To think you can't give me 2 people's jobs and then say I'm underperformed??

[Overloadedunappreciated]

I'm feeling super defensive today after a really bad weekly 121 with my manager. I'm civil service and 3 months ago started a totally new job in an area I haven't worked in before at a new grade. Every week my manager meets me and tells me I need to be more proactive. To come to them if I have any questions but then in the next breath says at my grade I need to figure out the answers for myself (to be clear, I hardly go to them so it's not that I'm being a pest!)

Anyway, recently another person my grade left and they haven't been replaced. Their key piece of work has been given to me alongside all my own stuff that I'm still learning. On top of that, I was left alone to cover single handedly for my manager for 2 weeks while everyone (including his seniors) took leave at the same time when he'd already expressed concern about my performance.

I'm not saying I disagree with all his feedback as some of it is valid but I can't help but want to say, if you've had these concerns about me for weeks, why did you leave me unsupported to cover your role and given me another person's entire job on top of my own??

Venting really as I really did get hauled over the coals yesterday and am starting to dread these weekly check-ins as I don't feel a week is enough Time to demonstrate I've taken feedback on board (we're not a target driven work area).

AIBU??

Also WIBU to start copying him into absolutely every email I send to demonstrate my proactivity?!

I think in your next 121 you need to relay all that you have said here back to the manager and see what they say.

Re: Your second post, I think that’s being a bit passive aggressive and it could backfire - if the manager jumps into the email chain and takes over the email or visibly disagrees with what you have said in it, it could be further proof of “incompetence”.

I’d be pissed about that too. Are you being set up to fail here? I only ask with the double work load.

How frustrating and unfair. Anyone who is in first 6 months of a difficult new job should be given extra access to management time and support, in whatever guise its needed.

Where exactly are you being judged as underperforming? That's really crucial to understand as it could be your manager has one set of priorities and yours are not aligned to theirs (which is your manager's fault but if it's happening it is best you identify it and tackle it).

Here is what I'd do. "Proactively" book a longish catch up meeting in your manager's calendar for, say, Wednesday.

Turn up armed with, a short list of your accomplishments so far (including holding the fort while manager went on hols along with everyone else) and also a list of tasks you are working on as well as a copy of your job description.

Say to your manager you are aware that they have some criticisms of your work so far, so you want to reset and agree exactly what your manager wants you to work on improving in the next week, fortnight, month, three months. Manager can't just say "everything" is top priority so it will force manager to, erm, manage.

Also raise the subject of unexpected additional workload due to colleague leaving. Ask manager to review your recommendations for what to take OUT of your existing workload to make space for the new project you have inherited.

Offer to copy manager in on all your emails for a short period, so manager can see what you are doing.

Then ask to arrange a short catch up meeting every week to review progress against list of agreed items you are working on.

Managers like this, ie poor ones, mean unfortunately you need to be very specific with what is required, get it in writing and reviews frequently.

Give it six months, then look for another job or transfer out.

Thanks everyone, some really good tips that I will take forward.

In terms of how I'm underperformed, the only feedback I ever get is that I need to be more proactive and take the lead on my work areas but no specifics beyond that. Once an email came in at 13:57 and I was holding my first 121 with a new line report at 2. At 14:20 he emailed me to say I should have picked th4 email up and when I politely pointed out I was holding a meeting, instantly backed down.

He keeps saying in our work area there is no formal training they can offer and seems to base his evaluation on what he observes of me but he sees about 10% of my weekly work!!

Are you in the union? I would join.

Any mentoring available?

Ask for SMART short term objectives.

He doesn't sound like a very good manager tbh.

I feel your pain, I have been put in a position before where I was in charge of a high profile project that must be prioritised over everything else.

Then over the weeks/months I was given more a more work, because so and so was on vacation or sick or left the company, with the all important project conveniently forgotten about.

I would try to explain your position (calmly), and try to address any genuine gaps, but I think may have to just suck it up a bit until you are established at that grade.

The last thing you want to do is anything too drastic.

Any chance of you manager moving to another job? The this about how their is no training sounds a bit odd. Again sounds like a few places I have worked, where the manager thinks their department is oh so unique that they don't have to comply with any normal standards.

@Overloadedunappreciated

Thanks everyone, some really good tips that I will take forward.

In terms of how I'm underperformed, the only feedback I ever get is that I need to be more proactive and take the lead on my work areas but no specifics beyond that. Once an email came in at 13:57 and I was holding my first 121 with a new line report at 2. At 14:20 he emailed me to say I should have picked th4 email up and when I politely pointed out I was holding a meeting, instantly backed down.

He keeps saying in our work area there is no formal training they can offer and seems to base his evaluation on what he observes of me but he sees about 10% of my weekly work!!

Are your priorities strategic? IE do they tie up with your manager’s? If not it doesn’t matter how much work you do your work will ever be seen as proactive.

One of the best ways to be seen as proactive via email is to reply immediately to a stakeholder to say you’ll be looking at something and get back to them asap. You should have delayed the internal 1-2-1 for the 5mins it took to send that reply.

Long term I think you and your manager need to discuss what his priorities are in terms of your work, so you can prioritise those bits.

Move jobs!

My husband had a job like that, stuck it for two years. Ended up being performance managed in spite of always achieving top end performance reviews. It's very hard working under poor managers in a bad culture environment. Every day was a battle and a knock to his self esteem.

@Overloadedunappreciated

Also WIBU to start copying him into absolutely every email I send to demonstrate my proactivity?!

I voted YANBU but do not do this!!

What do you do that there’s no training? What kind of handover did you have?

He sounds unreasonable but I think the type of job makes a difference.

Firstly are you clear on your objectives and are they SMART? If not, ask your manager to clarify those.

Then, are the objectives realistic (while being stretching) ? Do they conflict with each other and are they aligned with your boss's and other people's?

I'm intrigued about what kind of work you do, they seem quite vague about what your role actually is and what they hope you will achieve? Is there a clear goal and they're being vague on how you should go about achieving it, or are they actually just staying vague about the things you should be bringing forward?

In this position where you need to show success fast, I'd look for little bite sized successes you can demonstrate, easy win projects you can evidence.

It sounds like your manager is unclear about what you are doing, especially if they only see 10% of your work. The poster above gave good advice about clarifying your objectives because lack of understanding means one of you is definitely wrong; learning how to effectively manage upwards is essential in civil service where you may have a huge range of different types of manager over time. I would write a list of the work you're doing per work area and the approximate effort per week spent on each, status and issues. Review with your manager to ask where they want you to spend more or less time, agree how to confirm acceptable progress for the work you are doing (maybe a regular report to your manager is required if they don't realise what needs doing) and what to do about anything getting dropped from the list. Use colours wisely for a quick scan of the work status; blue is complete, green in progress, orange has minor issues, red is blocked and grey is on hold. Make sure "quick email response" or other vague terms are clarified; within what time exactly, what tolerance levels and what is a reasonable excuse for missing target. After the meeting, summarise everything by email and use it in your next session with a report proving you met the objectives, including a list of questions for them, issues/ risks you're working on for information only, and request feedback on any priority changes for the week.

List everything you do, including the fact you are doing two peoples jobs, no formal training, cover for everyone who was on holiday

At the 121 go through it all. Then ask what exactly they want you to do to be more proactive, bearing in mind all the above, but with no formal training

Then write down what’s been agreed or better yet email the manager so you have an audit trail

Then if it continues, but with no support I would state you feel it’s time that a grievance is raised by you as they continually advise you are underperforming, not providing any real reason as to what, providing no training or formal support and you feel bullied

I would speak to your PCS rep. Sounds like you are being set up to fail.

One of the best ways to be seen as proactive via email is to reply immediately to a stakeholder to say you’ll be looking at something and get back to them asap. You should have delayed the internal 1-2-1 for the 5mins it took to send that reply

Nonsense, that just fills the person's inbox with two emails instead of one.

If I send an email I take the view that a person may be in a meeting. In fact they may be on the loo!

It sounds like the OP's manager is a prat but unfortunately I don't know what you can do - going down the grievance route is a bit extreme I think. If their perception is that you are not up to par, it's going to be very difficult to change. Time to look for a different role OP. At least you are in the civil service so there should be internal options.

Your manager sounds either incompetent or trying to get rid of you. Who expects a reply to emails immediately? If you were sitting watching your inbox you’d not be getting any work done.

PP have given good advice for dealing with managers. You should also build relationships with your colleagues/stakeholders so that you have other people backing you up if your manager doesn’t. Ask them for feedback and see if you can get it in writing. If your manager says for example you need to improve on X getting stakeholder assurance that X is good will be evidence of improvement.

The civil service should have some sort of internal performance management tool that you can use to record feedback on etc. And a framework for behaviours expected of the grade. As long as you can show you’re meeting these and have other people to support you, you’ve protected yourself against anything your manager may try to pull.

I seriously cannot imagine any job (including werewolf) where no training is possible.

Oh no. I've had this and it made me so sick. I carried an entire strategy by myself. My manager made me copy her into each email and then complained there were too many. I was undermined and lost all my confidence. I too was accused of being defensive but you are going to be if you are under attack After her managing me for 10 months I had a stress breakdown and I was off sick for seven. Do not be me.

From now on look for another job or secondment and get away from him. Approach any managers you know to see if you can lift and shift. I bet he's underperforming and wants to blame you. Everything between you from now on is in writing. After your 1 2 1 email him with what was said and agreed. Tell him in writing you want training, mentoring and time to do it. He cannot expect you to get better on your own whilst doing your job and someone else's. Tell him you do not have the capacity to do the other job. Refuse to take on anything more. Keep all this as you may need it. Be reasonable at all times. If push comes to shove can you go back to your old role?

I hope it gets better

Three months is no time in a new job and you should be supported.

Great advice from @mrex and @user147153823 and many others but do not under any circumstances copy him into your emails.

That happened to me (not in civil service) Two people did the job. One left and one promoted. They employed 2 new people. The other person changed her mind, so they decided I could do both jobs. Nightmare. I lost loads of weight as never had a spare moment and didn't eat til 5 pm. At that company the higher you were the less you did from what I could see. I was manning constant phone calls but expected to be getting on with other stuff at the same time. I remember going into offices of people higher up and them on the phone having a lovely social chat (not work related

One of the best ways to be seen as proactive via email is to reply immediately to a stakeholder to say you’ll be looking at something and get back to them asap. You should have delayed the internal 1-2-1 for the 5mins it took to send that reply.

This is the opposite of proactive. It’s reactive, surely? It will also increase your workload without improving productivity.

Op, are you clear about what he actually wants you to dl? “Be more proactive” is useless feedback (as seen above, it means totally different things to different people). I’d suggest a meeting where you discuss what your priorities should be. List them. Email to him to confirm them, then ensure that all future meetings refer back to this list - adding to it or taking things off as and when they are finished or need doing.

I’m also in the civil service. Unfortunately I see this kind of crap all the time, often linked to some sort of discrimination/prejudice eg race and always involving a really poor manager. Basically your manager has decided your face doesn’t fit, and possibly also thinks you are a threat to them. So has used the “set them up to fail and then use the procedures against them” approach.

If you started that recently did you start virtually? You need to get to know the people in your division and find the gossip on this manager - I bet they aren’t well thought of. Let people know what is happening to you. Do not take it lying down, time to play some civil service games!! It’s utterly ridiculous to tell someone new to grade that they are underperforming. What support have you been given? Let me guess, absolutely zero.

If you aren’t in a union, join now before this gets too bad…

Also remember that it’s damn near impossible to sack someone from CS! But it is possible for this kind of crap to leave a lasting effect on you. Best thing to do with this kind of idiot is to just quietly move on.

The feedback you’ve been given is also bullshit and too vague and subjective to be acted on isn’t it. Who holds the yardstick for “proactive enough”?