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AIBU?

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Constantly anxious about being sacked

3 replies

Wevegottomovethesecolourtvs · 04/02/2025 20:38

Working in a Civil Service role. I am looking to leave ASAP, just waiting on a DBS check to return but it's a case of how long is a piece of string. Hoping it's no more than a couple of weeks now, anyway it might sound daft but I'm anxious about being sacked before then.

I haven't committed gross misconduct but this organisation seem to be constantly threatening firing people for breaches of security. There are things I haven't and wouldn't ever do such as looking up myself or someone I know, sending customer info to my personal email etc. And obviously would never be abusive towards anyone, however I'm worried about making a mistake.
They threaten that we could end up in court if there's any sort of breach of personal info or if we've forgotten to redact anything, if we've made even a small mistake.

Also worried about being sacked for poor performance. I passed probation in another CS department but I've still been here under 2 years. Want to ask about downgrading to an AO role but I'm worried it'll flag up somewhere if I ask.

Just feel constant anxiety and it's a waiting game with the DBS. I know majority of roles have consequences but just constantly worry about being sacked. As an aside does anybody know the likelihood of being able to downgrade from an EO to AO role? They tend to recruit in big cohorts here.

OP posts:
Hufflemuff · 04/02/2025 21:07

How many people have they actually sacked or taken to court? Is the threat really real or is it all bluster to keep you mindful.

It could just be poor management trying to rule by fear and your anxiety is getting on top of you.

Wevegottomovethesecolourtvs · 04/02/2025 21:15

Hufflemuff · 04/02/2025 21:07

How many people have they actually sacked or taken to court? Is the threat really real or is it all bluster to keep you mindful.

It could just be poor management trying to rule by fear and your anxiety is getting on top of you.

Apparently someone was sacked immediately for looking up an MP, which i do get, and they've given us examples but they were quite extreme cases of theft and money laundering.

This is going to sound really paranoid but I have a young nephew and one evening they were round, I played a kids cartoon from YouTube on the work laptop for him.

I'm sure nothing would come of that and I won't do it again but realised after it was really stupid. I think hating the job probably isn't helping and I think ruling by fear is the wrong approach.

OP posts:
HopingForTheBest25 · 05/02/2025 07:11

Don't worry about the laptop - work have the ability to monitor use, I expect and if this was a problem it would likely have been flagged up by now. And it's not a major thing to forget it's a work laptop and use it to show a child a cartoon on YouTube. I expect everyone has done similar. Just for your own peace of mind, keep work equipment purely for work.

I think you might need some help for the anxiety though. This is how my dh started and ultimately he's become paralysed by fear and had a mental breakdown. If you could get some help early then that would be much better for you.

FWIW I think it's a good idea to get a less stressful job.

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