AIBU to ask for advice in case I get fired?

[firealarmhell]

Two weeks ago my manager pulled me aside and it's come to light I made a mistake at work. A big one. I've only worked there since January so they could easily fire me. I made this mistake several more times before a senior staff member noticed. I'm now under investigation at work. I haven't made this mistake since they informed me. However, I've been off work for a week with covid and I return to work tomorrow, I'm absolutely dreading it. I feel sick with nerves. My partner asked me if I've already been fired and was using covid to hide it. That made me feel awful.

My partner was has been unsupportive. I told her about my fears and she ranted to me about affording the bills if I get fired. She's right, the bills are a concern but I feel worse than ever. I'm so ashamed of messing up at work and I feel I have nobody to talk to. I'm in tears constantly, can't sleep and have a pit of dread in my stomach. Been under investigation has massively affected my mental health. I'm convinced I'm going to get fired tomorrow when I go back.

I have no idea what to do if I get fired. I'm hoping someone will be able to give me some advice :(

Was it because they didn't train you properly?

If you get fired try to take it on the chin and salvage what you can from it. This doesn't mean you have take any nonsense but everyone can remain civil.
99% of jobs despite what you read on here will issue a factual reference just confirming you worked there so don't worry about a "bad reference" so often mentioned by that part of MN stuck in the 1970s.

You'll just need to pick yourself up and look for another job.

And it hasn't happened yet - if you deal with it well and respond to anything they want you to do (within reason of course) differently, it's a chance for both parties to gain. They likely won't want to have to recruit someone else.

Surely this is on them for not training or monitoring you properly?

@Mumdiva99

Was it because they didn't train you properly?

I received basic training but I was trained well enough to work on my own. I don't think this mistake is entirely my own fault, I had minimal supervision. I doubt the company will see it this way though.

I was fired once, ten years ago. It was horrendous - I was in the middle of a house move and broke and heading for a breakdown. But I got through it, and you will too.

Focus on the fact that you haven’t made this mistake again since they brought it to your attention. Once you knew you’d done the wrong thing, you changed your behaviour. From that, it follows that if you’d been told at the start, you would never have made the mistake. I suggest the person responsible for telling you about it in the first place is at more risk of being fired than you.

FWIW as a former manager, what would make the difference for me is your attitude generally. Always on time, willing to learn, willing to admit mistakes and interested and enthusiastic? I’d cut you some slack, especially if this is the only error you’ve made.

OK, well go in there apologetic. Confident. Now you know not to do it of course you won't do it again. And hold your head up if they do fire you. There is lots of work around at the moment. (Maybe you weren't trained well enough if you made the same mistake more than once.....obviously the seriousness of the mistake depends on what it was).

I appreciate you don't want to out yourself, but the more you can tell us about the nature of the mistake, the better we can help you.

I think a lot depends on your training: did you have a formal induction, were all the processes properly explained, were you given a manual/paperwork you could refer to after training to follow to be sure you are following the correct process? Who is checking your work - do you have to report to anyone that you've completed a process and was it their responsibility to check you've done it correctly etc.
I think they key factor here is that once you were alerted to the error, you made sure not to repeat it.
A lot will hang on how you were trained, and did you have a manual/ some documentation/ a person to refer to after initial training.

It hasn't happened yet - if you deal with it well and respond to anything they want you to do (within reason of course) differently, it's a chance for both parties to gain

In principle this is how I'd look at it (and have, as an employer)
That said we can't know if the mistakes were something that'll affect them badly, and whether they're something OP could be reasonably expected not to make or if there's something else at play

The worry's natural, but it seems to me there'd be more to gain by talking with them to find a way forward which works for everyone

If the worst does happen (and happened to me in the past through no fault of my own, it was a system issue) then I would apply for temp jobs as they are generally a lot less picky. Tell them the truth about what happened and they will become your previous employer when you apply for more jobs.
The employer I left issued a basic 'joe bloggs worked here between these dates and had x periods of sick in the past 12 months'
I was incredibly bitter about what happened but I have got a much better job now than would ever have happened had I stayed there so you just dont know how things will play out. Good luck!

@Ariela

I think a lot depends on your training: did you have a formal induction, were all the processes properly explained, were you given a manual/paperwork you could refer to after training to follow to be sure you are following the correct process? Who is checking your work - do you have to report to anyone that you've completed a process and was it their responsibility to check you've done it correctly etc. I think they key factor here is that once you were alerted to the error, you made sure not to repeat it. A lot will hang on how you were trained, and did you have a manual/ some documentation/ a person to refer to after initial training.

I was only ever verbally told to do the first step a particular way, it's not written anywhere I can find. I don't think it was emphasised how important this is. Looking back now it's obvious how important it was and I feel so bloody stupid.

The paperwork I was given does not include the first step of the method. I checked after the meeting when they told me I was under investigation for the mistake. I also searched all my other paperwork and nothing the company has provided me with states it. I only wrote it down in my personal notes.

I hand in all paperwork at the end of everyday and someone senior checks it. It's taken them several weeks to notice I've made this mistake on a number of occasions.

Your partner sounds awful.

Maybe that's part of the problem.

@Mumdiva99

Was it because they didn't train you properly?

Have a calm think about the mistake you made. Was it something they had shown and trained you to do they way they wanted? If so, then your errors might be down to careless inattention by yourself.

If you were careless/sloppy , you will need to admit that and apologise. At the very least, you can expect annoyance, a dressing down, and a written warning. If so, accept it with good grace (don't argue or be rude) .

If someone hadn't given you clear instructions on correct procedure,. then say so; calmly, then say now you do understand the system that particular error won't happen again. In future, if you're unsure what to do you will ask for help and instruction.

If you have (otherwise) worked hard, done your best, and been an amenable new member of staff, they may decide your pluses outweigh the minus.

Nobody's perfect, and every manager has had the experience of having to deal with a new employee who made a mistake. So keep your head , BE POLITE and see what happens.

@AndAsIfByMagic

Your partner sounds awful.

Maybe that's part of the problem.

She's had me in tears this morming. She's really let me down with her lack of emotional support. I'm having stomach dips at the thought of the bills and mortgage too. I don't want to be a burden on her until I get another job. I understand why she's angry though.

Is it a mistake that can be fixed or literally life and death? If it can be fixed then I don’t think you’ll get fired. They might Performance manage you for a while but unless there is specific written procedures for it then I’d say you aren’t in the wrong here and that needs highlighted to them. You got confused in a new job, it happens. If you potentially could have killed someone with your mistake (like wrong medication) then that’s a different matter and a formal investigation makes sense. As PP said, it depends on the person and their attitude to the work/job what decision managers make a lot of the time. But a good employer would be supportive… as would a good partner btw. We are all human, we all make mistakes, even those who never usually let the spinning plate drop.

Unless you have form for making mistakes at work and getting fired, it does sound like your partner is being particularly unpleasant. I can sympathise if she's worried and stressed about money but based on what you've said here, the mistake was made but instructions were not entirely clear and you can and should point that out in any investigation interview, as well as your plans to ensure it never happens again.

Obviously, it does depend a little on the mistake in terms of how obvious it was as that might impact their support for your "I wasn't told" defence.

*I was only ever verbally told to do the first step a particular way, it's not written anywhere I can find. I don't think it was emphasised how important this is. Looking back now it's obvious how important it was and I feel so bloody stupid.

The paperwork I was given does not include the first step of the method. I checked after the meeting when they told me I was under investigation for the mistake. I also searched all my other paperwork and nothing the company has provided me with states it. I only wrote it down in my personal notes.*

The fact this is NOT written down, maybe because it seems glaringly obvious if you already work there , is highly significant. I would take a copy of the written info you have been given, and write in where the important step you got wrong should appear, so they can amend for future employees.

I hand in all paperwork at the end of everyday and someone senior checks it. It's taken them several weeks to notice I've made this mistake on a number of occasions.

I would raise the fact you have passed your completed work on promptly to be checked and are surprised that the error has only just been raised, but now you are aware you know not to make the same mistake again.

Regardless of the outcome of your mistake, I think you need to reevaluate your relationship.

I think a big factor would be the impact that the mistake would have. Does it have legal implications? Serious data breach? Huge impact for clients/customers? Is it just an annoyance like missing information or corrections which will need fixing as it has gone on unnoticed? To be honest I think this will be the main consideration when deciding the outcome of this.

As you said it wasn't written in any of the training materials you had, was only explained verbally once(?) and its importance wasn't highlighted appropriately. I wouldn't worry too much unless it had a major impact. In the meantime just try and be a good employee. You've already shown that you've learned from it and are now completing the task properly.

The dread will be far worse than actually going back. I'm sorry to hear your not getting support from your partner.

What do you mean by you are “under investigation” at work? This is a very unusual response to a process error, are you sure you are actually “under investigation” in the HR sense of the term or is it more a case of some double checking of your past work to identify any other similar mistakes?

To be honest, I cannot imagine somebody relatively new being fired for making a mistake a few times. I would think it more likely to lead to a review of process and supervision more generally.

In the very worst case scenario of them deciding to terminate, I think they would do it without any reason as they can do within two years, rather than open some kind of a disciplinary record, which is not worth the effort.

I'm sorry things are so crap at the moment, but mistakes get made all the time. Apologise, tell them you've learned what not to do, emphasise you haven't made the mistake since it was pointed out to you, and say how much you really want to stay (if you do). The worst may still happen, but you can deal with that if it does.
Your dp does not sound supportive, think long and hard what you want here..... I'm sure it's stressful for you both, but criticising you like that isn't going to help anyone.
Best of luck!

Sounds like you needed better training and/or supervision. You haven't made the mistake again since it was pointed out to you.

When you go in, be apologetic, be contrite, but also don't be too obsequious. You haven't killed anyone.

I hope you and your boss can move on from this.

Shame your partner isn't being more supportive. Are they usually?

What @Teeturtle said. They don't need to hold an investigation, they can just let you go.

What exactly is happening with this investigation

Is the person who gave you the instruction also the person who checks your work? If so it might bethat they have got it wrong and someone else picked up the error.

I worked with someone like this - there were a few temps and she gave us wrong instructions and it was her boss who picked up on the mistake (and she tried to cover up her error - that and a few other things made me not take the permanent job when offered it)

Something similar happened at my work (I think, I know you’re being purposefully vague) and it was actually the person that should have been checking the work that was pulled up, not the new starter since they really weren’t to blame.

Your partner sounds horrible though, I’m sorry you’re not getting more support at home.