To feel completely undermined at work?

[JaffaCakes12]

I work in healthcare, and I am assigned to six schools. Four schools are close, two are far, and we only have one assistant at the moment.
The assistant is there to help us carry out our sessions.

She says no to visiting the further schools because she isn’t comfortable with driving, so I’ve ended up doing all visits this half-term. I even offered to take on the further-away child if she would swap and pick up some of my nearby schools - she refused, saying it “wasn’t appropriate” because a) she didn’t understand the targets and b) there were other children waiting.
She hasn’t visited a single one of my schools.

I have been raising this with supervisors weeks ago. Their approach has been extremely indirect (sending general reminder emails to all assistants, arranging monthly meetings, etc.) but nobody is actually addressing the behaviour head-on.

But last week it got worse:
I put her initials next to the children I needed her to see (as advised by my supervisor). She removed her initials. I put them back. She immediately messaged me asking why, and said she thought it was a typo... I explained I have no capacity and that the school is extremely close so would be helpful for her. She then changed the initials to “assistant” - presumably because another assistant is starting soon.

I then assigned two more overdue children to her (the same ones she previously refused to swap with me). She ignored the tasks completely and has now removed her initials again.

So:

• She is repeatedly removing her name from children I assign
• She is ignoring messages
• She is altering notes I have written next to children on the waiting list
• Supervisors keep handling everything indirectly and softly
• None of them are actually acknowledging that she keeps overriding me

I'm carrying the entire school caseload, burning out, and feeling completely undermined.

I am considering emailing my line manager about it because I feel the removal of initials, editing my notes etc has gone too far?…

I don't understand what your job is all about.
You seem to be visiting schools, but on the other hand you seem to be visiting individual children - which is it?
Why are you visiting these schools/children? I assume they need help from you - what is the reason?

Please give us a clearer picture of your job, then we can make some comments.

It will be certain children in specific schools like counselling or similar

I am assigned 6 schools and I see individual children at those schools for sessions when they need them. The assistants are supposed to help us too

So what is she doing? Is she doing less work overall?
Editing your notes sounds completely inappropriate,

YANBU, it's sounds like a very difficult situation

Please contact your manager again, by email including what you've written here. You have tried, and now need your manager's support to resolve this.

Are you a member of the RCN or another union? They'd be helpful in supporting you with this, good luck www.rcn.org.uk/Get-Help

I'm guessing SALT or similar.

I don't think it really matters what she's doing when she gets there. The assistant is not doing her job and the supervisor isn't directing her to do it.

If it is your job to assign her work and she is unreasonably refusing then I believe you need to navigate formal action. Reporting lines are confusing in your post so do they report to you or are they a pool of resource and you need to report it to their manager for them to deal with it more robustly?

@JaffaCakes12 What does her contract say? Only in public service would this be tolerated. She’s probably not doing the job and making your job impossible. Is HR worth talking to? Technically she’s not capable of doing the job so they need a capability discussion with her and not following reasonable requests to actually do her job, for which she is paid! No wonder we have a funding crisis for public services. She needs a different job and action should be taken - why do they think it’s ok to over burden you? Makes no sense does it?

It is either anxiety (she doesn't know how to do the job) or personal (she doesn't like you) or self absorption (she thinks her needs should always be met). Find out which one it is before you decide how to tackle it.

I just feel so overwhelmed and taking way too much on my plate. I have ADHD and struggle anyway, so this just feels overwhelming and like I’m not being supported. It seems everyone is avoiding conflict and stating it’s because she’s stressed - but we all are!

@Owly11 Whatever if is, she’s not doing the job. How much of this can fairly be tolerated? She’s presumably got all the schools in her contract - not a choice of schools that impinges on the work of others. The op must report this to higher managers and/or HR. It’s not acceptable and she cannot, personally, deal with it. Health is a great employer if you shout loud enough but expects others to take the slack. How is that acceptable for the dc involved or the other employees?

I would suggest you raise it with your manager again and tell her plainly how you are feeling. After that it's the nuclear option and go off sick yourself.

I don't think any of it should be tolerated. However, i personally would deal with it differently depending on what it is. Someone who is deliberately undermining me I would be wanting to act very strongly to make it clear that they either stop or i will make it my mission to get them out of the job one way or another. Probably via a disciplinary process. If they were anxious i would address it with a PIP with a more supportive aspect. If it was entitlement it would also be a PIP but less supportive and more educating her about her role and responsibilities.

Personally working in a similar public service role i would firstly send her an email with the manager copied in , asking why her name has been removed and giving her a full list of jobs assigned. I would add " as there seems to be some confusion about what i need you to do". If she or manager come back citing stress, asked for a work based stress assement for you ( adhd is protected i think) , so theyncan udebtufy where your support is. Union would be helpful

She’ll be getting herself signed off next. Speak to your manager and suggest appropriate action via HR, look at her contract. You might need to make this more formal (having failed with the approach you’re taking now.)
She Is currently being paid for a job she is not doing - stealing a living and failing to provide the service to children she’s paid for.

@patooties Yes, I’ve no doubt the sickie will be coming. Why was someone employed to help dc in schools she/he refuses to visit? Surely the JD spelled out the job? Poor dc! It’s abysmal snd does need strong action. Only in the health service….. There’s supposed to be a service but the staff dictate who gets it by refusing to do their job. Why does anyone tolerate this?

OP I fully sympathise, it sounds like you work in a similar service to me. I have had some similar challenges with assistants over the years.

Sorry I couldn't see in your post, do you line manage this individual? I would set up a meeting with whoever is managing the assistant and raise the bullet points you have listed at the end of your post. Explain that first step general emails have already been sent and have had no impact.

They then need to address it directly in the assistants supervision. Everytime she does something which is undermines you, you raise the example with the supervisor. The managers at the top will ignore this (they always do, most of them hate confrontation) unless it becomes something which is directly causing them hassle.

She has no right to decline visits if they are 'far away' or not a preferred type of intervention. All these jobs there is an expectation for everyone to travel and complete a variety of types of work. She is getting more controlling about the type of work she is doing and where, I have seen this time and time again and the more you let it slide the worse it gets.

@Hopefulbride18 So the manages need training too. Why have we ended up with managers who refuse to manage? It’s why the nhs fails us.

@OhDear111yes absolutely. I'm not sure how it's got so awful, feels worse than ever. I think it's partly because they like clinicians to step into these roles but, understandably, a lot of these people don't have the skills/experience to manage a team. The NHS don't like to pay for training so they get on with doing a job they're not trained to do...

@Hopefulbride18 When I first joined the Education Dept of my LA in the 70s, every senior manager job had to be a teacher! So HR, Buildings, Finance - all of them. It fortunately dawned on them in the 80s that other qualifications mattered and were relevant and maybe the ex classics teacher didn’t have the necessary skills with NO further training. I’m amazed any large organisation doesn’t require the correct qualifications and experience for the job. I tend to stand by my original thought that it’s a reason the nhs fails us. Poor management at every level!

Surely it's a simple one.

Your manager told you to allocate children to her by adding her initials to the spreadsheet so you reply to her in a bright and breezy way cc'ing your manager that it's no error, manager said to allocate the cases you couldn't see it her and to let manager know if there is an issue.

Job done.

What is she actually doing during her workday?! You say she is refusing to visit 2 out of 6 schools but then that you are carrying the entire school load so if she is removing her initials from specific cases and not visiting schools how is she occupying her time?

Whatever the situation, I hope that you are conducting all of your interactions with her now in writing so that she can’t later deny having been asked to do specific tasks. It looks like this is heading for formal disciplinary action one way or another.

@andweallsingalong That won’t work with a weak manager! They will reallocate the visits to OP! They won’t deal with the issue by knowing about it. They will offload it.

Is she Gen Z. She sure sounds it.

I’d be taking a couple of weeks off work sick. I bet they deal with her then. You can also put direct blame on the situation for adding to stress