Newish job, I, 31M, having some difficulties dealing with coworkers, 40's and 50's M. Not sure how to rectify or resolve.

So I am an engineer at a somewhat new job. Previously their operators were having to team up as engineers too because the team did not have an engineer for a while. My primary job is project engineering and engineering, to "own" all projects for the group, to be an expert for the department, and to serve as a backup manager for when the operators' boss, my coworker, is out or occupied in other matters.

We got a new boss that me and coworker report to. The operators have started complaining to the new boss, going over their boss's head about certain things I am doing or not doing. My new boss has reprimanded me for these things, which I had NO IDEA about as no one communicates these directly to me. And that he expects me to "resolve" this so that they stop coming to him with complaints. The complaints to me are very minor things that shouldn't even be complaint worthy in the workplace, in my opinion.

Their complaints to my supervisor are as follows:

- I have taken over ownership from them for all projects for the group. I was directly ordered to do this by my prior boss. I still keep them (the senior operators at least) engaged and ask for their input where appropriate though. As they will be the ones operating the equipment that is installed from my projects.

- They do not like that I have inserted myself as the single-point-of-contact for project managers and 3rd party consultant firms for the group. Previously operators were involved in this. This is also an expected job duty for me in my role.

-I sometimes schedule meetings where the operators have a conflicting meeting scheduled. These are project meetings that I occasionally invite a pertinent senior operator (who knows his piece of equipment better than me), so that they have a voice in projects that affect them. I cannot schedule meetings where everyone's calendar is open because sometimes people's calendars are overbooked, so I choose meetings with the fewest time conflicts.

-They feel that they are not being valued or given credit for their input. I don't know what they are expecting here. I could easy just do my job and not care about operator input, but I have granted them the courtesy to be included in these things.

No one ever said anything to me and every time I've been in their space to ask some questions about random equipment A, everyone has been helpful and friendly.

So I'm really at a loss of how to tackle this issue. It really seems to me to be things that their boss, my co-worker, should be handling and not me? But I am expected to resolve it.

Any advice is greatly appreciated thanks.

TL;DR employees who report to my coworker that I have to work with to do my job, are complaining to my supervisor about things that appear trivial to me.

Submitted October 18, 2022 at 02:56PM by jack1991s https://ift.tt/6sKntkN