Please come and help me put some perspecitve about this work issue as I am very upset about it (but not sure I should be)!

[ceebee74]

4 months ago, due to a restructure, me and 2 colleagues started new roles (all the same). One of my colleagues was already experienced in the job whereas me and another colleague had no experience (other than a professional qualification) but given on-the-job training/coaching/mentoring etc to pick the job up.

I work 24 hours a week and my colleague works 30 hours a week - the work was shared out fairly equally between us 2 (the experienced colleague works full-time and has got a bigger share of the work) which is not really fair but I accepted it at that point.

However, 4 months down the line, my colleague is really not coping with the work, she can't get the hang of it and is basically struggling (despite numerous coaching sessions etc) and things are just not being done/things are forgotten etc giving the department a bad reputation.

My manager has now decided to take half the work off her on a permanent basis (and fill that time with 'project work' whatever that is!) and most of the other half on a temporary basis to allow her to find her feet, have time to read up and learn about what we deal with.

Now, I feel quite put out about this as I work 6 hours a week less than her, get paid less than her - yet we had the same amount of work to do and now she is going to have less work to do in more time than me, on more money and it just seems really unfair. When I mentioned it to my manager, she just said that 'that is life' and in all walks of life we will always come across situations where some people work harder than others and others will do less.

I don't know why I feel so upset about it as I am not getting any of the work that she is losing - should I be upset? And is there anything I can do as my manager has basically said that is the way it is and live with it. I share an office with my colleague and I get on well with her and of course I want her to be able to cope with the job but is still seems like I am being taken for a mug somehow.

What do you think? (sorry for the length )

[flowerybeanbag]

hi ceebee

My initial question is are you coping reasonably well with your workload on your hours? It's all very well comparing how much work you each have but if you are good and efficient at your job and someone else is not up to it, that's not necessarily the best comparison. I am assuming you are paid less because of your fewer hours? In which case a direct comparison of the pay issue isn't really possible either, unless you are thinking you should be paid more because you are better at the job and require less support?

As you are not being piled up with your colleagues work I don't think you are being taken for a mug tbh. Am I right in remembering that you work in HR? Would you like to email me for a more detailed chat? Flowery dot beanbag at ntlworld dot com

[oops]

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[oops]

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[bran]

I'm guessing that you work for the public sector or at a university or something like that? It sounds as though you have a very structured pay-scale, probably that you rise up according to years of experience and you can only leap onto the next scale up if you get promoted or apply for a higher job within the organisation. In that case I think you have to accept the situation as it is, the upside is that you probably have a lot of job security and you can't get demoted and the downside is that there is a limit to how quickly you can rise no matter how talented or motivated you are.

If you're in the private sector where pay scales etc is much looser then hassle for a pay rise by showing how much more productive you are than the average.

This is why I couldn't work in the public sector, it would really piss me off if others around me didn't pull their weight. Although in your colleagues case it's a little more forgivable as she is trying.

[Tinker]

Is your s not working oops? You sound like Zsa Zsa

[yetihed]

I can see your point, ceebee. It does seem pretty unfair, but what would you do in the manager's position? She can't let things continue as they are and has to try to help your colleague cope better.

Could you give it a few weeks/months to see if your colleague gets the hang of it? She may then take on more work again? Maybe she knows something about your colleague's circumstances which you don't which means she needs extra support at the moment?

Seems to me it's ok as long as it's a temporary situation. Do you have some kind of appraisial system where you could argue the case for a pay rise? If not, then I guess the main benefit for you is something fabulous on your CV and a great reference should you ever need it.

[cktwo]

Oops - the bank holidays should be allocated pro-rata. No-one should miss out on their statutory right to have Bank Holidays.

[ceebee74]

Flowery - yes I do work in Hr and will e-mail you if I get a chance - thanks Although I realise in my job, I should know how to handle this but I think it is just too close to home!

Cat - I do manage my workload - but I only have a lunch break on average once a month and I do bring stuff home with me quite a lot but that helps me feel better because I keep on top of things that way and takes the stress away a little (we are all overloaded as they have not filled the spare hours from me and my colleague yet)

[ceebee74]

Yetihead - I realise that my manager has no choice to do what she is doing and it is made harder because we all have a really good working relationship with each other.

I realise that I probably am being a bit unfair which is why I thought putting it on here and getting other's peoples views would make me realise that.

[madamez]

Ceebee74 - but the great joy of MN is that you can come and rant and be as footstampingly 'Waaah! Not FAIR!' as you like, and feel much better for it. I don't understand Proper Workplaces well enough to advise you but I hope you get a satisfactory resolution anyway.

[WideWebWitch]

I don't think you are being taken for a mug. You're doing a job you're paid to do and doing it well and rising to a new challenge by the sound of it.

My reading is that you're coping and she's not.
And she's not not coping deliberately, she's just less able than you.

So as far as your manager is concerned you are a high performing and easy to manage employee and the other employee isn't as 'easy' to manage because she needs extra help/coaching to do her job.

I think you could easily make a case for asking for a pay rise but you should do so on the basis of YOUR good performance, not anything to do with anyone else. Anyone else's performance is their issue.

I think if you have issues with your workload you need to raise that as an entirely separate issue. If your manager then sees it as related that's her prerogative (and it probably IS) but the issue is that YOU have too much work, not WHY. That performance aspect of your colleague is for your manager to deal with.

[oops]

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[flowerybeanbag]

ceebee emailed you

[Eeek]

Oops - your Bank holidays should be alloated pro rata. So if a full timer gets 20% of her week off, I get 20% of my part time week off. In our case the Monday worker actually loses out because she should work 7 hours on the Bank Holiday, can't because the place is shut, but only gets around 4 hours off. She ends up actually owing time for each Monday bank holiday. Anything else is actually discriminatory because the vast majority of part-timers are women; indirect discrimination but still discrimination.

[oops]

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[mazzystar]

I think I would try to give a positive spin to this - it sounds like your manager values your team and wants to give your colleague every chance she can to become competent - surely you would want the same attitude to be extended to you. And surely your colleague will still have a workload appropriate to her payscale, even if it is "project work"? Do you have performance-related pay? At your next review make sure that you flag up how well you have adapted to your new role and are dealing with your workload, and make it clear that you expect this to be recognised/ acknowledged

[Freckle]

Can I add that there is no statutory right to bank holidays? Unless there is specific provision in your contract that bank holidays are given in addition to your statutory holiday, your employer is within their rights to insist that you take them out of your annual leave. Of course, you may have cause to complain if some employees' contracts grant bank holidays and some don't.

[tigermoth]

I do feel for you and, tbh, if things are not being done/forgotten by your colleague, this must surely have a knock-on effect with the rest of the department, including you?

Also, you say from the start, you have been given a slightly unfair workload compared to your colleague - the work is divided 50:50 between you, yet she works six hours a week more than you do. If this was the arrangement even before you both showed how much or little work you could get through, then something is not right.

I work on the public sector and have, in the past, worked with a colleague who was blatantly not getting through her work and people chose to ignore this. I didn't make an issue of it to anyone but yes, it did wind me up.

I agree with everyone that it will not do you much good to talk to your manager purely to compare your workloads - people do work at different paces and your manager may know something about your colleague that you don't.

But I think you do have to look closely at what you do actually do and flag up any problems immediately with your manager. Be positive, offer constructive solutions, but make sure she realises you are not some obliging mug who will keep the peace at all costs. Also, (perhaps when you have been there a bit longer) make it clear that you are ambitious and will seek promotion.

If work pressure means you are routinely missing lunch hours, then you must say so asap. And also, do you want more training? Even if you can manage the work, are there any training courses you'd that would extend your own knowledge (especially as your colleague is getting a lot of extra training time). Why not suggest some courses to your manager?

I know you say you get on well with your manager, but if her attitude is 'that's life' to your worries about unfair workload, are you sure she has your best interests at heart?

As she is not acknowledging your worries, what else is she not acknowledging?
When her managers look at the work the department is doing as a whole, it's possible she won't be crediting individuals who have worked particularly hard.

Looking at the future, she herself could take the credit for your hard work and deliberately keep you down. She could easily be doing this and still be friendly to you. There is such a thing as being too good at your job.

[ceebee74]

Thanks for all the wise words on here - after a night's sleep I have calmed down a little bit about the situation.

But, just wanted to say that Oops is correct about the bank holiday situation as I have been doing some research at work into this. It is not illegal to give more bank holidays to a part-timer who works the first half of the week than a part-timer who works the second half of the week. A lot of companies do (mine included) but it is not a legal right. You would only be discriminating against part-timers if a full-timer who, say didn't work Mondays, was given those bank holidays that they did not work back but did not do the same for a part-timer who did not work Mondays. Does this make sense?