To make a complaint to employer about not having enough support to do my job

[Mumontherocks1]

Just that really. When I got my job ten years ago I had a full time assistant. Due to changes my assistant was moved to a different department and wasnt replaced. I had no support and after really struggling I went on stress leave. OH intervened and told my boss that I was not coming back until support was put in place.

I finally got an assistant and I went back to work. Unfortunately the appointee's work was of a very poor standard and ended up causing me more problems. Our line manager put him on performance management but screwed it up so badly that the assistant took a bullying and harassment case against me. The case wasn't upheld but I was back to square one with no support.

I have spoken to my boss about the lack of support and have emailed him several times and nothing has happened. I most recently spoke to him after the Christmas break and he said I could get support from a clerical officer. She doesn't know how to do the job and has her own job to do.

I was so far behind that I am starting to get complaints. Last week he took me to task over it. I'm back to square one again! I've reported it to HR and have set up a meeting. I will speak to OH again.

I can't take much more sick leave as I was on an extended period of stress with a close relative who was terminally ill and subsequently died.

I would love to hear if anyone has ever been in a similar situation and has any advice. Needless to say it is the civil service. Thank you very much for reading.

Are you unionised? That seems important right now. And seek their advice if this isn't resolve through work.

I'm a bit you let your OP get involved with your manager re work and sick leave, that's usually not such a good idea for many reasons! I wouldn't advise that again.

I think OP meant Occupational Health not her other half that made an intervention!

Limon thanks for replying. Yes it is unionised. The HR rep said I need to try to resolve it informally first and I am meeting with my boss & HR.

I would argue that I've tried the informal approach several times already but I will go to the meeting.

You need to e-mail your line manager and provide updates on what work is falling behind and ask if you can meet to discuss what the priorities are and what pieces of work can be left given that you don't have any assistance. That way you have been upfront about it and he can't claim he didn't know.

Could you train the admin officer to do some of the stuff?

Good advice Beryl I will do that. The admin officer doesn't have the time to do it and part of the job is quite specialised and can't be taught in an ad hoc way.

The bottom line is that the post needs support and someone to provide cover when I'm off. As it stands I can't take anything other than a few days leave. The backlog when I come back is ridiculous.

To add insult to injury there is a member of staff in our department who is the same grade as me. Nobody knows what she does, she socialises half the day. She's just back from a month off and nobody covered for her and she wasn't missed.

Oh haha!

I'm dying to know now OP, did you mean occupational health or your partner?

Occupational Health!! If my OH intervened in my work issues my boss would be hauled outside. He i.e. my boss isn't a very nice person. OH on the otherhand is a pet.

lol

Thanks for clearing it up. That gave me a good laugh.

I read ask a manager blog all the time (highly recommend, it's brilliant) and you'd be amazed the number of people who do write in about spouses and even boyfriends and girlfriends getting involved in their work, emailing their boss without permission, causing other issues. You also see people on here talking about getting involved in their adult child's workplace dispute so I just put two and two together and made five!

I will definitely check out the blog! I keep hearing about parents who contact employers about their offsprings' work issues. I was hoping it was an urban myth.

In my experience it's pretty rare these days for civil servants to have an assistant as such (unless director level or above)... do you have a wider team you could draw on for extra capacity?

Can you look for another job? Sounds like you've been going round in circles long enough.

I had a full time assistant when I got the job. I know of other public authourity employees in a different sector who do my job with less duties at a higher grade than me.

The plan was to have a pool of clerical assistants but the boss never got around to doing that.

I live in a region of the UK which is rural and good jobs are not easy to come by. If I lived in or near a city I would stand a better chance. I can't move for another few years until DC are on their feet properly.

Thanks for posting. I just feel completely demoralised and being able to talk about it is really helping.

You got the job 10 years ago before the financial crisis, austerity and massive civil service job cuts. Things have changed.

Clearly you need some support, but it's worth thinking about how that might be achieved - for instance, which more straightforward tasks you could hive off, etc. In the meantime you'll probably have to hold your nerve and make it clear that you are working as hard as you can (but without doing masses of overtime/missing out on leave). At some point your bosses will have to accept that your area needs more resources.

I think you need to sit down with your boss and talk about either resourcing your area so you can deliver against your current remit, or reducing the scope of your role so you can realistically meet its objectives. Be really clear that the current situation is unworkable, and have as much evidence as you can gather that you are a) asking for support and b) used to have that support.

Irene the amount of money currently being wasted in the organisation is eye watering.

I really appreciate your advice. I'm going to have to hold my nerve at the meeting. I've been feeling sick all weekend just thinking about it. I will make it clear that I am working as hard as I can.

I have been working evenings and don't see any of my colleagues staying late. In fact someone on my grade does bugger all and went on a months leave and nobody covered his work. He just sauntered back in.

I didnt meet a deadline and all hell broke loose. I suppose at least it highlighted a weakness. I'm totally dreading going back to work. It got highlighted to senior management. I feel sick just thinking about it.

Thanks so much for replying.

Has your meeting happened yet OP? It's difficult in your situation as you working additional hours is only masking the issue. Despite you repeatedly asking for resources. While there is no resolution I would suggest not working additional hours

The meeting is happening tomorrow morning Prosceco. Im awake wondering what will happen. I'm just going to try to be very calm and see what happens. Thanks for your message I will let you know how it goes.

None of this is worth your mental and/or physical health. It’s clear they are pushing you out and have been for some time. You have to weigh it up. Maybe leaving with your hea held high and a good reference is better than dragging this on and being forced out with a basic reference for all your hard work and leave feeling broken. You are better than them and smarter than them.
Find a way to make it work without them. X

Hopefully they won't try to turn this around into a performance meeting, but if they do try, make sure you tell them that it is not your performance but the resourcing that is the issue, and you have been telling them for ages. Also tell them about the fact you work late so often (and stop doing that).

I have no idea what it is you do, but can you suggest using some sort of prioritisation matrix for your work? Also is there any room for cutting out unnecessary work using process mapping? I work in the public sector and my experience is that people do things because they always have - as a manager I am constantly asking my team to challenge what they do to see if a) they need to do it, or b) if they could do it in a different way.

Obi and Beryl you were both spot on. They said support had been provided and I didn't tell them I was getting behind. I provided them with copies of email correspondence dating back to 2012 highlighting my concern but it appears that that wasn't enough.

They barely let me speak and any time I interjected they told me to just listen and stop interrupting. Several times the HR person said 'just listen to yourself'. It was a complete and utter nightmare.

They are feeding some of my work to 2 other staff so I can focus on a major task from now until til July. I am so shocked I can't even cry.

I'm not sure I have the energy to take a grievance. I'm basically just stunned. My boss who is a dickhead spoke to me like I was a piece of crap and also spoke over me several times.

There are very few jobs where I live and I need to work another 12 years until I'm just over 60 to even pay the mortgage and run my life. If I don't work I wont be able to pay my bills.

Totally grim day. Im really struggling to try to find something positive to say.

Thanks again for replying.

Sorry to hear that Mumontherocks. Did you have a friend with you?

I would be inclined to follow the meeting up with an email stating you were disappointed that you weren't given an opportunity to provide a proper explanation during your meeting, as you were told on several occasions to just listen and stop interrupting. I would then reiterate your points about the lack of resourcing, the number of times you have brought this to their attention, and the lack of adequate assistance. An untrained clerical officer who has their own full-time role is not adequate assistance.

Can I ask what grade you are?

IME it is really difficult to remove someone for under performance in the civil service so I would hang in there. Bosses come and go. Please don't attend any other meeting or discussion about this without being accompanied by a friend, preferably a union rep.

Sorry to hear this. Have they actually suggested you are underperforming/put you on an improvement plan? It's good that at least some of your work has been diverted to others to do.

Hi OP, and
You've been given good advice above, however can I add, do not make comparrisons to other people either in your team or elsewhere. It wont do you any favours, is irrelevant and comes across badly. Stick to the facts on your job.

Good Luckm

Thanks for your replies. They didn't say that I was under performing they said I hadn't informed them that I hadn't enough support. I presented them with copies of emails dating back to 2012 in which I advised that I did not have sufficient support to do my job.

They hardly let me say anything and kept saying that support had been provided. They eventually admitted that the support hadn't worked out but kept insisting it had beven provided nonetheless.

I really regret going to the meeting without my union rep. Prior to the meeting I told the HR rep that I wanted to be accompanied by my rep but they said that we should try to resolve it informally first.

Deep down I know they can't sack me. I've always done my work until it became impossible. There is a feeling that my boss will leave in the next couple of years so I will just ride it out.

I will email them a summary of my understanding of the discussion at the meeting. When I say discussion I mean attack.

OP - if you haven't been warned you are underperforming I'd leave this for now. Then keep your line manager informed (in person and by email) of how your workload is going and whether you are on track with everything, and arrange a review in a couple of months.