I work in operations at a mid-size logistics company, been here a little over three years. Back in October my manager asked me to put together a process guide for our department - basically a comprehensive document covering workflows, escalation paths, common errors and how to fix them, onboarding steps for new hires, all of it. There was no existing documentation, everything lived in peoples heads, and new hires were struggling badly. I said sure, thinking it would take a few weeks.
It took two months. I interviewed people across four teams, tested every process myself, rewrote sections three times to make sure they were actually clear and not just technically accurate. I sent the final version to my manager in December and he said it was "exactly what we needed" and that he'd handle getting it approved and distributed.
I heard nothing for six weeks. Then last Monday there was a company wide email from our VP of Operations announcing the launch of a new "Departmental Excellence Framework." Attached was my document. Word for word, same structure, same examples, same formatting. The email credited my manager as the author. My name appears exactly nowhere in it.
I went to my manager and asked about it pretty directly, I wasnt aggressive but I made it clear I'd noticed. He said he "compiled and finalized" the document which is honestly just not true, I have every draft saved with timestamps. He also said that work product created during company time belongs to the company which, okay, technically fair but that's not even the point. The point is he took individual credit for it in a company wide announcement.
A few coworkers who knew I was working on it have quietly reached out saying this is messed up. But nobody wants to say anything officially and I get it. I dont really know what my options are here. Going above my manager feels like career suicide but just letting it go feels like I'm giving him permission to do it again.