How to deal with Bad/Mismanagement?.

MrINeedOfHelp

Hi all,

Just on here seeking advice for my partner.

They are currently working for a company which they absolutely love and even see themselves as staying there and building a real progressive career out of it.

However the last few months have become a strain for them solely because of their line Manager.

From what they tell me and from the odd time I've witnessed it when meeting them at work, their line manager micro manages, asks her team of 2 people do certain things but is never actually clear on what the task is e.g partner has emails where manager specifically asks for a task to be done in a set way, does set task according to managers request only for the manager to then come to their desk and say this not what I asked for at all and will then be booking them on Microsoft Office courses so that in future they know what they are doing and how to use word, excel etc....

Other then micro managing, their generally rude, abrasive, lacking in manners (eating while asking my partner to do a task for them, then proceed to stand over them and continue and spitting food everywhere) albeit some may think that is trivial, offers little support for the 2-3 people she is manager of again perhaps trivial maybe? but seriously does not stand up for team when it is known they have done nothing wrong and just belittles them and then focuses more on appeasing other departments.

However despite all that may personal issue with this woman is her lack of sensitivity and racial/cultural awareness, so to explain my partner is not a British national, however English is the language they where taught and raised with and if anything it is their first language while perhaps the native language of where they are from is their second. I say this because it will also bring me to another issue my partner raises in a moment, so with English being my partners "mother" tongue, they had a meeting like a 1-2-1 with their line manager about how things are going. Now somewhere down the line in that meeting my partners use of English is somehow brought up and her supposed lack of understanding as they are still new to the country (been here 5 years at this point) is argued to lead to alot of the misunderstandings between my partner and the line manager and then proceeds to comment "but it's ok your still new and learning and English isn't your native language", now in shock my partner did and still hasn't done anything about this comment.

Personally in this day in age especially within the type of company my partner works in given they are global conglomerate that a line manager can make such a passing comment and not think that could be seen has in the most basic way highly offensive to my partners intelligence or in more sever way of that remark being racially offensive because she is not from Britain.

Now it's been about a month since that comment happened which probably leaves my partner at a disadvantage if they were to report it now, also the other issue with this is that my partner's line manager never records any meetings so who is to say anything ever happens?.

Another example of this recently is that my partner has had some time of sick since starting the job she is now (been there 1 year I believe) which equates to 3 separate incidents totaling 13 days bearing in mind that 1 of those incidents covers 8 days due to a really bad infection.

So when they returned to work they had a return to work meeting (again noting noted, nothing reported, nothing signed off to say who attended meeting etc..) to which your normal questions are asked like are you fit to return?, is there anything the company can do to facilitate your return and so on.

However a few days later another meeting is scheduled regarding partners absence and again much like all other meetings nothing is noted, reported or signed off to show evidence of what was discussed had been agreed by those in attendance. So what then proceeds to happen in this 5 minute meeting is the line manager stating that my partners absence will be monitored and any further absence in the next 3 months will be investigated and could lead to temporary suspension of sick pay, now to me that would sound like my partner has been put on some sort of disciplinary for absence, however nothing was written and received before the meeting notifying them about what the meeting would be about, nothing was documented at the meeting no additional note taker, no HR representative and nothing signed and agreed of said meeting to prove the event actually happened.

Now my partner is a terrible worrier, they worry over everything little thing like it's the end of the world and this last meeting has them worried that their job is at risk and that their manager is slowly trying to force them out which they don't want because they so happy working for the company right now.

Honestly compared to the last job they were in there is big big difference between how happy they are now but their line manager is starting to eat into that.

So hopefully if someone would be kind enough to read through this and give advice on:

1. How to deal with the racially loaded comment
2. How to deal with the lack of documentation around absence meetings and disciplinary outcomes, meaning if something is to happen which keeps my partner off work at any point in next three months what can they do to appeal anything their line manager tries to enforce on them?.

Apologies for such a long rambling post and I thank anyone who reads this and offers any advice.

maninthestreet

Is there an HR department in this company?

lincroft1710

MrINeedOfHelp wrote: »

However despite all that may personal issue with this woman is her lack of sensitivity and racial/cultural awareness, so to explain my partner is not a British national, however English is the language they where taught and raised with and if anything it is their first language while perhaps the native language of where they are from is their second. I say this because it will also bring me to another issue my partner raises in a moment, so with English being my partners "mother" tongue, they had a meeting like a 1-2-1 with their line manager about how things are going. Now somewhere down the line in that meeting my partners use of English is somehow brought up and her supposed lack of understanding as they are still new to the country (been here 5 years at this point) is argued to lead to a lot of the misunderstandings between my partner and the line manager and then proceeds to comment "but it's ok your still new and learning and English isn't your native language", now in shock my partner did and still hasn't done anything about this comment.

I don't see this as a "racial" issue, it is more an issue of whether your partner speaks and understands English so that they can clearly communicate with other members of the workforce. The manager may not understand all that your partner says, which would indicate there may be some ambiguity in your partner's use of English or the manager hasn't the intelligence to realise what they are saying.

Don't expect a manager to be aware of the cultural background of foreign countries.

MrINeedOfHelp

lincroft1710 wrote: »

I don't see this as a "racial" issue, it is more an issue of whether your partner speaks and understands English so that they can clearly communicate with other members of the workforce. The manager may not understand all that your partner says, which would indicate there may be some ambiguity in your partner's use of English or the manager hasn't the intelligence to realise what they are saying.

Don't expect a manager to be aware of the cultural background of foreign countries.

I don't see how it's not a racially loaded issue, my partner is south african and english is their main language and was taught in a private american school, English is the only language they have used, only learning Afrikaans from friends but never uses it.

You can probably tell my written English isn't too great and to be honest I can be pretty damn bad when speaking myself as for some reason I always mispronounce words and this is meant to be my native language.

There are no language barriers in her written and verbal as they are pretty spot on really, only thing they have is a slight American twang in their accent because of the school they went to.

The thing is this line manager is really starting to get at my partner and because nothing is every documented and things like English not being their native language therefore that is the reason the manager always has to repeat herself are said in private, how exactly are they supposed to go to HR without any real evidence?.

To make such remarks regardless in the work place when your manager is just reckless as who is to say that someone other then my partner has a meeting with someone important and ends up spewing out something just as stupid which could cost the company?

lincroft1710

As i have a South African Facebook friend who has an English name but makes all their posts in Afrikaans, I would assume Afrikaans was their first language. Your partner's speech apparently sounds more North American than South African, so a natural assumption would be that she learnt English from a North American source rather than from the cradle.