To feel frustrated that work keeps changing procedures?

[pinktreez]

At work certain procedures keep changing to the point where you will do something one day and be following procedure and do the same thing the next day and be in the wrong.

Yesterday at work I found out the way I had been filling out part of some paperwork is incorrect. A new member of staff pointed out that I did it differently to how they had been taught and I defended myself and it turns out I was wrong. Several of my other colleagues also did it 'incorrectly' (the same way as me) and we all clearly remember being told how to do it by one of the senior members of staff but our manager denied all knowledge of it. It's not a big deal as it's a small element that is not particularly important but I feel frustrated that I have done something wrong and incorrectly defended myself to a new member of staff without knowing. I went to speak to my manager about it to clarify and he was like "No. We've never done it like that? " and I was left feeling embarrassed.

There are also other things that keep changing, lots of little things. Our responsibilities grow and shrink all the time, one week you are authorised to do something and the next you are not.

AIBU to feel frustrated?

I understand how you feel, I used to work in a job that had so many procedures because we had to deal with customer query’s. The job was stressful anyway but the amount of times procedures was changed, it really felt it was changed every week. It was so hard to keep up. It was horrible. My confidence went down because I was never confident in what I was doing.

OP I think we work in the same place! Sounds exactly like my job. Nothing is clearly communicated or written down and it leads to everyone doing things slightly differently.

I started writing own the ‘updates’ and putting the date, name of the person who told me and whether it was told to me in person/email etc. It feels ridiculously petty but It’s come in handy on more than one occasion.

The only thing this does is turn everyone on the team into people who can’t use their own judgement. Your default thought before doing anything becomes “I need to check this before I do it”. It can become crippling for staff and then frustrating for most sensible managers.

Send emails to manager confirming what you are doing or bot doing each time. Question each change by emial asking for clarification.

Yanbu. That would drive me nuts and is really demotivating. Id be requesting some sort of handbook with proceedures - you could volunteer? In the meantime you need to tell them which member of management told you to do it this way.

We have documents with procedures which are controlled and have to be written by senior staff only. However, they are outdated and too vague (with several mistakes!) They are not detailed enough. I would love to volunteer to write some updated versions but I wouldn't be allowed to.

I like the idea of keeping a log of who tells me what, that will be really helpful when justifying why I have done something wrong inadvertently (which is bound to happen with the way things are).

I also agree that it knocks your confidence as you are either being told you've done something wrong or you're having to double check everything you do before you do it.

Yes I'm in one now. Implements new procedure, doesn't enforce it with staff, it fails and then implements yet another new procedure. Lack of management and enforcement.

I'm resigning very soon.