Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights.
I work for a two-man consulting company – my boss is a friend from university and owns all of the business. Over the past 12 months he seems to have lost all interest and has not been performing at all. He has had many problems in his personal life, involving a bereavement, and hasn’t been interested in winning new business or seeing to it that our current client work is done properly.
I’ve always been paid an extremely low salary, way below market rate, on the understanding that future business success could make up for this. However, now I feel that I’ve been taken advantage of, with my boss taking our client fees at market rate and using my low wage to subsidise himself. I have no proof of this, however.
We don’t have an office, so we work from home, and I very rarely see my boss, and he doesn’t always answer my calls or reply to my texts. We’ll meet and allocate tasks, then they just won’t get done.
I have been offered a good, stable job at another company and have decided to go full-time with them in March. However, until the end of February I’ve got one client for whom I need to do a report, but I need the help of my boss and, try as I might to communicate with him, nothing gets done. I feel completely isolated with the responsibility for a project I know will fail. Should I just leave and let him sort out the mess by himself, knowing that I’ll be fine as I start with my other company soon?
Alternatively, is there anything I can say to my boss to give him that burst of motivation needed at least to get this project over the finishing line, after which we can wind up the company and go our separate ways? I don’t want to let down a friend but this is becoming a nightmare, and by failing on this project I’ll be letting down a high-profile client.
I’m also considering informing the client about our problems, although it will be very embarrassing at this late stage. Any help in this difficult situation would be really appreciated.
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
