Is this allowed?

Shawn_Dark

Can anyone tell me if this is allowed legally?

I joined a company almost two years ago, working in first line IT Support. Our manager was fired after about a year and a new manager was bought in. After a few months he employed his mate and then around three months later a promotion for second line came up. The bosses mate applied and got the job.

Fair enough he was the most technically suited but how do we know that manager hasn't given his mate an unfair advantage? Isn't there some sort of employment law against this? I suppose we cant definitely prove that they are friends but its not exactly a secret at work.

How can permanent staff truly progress within the company if the company wont give them training skills/qualifications, develop them or give them opportunities? They just bring in a temp or someone from outside, pay them more and keep repeating that process.

Promotions arise at work around once a year but people who are temps or been at the company for three to six months seem to get the job.

It really feels like gang culture, in that, if you don't fit in (or suck up to the manager) your career within the company is dead in the water.

I was really happy when I joined the company as it truly felt like I had opportunities, but since the new manager came in I have been overlooked and never given exposure to second line work. Its frustrating because people get the impression that I am not a very technical person - as I dont know a lot of the team procedures, etc. But my argument is that the manager has intentionally done this and I'm often asking people (even those who are newer than me) how to do certain things. But that isn't technical stuff, I feel I am quite good at that, like I said its company procedures for certain things.

Sometimes I feel like just sitting on my backside and waiting for the manager to move me off the team. This seems to work for those other people who have gotten promotion but I just can't bring myself to behave like that, its just too damn shameful in my opinion. But management just don't give a monkeys.

I'm looking for other jobs now but I just don't want to go into another telephone support role. However I can't get the job I want as:

a) Team Leader - as I have only had three months experience of this in the past

b) Second line analyst - my current role does involve duties that would be classed as second line but at the end of the day if I don't have an official job title as second line I won't be get that type of job.

That's the feedback from recruiters anyway. The all just seem to offer jobs paying the same wage with no real chance of promotion or progression.

andrewjf

Is this allowed? Of course it is, and that's part of the work culture in most companies. It's human nature really to be cliquey.

My advice - get out of there. You're being overlooked, so will never gain the experience you need because others who are more 'in' with those making the decisions will get preference.

You need to gain more confidence because 'sitting on your backside' won't get you anywhere. Sounds a bit harsh, but actually I've been through exactly your situation. It's taken me a good number of jobs to at last be really happy with my role, and position in the team. Switching jobs will also do wonders for your experience and add more substance to your CV.

First impressions really count, and once someone has formed a negative opinion of you, it's difficult to change. And if that person is your manager, it can be a real problem. If people are being brought in to do jobs, then the decision makers don't have confidence that you can do it. This will continue, you'll get nowhere and stagnate in that job. So if you want to progress your career then find another job that will allow you to grow.

Annisele

In principle it's definitely allowed.

If you're being discriminated against because of a protected characteristic (eg age, sex, race) that's not allowed - but if you thought that was the case I guess you'd have said. If it's just that the manager promotes his friends, or the people he thinks of as more technical, that's absolutely allowed (and in the latter case, it's what he ought to be doing).

Can you do anything to proactively learn these procedures you're not being told about? Is there a manual somewhere? If not, could you offer to create one to help all these temps you keep getting?

RobTang

IT tends to be more pro-active, if you wait for someone to teach you something you are dead in the water.

Sorry to sound hash but you have worked for them for 2 years and in your own words you don't know a lot of the team procedures, I would be very concerned if I was your manager (and I wouldn't give you anything more complicated either), you should know the job inside and out by now, even if the second manager is blocking you, you should have learned something from your first manager right ?

Ask yourself "What have I done to earn a promotion" or even just "What have I done to get some more interesting work."
and don't kid yourself into thinking it was completely out of your control, there's always something you can try.

If you have and its not working, its probably best to take Andrew's advice and do a sideways move, variety of experience is a valuable commodity.

Abu_Yoosha wrote: »

b) Second line analyst - my current role does involve duties that would be classed as second line but at the end of the day if I don't have an official job title as second line I won't be get that type of job.

Sorry I don't buy the job titles thing, your knowledge and experience are always more important in IT roles, write your CV to emphasize this, selecting CVs based on job titles tends to be dodgy given different companies put different meanings behind them.

andrewjf

RobTang wrote: »

Sorry I don't buy the job titles thing, your knowledge and experience are always more important in IT roles, write your CV to emphasize this, selecting CVs based on job titles tends to be dodgy given different companies put different meanings behind them.

I'm amazed that is done. To me, job titles are meaningless. Whether someone is called a 'principal' this or 'senior' that makes no difference. Even what they have on their CVs can be taken with a large grain of salt.
The most important thing to me is attitude, and trying to figure out exactly what the guy has really been doing in previous jobs.

Shawn_Dark

RobTang wrote: »

IT tends to be more pro-active, if you wait for someone to teach you something you are dead in the water.

Sorry to sound hash but you have worked for them for 2 years and in your own words you don't know a lot of the team procedures, I would be very concerned if I was your manager (and I wouldn't give you anything more complicated either), you should know the job inside and out by now, even if the second manager is blocking you, you should have learned something from your first manager right ?

Ask yourself "What have I done to earn a promotion" or even just "What have I done to get some more interesting work."
and don't kid yourself into thinking it was completely out of your control, there's always something you can try.

If you have and its not working, its probably best to take Andrew's advice and do a sideways move, variety of experience is a valuable commodity.

Don't get me wrong, I've not been sat on my laurels, I do know the job pretty well but things are constantly changing, there are no processes, procedures or policy (and if they do, they change depending on the managers mood). This isn't typical IT culture or like other IT companies either as non of my previous workplaces were like this.

Furthermore I've received a wage rise and bonus from the previous manager so obviously I was doing well during their tenure (and had a good future in the company).

I do go around researching, 'helping people out' and getting involved whenever I can (the manager usually does his best to pull you away if he can so its a tactful situation). I've been going through second line work and picking it up, completing it and making a note of what I did.

You have to understand that the manager is intentionally doing this as he is:

a) a mercenary (for want of a better word), not interested in looking after or developing his team (no 121 meetings, career development, advice, nothing.. but responds well to suck-ups).

b) threatened by anyone who may know more than him (e.g. have more technical knowledge or skills).

I'm not the only one either, it's select people who don't fit in with the crowd. Yes I've experienced this type of culture before but never this bad.

RobTang wrote: »

Sorry I don't buy the job titles thing, your knowledge and experience are always more important in IT roles, write your CV to emphasize this, selecting CVs based on job titles tends to be dodgy given different companies put different meanings behind them.

That's the feedback from the recruiters... fact.

Furthermore interviewers have always given feedback (for second line or team leader roles) saying little or no experience yet when you highlight key parts of your CV suggesting otherwise they just backtrack or give some other poor excuse. I never pushed further past that point as their responses were sufficient enough to suggest that they were not worth pursuing (i.e. this is the type of people you would be working for).

A lot of these interviews seem to focus more on 'Do I like this person' more than 'are they suited to the role and capable enough'.

I've only seen a few companies take the opposite approach to the above and they have been good companies to work for.

Ultimately I am moving on, there are opportunities but as suggested it looks like it will have to be a side-ways move, rather than a step-up.