New job woe sorry this is long need urgent advise

[Macey78]

i Came across a job purely by accident in the same profession I’m in within the borough that I live in and thought you know what I’ll apply and see what happens, it’s less money as it doesn’t get inner London weighting but I’ll be closer to home, which in turn should give me more time at home due to less commuting am in the office 5 days no working from home.

At interview I asked specific questions to enable me to make a decision if this would be the right move for me so I asked where the job would be based and they said in the Library with 1 day working in another library on the edge of the borough, I told myself it’s 1 day a week it’ll be manageable, still allow me to take my kids to school 4 days a week and then have a 10min walk to the location.

when I was offered the job I again asked about the location and told yep
4 days locally 1 day edge of the borough we talked about my commute and how I’d walk locally and to the other location get the bus or try and cycle!

once the contract came through I sent an email on 15/5 to the service manager to advise of existing leave I have planned could this be honoured and could I now get a better idea of what a typical week looks like no reply, I sent a follow up a week later and no reply, then I sent a text today and she said she’ll get the team leader to call me to discuss further.

team leader called and I don’t know the tone didn’t seem right and she said you’ll be working 4 days a week at the site in the edge of the borough and 1 day locally, I was so taken aback as I’d never have agreed to take the role on had it been said that this was the case previously, she was also at the interview and should know that this was a question I specifically honed in on at interview, I said this was not what I was informed and she said well this is the need that we have that requires you there!! I didn’t say much else said ok and we wrapped up the conversation.

I texted the service manager and asked to speak with her and she did call me very pleasant in the phone and found her to be so the entire process, explained what I was told and she said nope leave it with me and I’ll talk to the team leader and call you back.

in the meantime I’ve gone to my current job and said hold fire on my notice because if this is the location they want the to
work at I’m not going and also too see if my notice period could be revoked if needed.

service manager comes back very nice saying she’s told the team leader that I’ll be locally 4 days and 1 day at the edge if the borough this may be more in emergencies if there is sickness to cover.

i believe her but can I trust her! She is going to put in writing to me and I asked her to opt the team leader into
the email. Why wasn’t this communicated amongst them before now?

i need to really think about this the reason i was going for this job beating in mind it paid more because
local to home
see my children to school and be more present for them
working local means I can pop to the GP in my lunch hour
go/dentist I do need to see regularly and could do this in my lunch hour or even before work without having to take leave for it
school holidays my kids can meet me for lunch or come
mewt me after work
be home quicker

cons the working environment won’t be as nice as the service that I’d be working in is squeezed into a library

would be on call rota some weekends

it’s not as organised as where I’m coming from

people go to the current service I’m at to see how we do things so they can try and replicate that

cons in current job
-team of 14 only 2 people allowed off at anytime
-more than half the team has kids the school holidays is a bum fight
-flexible working requests turned down -based on we are a from line service and business needs have to come first
-made to feel lucky that we have this job
if we don’t like things to move on
-I but annual leave £1000 for a week told I can’t take this on a Monday/Friday/ school holidays or popular leave dates
-some colleagues gas light you into thinking you need to leave as it’s toxic here to meet their own agenda of wanting to achieve something within the service

pros current job
i live the work just not how we are managed
I know what I’m doing I don’t have to ask anyone
the money for what I do is ok

cab anyone help me navigate this

if you’ve read this far thank you and any comments appreciated

I wouldn't take the new job. They mentioned 'covering the edge of the borough' more in times of sickness etc and my worry would be they are permanently short staffed at that site and so you get put there more often.

I would keep looking to leave you current job though.

sounds Like a tricky one to think through. The local one is only viable if actually local….my concern is the lack of Comms between service manager and team leader…sounds like they would always be pushing you to cover on the edge of the Borough…can you meet them both together to talk this through and see how formally you can cement the 4:1 ratio?

I wouldn't trust them you will end up at the other site more and more as time goes by

If you’ve get the locations in writing, would there be scope to say you’ll drop the kids off and then go to the further away office? And you would just get there later.

Not sure how much flexibility there would be in the working day?

Red flags are popping up everywhere with this new jobs. Also not a great start with the team leader that you went around her, not that I blame you but she will remember that.

Thanks everyone this is my worry that I get there and I’m stuck!! What I do know that the team leader is due to go on mat leave at some point and her post will need covering and when being offered the post I was told that there may be scope for development and that they will be looking for cover for that particular post was that a carrot no doubt others there already may be better suited or very interested

having said all of that though I’m really getting good feet - she’s meant to be confirming the location in writing but it won’t be in my contract so potentially someone could come
along and say well it’s changing to x location!

my current job, my line manager and her manager don’t get on and staff who are managed by my line manager tend to have to suffer for this, they do this, she said,she said and the you don’t know who’s telling the truth and messes with your head and it can get too much! Lots of people have been there too long, work boundaries are blurred between people who’ve worked there some time,but are too comfortable to leave.

our current service manager how she talks in meetings is shocking this is due to over time herself having a number of managers who don’t actually know what our service fully does and therefore are led by whatever the service manager tells them and isn’t basically managed allowing her to do what she likes and telling us we have to be in 5days and can’t offer flexible working due to the nature of the business

in all honesty I don’t want to work at all anymore anywhere but like everyone else need this to live

No don't take the new job if you are only taking it due to locality. I worked in a Community nurse team on the north side of a huge city right by where I lived. The role changed and we were being dragged all over the city dependent on staffing needs and service demand. Managers cared not one jot for any of us who had been in post at that base for many years. Luckily I moved house and found a job on my door step.

They don't sound organised, responsive or consistent. Even if the location issue is sorted out, that doesn't bode well. I think you should stay where you are if it's possible.

Thanks I’m heading that way - been living in a leaving bumble the last 3 weeks I’d be outta my current place 🙄