Urgent help needed re gross misconduct

tubie22

Dogger69 wrote: »

But he was dishonest and he did try to cover it up - if not he would have gone to his manager as soon as he realised he should not have done it.

He needs to offer nothing but apologies. They will already be aware that he only admitted his actions because he was found out.

They pulled him out in the middle of the call, as he was closing up so he had not had the chance to tell anyone as he was was still on the phone with the customer.

He told me, not his managers, that he was aware of 3 other people in his team alone that gave similar discounts without permission. It was just unlucky that his call was picked.

He really really needs to keep this job I know times are hard and everyone needs their job, but he actually enjoys working there and has started to get the hang of things, made friends etc and now is ao angry at himself for such a stupid mistake.

agrinnall

I find it a bit hard to believe that the bosses only pick up on excessive discounts through listening in to calls. Surely every sale has to be noted, and if there is a standard price then the amount of discount given will be obvious from the sale price agreed. And anyone who gives an unauthorised discount will be caught.

colino

Well as it is the equivalent of a retail shop assistant giving a product away at much less than the sale ticket price and waiting for the boss to find out, you really do have to hope they are otherwise great at their job and they want to, after a slap on the wrist, hang on to him.

pinkshoes

Grovel, apologise lots, point out how good he is at making sales, and keep fingers crossed!

*Scarlett

I understand that in a call centre / sales environment he is probably under a lot of pressure to make sales and if a customer says "I want it for £x & I'll do the deal" then the desire is to do it.

If there are clear guidelines as to discounting and he has gone outwith these without authorisation then he can only apologise and assure it will never happen again.

If he has been doing a really good job otherwise then the employer may accept this.

It is probably true that other people have done similar things and have not been caught but it does not mean that it is right.

tubie22

Thanks everyone so far.

Both really losing sleep over this now. He knows he shouldn't have done what he did but is convinced he is going to be sacked, which we won't be able to cope with. He realises now that such a silly lapse of judgement could essentially cost him his home and job. We are both really really worried

He plans to overly apologise, offer himself up for extra training, a final written warning, having his calls listened to for however long the managers require, listening in on more experienced team members' calls as further training etc etc.
Is there anything else he could 'offer' i.e say to persuade them to keep him?

They know he had previously been doing quite well as they mentioned it in his investigation meeting 'Before this, you had been doing really well and we were really impressed with your progress'.

His disciplinary is on Wednesday at 11.30am. We are both stressed more than we have ever been about anything before. Any more help or suggestions would be great.

tubie22

agrinnall wrote: »

I find it a bit hard to believe that the bosses only pick up on excessive discounts through listening in to calls. Surely every sale has to be noted, and if there is a standard price then the amount of discount given will be obvious from the sale price agreed. And anyone who gives an unauthorised discount will be caught.

He works in a call centre for a phone company and some of the 'high up' staff (area mangers etc) made a surprise visit to his centre without any of the staff knowing and it was them that listened in on random calls, my other half's being one of them. Genreally, the bosses of the centre itself don;t really listen to the calls, hence how so many staff members are able to give large discounts and go un-noticed. Obviously the larger discounts arent given out a lot, but when they are, no one generally gets permission.

It was the fact that the big whigs had visited and had caught my other half giving one of these discounts and it had to be investigated. Had they not been there he wouldn't have been investigated.

Dogger69

If it wasn't for the suspension I would have said he might get a final written warning, it is the suspension that makes me fear the worst. The grovelling approach is definitely the best course of action.

If he does get dismissed, it does not have to be the end of the world. What you need to do is make sure he does not have time to dwell. If things do not go well on Wednesday, then he can have the rest of the day to feel sorry for himself/ get drunk etc, but Thursday he can be visiting every agency in the area with a super smart cv and letting them know he is available for work immediately.

I hope it goes ok, let us know how he gets on.

Dogger69

Please remove the name of the company urgently - they have a rep on here!

paulineb_2

tubie22 wrote: »

Thanks everyone so far.

Both really losing sleep over this now. He knows he shouldn't have done what he did but is convinced he is going to be sacked, which we won't be able to cope with. He realises now that such a silly lapse of judgement could essentially cost him his home and job. We are both really really worried

He plans to overly apologise, offer himself up for extra training, a final written warning, having his calls listened to for however long the managers require, listening in on more experienced team members' calls as further training etc etc.
Is there anything else he could 'offer' i.e say to persuade them to keep him?


They know he had previously been doing quite well as they mentioned it in his investigation meeting 'Before this, you had been doing really well and we were really impressed with your progress'.

His disciplinary is on Wednesday at 11.30am. We are both stressed more than we have ever been about anything before. Any more help or suggestions would be great.

Is he taking in a representative with him? Union rep, colleague?

Had any advice over this from a union or citizens advice?