Big "fun" at work

[davepoth]

Let me go over the last few months before I come to the actual problem.

I had a bad year last year (lost my dad and due to her maternity leave had a temporary boss that hated me) which resulted in a "performance enhancement plan" that was in my view designed for me to fail. The company was so inept it took them 5 and a half months to get from deciding to discipline me to actually having the hearing, which unsurprisingly I lost, receiving a first written warning which is in effect for 12 months.

Just after the hearing the divisional HR lady at head office asked me to come and see her. I went down to head office and she took me into a side room, asked for the meeting to be "without prejudice" and attempted to pay me off (she asked me how much I wanted to leave the company quietly). I told her I didn't want to leave the company, and the meeting finished.

The next week my boss (who had returned from maternity leave by this point) started a new "performance enhancement plan" which was essentially the same as the old one. I brought up the "being paid off" issue and explained the seriousness of the situation.

Basically in the situation I was in, the conversation cannot be without prejudice (there was no chance of me being fired or made redundant immediately) so I pointed out to the company at that point that had I wanted to it would have been an open and shut constructive dismissal case.

This was not really actioned by the company and the Performance Enhancement Plan was put in place. Essentially it has allowed every manager and staff member in the entire place to dig at very minor flaws in my work (for example today I was told off for having a "tickle-me Elmo" on my desk which was a leftover from a charity shoebox shipment) and as a result my manager is about to go to disciplinary proceedings again.

I just wanted to hear the opinion of some other people to see where they think I stand.

[Ross1988]

You don't want to leave? They chastise your work? Criticise your choice of desk ornaments? Try and pay you off?

Your shagging the receptionist?


On a serious not, CAB would be a starting place, start making notes of when/where/if any attempts at trying to force you out occur, so you can build a case for unfair dismissal if the need arises.

All I can offer unfortunately, oh and seriously think about looking for a new job elsewhere, it sounds like you work with a feckwit of a boss/bosses

[Stu R]

Sounds like you're never going to enjoy it, and they're always going to want rid of you. Either get it to a tribunual if you've got a case, or just take the money and run assuming they don't try and stiff you on it.

[Chris_OCR]

I would seriously consider be emailing the HR lady and ask for another meeting, take the money and run!

[Tonberry]

This makes no sense. The following I am about to ask are serious questions.

Do you come across as a little weird?

Are you homosexual?

Are you the 'wrong' colour?

I'm struggling to understand why they would treat you like this.

Why has your old boss come back and put you on another performance plan? Was she alright with you before?

Is your job performance poor?

[Pothole]

WTF is a performance enhancement plan? do you actually mean a Performance Improvement Plan? Why didn't you meet the criteria set you in the plan?

[bonsai]

Have you thought about looking inwards to see why you're getting all these peoples backs up? There has, just has, to be a reason.

[dudleybloke]

what type of work do you do?

[birdcage]

Bangers and mash


Skyrocket


Offski


HTH

[don4l]

bonsai said:

Have you thought about looking inwards to see why you're getting all these peoples backs up? There has, just has, to be a reason.

^^^This.

Tell us more. Some of us might not be in a dissimiliar situation.;)


Don
--

[Conian]

did you name the elmo after the prophet Muhammad?

[davepoth]

Conian said:

did you name the elmo after the prophet Muhammad?

I probably should have.

It's a bit of a funny situation. I really enjoy the job, and the people I work with, but there's a bad atmosphere in the management. The managing director's mantra is "Winning isn't everything, it's the ONLY thing" and won't tolerate any "negativity". About 18 months or so ago my boss went on maternity leave and a temp was brought in to cover for her. Unfortunately the temp was quite awful at her job, and I spotted this quite quickly.

Sadly by this point she had already realised I was looking into her work, and had poisoned the Managing Director against me. Cue a (very badly hidden) covert investigation into my work, plenty of slanging matches, crying HR ladies, managers brought in from other sites to mediate, Performance Enhancement Plans (that's what we call them. Well the HR people do, I have several other names), 5 months of inept aborted disciplinary investigations and all they got out of it was a first written warning. And then the talk down at head office.

This wasn't enough though, and now either the MD or my direct boss have decided they want me out and were attempting to "performance manage" me out of the business. But the talk I had with the HR lady where she tried to pay me off made me realise that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

Stupidly, if you ask anyone apart from my line manager, and her line manager, I do my job very well. People from other divisions ring me up asking me questions about my job because of the expertise I have.

[worsy]

Take the dosh, life is too short.

[davepoth]

Looking at myself I can tell you that the time I have been at this company has left me somewhat cynical at the "new broom" approach of the MD. I've been there 6 years, and I've seen three MDs, and I can tell you that none of them have ever had a long term plan for the division I work in. It's one of the smallest divisions in the company and as a result is used as a first rung on the ladder for people earmarked for the board. So they move on pretty fast. It's all a lot of "Corporate Strategy" stuff, and then they try and get promoted before anybody actually notices it's not working.

I've spent my time there attempting to drive through improvements, but nobody ever sees the value, just the cost. But I know that there are several dozen people who depend on my expertise (the only time I was ever off on a sick note lasting more than a day a consultant had to be brought in being paid my weekly wage every day to do my job) and I count many of them as friends who I don't want to let down.

Plus I really love a fight and it's been a while since my court case...

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=1565...

[Pothole]

swerni said:

See how much they are offering.

Take the money and get a job for a descent company

Abseiling? Parachuting?

[Stevenj214]

swerni said:

See how much they are offering.

Take the money and get a job for a descent company

Could he get it paid as a "bonus", then still string them up for unfair dismissal?

[edc]

Stevenj214 said:

swerni said:

See how much they are offering.

Take the money and get a job for a descent company

Could he get it paid as a "bonus", then still string them up for unfair dismissal?

Not impossible but highly unlikely. For a comp agreement to be valid it has to be run by a suitable legal person. The employer will want something for their money and typically this will include the employee waivng all rights to any other claims. Despite all this it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that an inept company might attempt to put it through the payroll and sign an agreement which has no legal standing.

[Pothole]

swerni said:

Git

lol, sorry!

[Conian]

Dave, you're a trouble maker, and I know this because I am a trouble maker
could you come and work at my place for a while, so that my bosses can see that my trouble making is small fry compared to what you can do

[lestag]

swerni said:

See how much they are offering.

Take the money and get a job for a descent company

Wrong way round, find another job whist taking a constructive dismisal case