Capability issues after over 4 years absence, now only two years before retirement

Marcon

EnPointe said:

it sounds very much  like the employer have been more than generous  in their accomodatiosn and now  nearly 5 years latewr have decided enough is a enough./ most employers even public sector would be looking to dismiss  or  Ill health retire  between 1 and 2 years  in 

Nothing generous about it when there's an income protection policy in force and the employee is contractually entitled to benefits under that policy until they cease to be entitled under the terms of the policy, OR they agree a pay off which effectively gives them a lump sum rather than a continuing stream of payments.

EnPointe said:

most employers even public sector would be looking to dismiss  or  Ill health retire  between 1 and 2 years  in 

Ill health retirement may be an option with generous DB provisions, but few DC schemes are up to the job unless the employer enhances significantly. That's why income protection policies have become more popular in recent years.

Chris56000

. . .To put a perspective on the job's requirements, myself and my colleague are required to diagnose AND repair faults on unknown Industrial Electronics Printed Circuit Boards, with NO schematics, documentation from the OEM (sometimes a customer has a wiring diagram but we have to jump through hoops in the front office to get them), and in many cases we don't even get a fault report as to what the reported fault is on the unit!

. . .We have to be able to identify all types of electronics components and determine by ourselves as to wether the component/assembly is defective or not, and furthermore a lot of modern boards contain specially programmed devices containing software, of which it is impossible to determine whether the programming in these devices is intact or not as most of these devices have a "security bit" set that makes them impossible to read out!

. . .The job skills involved are :–

a) Being able to know, recognise and identify every possible type of electronic components fitted and determine, using only the most basic equipment that is years out–of–date, whether such components are faulty or not ;

b) Being able to recognise all types of printed circuit board defects and repair them, (including the minute "surface mounted" components!) with NO laid–down documented procedures or adequate surface–mounted tools, and NO training is offered on induction, nor in the 6 months "probationary period", on how to perform these procedures to standards they expect, which vary depending on the manager assigned to you (we have three, one has no electronics knowledge and is well known for being very "dictatorial", the second is extremely fussy down to "flux on the PCB" as I have said on previous posts, the third is reasonably fair and impartial, but myself and my colleague are not under him – we have got the "dictatorial" one!), then each board has to be individually inspected by them before signing off as complete!

. . .Myself and my Colleague's jobs are both assigned by the "dictatorial" non–knowledgeable manager unless he's away, when we are allowed to ask one of the other two managers for work!

c) Be able to recognise if built–in programming on boards is corrupted/lost/damaged or not ;

d) Locate, identify and order all types of replacement parts, and we have to be able to KNOW by ourselves if an equivalent replacement is suitable for replacing an unobtainable original part or not!

e) Have to be able to rework boards to a standard better than original brand–new manufacture every time, irrespective of the age, condition, size or type of the board when it was originally "booked in!"

. . .If any of the Forum Experts think this is NOT a skilled job needing full support and training when called for, and should be paid well above the minimum wage, which I am on, please feel free to say so!