Employment Law Help

k12479

 

secretsanta_2 said:

a colleague of mine on a team of approx 13 staff has just been given a new role without any internal or external recruitment or advertising. To add to this, he has been working at the head office during Covid...he appears to of been given an advantage by working alongside more senior members of the organisation. 

You seem to be of the view that all members of the team are equal. This is rarely the case. Normally there is a range of skills, ability, experience and ambition. Part of managing people is identifying and developing those who are suitable for promotion and it should be pretty obvious to the manager roughly where everyone in the team lies between 'ready for promotion' to 'ready to be fired'. Working at head office may not have given him an advantage, he may have been selected because he was already on track to being promoted.

Tealblue

eamon said:

Welcome to the worlds of nepotism & cronyism.

Or maybe the appointee was just the best person for the job and thoroughly deserved it.

[Deleted User]

secretsanta_2 said:

I want to know if this is legal and fair. What if the rest of us wanted to apply? Shouldn’t it be advertised to all?

But you are able to apply for a position outside your organisation without explaining yourself and seeking advance permission from your boss? It may even be this person doesn't survive (however head office or senior people rate them) crikey I remember my 'replacement' in June querying if my skills went beyond call centre operator/just the person who answers the phone, as to how I didn't do same duties as them with my skill set clearly behind them, so I was totally baffled 10 weeks when it became clear they couldn't do the job required of them and couldn't be left alone, had absolutely no memory for an office worker and tried to insinuate how I in the end wasn't expected to do same job as them, despite what I overheard them say about me when new and they accepted the job they were employed to do. It really is a situation where they could burn the building down, lose people their jobs, wish to get themselves dismissed after causing a lot of havoc, but best way is to remove yourself.

[Deleted User]

secretsanta_2 said:

I want to know if this is legal and fair. What if the rest of us wanted to apply? Shouldn’t it be advertised to all?

But you are able to apply for a position outside your organisation without explaining yourself and seeking advance permission from your boss? It may even be this person doesn't survive (however head office or senior people rate them) crikey I remember my 'replacement' in June querying if my skills went beyond call centre operator/just the person who answers the phone, as to how I didn't do same duties as them with my skill set clearly behind them, so I was totally baffled 10 weeks when it became clear they couldn't do the job required of them and couldn't be left alone, had absolutely no memory for an office worker and tried to insinuate how I in the end wasn't expected to do same job as them, despite what I overheard them say about me when new and they accepted the job they were employed to do. It really is a situation where they could burn the building down, lose people their jobs, wish to get themselves dismissed after causing a lot of havoc, but best way is to remove yourself.

getmore4less

There may may be company policies you can call on to raise a grievance, might be a career limiting move.

A lot of public sector organizations have policies that require more open recruitment and promotions but they are often followed as a paper exercise.

Sandtree

secretsanta_2 said:

Hi all,
I am looking for some assistance please and I thank you in advance. Just recently a colleague of mine on a team of approx 13 staff has just been given a new role without any internal or external recruitment or advertising. To add to this, he has been working at the head office during Covid 19 as agreed by management whereas the other members of staff have been working remotely so he appears to of been given an advantage by working alongside more senior members of the organisation. Any help would be appreciated 

Welcome to enlightenment on how the world of employment works.  Arguably, the higher up the tree you get the worse it can be too.

As others have already explained its perfectly legal, fairness is irrelevant and whilst other companies may have done a pointless interview process knowing who'll get the job from the outset at least your employer didnt waste your time doing so. It may be of some interest to you to see if the person engineered themselves working at HO or was requested to work there for consideration of how you can get better at playing the game in the future.

You don't typically win promotions by being the best at your job, the skills of a data entry clerk are totally different to the manager of a data entry team... sometimes the most adept technical people make the worst promotions as you lose their technical abilities to line management and realise they aren't good at motivating staff etc no matter how good they were at using the system etc. You instead need to convince them you have the knowledge/skills to take on the objectives of the next level which can often not require the same level of technical/practical knowledge.

Visibility is certainly an important thing, though can be a double edge sword if you're visible and then mess up, but there are other ways up the greasy pole if you're willing to ride shirt tails etc.

MEM62

secretsanta_2 said:

Any help would be appreciated 

Your colleague seems to be doing well.  I am not sure that any help is needed. 
As advised, a company can promote or enhance the role of any employee they choose. You have no automatic right to be considered, although any smart employer would already be identifying those who may be capable of moving up the ladder when when any opportunities arise.