Unfair treatment - what should I do?

an9i77

I work in a role where my usual job is to support management. I started with the company last year and after two months was taken off my usual job and put on to a project for five months and told not to get involved in the supporting management side at all as that would all now be directed to my boss. In effect the managers were left to fend for themselves.

I have only just been put back into my usual job. It has come to light that a number of errors have occured during my time away, as the managers were left without support and therefore made a number of mistakes which ordinarily, part of my role is to prevent them making.

My boss has now said that this is down to me and that he will be performance managing me in future to make sure these errors do not occur! He's sent me a nasty letter, to be placed on my file, basically saying he has 'performance concerns'. These in no way relate to the work I did on the project, but are specifically related to these particular errors that have happened.

No one has actually told me what these errors are, who has made them, whether they are due to the work I did when I started witht the company (mainly 6 months ago now) or more recently when I was on project.
It's clear that my bosses are trying to cover their own mistakes in removing me from my usual role, and then not being able to deal with the fall out from the lack of support given to my clients.

How do I deal with this one? I don't want to go in all guns blazing saying it weren't me guv, as I know the first rule of being performance managed is not to go into a denial state, but I can't tolerate being blamed for something that happened when I was seconded to a project and told not to get involved in my usual work. I can't go the level above as I think they are behind all this, it was their decision to second me to the project in the first place (the project had to be done and they couldn't get budget to bring in a temp). And don't tell me to go to HR, that's the department I work in!

It's really upset me to the point where I am beginning to feel like I don't want to work for a company that treats people like that, but with bills and mortgage to pay I need to come through this in the best way.

I have asked my boss for some more detailed feedback on these 'errors' as I am still completely in the dark at the moment as to exactly what has gone wrong, he has made vague reference to procedures and best practice not being followed but nothing specific. Anyway I am waiting for him to come back to me on that. He acknowledged that I'd been on this project but said it was still my responsibility.

Any advice?

an9i77

C'mon, someone must be able to put their tuppenceworth in! Anyone?

Takeaway_Addict

I would be talking to the boss about this politely and asking for their advice. Otherwise keep the head down and just get on with work.

I take it you started after Apr 6th last year?

Jules2012

Do you have written confirmation of "........told not to get involved in the supporting management side at all as that would all now be directed to my boss"

I would arrange a meeting with whoever advised you of this and your manager, clearly communication has broken down somewhere and your getting the blame pinned to you.

ILW

If you do not know what the issues are, how can you be sure they are not your fault?

elsien

If he has performance concerns, then you need details of when, where, how, in order to be able to address them. Could you ask for a formal supervision in order to fully discuss what the issues are? Your first port of call possibly needs to clarify what happened and when.

BitterAndTwisted

"I have asked my boss for some more detailed feedback on these 'errors' as I am still completely in the dark at the moment as to exactly what has gone wrong, he has made vague reference to procedures and best practice not being followed but nothing specific. Anyway I am waiting for him to come back to me on that. He acknowledged that I'd been on this project but said it was still my responsibility".

This is precisely what I would have done. You can't be expected to put things right if you don't know, and aren't responsible for things having gone wrong in the first place.

"Do you have written confirmation of "........told not to get involved in the supporting management side at all as that would all now be directed to my boss"

I'd be keen to know this is as well as that could be your @rse-saver

zzzLazyDaisy

You have only been with the company 6 months. Since the change in the law last April, your employer can dismiss you for any reason or no reason at all during the first two years (provided the reason doesn't breach the anti-discrimination laws). Their only obligation is to give you the notice required under your contract, or give you a payment in lieu of notice.

So if you wish to keep your job, please do be diplomatic in your approach.

ValHaller

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

You have only been with the company 6 months. Since the change in the law last April, your employer can dismiss you for any reason or no reason at all during the first two years (provided the reason doesn't breach the anti-discrimination laws). Their only obligation is to give you the notice required under your contract, or give you a payment in lieu of notice.

So if you wish to keep your job, please do be diplomatic in your approach.

This 2 years dismissal without cause is beginning to show unintended consequences. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Essentially everyone kowtows to avoid being pushed out and conceals the true cause of poor performance. Or those with less than 2 years service take the blame and get the push. No one accepts responsibility, no one knows the true cause of failure and poor performance - the poor person who got pushed down the road with less than 2 years service takes the blame.

And nothing which is broken ever gets fixed.

an9i77

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

You have only been with the company 6 months. Since the change in the law last April, your employer can dismiss you for any reason or no reason at all during the first two years (provided the reason doesn't breach the anti-discrimination laws). Their only obligation is to give you the notice required under your contract, or give you a payment in lieu of notice.

So if you wish to keep your job, please do be diplomatic in your approach.

I am pregnant at the moment and they are aware, what protection does that give me?

I don't have written confirmaiton of the instruction, but there are 8 of us who were moved on to the project and we were all told this. They have sent out an email telling us all off for these errors, but I have got the brunt of it as most occured in my area, plus I am the newest member of the team, as far as I know I am the only one who is going to be performance managed.

Should I just put up and shut up? I've asked for the more detailed feedback in the spirit of wanting to find out more so that I can make sure it does not happen in future. Really I just want to know if I really am to blame, I'm hoping the analysis will show most errors are not due to me and therefore somewhat vindicate me.

To be honest I suspect my boss does not know the details, he has just been told by someone higher up the chain that these errors have occured and that as most have occured in my area I am most to blame. I don't know if anyone has actually analysed which have been caused by me and which when I was not there, as they're probably all too busy to get into the nitty gritty plus it's easier to just blame me for everyting!

an9i77

ILW wrote: »

If you do not know what the issues are, how can you be sure they are not your fault?

I can't be completely sure but most of the events that have led to the errors happened when I was away from my role. There may be some for which I am partially responsible, even though I was brand new in role which should offer some mitigation, and I will take these on the chin but it is very hard to do this when no one will tell me what the errors are, when they happened, or whether they were things I could have prevented! I'm worried they will now try and pick holes to justify the blame and turn minor problems into major ones in retrospect.

Kafka would have loved it at my workplace.