Work colleague thinks it’s ok to steal my job because I’m “just” bank!

[fib88]

I work in a hospital and been in my job 2.5 years - I am on a zero hours contract (bank staff) and as such considered a temporary worker (so basically have no employee rights). The hospital are making 500 redundancies and looking at which staff to get rid of with bank employees being first in the firing line.

A permanent staff member, being a woman that I work closely with, who sits next to me (and I considered a close friend) has gone behind my back and offered to do my job resulting in her being allowed to do part of my role at weekends and is being paid overtime for this. She has made my position even more vulnerable now. To say I’m devastated at her betrayal would be an understatement. Because of her actions I’m literally hanging on to my job by a thread. She is very close with our manager (go back years) and this is how she has managed to talk her away into being allowed to do this. She is lazy, constantly being complained about my other members of our team for passing her work to others, including me. She talks all day and doesn’t pull her weight. She has had at least 10 weeks of faux sickness over the two years I have known her whilst I’ve had four days in total (Covid) and work very hard with hardly any holidays off over that 2 years.

I don’t know how to handle this, she knows I’m unhappy and has said such to other employees and passes it off as “it is what it is and she need to get over it”! if I complain to our manager, he will take her side as they have a long history together. She is going on holiday and keeps complaining she needs the money badly as she in debt.

The fact that a so called friend would betray me, who incidentally I’ve stuck up for repeatedly has gutted me, my question is how do I behave going forward - if I kick off they’ll get rid of me anyway for being a troublemaker. I just don’t know how to behave and what is my best course of action?.

Needless to say she is not my friend anymore, but I still have to keep up the pretence/professional front in the office. I haven’t been able to sleep for days over this. Maybe I’m just got to accept what she’s doing is acceptable in the workplace. I feel very disillusioned with people right now.

No. It is usual for bank pay to be on a higher hourly rate as well at the role being more flexible, while employees are limited to the pay within their band. I guess there can be different perceptions of where someone sits within each band, meaning they think they are not getting any extra but the employer just thought they were low end of the scale for that band.

It’s very simple, you start to back away, not obviously but start to step back

when she starts to offload work to you it’s a sorry I wont have time ( and perhaps have a quiet word with the others and encourage them to do the same) that why the fact she is not working will be uncovered. If she insists just reiterate sorry I have my own workload, perhaps speak to xx(manager) and ask for them to provide extra help

That way she either has to do the work or the manager gets asked for help and starts to realise she is not pulling her weight

But this isn’t really a close, genuine friendship is it? You’ve called her lazy, you say she fakes illness to have time off etc - if she’s as bad as you make out, it’s odd that you then feel devastated that she’s looking out for herself when it comes to redundancies. If she always puts herself first, passing on work to others and not pulling her weight, it’s no surprise she’s behaving the same now.

As bank staff I’m not sure whether redundancy applies though it’s worth getting advice about any rights you have.

but the key thing is to recognise that the employer is reorganising things and it’s not personal. To be frank, the NHS using lots of bank staff is not a great structure and god knows they certainly need to tighten up on how money is used. This is the sort of thing which makes a lot of people angry: this is public money being used and clearly things need tightening up. If you look at it objectively - this woman is being paid to be lazy and pass her work on to you - so that’s two of you being paid out of the public purse when in reality, if the other woman did her job properly, you might not be needed and more money is being directed to where it’s actually needed in the NHS!

I know a couple of people who are bank staff and they prefer it because of the flexibility. They can turn around and say sorry I’m not available when it suits them. It sounds like you want the security of full time employment, which will obviously be a bigger commitment but will give you more rights and very importantly a decent pension.

try to draw a line under this. If the woman is as bad as you make out, it’s the employer’s problem going forward. Look for a new job where you’ll be a full member of staff.

You don’t sound that nice yourself if I’m honest 😁 I totally accept I’d be let go first
…but

The higher bands had a meeting with a director and she was the topic of discussion - Apparently she wasn’t pulling her weight, slyly putting her work back (she’d been seen on a specific day) and she’d need to step up or be the first for the door. I was told this in confidence by one of these managers. Genuinely upset for her, i told her what was said and that she needed to improve less chat etc. She knew this claim to be true as she had done what they’d said. I didn’t need to tell her, I did it out of friendship at a risk to myself. My reward she blatantly makes my role vulnerable in thanks.

Join a union. Possibly too late for this, but for next time

You do not have to tell anyone you are in the union, unless you want to, and then you don't have to tell your employer.

Especially on a zero hours contract you are vulnerable. The union isn't all about striking for pay, it is about being safer because the union will advise you what to say/do when/if the redundancy/sack notice arrives. (in fact if you are in a union and your employer knows, rightly or wrongly you will not be first in the firing line because of this)

Also: take holidays you are entitled to. Always. good luck

I’m sorry this friend has let you down. Sometimes there is a difference between what is legally okay and what is morally okay. Legally, you have not got a leg to stand on. But at some level she has broken the moral code of your friendship and that must hurt.

Definitely no present for her. You are probably too kind and gave her the benefit of the doubt for too long, unlike your other colleagues. It is time to move on from the friendship and the job.

@fib88this sounds a toxic work culture. Wtf was one of the managers telling you ‘in confidence’ about a member of staff’s failings? And then you reporting this back to your ‘friend’???

Shes not stealing anything from you. Sorry I know it might be annoying to have your hours cut/reduced/terminated as bank staff but your colleague is not really doing anything wrong by picking up extra shifts for herself as a permanent member of staff. What she needs the money for is irrelevant and if she doesn't want to continue to work those extra shifts then that is your managers problem in the future. I wouldn't call her a friend, but the way you talk about her I wouldn't say you are her friend either. I hope you get a permanent position somewhere OP.

Unfortunately, this is the reality of bank, I’ve done bank work and agency work for years and it’s common knowledge that it can be pulled at any moment or the rates can suddenly change due to budget changes, it’s happened to me many times. If you wanted stability you should have looked for a permanent position. You’re no more entitled to bank shifts than she is to extra hours or bank shifts herself. Why should she not ask for extra hours because you want them instead?

Bank shifts are for when shifts can’t be filled by permanent staff, a permanent staff member has said they can fill them now. Unfortunately, it’s sounds like your dept/trust has abused the bank system for a while with you working regular hours for years. What they should have done is realised they need more staff and put a business case forward to recruit someone permanently to fill them, not rely on you do doing bank regularly for almost three years.

Yes you’re right, I need to draw a line through this. Yes she was taking advantage by being sick and not pulling her weight - reading your sage words has jolted something in my head. I genuinely liked her company and wanted the best outcomes for her and never would I have dreamed of throwing her under a bus to save myself. I saw in her what I wanted to see. She is a very toxic person with no goodness for others.

I have a saviour mentality and by constantly helping and supporting her I’ve enabled a lot of it. Thanks x

Seems pretty short sighted to pay someone overtime at the weekend. After bank overtime will be the next thing cut as overtime is way more expensive than bank. Then your manager and ex friend will be up the swanny as they’ll have to fit your job in within core hours without increased the WTE.

theres a dictat that all temporary posts be reviewed and culled if possible. Your managers been a bit lazy having you effectively on a bank contract for 2 years instead of doing a business case to substantively recruit.

none of that helps you of course, I’m sorry you’re in this position.

She's chosen a really risky employment setup, and she's chosen to forego the protection of union membership.

Saviour - or meddler? Maybe refocus on yourself and your self-interest. Join a union.

The hard truth is that you’re bank staff. I work in the NHS and don’t see anything wrong with what she’s done-but you claim to be her friend yet go to great lengths to say she’s lazy, incompetent, has fake sickness and is basically a horrible person.Bank staff might seem like part of the furniture but unfortunately you don’t have a permanent contract or even a set hours temporary contract-Trusts are financially very vulnerable so agency would be the first to go.

OP this is beyond a betrayal, people can be vile and she obviously falls into this category. You have experience in the NHS, concentrate on finding a permanent role within your current organisation, or, look at another hospital, NHS trust.
There is no way back from this, your position has become untenable. The one advantage of working in the NHS is there are always other roles/opportunities available. Yes you like your job but your colleagues and your manager do not value your contribution, find another role where they will.
Good luck OP and don't let the b** grind you down x

I’m glad that helped.

like I say, the thing to do is to try to look at the situation objectively. It’s actually really bad use of tax payers money for the NHS to be paying a permanent member of staff who is lazy and often off ‘sick’ , and then paying a bank member of staff to pick up the slack.

@fib88be angry about that! It’s a shocking waste of money and god knows there are far better things the money should be spent on. It’s actually good that the public sector is having to reorganise to stop leeching money like this. So be angry about that! And frankly, this woman will hopefully now need to step up and stop being lazy - if she doesn’t, she’ll hopefully be in for the chop.

Best wishes with moving forward and getting a permanent job.

Thanks for your kind words - this morning has been very therapeutic for me to unravel things in my head clearly. I am too kind and obviously have a saviour complex that I need to break. I need to stop feeling aggrieved and jog on. She will get nothing further from me support or gifts 😂

Hi @fib88
So sorry you’re going through this. As other posters have said, the NHS is a shit hole of bullying and other toxic behaviours. People like her thrive in it.

As you’ve been working consistently over 2 years, you do have employment rights, such as redeployment. I’d check this out with HR before you give up entirely. But I can understand if you don’t have the will/energy for this.

Your so called friend is an utter selfish cow. You are right to play it professional but do nothing more to enable her skiving and laziness.

One thing to remember though, the manager thinks he’s being smart moving hours from bank to overtime. However, the budget is still being breached so sooner rather than later, he’ll be told to cut that. Your ex friend has no comeback when that happens.

If I wasn’t such a nice person, I’d be hoping that happens just when madam has fully committed to paying for her next fake sickness holiday 😂

Keep it cool for a good reference and get out of there. You’ve got transferable skills and a great work ethic. But choose your friends more wisely in the next job ❤️

Thank you for your kind words - todays posters have really helped me come to terms with all of this x

Number 1 rule at work.

This!

The NHS is in a precarious financial situation at the moment and certainly at my Trust any “non essential” role ie admin is being looked at. I’ve put that in speech marks as I believe these roles are essential. But every role is being scrutinised. If they are cost cutting I’d be very surprised if she’s allowed to do overtime as that’s usually the first thing to go.

But she’s proven to you she’s not your friend. Kindly, in your next job, don’t cover for someone and do their work. Let them fail and prove themselves to be rubbish.

i don’t know your employment rights after being there more than 2 years and although your team see you as one of them the decision to let you go will come from higher up.

it’s really brutal at the moment in the nhs

You did WHAT? You told her something that a manager had told you in confidence so the lazy woman could pull her socks up and not be first out the door? Why would you do that?

I felt sorry for you at the beginning of your thread but not now. The NHS is funded by the taxpayer. It is on its knees. If there are lazy people who don’t pull their weight and are taking 10 weeks off sick when there is nothing wrong with them then these are the people that need to be got rid of. You knew this woman was a lazy piss taker and you not only stuck up for her but you helped her to keep her job!

It is shocking that management knows she’s useless and don’t manage her out and you are a mug for enabling her. 🙄😡

This. You’ve been making her look far more efficient and capable than she is, OP, while making your own work invisible.

The one advantage of working in the NHS is there are always other roles/opportunities available
Have you not seen that all NHS Trusts are having to cuts to their budgets by12- 15%
Immediately and most of this is by removing entire services and cutting admin staff.
There is also a total recruitment freeze on all areas.
There are no jobs being advertised and no bank shifts currently.
If someone leaves they are not being replaced.
NQN -there are no jobs for them
Junior Doctors FY3 -they are struggling to find jobs