Secondment ending - does this sound right?

TF03

Hi all, 

After some advice. 
Been with my company 6 years now. May 2019, I was seconded into a different role. The originally employee went on maternity leave; she covered the whole of Kent. My employers decided to split the area geographically. I started the new role covering West Kent and a fellow employee was also seconded to cover East Kent (we were both doing the same role previously as well). 

Fast forward to now. The original person has come back from mat leave, however she reduced down her hours and went into a different role. My colleague in East Kent was given her position on a permanent basis. 
However my line manager said that when a secondment ends, they have to advertise the position internally and that I would have to apply and go through the interview process. 

To me, this doesn't sound right. We were the same previously, seconded into the same roles and the same times, performed similarly etc. However she doesn't have to go through the process and I do? I am mainly worried that if I don't secure the new position permanently, well the company has already back filled the position I was in before? I want to keep my new position as I enjoy it and I have performed well (not just my own ego saying that, I have consistently met/exceeded KPIs and targets).

I have sent an email to my HR department asking to clarify the difference and what the "company policy" is however I thought I would ask on here incase there is anything I should be saying/doing/asking. 

Thanks all

Dox

TF03 said:

Hi all, 

After some advice. 
Been with my company 6 years now. May 2019, I was seconded into a different role. The originally employee went on maternity leave; she covered the whole of Kent. My employers decided to split the area geographically. I started the new role covering West Kent and a fellow employee was also seconded to cover East Kent (we were both doing the same role previously as well). 

Fast forward to now. The original person has come back from mat leave, however she reduced down her hours and went into a different role. My colleague in East Kent was given her position on a permanent basis. 
However my line manager said that when a secondment ends, they have to advertise the position internally and that I would have to apply and go through the interview process. 

To me, this doesn't sound right. We were the same previously, seconded into the same roles and the same times, performed similarly etc. However she doesn't have to go through the process and I do? I am mainly worried that if I don't secure the new position permanently, well the company has already back filled the position I was in before? I want to keep my new position as I enjoy it and I have performed well (not just my own ego saying that, I have consistently met/exceeded KPIs and targets).

I have sent an email to my HR department asking to clarify the difference and what the "company policy" is however I thought I would ask on here incase there is anything I should be saying/doing/asking. 

Thanks all

Apply and go through the process for - what? If the job has already been given given to your colleague in East Kent, where's the vacancy?

Mrsn

Await the clarification from HR. Some places may do this and others may not I think it would be an individual decision to each workplace to be honest.

TF03

Dox said:

TF03 said:

Hi all, 

After some advice. 
Been with my company 6 years now. May 2019, I was seconded into a different role. The originally employee went on maternity leave; she covered the whole of Kent. My employers decided to split the area geographically. I started the new role covering West Kent and a fellow employee was also seconded to cover East Kent (we were both doing the same role previously as well). 

Fast forward to now. The original person has come back from mat leave, however she reduced down her hours and went into a different role. My colleague in East Kent was given her position on a permanent basis. 
However my line manager said that when a secondment ends, they have to advertise the position internally and that I would have to apply and go through the interview process. 

To me, this doesn't sound right. We were the same previously, seconded into the same roles and the same times, performed similarly etc. However she doesn't have to go through the process and I do? I am mainly worried that if I don't secure the new position permanently, well the company has already back filled the position I was in before? I want to keep my new position as I enjoy it and I have performed well (not just my own ego saying that, I have consistently met/exceeded KPIs and targets).

I have sent an email to my HR department asking to clarify the difference and what the "company policy" is however I thought I would ask on here incase there is anything I should be saying/doing/asking. 

Thanks all

Apply and go through the process for - what? If the job has already been given given to your colleague in East Kent, where's the vacancy?

Sorry, didn’t make it clear. 

They are keeping the two areas separate. She will continue to cover East.

So this is my confusion. She just gets to carry on, I have to jump through the hoops. 

TF03

Mrsn said:

Await the clarification from HR. Some places may do this and others may not I think it would be an individual decision to each workplace to be honest.

I get that, but this is the same company treating two employees in the same position differently. 

Doesn’t seem right. 

KatrinaWaves

TF03 said:

Mrsn said:

Await the clarification from HR. Some places may do this and others may not I think it would be an individual decision to each workplace to be honest.

I get that, but this is the same company treating two employees in the same position differently. 

Doesn’t seem right. 

There is no requirement to treat two employees the same. 

lincroft1710

Perhaps your colleague has performed better than you and along with yourself management may have their eyes on some of your other colleagues for the West Kent role

Manxman_in_exile

TF03 said:

... The original person has come back from mat leave, however she reduced down her hours and went into a different role. My colleague in East Kent was given her position on a permanent basis. 
However my line manager said that when a secondment ends, they have to advertise the position internally and that I would have to apply and go through the interview process. 

...

I find this confusing.  The original person covered the whole of Kent and presumably had a single line manager.  For the secondment, Kent was split in half and two of you seconded, one to each half.  Did the two of you have the same line manager during the secondment, (ie the same individual the original person had) or did you have a different line manager each?

Who "gave" your colleague the East Kent position?  Her manager, your manager, somebody else?

Who is "your line manager"?  I presume you mean the person who managed you in West Kent during the secondment and not your line manager from your original post?

Unless your company has a specific policy on this, I guess it's up to the relevant manager to decide how they want to appoint the people reporting to them.  What would be interesting is if "your line manager" is the same person who "gave" your colleague the East Kent job.  (You haven't made any of that clear).

But as others have said, absent any question of protected characteristics, employers don't have to treat their employees equally.  (And many people, including other employees, might say "Thank God!" to that).

KiKi

It sounds like the East Kent colleague is the woman who came back from mat leave.  She doesn't need to apply for the role because it was hers in the first place (albeit she covered the whole of Kent originally).  You, on the other hand, are not in the original role.  They obv have a policy that when a secondment ends, if there is a full time role, you still have to apply.  That's very normal (esp in the public sector).

Look at it this way: you were only covering the job. Now, you get the opportunity to continue it because they've created an additional role.  Why would they take anyone other than you, when you're already doing it?  Don't take it personally and get hung up on performance etc - they are simply following policy.  The reason your colleague is not being treated the same is because this was her job in the first place.

KatrinaWaves

KiKi said:

It sounds like the East Kent colleague is the woman who came back from mat leave.  She doesn't need to apply for the role because it was hers in the first place (albeit she covered the whole of Kent originally).  You, on the other hand, are not in the original role.  They obv have a policy that when a secondment ends, if there is a full time role, you still have to apply.  That's very normal (esp in the public sector).

Look at it this way: you were only covering the job. Now, you get the opportunity to continue it because they've created an additional role.  Why would they take anyone other than you, when you're already doing it?  Don't take it personally and get hung up on performance etc - they are simply following policy.  The reason your colleague is not being treated the same is because this was her job in the first place.

That’s not what happened. Maternity lady was all Kent. She went off on maternity. 

Kent split into east and west. OP West, Colleague East. OP was maternity secondment, it doesn’t state how East colleague got the East job. 

Maternity lady came back to a different role
so she’s irrelevant now. (I assume she was initially going to come back to the West job) 

OP feels East colleague was just give job but she was not. 

sharpe106

I would wait to see what HR say.