Is it unprofessional to fully speak your mind on job satisfaction with your boss or manager?

Question

I'll try to make this as constructive as possible.

I came onto my current job in a rotation program earlier this year as a new graduate out of college. In my short 6 months, I've done very little work and have constantly asked for more from my manager and other leads in my work-group. The only thing I've gotten is some easy admin work that took me no more than 30 minutes. Otherwise, my daily work is basically other administrative work that takes literally about 20 minutes a day.

When I started, my then-manager established no short-term or long-term projects, which didn't make for any short-term or long-term goals. I came into this rotation/job basically with a blindfold because I didn't have any say in what I wanted.

I try my best to come into work every day with a positive attitude and put in my best. However, my morale sinks lower and lower every week. I know there are plenty of jobs that take some time breaking-in, but I've already wasted half of this rotation already and I want to contribute. There seems to be little to no work to be delegated to me. The only thing keeping me sane is the handful of people my age whom I talk with and my venting when I get home every day.

Would it be unprofessional for me to talk to my manager how awful my 6 months have been? I've let him know through 1:1s that I'm twiddling my thumbs and I really need some work, but not my full inner thoughts on the job. As millenial-esque this sounds, I want to put in a request for another rotation already and quit.

Answer 1

TL;DR answer:

No, it won't be unprofessional. Every professional is supposed to provide feedback (at least here, my company trained us to provide feedback every 6 months, for instance). It's part of the cycle to improve production at the workplace and synergy.

Long answer:

Well... It's not unprofessional. But you have to be VERY careful with what you say and do. I think it can be really good of your part to provide feedback, and with honesty. Not everyone do it.

But if you do provide a negative feedback, don't provide it empty-handed. I will say it again: Don't provide your feedback empty handed. When you talk to your boss openly, you have a chance to suggest improvements. Imaginate the following:

• Your boss does not agree with you. You got no suggestions to solve or improve the situation, so you got nothing. He will just disagree with you and nothing may happen from the talk you had with him.

• Your boss does not agree with you, but you proposed something that,
  in your point of view, can solve the situation. Even not agreeing
  with you, he may follow your advice to improve the
  workflow/workplace/whatever the situation is.

By what you said, i understood that you are decided to talk, and just wanted to know if it's unprofessional or not. My answer is no, it is not, but it will be unprofessional to point a mistake and not suggest a solution.

Good luck.

Answer 2

What is it that you hope to achieve by unloading your feelings about the position to your manager? Your manager is probably not blind or dumb. He likely knows you are not happy or challenged. So all your sharing will do is add to his stress level and force him to make a decision. When backed into a corner managers tend to think more about their career than that of the new hire who is unhappy. This is not to say that your feelings are unjustified or unreasonable, just that they are basically irrelevant to your manager.

So instead of telling your manager how horrible it is to work for him, I suggest a different course of action. During your 1:1 ask him about the future. Talk with him about potential for project work. Try and understand what the company is hoping for you to learn from the rotation you are in. And if there is something more you can do to get involved.

If there is no potential work ask if there is a problem with the work are doing. If there is address it. If not then I think talking with him about a transfer may not be out of line. I would stress that it is not that you have a problem with manager just that you would like to be able to contribute more.

In the end that may not be possible either. Many companies that have rotational training plans are inflexible. The good news is that it is just a temporary assignment and it should not be too long before you will get to rotate into a new position. But alienating your current manager is not a good idea. Your new manager is likely to reach out to your current manager to learn about you. If your manager does not like you it can put you in an uncomfortable position through out your current and potentially future rotations.