Problems at work

[Lithium05]

Hello my fellow efestivalites.

Over the past few months I have been having problems at work. In a nutshell my job is data processing, and I have a benchmark of 4000 "items" to process each week.

Up until around January/February, I was meeting this benchmark comfortably, usually by a couple of thousand. Then my workload was cut, and my main source of work responsible for 2/3 of my weekly output was taken away, and I was not given anything to replenish my workload.

Since then my figures have been well below the 4000 mark and I have had a couple of diciplinary hearings, in the hearings I was told I need to inform my manager on Thursdays if I don't think I will make my target. due to the fact I laid out that, with the work given to me, I was only reaching around 2000 a week, and with no way to check how I'm doing, I can't inform my manager ahead of time a program was put in place so I could check on Thursday exactly how much more work I needed to reach my weekly target. The week this was in place I made my benchmark. There have been technical difficulties the weeks following, but I have been telling my manager I won't hit my targets, so no further diciplinary issues have yet been raised.

This morning an email was sent round from my manager's manager saying that due to technical issues, the weekly Thursday update to see how we are doing can no longer be run due to technical issues, which was followed by the loud obese woman who was running these updates to shout out (so she didn't have to get up and walk the 6 yards to her office) to the sender of this email "we can still run them", at which point the boss came out of her office and had a quiet word...

Now, call me paranoid, but it seems to me they could send out these emails, but are chosing not to.

Add to all of the above that at the end of May my manager shouted at me and a girl who does the same job as me for not doing something we actually had done (he shouted at us like we were children who hadn't done our homework) she then refused to go to private meetings with said manager because he frightened her, and she was ultimately sacked in a process that was rushed through while I was at Download so was not able to be a witness.

Basically I feel like I am working for horrible petty people who are trying to get rid of me, as they are well aware I don't have enough to do to meet the weekly benchmark, but won't give me anymore work to make up my numbers.

I hope all this made sense as I could really do with some advice (I am looking for another job, but have thus far been unsuccessful). If I get sacked do I have a case for wrongful dismissal? Any grey areas let me know and I'll try and clarify my meaning.

[The Nal]

Id ask for a meeting with your manager, and their manager and talk to them about it. You've nothing to lose if youre looking for a new job anyway and they’ll know youre onto them/concerned/interested etc. Don’t take any shit fro them basically, even if they are c**ts.

Ive a meeting later in the month with the head of the department here and Ill be bringing up similar issues to him, about them moving goalposts etc. Sitting there doing nothing isn’t an option. If youre not happy, tell them.

[RABun]

Make sure you have evidence, emails etc and minutes from your disciplinary meetings. Then walk out the door, and sue them for Constructive Dismissal. Also see your local GP and make sure it is noted how much stress you are under because of unreasonable demands at work.

I'm no expert but its what i would do and i'm sure someone with legal knowledge will come along and tell you why this isnt a good idea soon.

[RABun]

oh you have to go through proper greivance procedurtes first.

[The Nal]

Actually scrap my original idea.

Go out and buy a machine gun and maybe a couple of handguns. Have a shot of whiskey for breakfast and go into the office and kill everyone. Problem solved. And if you end up on the run and cornered by the police, just give Gazza a bell.

Edit - A few hand grenades may help. Also have a look into explosive crossbows.

Edited July 20, 2010 by The Nal

[t8yman]

Put your concerns into writing to your immedeate line manager. Point out that your are more than capable of hitting target - providing you are given the necessary tools to do the job. tell them you enjoy working there (even if you dont) and intend to do all in your ability to make sure you remain employed there. Tell them you are concerned that you have been disciplined over matters that you have little influence over.

if you dont recieve a satisfactory response, go over your managers head to his boss.

keep stuff in writing, even taking notes of discussions may be worth nothing unless they are had in front of other people.

if they are building a case for dismissal, as you suspect - you should build a case outlining your ability and willingness to do the job they pay you for.

[Lithium05]

Make sure you have evidence, emails etc and minutes from your disciplinary meetings. Then walk out the door, and sue them for Constructive Dismissal. Also see your local GP and make sure it is noted how much stress you are under because of unreasonable demands at work.

I'm no expert but its what i would do and i'm sure someone with legal knowledge will come along and tell you why this isnt a good idea soon.

[RABun]

I was considering contacting my local GP anyway, maybe it's the stress, maybe it's the fact that I've spent the last 2 and a half years in a job that I can actually feel crushing my soul, but I think I might be bordering on depression. Every morning I consider calling in sick and just staying in bed, every day I feel like the "wiggle your big toe" scene in Kill Bill, it's that much of a struggle to get up and go to work.

[oafc0000]

Hello my fellow efestivalites.

Over the past few months I have been having problems at work. In a nutshell my job is data processing, and I have a benchmark of 4000 "items" to process each week.

Up until around January/February, I was meeting this benchmark comfortably, usually by a couple of thousand. Then my workload was cut, and my main source of work responsible for 2/3 of my weekly output was taken away, and I was not given anything to replenish my workload.

Since then my figures have been well below the 4000 mark and I have had a couple of diciplinary hearings, in the hearings I was told I need to inform my manager on Thursdays if I don't think I will make my target. due to the fact I laid out that, with the work given to me, I was only reaching around 2000 a week, and with no way to check how I'm doing, I can't inform my manager ahead of time a program was put in place so I could check on Thursday exactly how much more work I needed to reach my weekly target. The week this was in place I made my benchmark. There have been technical difficulties the weeks following, but I have been telling my manager I won't hit my targets, so no further diciplinary issues have yet been raised.

This morning an email was sent round from my manager's manager saying that due to technical issues, the weekly Thursday update to see how we are doing can no longer be run due to technical issues, which was followed by the loud obese woman who was running these updates to shout out (so she didn't have to get up and walk the 6 yards to her office) to the sender of this email "we can still run them", at which point the boss came out of her office and had a quiet word...

Now, call me paranoid, but it seems to me they could send out these emails, but are chosing not to.

Add to all of the above that at the end of May my manager shouted at me and a girl who does the same job as me for not doing something we actually had done (he shouted at us like we were children who hadn't done our homework) she then refused to go to private meetings with said manager because he frightened her, and she was ultimately sacked in a process that was rushed through while I was at Download so was not able to be a witness.

Basically I feel like I am working for horrible petty people who are trying to get rid of me, as they are well aware I don't have enough to do to meet the weekly benchmark, but won't give me anymore work to make up my numbers.

I hope all this made sense as I could really do with some advice (I am looking for another job, but have thus far been unsuccessful). If I get sacked do I have a case for wrongful dismissal? Any grey areas let me know and I'll try and clarify my meaning.

[Lithium05]

*edit* Also get your CV together now and starting send it to recruitment agencies.

[rabid]

Already done. In fact I went for a meeting at a recruitment agency last week and they were stunned I was still earning so little after two an a half years at the company.

[oafc0000]

Remember, recruitment agency staff are basically just sales people. They'll tell you anything to try and sell a job to you.

[Lithium05]

Because I've nothing better to do in my lunch break here's a bit of personal history:

At secondary school we were being taught the wrong curriculum for our Science, Maths and Business GCSEs because the headmistress was embezzling funds. Predicted Bs and Cs turned to Ds and Es.

This meant at college I was forced to take a GNVQ in IT rather than A-Level, due to less than 5 GCSE A-Cs (despite an A in History and Spanish I was able to take neither at A-Level thanks to the GCSE scores. I re-took maths GCSE so I could take A-Level classes the following year. I was given an incomplete time table so only ended up attending half the classes in my IT GNVQ, this wasn't picked up on until the new year. I had missed whole modules but still manage to pass. I got a B in GCSE maths and moved up to A-Level classes.

I then started to slack off a bit, fed up with the way I had been messed around, ultimately I left college and started working retail. I spent 4 years flitting around jobs until my parents convinced me to take an IT Course to try and build a career. I got a loan and paid nearly £8,000 for a course I could do in my own time while working. No deadlines were mentioned. After around 6 months of using my limited free time I was preparing to take my first of 7 exams... Around this time I received a phone call reminding me I had just a couple more months to finish the course.... That was the first I heard of the course having a deadline. They provided me with lesson time to help me meet this deadline. Unfortunatley these lessons were taught by someone who I couldn't understand at all as he could barely speak English. Needless to say, this was a dead end.

I then started applying for office jobs, again as suggested by my parents who dont perceive work in retail as a "real job" they'd apparently prefer me to spend my time bore out of my mind sat at a desk, gaining weight, earning fractionally more than I would in a retail job.

This ordeal has made me realise I do not want to spend my life behid a desk, I have considered doing a course to get a HGV licence as I enjoy driving, and it means the view out of the window would be constantly changing. Trouble is I don't trust any of the training providers due to how consistenty I've been f*cked over in the past.

What I need is a career. I don't like desk work, I have no more interest in IT. Any suggestions?

[Paul ™]

I'd just walk, sod doing a job you don't really enjoy under those circumstances.

[eFestivals]

It sounds to me like the company is in financial trouble, and is looking to lose staff in the most financially viable way possible - by sacking them.

So on the basis of that, I'd say keep on keeping records of everything that goes on to cover your own back in the short-term, but try and find a job elsewhere as there's no future where you are.

[Lithium05]

For f*ck sake. It gets worse :angry:

Noticed my manager, his boss and a woman from H.R. meeting in a nearby office, having not done anything in breech of what was laid out by my previous diciplinary hearing, I assumed someone else was in the shit. I was wrong. Just been told I've got another f*cking disiplinary meeting coming up, because, despite the fact that I've done everything by the book, I still had low figures last week, and a meeting has been called with HR and the managers, despite the fact I informed the manager that due in part to not having the time/work to make up the figures due to the fact that he gave me a shit load of other stuff to do last week that doesn't count towards the figure, and that took up half my time

So now, not only have they not given me enough work to meet the target, they've also given me loads of stuff to do that doesn't count towards it, so I can't try and make up the numbers by helping others with any excess work, because I don't have time.

F*ck this shit, I'm reaching the end of my rope, I can't bare another one of these f*cking meetings where all those c*nts act like they're in the right, and I'm the prick getting it wrong

[Lithium05]

My membership kicks in Monday.

[omskus]

Walk - if you are doing the job right and they are putting forward targets that cannot be met as they are ballsing up its time to get out of there with your dignity and mind in tact.

You'll know deep inside yourself that you are doing good work - they can send you crazy by putting you through those meetings where they will put forward the case that you are to blame/need improvement etc.

You need to think of yourself.

Jobs are available if funds are short - it just may not be the one you are looking for just now.

[Lithium05]

You know what has just occured to me? Maybe the reason they keep calling these meetings is that they are waiting for me to concede I'm at fault over something. If they fire me when I'm presenting a valid argument they'd have to pay a serverence package and I could do them for wrongful dismissal. If I accept I'm at fault they'd have me by the balls and I wouldn't get shit.

I've emailed some colleagues this afternoon. Looks like I could well have an ally, and something to back-up my arguments. Turns out someone who does a similar job to me is in a similar situation and it's bein treated completely differently.

[gratedenini]

Just read all this thread. Hmmmmnnnnn... reading between the lines --i think No1 has got it about right... things are going tits up and they are putting the squeeze on.

I cant accept walking out under these circs. Nah.

It must be tough-- but walking out is piss poor imo. Not saying dont do it mind....but in these tough times..it doesnt augur well for any future employers really.

So, what to do?

Stick it out and look. I think tbh--you are posting in a sounding board sort of way. You want out really dont you.And you will be quietly pleased in a funny sort of way if they do bladder you.

From a more rigid point of view... yes--if you want to take things further--you take the advice alrready given.

den

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Just read all this thread. Hmmmmnnnnn... reading between the lines --i think No1 has got it about right... things are going tits up and they are putting the squeeze on.

I cant accept walking out under these circs. Nah.

It must be tough-- but walking out is piss poor imo. Not saying dont do it mind....but in these tough times..it doesnt augur well for any future employers really.

So, what to do?

Stick it out and look. I think tbh--you are posting in a sounding board sort of way. You want out really dont you.And you will be quietly pleased in a funny sort of way if they do bladder you.

From a more rigid point of view... yes--if you want to take things further--you take the advice alrready given.

den

[t8yman]

DO NOT WALK

by the sound of things they are doing what Neil said above, trying to offload staff without paying out redundancy. they cannot get rid of you based on the details you have given. one false move by them and they are up shit street. take the advice above on the union rep being at your disciplinary, and if it takes every fibre in your being - be punctual, and dont appear that they are grinding you down.

if you handle yourself correctly - they cannot get rid of you without very good reason, believe me, I have been taken to a tribunal - the odds are not stacked in the employers favour.

[oafc0000]

if you handle yourself correctly - they cannot get rid of you without very good reason, believe me, I have been taken to a tribunal - the odds are not stacked in the employers favour.

Edited July 20, 2010 by oafc0000

[gratedenini]

What gets me about RIGHTS nowadays is that an employee can be bang to rights guilty of gross misconduct...but cant be instantly dismissed without the RIGHT proceedure and has to be suspended on full pay---and even after the inevitable outcome--can still appeal AND ask for f**kin holiday pay.

I`m all for equality and rights etc etc---but otoh, i`m old school---and if yer get caught--you walk.

The car trade was absolutely notorious for lads getting bladdered for f**k all... i`ve seen it so so many times...bloke would walk in on the morning---and be bladdered and be off the lot with his cardboard box of stuff in 10 mins...and nobody batted an eye.

Progress? I`m not sure.

den

[t8yman]

I had a bloke who admitted when challenged that he had nicked £800 from me, 15 years service.

He even signed a statement saying so. I still couldnt sack him without doing an investigation and suspending him on full pay.