Work stress and behaviour from new supervisor.

Skintsaver

Work Related

wonder if anyone could tell me what may happen next from their own experiences.

Over the past few months I've felt pressured and belittled from our new supervisor I haven't been happy for a couple of months I was going to confront him one to one about this. But never could...

Then during a tool box he said to me "!!!!!! that's not my job to do" aimed towards me I wasn't expecting this and put me off guard and caused me to over think and loose sleep this and other accusations another colleague I spoke with the next day felt upset after this tool box talk.

Then earlier during the week he phoned me accused me of wasting time and booking extra than the others to the tool box talk. What did I do for the last 30 mins had a Very heated discussion with me about time keeping, time sheets ect.. I explained I booked to my contractual Finnish time. And I felt i hadn't wasted any time and this conversation was being very petty. The call went on for 15 mins belittling me overpowering me .

My colleague could see I was clearly in sensed I then seeked advice from the union and he calmed me down saying maybe I need to go off with work related stress . I Spoke again the next day he then adviced I should have a meeting with him which was arranged for today.

A huge weight has been lifted and I feel myself again I felt the meeting was exactly what I needed.

He seemed surprised and said I escalated this too quickly and I should of spoken with him sooner especially after the tool box talk. He actually brought up some of the points I ore written down and said things again word for word.

What do you think could happen next. I just want to do my job. But so Many other issues have been building up prior to this with work too. I believe I'm the only one whoes raised concerns so far

Emmia

What is a "toolbox talk"?

Grumpy_chap

A "Toolbox Talk" is a local briefing given at the start of shift, common practice in the construction industry. Often with a safety focus, or to alert something that needs to be refreshed / amended. The subject might be the result of some "incident".

LightFlare

for now suck it up, keep your head down and crack on with your job

Is it possible that the previous supervisor was a bit of a push over and just going through the motions and that the new one has been tasked with getting everything back up to speed ??

Skintsaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976651#Comment_81976651

That's what's I've always done. We're understaffed too. I'm always making use of my time. The client who pays for the never complain about how long I take to complete jobs. I'll continue to work as I've always done.

elsien

Whether the client complains or not isn’t necessarily relevant. The client may be ok but you may still not be hitting your work targets and that will be an issue for you and your company. So saying that you will work as you have always done it’s not necessarily the best way to be going on.

Have you tried some self reflection to see if there is any the supervisor is saying? Just because they are pulling you up on performance does not automatically mean that they are bullying you. Some managers are bullies; some staff just don’t like change and the truth is sometimes sitting somewhere in the middle.

I have seen people go off with stress when their work has been genuinely unmanageable. I have also seen colleagues go off stress when they just don’t like being told to do their job properly.

Try and have any future conversations with out it getting heated because that tends not to end well. And from how you’ve written it on here, there could be fault on both sides.

Skintsaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976679#Comment_81976679

I don't want to list all the issues here but he accused me of wasting company time for wasting 30mins after a tool box talk even though the tool box talk ended 5 mins before my contractual Finnish time. The others booked to theirs which is 30mins before mine because he docked their time sheet on a previous meeting where again the meeting went last their finished time. He also told me to F off and various other accusations has been made. I do my work complete tasks on time and if there is some spare time I always fill this productively booking more work in, sorting emails paperwork or training ordering materials ect.. sometimes I run out of time and do more unpaid at home.

The company has asked if I'd like to take on more responsibility and carry out some additional duties (this could be for my advantage) which I'm tempted to take but not whilst I'm under stress with my existing situation.

Brie

I would keep a non emotional, strictly factual diary of incidents that concern you. i.e. 24/4 X was agitated, criticised my work and when I tried to discuss this told me to F off.

These are the sort of things that may need to be discussed up the line with a overseeing manager and possibly HR as well as the union.

If there continues to be conflict (whomever is at fault) it may be possible to make a sideways move so you are working with someone with whom you are more comfortable.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976891#Comment_81976891

I wonder whether this is about time booking to recoverable activities rather than overheads.

While there is a good case for saying that time should always be accurate and allow non-recoverable overhead activities to be managed and correctly recorded, the opposite view would be to record all time to recoverable / chargeable activities. The latter might not support the best management but does support the best financial security for the business.

Skintsaver

During the tool box talk we was all accused of not booking lost time for Collecting materials, rubbish runs, spending too much time at wholesalers not doing online training, booking time to responding to emails or calls ect... I might respond/read to 15/20emails in the course of my day. Collect materials for one job only or pre order and collect for 10 jobs to put all this on a timesheet is excessive something which has never been done before or told to do

We've always booked to the job which they could then recover the cost from the client. Not all jobs have job numbers and this way of working has worked over 10 years for me and longer for the other guys.

But my point is when a toolbox ends is the time I book to and to the end of my contractual hours if it's less than 30mins remaining for the day. In this case I actually left work later than normal and didn't claim the extra.

I'm glad I've had the discussion about how I feel and hopefully after my meeting yesterday we can move forward and both communicate better. Definitely glad I raised I wasn't happy being told to f off. And on a separate occasion accused of ill timekeeping and don't like being belittled and not listened too.