Ex employer keeps contacting me

[northchesterforest]

I was made redundant in January after 5 years in a role. They asked me to leave the same day. It wasn't personal as a lot of others in the company got the same treatment. The thing is, for the last two weeks I've been getting emails from my old boss asking where certain files are. Most of them were saved on my personal work g drive, which they are saying they can no longer access.

I must admit I wasn't great at organising my files for other people but I always knew where to access them, and honestly I was great at my job and a lot of what you would need to know was stored in my head, from working in the role for so long. I feel like they are accusing me of withholding information but do they even have a leg to stand on? Should I start ignoring them? I'm politely responding for now and trying to help them find things but I don't have access to anything anymore so there is only so much I can do?

Completely agree.

The shared drive exists for a reason and people who didn't use it drove me mad at my last job, it makes everything so much harder for everyone else. I feel bad for your ex colleagues and can see why they're asking you for help but legally you aren't obligated to answer. Morally you absolutely should help as you've left them in a difficult position and, no matter how many times you say you were good at your job, in this area you let them down.

What I don’t understand is how after the first email ( how did the boss get your personal email? ) when they presumably got the document from OPs G: drive, didn’t IT copy all the contents of OPs G: drive.

The OP got made redundant and told to leave same day
Not leave in a week when you get you head sorted and done some file
re-organisation

OK - granted, she shouldn't have saved company documents on a "personal" network drive, but how do you propose she helps them now? She hasn't worked there for 2 months and doesn't have access to anything.

They've asked multiple questions and there are only two possible places the documents could be saved - the main network or the G drive (also on the network, but a bit more difficult to find for someone without the appropriate IT privileges).

At this point, and given OP was told to leave on the day she got told her position was redundant, she wasn't given an opportunity to resolve the problem and there is literally nothing more she can do about it now other than tell them what she already has.

Send this as an additional line in any further correspondence

I left all company files in order, I have been obliging up to this point as a gesture of goodwill, any further queries about storage of files should be addressed to me by March 31st. After this date I will not be able to assist you further and you should contact your own IT department.

Can the posters who insist on misunderstanding "personal drive" kindly go and find a subject they do know about to witter on about please ?

It's an unfortunate aspect of the big players (Google, and MS) in cloud land that the concept of a an individual filestore, as opposed to a shared one, has got called "personal".

The OP did nothing wrong and the "personal" drive they were storing their data on is merely one that only they could access in the normal scheme of things. Think of it as a drawer in your desk at work as opposed to a notice board.

Nothing can irritate me as quickly as corporate sales wankspeak infecting our daily lives. When Google and MS refer to "personal" in the settings of Workspace or O365, they mean "specific to a user" not "somewhere to keep holiday snaps".

We've already established they are incompetent.

Either they weren't subscribed to the right level, or they weren't paying for enough storage.

Having worked with a lot of creative types, raw photo files can take up terabytes in a few weeks.

Obviously a decent storage and archival process would manage that. But we return to the opening sentence of this post.

Their IT manager (and Google?) drive manager will have access.

From their perspective, this is something they should have considered when letting you go. No handover…..
I’d be inclined to decline, but might you need a reference at some point? 🤔

Exactly this!

"Dear ex-boss

You made me redundant with immediate effect. If you had given me more notice, I would have been better able to prepare my files for handover but this was not possible due to the lack of notice.

Since my contract ended, you have already contacted me x times and I have responded to the best of my ability each time. As previously stated, all my work was saved to my G: drive and IT should be able to give you access to that. Obviously I no longer have access myself and therefore I can't help you further.

If you do require any further assistance from me, then I would be willing to consider it on a consultancy basis. I will need access to the system, including my former G: drive and I estimate it would take in the region of x hours to transfer all files across to shared drives and document the same.

My hourly rate for doing this would be x / or / Please let me have your proposal for the remuneration I can expect."

Then respond to any further requests with "Does this mean that you have agreed my consultancy terms? Please state this explicitly in writing. "

The words Off and F*ck come to my mind!

CFs of the highest order OP!

Do. Not. Cave. In.

Ignore them OR get them to pay you up front and up your hourly rate too, min £150 p/h and it must be a minimum of THREE hours or it is not worth it.

They should have thought about this when they let you go on the SAME DAY!

Good Luck!

this

Or, “My hourly rate for freelance work is xxx!” My DH actually did this after leaving one of his jobs and they paid him to do something. Their problem if they were so tight fisted with saving payroll that they shot themselves in the foot.

So they made you redundant on the same day with no consultation period, no putting you 'at risk of redundancy' then they haven't followed employment law and it's automatically an unfair dismissal as they have not followed correct procedure - you could take them to a tribunal, costs you nothing. Also you owe them nothing, you don't work for them anymore and the way they terminated you is wrong, I'd be very much saying not my problem.

If you need a reference from this company I would be nice to them, if not the case then… you’re no longer “helpful”, so bye Felicia 👋

I don't know how much a reference from an incompetent company is worth, to be honest. Especially as it will almost invariably be a simple confirmation of dates worked and position held.

Do not be overtly hostile.
Think of your continuing career.
I hope you received due compensation for your redundancy as there are employment laws to think about.
With views to your on going career : I hope you have access yo excellent references from this company, if not : Now is a good time to request a written reference for your time there.

I know what its like, you move forward New Employer requests REFERENCE and when you enquire you are told ' that department has been moved and members dispersed.'
Other than that: offer to return for A Day ' s pay to tie up loose ends, demand LUNCH , TRAVEL EXPENSES. Oh And to collect that WRITTEN REFERENCE containing company LOGO/ STAMP.

That's all you need. It's standard nowadays.

Just say “ Ive assisted to the best of my ability and I’m unable to help any further . I would be grateful if you could kindly refrain from contacting me further regarding this matter as I am no longer in your employment.”

That’s what I assumed, so it makes no sense why IT can’t access a company drive when an employee leaves

But IT can always access your One Drive.

So you could be knocked down, but people can get your files, get your emails etc.

Exactly
It's like your own drawer.
And people are allowed their own drawers at work.

Ignore

Yes, but a lot of MNers are curiously old-fashioned about this. They envisage candidates turning up for jobs with carefully typed references like the secretary in an 80s sitcom.