To think this is unfair? (Work)

[MouthFullofGum]

I hate my job. Want a new one but the area I want to go to I need training.

Thankfully I work for a large global company so was going to request shadowing/work experience etc

My manager has said I can have 1 hour every couple of weeks

I’ve worked there 3 years. I do more work than anyone (no bragging) and I thought companies were suppose to encourage growth and development

Better than nothing I would have thought. Its not the amount of time you get but what you can take from it

It's not unfair at all to me. You're wanting to use work time to not do the job they're paying you for.

An hour every few weeks is reasonable to get a feel for the new area. Then keep your eyes open for any internal vacancies.

Why should they pay you so you can do another job? Usually training is so you can advance in your current role, but it sounds like this is a major career shift. An hour every fortnight to train sounds like a good arrangement.

Hmm it's a little stingy but it's better than nothing. Are there any courses you can do in your evenings/mornings that will help? I've been trying to make a career side step for a number of years and have now resorted to the masters degree route into it.

Who is going to do the job your paid for while your doing your work experience though?

I think being allocated 1 hour every month to focus on your career progression is really positive. How much do you think you should have?

Sounds fine.

I very much doubt you do more work the anyone else in a large global company. Both your view of yourself and your expectations seem off...

Sorry I think it sounds pretty reasonable given that they are still paying you to do your day job. Is there any possibility of doing any training courses outside of work? Or shadowing around your current hours I
i.e. before/after work or over lunch?

Seems reasonable to me. I don't think my work would give me any hours to train unless I happened to be a loose end (which never happens).

However, if the new role you're aiming for is something that would benefit the company. For instance an area where they are short staffed and struggle to recruit, then explain and see if you can get more house with a goal to move roles at the end of training.

It'd also probably help if you show the willingness to sacrifice some of your own time towards the development. Get books, find an evening course, or online training. The company might pay for these especially if you're doing them in your own time.

Why should they pay you not to do your job?

Well I said I’d get all my work done in the day.

Without going into details of my job (because I’d bore you) but it’s a team of 20 that all do the same work.

Usually when I finish what I need to I’m expected to do other people’s work ... which after 3 years of doing you get pretty fed up of.

I very much doubt you do more work the anyone else in a large global company. Both your view of yourself and your expectations seem off...

There is such a thing as front line staff you know. I’m not boasting - the job is easy and very repetitive. You do it for 3 years and I’m positive you’d agree.

Also my previous manager would use probably about 2 days worth a week for training for a year.

Hence why she’s previous as she’s now left because she got a better job.

If you're given a day and the other 19 staff ask for the same, your manager needs to treat them equally. That's a lot of hours away from the team's designated work.

I’d get all my work done in the day. Does this mean you’d be doing the shadowing out of hours, or are you telling your manager you’re under employed? Be careful. Managers don’t like to hear you can free up an afternoon at the drop of a hat with no backlog left behind

And you do more work than anyone else?

Why would they allow any work experience?

So they’ve already lost staff they’ve allowed to train for other roles?

Your job doesn’t owe you any time for training for any role outside your own. Developing skills for a higher but similar internal role is reasonable to request training time.

Seems like there are many of you that don't have a clue about how to retain staff and keep them incentivised.

Keep them happy. Ensure that they have career progression. And train them to do something in the area they want to progress in.

If you don't they will leave and find somewhere better.

The best asset any company has is its staff. And if you don't protect them and nurture them you WILL lose them.

That does not sound unfair.

The shadowing will definitely slow the person you are shadowing down a bit too. Whatever the intentions it just will (I know I have been shadowed lots of times and inevitably this happens). Your manager needs to factor that it too.

An hour every couple of weeks when you are paid to ‘better’ yourself rather than do your actual job amounts to about 3 days a year. It’s not massive. But not ‘unfair’. And it has to be at a level that the department can cope with if others request it (and they certainly will once they know you have).

I do think you should get him to commit in writing though and maybe ring fence the actual time slot.

Inline with what @HeadintheiClouds said.

I'm a manager and I've learnt the hard way that when someone says "I'll still get all my work done" it doesn't always mean they'll put in extra hours to make up the lost time.

Instead it usually means, 'I'm going rush my work to free up the time to do the thing I want to do', which means more mistakes or lower quality work.

It's also possible they've been put off by the fact someone else took 2days training a week and then left the company so they didn't get to benefit.

I know it doesn't mean you'll do these things, but your manager might not know that. So if you can prove you want it enough to sacrifice your own time they might be more accommodating in work hours.

And if you don't protect them and nurture them you WILL lose them.

Staff are disposable to global companies. They know how difficult it is for people to find decent jobs, and how easy it is to recruit new staff.

Seems like there are many of you that don't have a clue about how to retain staff and keep them incentivised.
Keep them happy. Ensure that they have career progression. And train them to do something in the area they want to progress in.
They are by allowing OP to have some time released from their job to shadow another area. Maybe if there are internal opportunities the OP will be considered having put their hat in the ring and expressed interest in another area.

Yes, staff are an asset and yes there should be professional development but that doesn't mean staff are entitled to whatever CPD they want, when they want, time off from the job they are paid to do in order to watch someone doing another job.

If as a manager I'd freed some time up for someone to shadow in a totally different area and their response was feet stampy 'It's so unfair I want more' then I'm probably less likely to want to give any more opportunities because they've shown themselves to be whiny and entitled.

There years is nothing, they don’t owe you anything.

You could ask for extra unpaid hours outside your current role to train but an hour is generous as it is as you’re being paid for something you won’t actually be doing.

I can do the required work before lunch without even trying or rushing.

I’m also fed up with picking up the slack of people in the team that have the mentality of “someone else will do it” when it comes to their own work.

Why when I do my required work for that day to a good standard be allowed to take 1 hour to learn something new.

If the right job came up then I would stay in the company.

They are also pushing progression and career growth in the company .. but how are you suppose to do that without learning new skills?