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Taking annual leave on-site, on-call, and general boundary issues with employer

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Comments

  • Andypandyboy
    Andypandyboy Posts: 2,472 Forumite
    You really do need to get on top of this situation.

    Just delegate, if it goes wrong that is not your fault. If they know the buck stops with them and that you will not bail them out they will try harder.

    No one is indispensable. They are playing to your vanity and you are falling for it hook, line and sinker. Book a holiday now, give them notice, take the holiday, turn the phone off and do not check messages. Do it once and it will become easier.
  • SillyOne
    SillyOne Posts: 96 Forumite
    edited 21 October 2016 at 8:18PM
    You really do need to get on top of this situation.

    Just delegate, if it goes wrong that is not your fault. If they know the buck stops with them and that you will not bail them out they will try harder.

    No one is indispensable. They are playing to your vanity and you are falling for it hook, line and sinker. Book a holiday now, give them notice, take the holiday, turn the phone off and do not check messages. Do it once and it will become easier.

    I have tried to delegate (see above) and it ended in mistakes and post mortems. The mistakes weren't due to a fundamental lack of training/understanding but just sloppiness and lack of attention to detail. The unpalatable fact is... we don't have the calibre of people we need due to cost cutting etc and I am picking up the slack. Perhaps the 'PC' view these days is that there are no "people that don't meet the calibre we need", everyone is trainable. Not true. Some people just need to be written off as regards a particular career path (but could excel in others!)

    Edited to add: For example -- could you just take a bunch of people off the street and train them to be doctors because they have experience going to the chemist and picking up a prescription. Similar principle...

    I wish it was as simple as me-being-played and falling for it, as I am savvy and assertive enough to deal with that -- but no, it's that they have recruited people in good faith who don't have the skills but are within budget. Because they have an 'Senior' person (myself) to pick up what gets through the holes.

    Analogy: they expected the holes to be like in a sieve, but they are more like a tennis racquet.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    Get them on disciplinary and performance management if they are not performing.

    throw this back onto your manager make your problem their problem and if that does not(or has not) work go over their head.


    The other option(if you really believe you are indispensable) is resign and go back contracting(on your terms) on double money.
  • SillyOne
    SillyOne Posts: 96 Forumite
    Get them on disciplinary and performance management if they are not performing.

    throw this back onto your manager make your problem their problem and if that does not(or has not) work go over their head.


    The other option(if you really believe you are indispensable) is resign and go back contracting(on your terms) on double money.

    I'm not a manager (team leader, supervisor etc) I am just a "Senior Widget Reporting Analyst" and they are "Widget Reporting Analyst" or something akin to that. If I was a manager I would have dealt with it through the performance process long ago. We report to the same boss. I've raised it to the mutual boss and got the response that (essentially) 'So-and-so is in need of help and you need to help him so we can all succeed. Because you and only you have the skilllzzz (something like that - not in those words of course!) And if we fail, we all fail and ALL LOSE OUR JOBS.

    I truly believe that if I was to genuinely quit, this part of the company would be screwed. They wouldn't take me back as a contractor though but just accept their fate. Then the rest would be out of jobs and struggling to feed their family.* There isn't the discretion to do that.

    * Work first, family 2nd. Because how do you provide food etc- that's right, from the company!
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 26,612 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    SillyOne wrote: »
    I'm great at delegating (believe it or not based on what I've written here...!) assuming I have competent people to delegate to. And my definition of 'competent' isn't a perfectionist's view. Just pragmatic -- but the people I have available to offload to, are either incapable or unwilling and I can't figure out which. Many a time, I have delegated things to others and they do understand the principle, but then make stupid mistakes due to lack of attention to detail.
    To be honest, what you describe here is not being "great" at delegating at all. It sounds as if you tell others to do tasks and then are overly critical of them. You almost will them to fail and see only yourself as able to sort out the mistakes. Why not get the people concerned to resolve these mistakes themselves? That's a learning curve in itself.

    Just remember, no one is indispensable. If you give yourself a heart attack or collapse under the stress. your firm will easily continue without you...
  • SillyOne
    SillyOne Posts: 96 Forumite
    edited 21 October 2016 at 9:07PM
    To be honest, what you describe here is not being "great" at delegating at all. It sounds as if you tell others to do tasks and then are overly critical of them. You almost will them to fail and see only yourself as able to sort out the mistakes. Why not get the people concerned to resolve these mistakes themselves? That's a learning curve in itself.

    Just remember, no one is indispensable. If you give yourself a heart attack or collapse under the stress. your firm will easily continue without you...

    Thank you, I see what you are saying, it can easily come off as crap (can I say crap on here?) at delegating. But if only they could carry out the delegated tasks correctly.. There is a clear criteria for 'correct' or 'incorrect' as the case may be,

    I won't criticise the method if the result is right. But the result is wrong or non-existent.

    Edited to add: in the past we have had mistakes come back to us and I have worked with the person responsible ("get the people concerned to resolve those mistakes themselves"?) to get it sorted out. And they did. But the damage was already done with the external client. Lately I just give up on that process knowing it will be more hassle and ultimately detrimental to our reputation.

    As to why I care when I could move on to a much better job tomorrow....................for the same reason you don't just drive past a car crash and put it out of your mind I suppose.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    you think you are not being played...

    As the senior widget tester you should be part of the recruitment and testing of the candidates

    Are you?

    They have you just where they want you.

    Take a holiday and go offline for 2 weeks.
  • SillyOne
    SillyOne Posts: 96 Forumite
    edited 21 October 2016 at 9:20PM
    you think you are not being played...

    As the senior widget tester you should be part of the recruitment and testing of the candidates

    Are you?

    No, I don't have any influence or input as to who is recruited. I'm not in the interviews and certainly don't have hire-or-fire privileges.

    Even if I did have influence - I would just be selecting the most promising but totally green person from a bad bunch. I am not judging people as intrinsically bad of course. Just that the salary offered will not attract the people we need to carry out the job successfully. It is just above minimum wage (annualised to 40 hrs) but requiring many years expertise to do successfully.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    so just a widget tester.

    the person responsible for the generation of the money maker(the monthly widget reports) needs to have control over the team that create the input to create that report.

    You are not responsible for the report if you have no control over the inputs.

    do your bit based on the inputs from the others if they are wrong so be it you should not be checking everything unless that is your job and you get them to do their work again if it is wrong(do not do it yourself).

    The person above you that set up the team is the fall person if stuff is late.
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,477 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Just remember, no one is indispensable. If you give yourself a heart attack or collapse under the stress. your firm will easily continue without you...
    It doesn't have to be as dramatic as that: I tripped over the recycling box at 10 pm one night, and was signed off work for 8 weeks, no questions asked, no scope for discussion.

    And I usually sent any changes to our payroll bureau. THAT'S indispensable.

    The good news was that I'd just finished submitting payroll before I left work (late).

    The better news was that I had actually documented the processes I followed, for that and for recruitment where I also had a leading role (and we were about to recruit) and for anything else I did.

    The bad news was that no-one knew where to look for that documentation, even though I'd repeatedly said where I kept it. No-one listened. It was always easier to ask me, and I'd either talk people through it or do it for them.

    A few phone calls later and they'd got the message ... "The documentation is in the purple file above my desk. I cannot talk you through the process but it is written down there."

    I am now (much) better managed, but there is still an element of panic because I am on leave later this year at a time when payroll will have to be dealt with. For various reasons my manager does not want to require one of my colleagues to deal with this in a month when I AM here so that they get the hang of it. This is not my problem: it is my manager's problem. My manager knows that the documentation is incredibly detailed, and that every month I follow it to make sure the payroll company hasn't sneakily changed anything. There is nothing more I can do.

    I'd suggest that the OP goes to her manager with the 'what if I fell under a bus?' question. Personally I think everyone should ask that question at regular intervals.

    And seriously, if you are that employable, change your job before you lose your husband. You say you are 'detached' for other reasons, but you won't be able to resolve them unless you also resolve this.

    And surely if he can manage to prioritise you over his work, you can show him the same basic courtesy? Please don't tell me it's easier for him, his job isn't so demanding, etc etc. Or that you've GOT to prioritise the job because that's what pays the bills. You have choices. Choose wisely.
    Signature removed for peace of mind
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