To think I have at least some sort of case against my employer? Or am I being deluded?

[Galllp]

Length of service is 9 years. New manager arrived while I was on maternity leave. I came back from maternity leave a year ago in Feb and it’s been pretty awful ever since. I’m in a mid senior role.

Since returning I’ve utilised the flexible working policy as I am alone with my DD in the week (husband works abroad) and I do all nursery runs and so on. Manager is aware of this and there is no company policy that dictates number of days in the office. I tend to go in fortnightly. I feel my choice in doing this is relevant.

Since returning I have been given absolutely minimal work. I’ve been given trainee tasks and tasks that relate more to administration like amending a spreadsheet for example. I have had some decent work from seniors who aren’t my manager and had good feedback. But from my manager it has been fragmented and very inconsistent. We had a six monthly meeting in September where he said overall he was happy but we’d look to promote me next year (this year) and some waffle about pay when I said it felt unfair I was the only one not included in a proper pay review process when returning from maternity leave.

Fast forward to this February and the next six monthly meeting takes place. I’m told he wants me on an informal PIP. I was quite shocked by this but went along with it and he put in weekly meetings to discuss my ‘progress.’ Since this has been in place he’s given me a total of 9 hours work. Two tasks he hasn’t fed back on at all and one task (a draft of a document) he changed everything possible in it on a stylistic basis. He even changed certain wording that he himself has previously used.

The weekly meetings have been a total waste of time. He’s spent perhaps 6 minutes talking each time and essentially saying there’s no improvement as far as he’s concerned. I don’t know what to do from here as I am utterly confused by it all and looking back he’s made comments like I work from home too much so I’m not getting the work (this is utter bollocks as one other woman in the team works from home almost exclusively and he’s extremely (too!) close to her). She is given plenty of work.

He’s said i am too focused on home life which is ridiculous. Clearly i have responsibilities as a mother but i am dedicated to work, always available and will happily work well beyond 5:30 into the evening where needed. He knows this.

I feel like he very much wants me to leave and is picking at any small thing to make life hard for me. I know when you’re in the middle of something like this it’s hard to know if you’re not seeing both sides. Am I feeling victimised unnecessarily? I’ve never had any issues at work before.

I think you probably need to seek advice from other than this forum.

A mid-senior role where you have to be given tasks seems strange to me.

Pregnant then Screwed can help you.

I’m not sure of your legal recourse, but your work environment sounds toxic and unworkable. You have two options as I see it. Dig in and fight or use the opportunity of minimal work to draw out an income until you find a suitable position (start looking for a job).

what I’d do? I’d use this time to freshen your resume, apply for jobs, go to interviews. You can , of course, concurrently complain about your boss but that might be counterproductive - even a "win" can be unnecessarily stressful.

Thanks. I think realistically there’s no future here for me but I am really resentful of leaving without a job to go to and being forced to jump ship and not take my time over it. At this point I would leave but I need a buffer. I have spoken to a lawyer very briefly and their advice was to go off sick if a formal PIP is requested and raise all the issues to get them to settle with a few months pay. No idea if that would work and I feel sad this is where I am at after 9 great years working for the company

If he's saying no improvement is he setting smart objectives on what you need to do to improve?

@MuggleMe he said the last 4 weeks was for me to get up to speed. In that time he’s given me next to no work and barely any feedback yet said in the last five minute meeting there was no improvement. He wants me to go on a formal PIP but it’s not yet been raised as he’s on annual leave

He changed wording he’d previously used himself.
Not feeding back on work where he’d have to acknowledge a job completed or done well.

I had this too - someone plumbing this depth of pettiness to get you out won’t stop. Also be prepared to uncover a number of lies he’s told other managers and HR.

He needs to give you smart objectives but clearly wants you out for some reason.

What's he said when you've raised the fact he's given you no work?

How is your role different to the one you had before mat leave? Is anyone in your old role?

Have you recorded all the tasks you have been given and all the time you have raised the quantity and quality of work or lack of?

What happened with the pay review? How were you treated differently to colleagues?

Have you had any negative feedback on the quality of your work before the pip?

I would speak to an hr specialist and pregnant then screwed for advice.

Speak to Pregnant Then Screwed, also ACAS and your trade union if you have one.

Email him your concerns, do it laundry list style so each individual point is clear, keep it factual and emotionless but clearly set out the reasons why you're dissatisfied and the questions you have about it. From now on, if he wants a face to face meeting tell him that you want to be accompanied and bring a trusted colleague. If he won't let you be accompanied then make notes during the meeting and immediately afterwards email him to say "just clarify from our meeting today, you said...... And I agreed/did not agree that...... You said you would look into..... Is this correct?" so that you have it documented and either his confirmation or clarification. Basically, start building a paper trail.

Do others work at home to the same degree? I’d be worried that by going in so rarely you are reliant on being given work whereas if you were present you could be proactive in seeking out tasks. I’m struggling to see how someone in middle management is so reliant on being given tasks.

get advice in case you are being discriminated against but also take responsibility for managing your own workload. You need to be much more proactive in seeking out tasks.

The advice to “go off sick” is outrageous and unprofessional from a lawyer! Basically they are advising you to commit a fraud on your company by claiming to be ill when you aren’t.

It wouldn’t work in my company anyway as we would have you at OH immediately if you were signed off during a disciplinary or performance management process and would continue with it in your absence.

Speak to HR and your union. Don't even consider leaving without a new role elsewhere.

This 👆

Detail is your sword and your shield here. You need to be clear on several things:

1. What exactly are the tasks you are expected to undertake?
2. When are they expected to be delivered by?
3. How are you expected to achieve them? I.e. what does 'good' look like? This one is important, and you need to deliver exactly what is requested, not what you think you should deliver.
4. Examples of where you fell short, and how it should have been delivered.
5. A list of exactly what you were given, when you were given it, what you delivered, and when you delivered it.
6. Are the tasks you have been given actually achievable? That should be flushed out with point 3 though.

It is worth looking for a job while you are dealing with the above as well in order to have a contingency plan. Most managers who put people on a PIP have no clue how to manage the PIP, so with a little thought on your part, you should be able to stand your ground. Be forensic about the detail though, ask lots of questions, make notes, and get them agreed in writing.

Raise a grievance about how this has been handled. This means it needs to be reviewed systematically. It provides you with a forum to raise the issues of work allocation and potential sex discrimination re the comments about your home life (a male colleague would never be asked about home arrangements)

I think you have to decide whether you stay and fight or look for another job
Sounds to me that there is maybe not enough work and he is trying to make you leave
In order to stay and fight you probably have to go in more

If you’ve been there NINE years, is there no one else you can speak to??

Read up on the formal PIP process for your organisation, and keep records that are aligned with its expectation.

Generally PIPs require specific deliverables or performance changes, rather than vague ones.

All that said, I’m baffled by the mid - senior role and piece meal task assignment combo. It sounds like something isn’t quite working there.

If office attendance has been raised as a concern, and you’re struggling to constructively engage with your line manager then it is definitely worth considering increasing your office attendance significantly for a few weeks. Eg. Alternate days.

Once a fortnight is very low for a nominally office based role and if ways of working have changed while you were off then you may find there’s something you’re totally missing. Being there physically can help you pick that up.

For those suggesting that she contacts Pregnant and Screwed, her maternity leave was in 2023. She’s been back at work since Feb 2024 so her chances of claiming that this is discrimination relating to pregnancy or maternity absence is very slight. The actual issue seems to be that there isn’t enough work to keep her fully occupied and she’s not the preferred candidate of those current employed in her role.

I can’t see a way forward now as the way he has handled the last few weeks has made me certain that non of this is in good faith. It is absurd to give me minimal tasks, not even respond to two of them and then rip apart a draft with pure stylistic changes. I feel really nervous trusting him.

OP, in terms of going to the office once a fortnight, how often do other employees go in? I suspect that is the issue here, even though there are no guidelines in place.

Why are people saying the OP is mid-senior level or middle management? She doesn’t say anything about her level.

I’m Qualfiied HR, here’s my 2p.

If you’re in a mid senior role - why are you being allocated tasks? In your role, don’t you have key accountabilities / deliverables / potentially a team, and work mostly autonomously to deliver these, collaborating accordingly across the business with regular check ins with your manager? This would make investigate whether this is cultural across the business (I.e therefore a business issue) or whether it’s actually the first indication that you are underperforming as you need to be managed in this way in a senior role.

Without knowing all the detail behind that, it’s hard to advise specifically on what’s going on - so I would echo the advice of others to seek out support from Pregnant then Screwed based on the detail.

Not saying that the business / your manager isn’t handling this shoddily (and if they are you absolutely are entitled to support to help you ensure you’re treated fairly) - but they way your operate doesn’t make sense and throws up questions for me.

Try rereading the first paragraph of the OP. Last sentence. 🙂

OP says she is in a mid senior role.

Is that not literally his entire role as reviewer of the document?

If one of my direct reports produced a document which was factually wrong or had poor analysis, then that would be a professional incompetence issue and they would be on the way out the door pretty quickly. Changing the structure of the document to ensure it flows, and refining the wording or changing the emphasis to align with corporate priorities is what the senior reviewer is there to do and what adds value to the business. If all the senior reviewer is going to do is rubber stamp it, then the more junior person might just as well submit the report directly (and in most cases that is what happens and the review process is reserved for more important reports)