To hand in my notice after this treatment from new boss?

[flowerlessorchid]

To set the scene (this is going to be long sorry!)- I've been at my current employer for 18 months, single parent working full time with a contract that states I work 9:30am-5pm with a half hour lunch, which fits in with my commute time (approx 40 mins each way) and after school club. Small public sector employer and I work in a safety role so as you can imagine I've been rushed off my feet since March.

Employer decided to review staffing during Covid, and offered voluntary redundancy, which my boss (who was the only other safety professional in the company) took. So now I'm working alone. An already high workload has now exploded as the work is still there, and I've been working much longer hours to keep up.

The working week just past has been a particularly bad one. DC now at school so I've been having to factor in the school run to my day. Daily meetings I have to attend (with the senior exec who need my guidance) are being put in before my contracted hours start, which is difficult but manageable when I'm WFH. My new temporary boss knows this and agreed I would come into the office Mondays & Thursdays and WFH the rest of the time. WFH without the commute is the only reason I've been able to put in the hours I am at the moment.

New boss is the Finance director, who I have been getting along with until now. He is a very old school, older man who has never married and has no kids (this is relevant). He has been supportive but doesn't understand my job and can't really direct me. On Wednesday he pulls me into a piece of work that is extremely high level strategic policy on Covid-19 (I'm an officer level so not even management and also paid as such). This piece of work should have been done months ago but hasn't as it doesn't fall into anyone's remit, now its suddenly become urgent.

So I spent hours and hours on this piece of work on top of my usual workload, trying to work out what was actually needed, sending drafts to my boss for his comments and involving others where I could. Everyone is insanely busy right now so that took time too. It gets to Friday when the document has to be sent externally and in the afternoon when I thought it would be ready to go suddenly the senior exec aren't happy with it. Boss and me are called into a meeting 4-5pm with the senior exec who rips the document apart.

But what was the final straw for me was after this meeting when my boss turns on me. He told me I was leading on this work so why don't I have all the answers. He demanded to know when I was going to be back in the office full time. I said I could start coming back in full time if required to which he only said 'well today would have been a good day to come in'. I pointed out that it was his suggestion I come in on the days I have. (And to be honest me not being on site would have made no difference to the outcome of this document, if anything I have less time to concentrate on site as people are always coming to my office for things).

So it's 5pm and I'm still working on this document, he has 'helpfully' highlighted the sections that need changing. I make changes, send it back to him. He thinks more changes are needed. It's now 5:30pm and I said to him I have to go and get my DC from after school club. He kicked off again, complaining that he wanted to leave the office early today as he has a dinner night, and said to me 'can't someone else go get your children?'. I had to point out to him that I'm a single parent (he knows this) and school are only permitting parents to collect at the moment as we are in the middle of a pandemic. He was very cross, told me to go do the school run and we would catch up again at 6pm when I'm back home. So I picked up the kids, got home, spent another 20 minutes or so making the final changes, rang him at about 6:15pm, document signed off and sent. Job done.

I'm exhausted and frazzled as it is, was almost in tears (unusual for me) and have spent most of the weekend worried about what next week brings. With the meetings being put in my diary before my usual hours which I have to attend as I'm the only person who can advise the senior exec, and now being told I have to come on site every day I'm going to have to reduce my working hours to my normal level to factor in my commute, or work evenings once I get home.

I've already spoken to a couple of colleagues about what happened and how I now want to hand in my notice as this isn't sustainable, to be told I can't as there is no-one else to do my job, and apparently my hard work is appreciated. We have no union, HR are nice but ineffective, and if I hand my notice in anyway I can't guarantee I will find another job that will give me the flexibility I need r.e. the school run. I've been told by HR to expect a new job description and a permanent boss but they need to hire first.

I don't know what to do but I'm dreading work tomorrow and the demands starting again. Do I just throw in the towel and hand my notice in?

Rather than quit a job that largely seems to work for you, you need to put your foot down. In your position, I'd send an email to your boss/HR reminding him of your contracted hours, that you already work significantly more than them and that the reason you have those hours is to allow you to fulfill your caring responsibilities, especially as a single parent. So it is unacceptable for pressure to be put on you when you're fulfilling your side is what has been agreed.

Totally understand why you would want to quit after that but I think you should at least attempt to redress this situation before doing so.
If nothing changes and this man continues to refuse to take your homelife into consideration, THEN bung it off.

I read it all. It was clear and not too long at all. You should see some .

I think you need to ask for a meeting with the man who was snotty about you leaving to collect your children and point out the reality of your job and your responsibility as a single parent in the circumstances we are living in. I would state calmly if you can't work in this way then there is a chance you will have no choice but to hand your notice in, which you don't want to do. Then stop talking. See what he blusters.

Don't worry about it for today. Go in tomorrow with a plan and be calm.

Good luck.

I would go a little bit against the crowd here, and not because I don't sympathise with you. But, unless you are given "more senior" tasks that look daunting on a first glance, you are unlikely to progress in your career (if this is one of your goals - it might not be and it also is a perfectly valid choice). Being expected to work remotely after the school pick up does not sound too unusual, at least for me - not sure about the public sector, but it is a variant of norm in some industries. Just to offer some perspective.

Are ACAS open?

I think but not sure you have the right to officially request flexible working and they would have to have a pretty good reason to refuse.

I think raising a written grievance stating the facts you have explained here to your line manager. Copy to hr. would be in order. ACAS could possibly help you.

Don't resign! And join the union, even though they don't have an on-site rep, they will still support you.

I think there are two separate things going on here: 1) you're being expected to do work which is above your pay grade and 2) the amount of work they expect from you exceeds the capacity of your contracted hours.

When you have your discussion, I think it would be helpful to keep those things separate.

With point 1, it's not unusual in the public sector for pay to be enhanced when you take on responsibilities above your pay grade. At the moment, you're doing this out of goodwill, but it sounds as though you haven't had the level of supervision and support that you need to do a proper job. I'd ask for more training and management input to make sure that this arrangement works for you and for the organisiation.

Point 2 is quite different. Management need to understand that you have family responsibilities that mean you can't just carry on working over your contracted hours because you need to be elsewhere at certain times. Check their policies regarding family-friendly arrangements and work-life balance. There needs to be a recognition that, if you are expected to undertake work that is urgent, some of your more routine work will have to take a back seat: you cannot get a quart into a pint pot. I'd be asking management to try and anticipate what urgent stuff is likely to crop up so that you can plan your workload and agree what other tasks can take a back seat or be allocated to other staff.

I'd be minded to point out that is making things difficult and stressful for you, as management need to be aware of that, but not to make a huge deal of it at this stage. That might be necessary later, so keep it up your sleeve!

All employees have the legal right to request flexible working - not just parents and carers.

This is known as ‘making a statutory application’.

Employees must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks to be eligible.

What employers must do
Employers must deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’.

Examples of handling requests in a reasonable manner include:

assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the application
holding a meeting to discuss the request with the employee
offering an appeal process

@CraftyGin

I didn’t quite make it to the end, but don’t quit your job until you have a new one to go to.

Agree

If you are going to put it in email to manager and hr (which may prove useful as evidence) get someone trusted to read it before sending. They can make sure it is clear and to point.

Unsure33 is correct, you have rights. Get advice before you move forward with your decision. You don't leave a job because your manager is out of line, you make a HR complaint and have it dealt with or you resign under constructive dismissal and have your HR complaint dealt with that way.
There is free advice out there....use it!
Glendaruel i agree with having emails checked as they can be intreperated different ways. I would not get it checked by anyone in the same company!

But do document as you go, for instance, Hi X confirming that you've requested I work on project A, which is usually the senior managers role'

You have had some excellent advice on here Op and I would agree that you can try to resolve this situation before resigning. Ultimately it is your decision, but it seems a shame to walk away from a role you have put so much into.

I suggest that you have an initial discussion with your boss and see how this goes. Have a bullet point list ready of what you want to discuss with him. It sounds like Friday was a bad day for everyone involved, so there is every hope that this meeting could go OK.

As someone has posted earlier, there may be a policy relating to work/life balance and wellbeing so suggest you review this. Also see if your contract states anything about working outside your contracted hours (whether or not this is expected, whether you are entitled to time in lieu etc).

I would be concerned about you not being able to take lunch breaks, that is unsustainable and is a wellbeing concern. You have a legal right to a break if you are working more than 6 hours in the day, your employer has a duty of care here to enable you to take breaks.

I agree that there is potential for you to have a case for discrimination (as you have caring responsibilities which women are statistically most likely to have).

But I suggest that you could give your boss a chance to resolve the matter informally. This demonstrates that you are acting in good faith and are trying to work constructively to resolve this. You can stress to your boss that you value your work and the company but that the current situation has to change and the reasons why.

I suggest you review the Grievance procedure beforehand as it may set out how to resolve a concern...some procedures specify that you should try to resolve a grievance informally and how you should do this (eg by having an initial discussion with your boss) and how to raise a formal grievance if that doesn't work. Following the processes throughout, as well as giving your employer every opportunity to resolve your concerns, shows that you are acting in good faith and professionally (not to say you are not, but following the procedures to the letter makes this apparent which may strengthen your position later)

So, f you don't get anywhere with an informal discussion with your boss the next step is the formal grievance route

They say you cant hand in your notice as there is no one else can do your work?

1 not your problem
2 your position is stronger than you think

I wouldn't be trying to get the work of multiple people done by myself because senior levels will always look at it that if you can do it yourself (regardless of how much you struggle) that it can be a one person job. If you can't fit it all in and the standard of work be as high as it was, then don't make yourself ill over it. They'll have to re-hire or re-fill the redundant space they created.

it doesn't matter that the union isn't on site, ours aren't they are 20 miles away but I still belong to the union and ask for representation and they deal with meetings on teams, emails and telephone

OP you've had some great advice on this thread and I hope your meeting goes well tomorrow. Definitely write down the key points and think about what would be the best outcome for you.

I used to apologise a lot for my part time hours - but you aren't even part time - until I sorted myself out with a mentor. She said I was being paid for my experience, not for the additional hours I could do. In your case you're not getting paid for the experience or for the extra hours.

Don't hand in your notice, but make it clear to your line manager that this is unsustainable for you in the short or long term.

Been there. I'd get HR on side asap as legally you are required to have a clear,defined job spec. Ask for it & ask them to define wirh you & this temporary boss whether what you're doing comes under that remit. Then make sure your boss receives a copy, so he knows he can't take the Mick. Any extra work over & above that job spec has to be mutually agreed in writing with clear expectations, targets and the estimated timespan until a permanent solution or other person is found..They wouldn't want a Tribunal because overwork affected your health is the thing to float if things get nasty. (You'd be surprised how often HR don't give a until reminded of that).

The project from this week is outside of my remit and responsibility level

That is a huge issue in my book. I’d want to clarify if you are also becoming legally responsible if something happens (eg an outbreak) and said Covid guidelines are not up to scratch.
Esp as you are now the only person in H&S.

You need HR involvement. Not just about your job description/pay/hours issue

I have had similar in my recent job. Don't resign. Email and see what happens, and start looking for another job.

The major problem this week appears to have been new boss: obviously the rest isn't ideal, but he's what has got you thinking about quitting. And he is short term. So I would not leave, not at this point anyway. I'd stay and try to make a go of it, unless and until something better is available. You say you're a safety professional, I would guess there's a lot of demand for those right now?

Work your hours; negotiate flexi-time or TOIL if longer hours are required.

I agree with everyone else: do not resign.

Put it all in writing. they are being completely unreasonable.

Dont resign - stick up for yourself in a proffesional way. You can use the experiance to grow!

Also, make a point of saying this last minute project was not your job, you were not responsible for it being forced on you at the last minute, your boss is
& you fo not accept being his fall guy

They are exploiting you in a way that sounds more like the private sector. There are several issues here suggesting very poor management. For a start they should not have given your boss redundancy without considering who will do his work. They should pay you for the overtime you have done. They cannot expect you to routinely do overtime or work outside your contracted hours. It's up to you whether you want to do this but if you do it should all be paid. Blaming you for management failings is very bad form - as a professional, I could not continue to work for someone who treated me like that. Perhaps this person may not be your boss for too long though.
You need to start being much more assertive and don't take on more than you can manage. Take your breaks every day. Claim the overtime you are due. Refuse any overtime that you don't want. It's not your problem if the work is not finished. If they want you to do extra as a one off they need to ask nicely not just expect it.
I think you need to decide what you want from this job - maybe there's a chance of a better paid job with more responsibility. Or maybe you just want to go back to your previous role. Either way, go to the meeting with a solution in your mind. State that you have too much work since your colleague left, you aren't willing to work extra hours (or if you are say how much and for what extra pay) and what you are willing to do going forward.
Being assertive always makes people respect you more so don't be afraid