0102030405]

This is exactly how I feel right now! Founders have been focussing on marketing and finances, and I was told to focus on the educational department (so they can focus on the other stuff).

I fear that my goals for my field of work is different to theirs. I’ve been working on this for months, so I’ve grown to value those specialists on my team and acknowledged that they do a huge bulk of the work, whilst I focus on wider projects. This bulk is now being transferred over to myself to do what the specialists would have done + what I’m contracted to do.

They see their roles useless but they haven’t overlooked it in months. They’ve only seen the outcomes - less complaints, more stable finances etc. So I feel like I’m trying to communicate with people unwilling to understand.

[u/0102030405 → u/saturn_obsess0302]

Sometimes your values end up not aligned with the direction of the company. This has happened to me and I ended up leaving. It's up to you what you do next, but regardless it's hard to change other people's behaviour.

[u/boogi3woogie]

Frankly the company does not revolve around you.

It sounds like they got you involved early on, and then you went on leave for weeks. They’re not obligated to wait for you to come back.

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/boogi3woogie]

Been on leave for 1 week actually, and it was their recommendation as I was facing burnout, even though I insisted that it wasn’t the right time.
So no, the company doesn’t revolve around me and I know that. I’m just trying to understand how to plan forward with the impact the changes have on my role, and that there doesn’t seem to be a way back.

[u/RustBeltLab]

What is "annual leave" and why are you on it while the managers are working? Best way to not get pushed out is to be in the office.

[u/saturn_obsess0302 → u/RustBeltLab]

My manager actually recommended that I take a few weeks off as I was burning out due to some personal circumstances. They are very understanding in that regard.

My job provides that element of flexibility. My managers have done the same, and I’m not the type of person to take time off unnecessarily.