Bullying again

NickiMcJock

Hi

Looking for some advice.

I am being bullied again. I work for a well known bank as a Bank Manager.

My line manager has never replaced staff when they have left or moved on to other jobs. I am expected to hit the 2nd highest sales target in our area without a sales person (every other branch has one or more) and I am working with myself another fulltime person and a part time person.

My line manager has put me on a performance improivement plan for 6 weeks but Im half way through and not on track due to market condition and not having a sales person. Im expected to Manage the branch, sell and be a cashier.

No other branch manager has to work under these conditions, I have asked to speak to his boss but they are too busy to see me. I dont know what to do next I am at my wits end. Everyone thinks I am being treated unfairly and not the same as my peers.

I work most nights until 7pm just to clear the work as there are so little of us. And my boss answer to this is ' you should be phoning out to get appts' When my branch closes thats when I start my work as I am cashiering all day.

Please help I dont know what to do next? I wish I could just leave I am so sick of the bad treatment - its awful.

DVardysShadow

Do not wait to fail the sales target. Put a grievance in straight away.

Putting in a grievance may make you a marked person, but in all honesty it won't make you much more marked than you are now.

And get your union involved.

ohreally

You need to seriously consider the above. Prosecuting a grievance will be stressful however you appear to have been set up to fail.

Southend1

Have you asked your manager to explain what you should be doing to achieve the targets? If he sets down what is expected of you and you do it but don't achieve the targets, then surely you have proved your point about market conditions etc. Would your manager consider coming to your branch to work with you and "mentor" you for a few days. This could be a good opportunity to demonstrate the difficulties you are facing first hand.

prowla

Continually raise requests for staff to replace those who have left.
Request a sales person, and justify it.
Complain that you do not have the staff to achieve whatever.
That's what being a manager requires - people to work for them.
Doing it and being able to correlate that against every goal makes it plain.
Not doing it and taking the workload on yourself is going to get you nowhere.

Tiddlywinks

PIPs are supposed to be put in place in conjunction with support to help you achieve set targets, not to set you up for a fall.

I agree that you need to pre-empt failing your (impossible) targets by writing to your line manager.

Something along the lines of:

Dear...

Following our discussions and the subsequent creation of a PIP, I would like to raise the following issues which I believe seriously impact on this plan.

1. Achievability - the plan has been developed based on targets which I do not believe are achievable. I have the following resources............ whilst comparable branches have more i.e..........
Whilst I will do my very best to produce as many results as possible, it must be recognised that setting less than realistic targets is not only stressful but counterproductive.

2. Resourcing - you will be aware that I am running with the following vacancies...........

This reduces the branch capabilities in that there is only so much we can do with our limited resources and so I will need to prioritise accordingly to ensure a continued level of effective service to the customer.

I suggest we meet as a matter of urgency to revisit the PIP and adjust it to fully reflect the practical difficulties I now face with the ongoing resourcing issue.

I would also welcome your suggestions as to 'fixes' which might be applied in the interim if you do believe the current targets are achievable.

Please rest assured that I remain fully committed to continuing to manage the work and the branch to the best of my abilities and look forward to your input and support to move forward within the constaints we face, given the challenging economic climate and the reduced resources available for the tasks.

Kind regards

I would copy this into your line manager's manager in order to give them the heads up plus if you have a union rep then copy them in too (again, as a sort of warning to the management that you will not be a pushover).

sniggings

you need to make his boss speak with you, either he is working with your line manager to get you out or he isn't, if he isn't then you need to speak with him before your boss does and turns him against you, keep asking for an appointment.

Also make sure you keep copy of emails/letters etc don't use the phone as you will have no record, write down as much as you can to both show you are trying but your line manger is making it impossible and also to bring a case if needs be.

Remember too that your line manger is pobably meeting his targets by reducing your staff lvls etc so he pobably is in no rush to spend more at your bank.

maninthestreet

Bullying? How?

NickiMcJock

Thanks guys x

Evilm

I agree you should put in a grievance over the fact they are failing to provision you with the resources to do the job (and yet are putting you on a PIP) but I fail to see where bullying comes in?

Tiddlywinks

maninthestreet wrote: »

Bullying? How?

Evilm wrote: »

I agree you should put in a grievance over the fact they are failing to provision you with the resources to do the job (and yet are putting you on a PIP) but I fail to see where bullying comes in?

http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=306&p=0

'deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading and constant criticism'

In this case, the OP has been asked to meet 'impossible' targets.