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Workplace not helping me progress

I've been working in a Customer Care Role (Remote) for about two years and within that time, I have been seconded twice to a Senior role and would say that I am pretty good at my role which is backed up with my weekly meetings with my line manager - who always tells me that my KPI's are amazing and usually I am in the lead within the entire Customer Care team numbers.

We also do admin work in CC and I have trained up others in this specific thing called 'return escalations' and have also created a training spreadsheet on it for new starters to go through on their induction day which shows me that I'm in a trusted position to do this.

In the past couple of months, I've noticed that a colleague who I trained up is always being put forward to do other things within CC, meaning she is increasing her skill base whilst I am not learning anything new.

Recently she applied for a new role but was unsuccessful and was told that she can get trained up if she wanted to learn more about it, however this is something I would have liked to do too but I never applied because I had none of the required skills, neither did she. I have voiced my interest about this area numerous times to the person who is actually in the role and told my line manager I'd like to learn more about other areas in CC. Nothing happens for me yet the colleague is on training all the time to step into specialist roles to cover their annual leaves yet I'm just doing basic customer care - especially now I've trained up others, I barely do anything else now because they're all doing the return escalations now.

There is another colleague on annual leave, she did a huge handover to cover our her roles which is a really interesting area within the business, my line manager was CC'd into the handover so knew about this but the whole workload was handed over to another colleague to do whilst I covered the work for a colleague who was off sick, I learned nothing new and anyone in CC could have done it, we all are trained to.

How do I address this with my manager?

Would I do this during a weekly meeting or shall I put this in the form of an email?

Comments

  • El_Torro
    El_Torro Posts: 1,899 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If this situation bothers you (it seems that it does) then yes, you should talk to your manager about it. I would do this in a weekly meeting (assuming it's just the two of you in the meeting), not by e-mail. 

    You say you've been seconded to a more senior role twice. Why haven't you been offered that role yet? Has this been explained to you to your satisfaction? 

    It's possible that this other colleague who is getting lots of training has been identified as a good candidate for promotion whereas you have not. I don't know of course, I'm just basing this on what you have said in your e-mail. Being good at your current job isn't the only prerequisite for career advancement. 

    Talking to your manager will help you to assess whether you have a long term future in the company, assuming you want a more senior role. It's possible that your manager / other managers don't see your potential. You won't know unless you ask though. 

    Be sure to address the conversation in a constructive way. Don't start throwing ultimatums around or anything like that.
  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 18,048 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper PPI Party Pooper
    Another possible reason for not being able to progress is that you are too useful to the organisation in your current role.  You accept secondments and then slot happily back into your normal role.  You are good at training other people.  You aren't pushing hard for promotion or moves to other areas so must be happy where you are.
    I'm not actually saying that any of those statements are accurate or valid, but may well be the way you are viewed my senior managers.  You need to make yourself more visible, in a self-promoting way.
  • Grumpy_chap
    Grumpy_chap Posts: 18,323 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker

    Recently she applied for a new role but was unsuccessful and was told that she can get trained up if she wanted to learn more about it, however this is something I would have liked to do too but I never applied because I had none of the required skills, neither did she. I have voiced my interest about this area numerous times

    How do I address this with my manager?
    You need to apply for the next promotion that arises.  Simply informally expressing interest is not enough.
    Be more confident in your own abilities and push yourself forward.
  • TELLIT01 said:
    Another possible reason for not being able to progress is that you are too useful to the organisation in your current role.  You accept secondments and then slot happily back into your normal role.  You are good at training other people.  You aren't pushing hard for promotion or moves to other areas so must be happy where you are.
    I'm not actually saying that any of those statements are accurate or valid, but may well be the way you are viewed my senior managers.  You need to make yourself more visible, in a self-promoting way.
    This is very true. It tends to be those that are really good at their jobs are too invaluable to lose and so they don't promote you. 
    I would say applying for the role you want even if you are not qualified shows you want to progress. I would sit down with your manager though and discuss your progression. 
  • Emmia
    Emmia Posts: 5,769 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 11 September 2023 at 8:06AM

    Recently she applied for a new role but was unsuccessful and was told that she can get trained up if she wanted to learn more about it, however this is something I would have liked to do too but I never applied because I had none of the required skills, neither did she. I have voiced my interest about this area numerous times

    How do I address this with my manager?
    You need to apply for the next promotion that arises.  Simply informally expressing interest is not enough.
    Be more confident in your own abilities and push yourself forward.
    I agree, you need to put the effort in and formally apply, to show you're serious about wanting to progress.

    I suspect the organisation / your bosses are delighted you're so willing and able to upskill others, and to dutifully go back to your previous role without complaint (or a pay rise)
  • Grumpy_chap
    Grumpy_chap Posts: 18,323 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Emmia said:
    I agree, you need to puf the effort in and formally apply, to show you're serious about wanting to progress.

    I suspect the organisation / your bosses are delighted you're so willing and able to upskill others, and to dutifully go back to your previous role without complaint (or a pay rise)
    It's also quite possible that the Managers at the company were just surprised that the OP did not apply for the job that was available.
    Equal opportunities means jobs cannot simply be offered out to the preferred person but there has to be an open process.
    The OP mentions one person who applied and was not successful.  Was anyone successful, or is the vacancy still there, or just ditched for now?
  • Marcon
    Marcon Posts: 14,571 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 10 September 2023 at 11:02PM
    Interesting that when you applied unsuccessfully for a vacancy last year and complained about the wording of the email you received, a number of us asked what feedback you received - and there was never a reply from you: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6332182/contradicting-rejection/p1

    Did you actually get any useful feedback that might help you 'read' the current situation?
    Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!  
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