If there’s something more detrimental to your job than working in an office where someone in human resources dislikes you, then Vicky Oliver doesn’t know about it.
“It’s not a problem you can choose to ignore,” the author of “Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers, and Other Office Idiots” tells us. “They will be there when the decisions are made on who gets laid off and who doesn’t. With an economy this rocky, it’s critical you try to befriend that person since they have a say.”
According to Oliver, the first step is to figure out where it all went bad. “You need to get to the bottom of why this person doesn’t like you to solve the relationship problem. Grab a lunch and try to get along with them, chemistry-wise.” If that fails, here are other strategies from Oliver:
Do anything you can do to be a team player.
“If you can get people to go bowling, or any kind of morale-boosting things, that’s key,” she says. “When companies are laying off people, they don’t like to get rid of team players.”
Befriend the person’s boss.
“That can make anyone very quiet about you if they find out you are close with their supervisor. They won’t risk speaking up about their dislike of you,” says Oliver.
Be like Machiavelli.
“Say nice things behind their back,” advises Oliver. “It’s hard not to like people who like you. If you can be completely friendly and say nice things, it will definitely get back to them.”
Get your boss to put in a good word for you.
“You want good things about you in your dossier since human resources reads it. Even if someone in the department hates you, if your boss has put in a good word, it has to go into your file.”
