Called to a meeting - Possible disciplinary?

[Pebbles167]

Bit of a long one, but pistonheads has offered me great advice with other aspects of my life, why not my job.

Thanks to anyone who reads this. I apologise if it's poorly written, but I've had a few drinks tonight and i thought I'd get a post in before bed.

So, to summarise;:

I'm not happy at work. Although it's a good job, and pays well. The hours can either be very long and easy, or very short and hard, sometimes the other way around, and sometimes including staying away from home for weeks at a time. Either way the responsibility is big. Ive now been at the company for 2.5 years, (still not 100% fully qualified) and although i started with lots of enthusiasm, this has slowly seemed to lessen over that time as i realized that I'm generally just not performing as well as I'd like. Ultimately, i think I've bitten off more that i can (or am willing) to chew in my current role.

I work mixed days/nights as a machine operator in a team with 5 collegues including my line manager, all of whom are twice my age with much more mechanical experience. 3 of these guys started the same time as me, but have settled in better, something that has become more apparent over time. The guys i work with are nice enough, but none are my friends. Due to the age gap and different life circumstances, we find it hard to emphasise with eachother on most things. I for instance am divorced with a young daughter, who i am struggling to see as regularly as I'd like due to work commitments. The other guys are either long time married or have adult children. In one particularly busy and stressfull period recently i occasionally heard them mentioning my name in hushed tones during conversations when they thought i couldn't hear, and chat sometimes died when i entered the group. It made a rubhish time that little bit worse, and amplified my growing lack of confidence in the job.

Don't get me wrong, my line manager is a nice bloke, and i owe it to him for my employment. He's has had the occasional informal and light hearted word with me in the past about making mistakes and needing to be a bit more pro active with my work. After a string of small, but fairly stupid mistakes I've made over the last few months it would appear the time for friendly words has passed. Today I received a polite call off the department manager asking me to atend a meeting on Wednesday to discuss my performance and what is expected of me. I can only assume my line manager felt it necessary to escalate things. He will also be present.

Any ideas what this might be? I'd guess it won't be instant dismissal as I've not done anything especially deserving of that, and I've not had any formal warnings prior. I've armed myself with a few potential solutions to give them though, including moving into a 7am - 3pm day only role (albeit with a pay cut). I'm not sure how feasible this is though, as this particular role is primarily machine servicing and repair, the area in which I'm possibly struggling most. My idea woukd be that without the added pressure of night shifts and be able to apply myself better to this aspect of the job and perhaps solve this problem.

Naturally I'm quite worried.

There is probably a load more information i should be including, and i know I've basically reeled off a load of problems, but it's been a bad day, and I'm tired. Bed time. I'll just be grateful to anyone thst reads it and offers an opinion. Harsh truths, constructive criticism etc.. hell, I'll even take some outright insults.

Cheers, and goodnight.

Edited by Pebbles167 on Saturday 21st May 02:40

[StuTheGrouch]

From what you have described, and how I deal with people at work, I don't think it will be a formal 'chat'. If I was the department manager and your line manager had spoken to me about your performance then my approach would be, in the first instance, to talk to you about our expectations, your performance in general and then (crucially) to see if there was anything we could do to help you do your job to the best of your ability. What many managers fail to recognise is that some people have a lot going on outside work which affects their ability or employees are just not asking for help they need (e.g. unsure about procedures, unaware of tools available elsewhere, etc). Neither is a good excuse for poor performance but are possibles reasons; a bit of understanding and help from management goes a long way to getting more out of employees. This meeting could unearth these issues and get you some help, so don't be defensive.

I hope that helps. Don't overthink it for now, just wait until the meeting and see what they say. It won't be an instant dismissal though!

[4x4Tyke]

If they go by the book their first step will have to be some form of employee performance improvement plan.

So be prepared to offer suggestions on how to improve your performance and be very clear about the things that make your job hard and how the company can help you.

Avoid laying blame on others even if they do make your job harder, focus on the cause and effect part, try the approach "X is a difficulty I encounter, if Y could happen we could get Z benefit"

You should look at this an opportunity to grow as well as a warning.

[bitchstewie]

I would think possibly some kind of performance plan too, it's hard to say as different companies (and different departments in the same company) have different cultures and in ours you wouldn't typically be called to a meeting about performance without a really clear idea that there was an issue.

[slow_poke]

Doesn't sound like a disciplinary meeting. No notification of subject matter, no offer to have a colleague with you?

Take the chill pill. In these sort of situations you are your own worst enemy, anticipating & imagining all sorts of terrible reasons why they want to meet.

[Jasandjules]

You have nothing in writing? And no notice that you can take a colleague?

I suspect it will be a Performance Improvement Plan which will be implemented however the process will be flawed given the absence of the written request etc.

[Pebbles167]

I appreciate the replies everyone, so thanks for that.

I've not had anything in writing no. Just a call from the dept manager where he told me we'd "have a chat about how I'm doing, and to discuss my performance and what's expected of me" other than a text confirming the address of the hotel the meeting is at is all I've heard, nothing from my line manager and i dont think it would be professional to contact him before the meeting.

I'll follow what you've said about not being defensive and I'll have a decent go at explaining myself and producing so positive solutions.

I'll post up afterwards as a bit of an update,

Cheers

Edited by Pebbles167 on Sunday 22 May 11:32

[roofer]

Might be just to tell you to buck your ideas up and focus. If there are older, more experienced people around you, use them as an education, and thank them for it.