Gardening leave!

cr1mson

Definitely think you are overthinking the snake thing! A snake pic appeared on my social media too but that was related to a boa constrictor found wrapped around a kids bike near me! There could be countless reasons for it. Relax and enjoy your gardening leave before you start your new job!

Savvy_Sue

Does your reputation with this employer matter? I know that in some fields it could, because everyone knows everyone else, but think about this clearly: will you not establish your own reputation with your new employer, and who cares what people at the last place are saying about you?

Ja7188

Some of the reasons for my leaving was due to bullying I was experiencing at the hands of a fellow manager. I was then asked to hand everything over to this person on the day they put me on gardening leave. Since leaving I know that there are things I did not hand over - everything was so fast and I was expected to get out so quickly I didn't have a chance to think about the smaller things. None of this is anything major and things which are easily solved.

Being put on gardening leave has exacerbated my stress levels as I am not there and I am not in a position where I can protect my reputation or how people perceive me or what I have done. I do not in the slightest trust the person I handed things over to and have been worrying about how she might be portraying me since I left or miss out information I gave her to make me look bad. I really feel I did my best to hand over what I could within the time constraints I had. I warned my director that things were not in the place they could or should be, and by no means was this how I wanted to hand things over - lots of things unfinished and not concluded.

This sounds pretty typical for a handover to be honest - it's pretty much impossible to cover every last detail. They have a few weeks left to call you back in to cover things off if required - the ball is in their court.

Your reputation within the company isn't relevant any more and any reference you receive is likely not to state anything other the basic details of your role. Given the alleged bullying, being on garden leave is surely less stressful than still being there?

My question is what can they do whilst I am on gardening leave? Whilst I don't see that they have any reason to take action against me, could they for something which was unresolved even though I had every intention of resolving it before i left but they wanted me to go? I want to spend the next 3 weeks relaxing but finding that very difficult when I am still technically employed but have no access at all to the system my emails or anything. I told them to call me if something came up and I would try to help, they said they would do that but I have not heard from them.

To make things worse on social media yesterday my boss posted a picture of a snake tagging in the person who I handed over to. I could not see the comments on the post and rather conveniently it had been taken down and altogether removed when I went looking for it again! I am sure I am just being paranoid but it felt like it might be aimed at me!

Any advice someone can give me is very much appreciated on how I can reduce my stress levels and stop worrying. or if there is any action I should be taking while I am off to aid in anything which I may have missed on my handover - on the one hand I dont know if they dont ask but I also dont want to get in any trouble or have them perceive me as a bad person when I am not

What action are you expecting them to take against someone who is on gardening leave and is about to leave the business? Unless you've done something massively wrong or fraudulent, why would they bother?

You really need to spend the next few weeks relaxing and not worrying about your former role - otherwise you'll go into your next job absolutely exhausted. I'd suggest one thing you should do over the next 2-3 weeks is to find a therapist to start addressing your anxiety, which sounds like it's quite serious. Another thing I'd advise you to do is to remove your boss and/ or other colleagues from social media (excluding any you want to keep in touch with for personal reasons), especially if you're prone to reading meanings that most likely aren't there.

Good luck!

Wyndham

Garden leave - sitting in the sun on a lounger with a glass of wine in one hand.

Gardening leave - doing exhausting work involving spades, shovels, hoes, lawn mowers and various other instruments of torture.

I know which I'd prefer

System

Jellybean2020 wrote: »

Being put on gardening leave has exacerbated my stress levels as I am not there and I am not in a position where I can protect my reputation or how people perceive me or what I have done. I do not in the slightest trust the person I handed things over to and have been worrying about how she might be portraying me since I left or miss out information

Of course they'll pin everything that goes wrong from now on on you. You can't stop that ! Enjoy your extra leave and stop worrying about you can't control.

Mistral001

You must move on. You cannot control what the people at firm you used to work for do or say and nor should you attempt to do so. They are probably just moving on with there day at work and worrying more about that.

If you really feel that you were forced to leave then you have the option of going down the legal route and suing for constructive dismissal. But I would seek advice from an employment expert before going down this route.

Doshwaster

Disconnect from social media account, book a holiday. Don't worry about anything.

lincroft1710

andydownes123 wrote: »

Of course they'll pin everything that goes wrong from now on on you. You can't stop that ! Enjoy your extra leave and stop worrying about you can't control.

All employee/employer failings are blamed on the former colleague who left last week/month/year.

getmore4less

Doshwaster wrote: »

Disconnect from social media account, book a holiday. Don't worry about anything.

Need to book it of work.

Doshwaster

getmore4less wrote: »

Need to book it of work.

If you are on garden(ing) leave then the employer shouldn't care if you are in the garden or on the beach in Tenerife.