Can my employer change our jobs like this?

[aggretsuko]

I work for a software company in a completely non-technical, customer facing role. I am one of a team of a dozen or so people across EMEA doing the same role (5 of us in the UK). They have decided that in order to best support the new company direction we need to be "technically enabled", which involves so far taking a number of online training courses which are aimed at people with around software engineer level technical ability, which is a baseline we do not have.

Our contracts say that we are not expected to perform duties which are not "reasonably within the Employee's capabilities". To me, the training alone goes against this, before we even get to expecting us to present technical solutions to the customers. So far we have not been given an updated job spec (and it doesn't look like it will be written any time soon) and it is unknown whether we will have amended contracts. Legally, can they do this? In the meantime we are expected to do this training but it just isn't sinking in for many of us. There are qualified and capable people within the company that could do this new role.

I am considering contacting a solicitor, but I feel like they're just going to say hold off until we get things in writing, but it's like our employer is anticipating that and just stalling on everything we ask them.

I suffer from depression and anxiety, which is diagnosed and I am medicated for. I have been doing well for a couple of years now, but this is triggering it and I am considering asking my GP to up my dosage. I have a one to one with my manager tomorrow which I am extremely anxious about. She will ask how I am getting on with the training, and I'm not. I have explained all this to her and she has said she will keep an eye out for internal opportunities but we are currently in a hiring freeze, and in the meantime I just have to do it. She is stuck in the middle of us and higher management, so I don't really blame her. I just don't know what our next steps should be.

Thanks to anyone who reads this.

normally they would make your current role redundant and ask you to apply for the new role? Strange they haven't done this. That's perfectly legal.

Thanks for the reply. I suspect the reason they have done it this way is that they are trying to say it is the same role, just evolved, which it definitely isn't. Also, if they did what you said I don't think any of us would apply for it, and although we have plenty of technical people who could incorporate the new duties into their role, it's probably not as simple a process.

I'm no expert on employment law, having done a fair bit of teaching, it sounds like the training course is inadequate. I think you should at least give feedback on how they are not communicating what they are supposed to be communicating

Hello. Yes, we have done that repeatedly and all we get told is "We hear you", and then nothing changes and no more information is forthcoming. You're right, the training is inadequate, but the kind of people who have the knowledge that they want us to have have technical training/degrees/job experience, years worth of stuff, so I can't see what kind of training they could offer that would be adequate.

Depends on how far it is from the scope of your original job as to whether it is changing the purpose and role.

As @burnoutbabe said, if it is a significant and unreasonable change, they could make the roles redundant and create new roles that include the required skills.

However, it sounds to me like they are trying to make the team more efficient and increase your capability. I would ask / say the following:

• I am committed to the training and have been following it. It's hard though and a real change from what I've been doing so far. What extra support is there going to be to make sure we can do it?
• What happens if the change is too much and I am unable to learn the new skills? (the answer to this you have from what sounds like a pretty crap manager, look for another job)

In your shoes, I'd get everything in writing as far as possible (just in case) including announcements, training plans, objectives and conversations
AND
I would try my very best to do well in the training because either way, it makes you more marketable.

Thanks @StellaFromTheFall

We just keep being told to wait and see and hang in there. We have asked what will happen if we can't do it and no one can answer it, it seems. I guess we are too early in the process to really take any action. I don't think we've had anything at all in writing, apart from the training we're expected to do. I am looking for another job, I'm just concerned I'm going to get the sack from this one while I'm doing that, which is another thing adding to my stress and anxiety.

I will continue trying to do the training, but I won't be putting it on my CV. I don't understand it and don't want any job that would require it, not that I would be able to do said job.

Why do you think you'll get the sack?

Still do the training - you should quote it as it shows you are someone who is capable and brings your skillset up. Doesn't mean you have to use it!

The issue is the training isn't being given properly if none of you understand it. That is what you need to raise. Most contracts will expect you to undertake training and development. When I started in marketing in the early 90s most stuff was paper-based, and I would have got nowhere refusing to touch one of these newfangled PC things, or use the internet. It will look good on your CV if you move on to another company.

I worry I will get the sack because I'm not understanding things, and my anxiety is making my brain not take things in as well as they might under normal circumstances. I have a call back with my GP about increasing my meds and also getting ones for migraines again, and this has triggered those when I haven't had them for a couple of years.

We understand training and development. We do those all the time. The issue with this is that it is training for a completely different job. I keep trying to think of analogies without going into the ins and outs of different roles at a software company. It is like a medical secretary being asked to watch training aimed at nurses with all the skills that go with being a nurse, with a view to them being able to do things like injections, consultations and minor ops (I recently had an ingrown toenail removed by a nurse and this is what made me think of it). I'm the medical secretary in this situation.

No, it isn't being given correctly. We have asked for instructor-led training, where we can ask questions, and we have been refused.

I am not saying I won't do the training. I have been doing it, but it makes no sense to me or other because it assumes a baseline knowledge which we do not have.

If anyone reading is familiar with the software industry, I am customer facing support relationships and customer satisfaction, and they want us to be solution architects.

does the training consist just of watching videos or is there a practical element or an assessment?

keep feeding back that the training videos are not making sense. And don't make an effort with them - they are asking the impossible.

and do look out for another job, just in case.

Are you a project manager or sales person? I work in tech and this sounds similar to what happens at our place, they don't want to pay for software engineers to be on client calls to answer questions so they try and unskilled the sales and project staff in stuff that sure, you could understand the basics in, but unless you were doing the software job every day you just won't be skilled enough or have enough exposure to answer the majority of the questions that come up from the customer. My sympathies. Document everything you are doing, and document if the training isn't appropriate, any conversations around it etc.

I am customer facing support relationships and customer satisfaction, and they want us to be solution architects
Wow. And they want you to learn this from an online training course? You can't learn it at all solely from training (not saying there aren't good architecture training courses, there are). You learn solution architecture from having been a developer and seeing things go wrong.

They are taking the piss. I can understand how they might think some people with great people skills could cross-train but I think their main motivation is to try and get some cheap solution architects - to hire out to other firms? That'll be a big profit margin for them assuming they're not looking to improve your salaries at all.

I can't see how they could fire you given your written job spec makes no mention of this new role. However, I think you're right to be looking for a new role and even more so in view of the effect on your health.

Sorry - I know this is Legal Matters and I don't know the legal position on this but I couldn't not reply.

Being Frank it sounds like either you've got the wrong end of the stick or your management team are barmy.

Are you sure they said they want you to become a solutions Architects? This is what a solutions architect does:

What does a solutions architect do?
A good solutions architect looks at the existing environment and analyzes what technologies are available and what software product must be developed to provide the best solution for the problem that needs to be solved. From there, the solutions architect creates an overall strategic technical vision—not unlike an architect designing a blueprint for a building. They develop a budget for producing a software product based on that vision.
After the stakeholders have agreed on the project, the solutions architect is responsible for monitoring the process and keeping stakeholders updated and informed on the progress. Most of the time, the project involves both technical and non-technical stakeholders, and the solutions architect must make sure that each party's needs are considered and factored into the project's scope.

It makes no sense to even try to combine a customer service role with the above.

Are you sure they're not just wanting you to have a broader knowledge base of the core service being delivered by your company, software development, so that you have a better understanding of; the terminology, direction of travel for the industry, future state of technology.... so that you can anticipate customer needs and help to get any feedback/requirements/demands etc from the customer and to the Solutions Architects?

The videos do have assessments at the end, at least the ones I've done so far, but it keeps making you retake it until you get the necessary pass rate, and it's just memorising phrases, really. Ones that I haven't done yet, there is a proper exam which you can fail. Other team members have got to this part and not taken it yet, because they are unable to answer the questions based on the training provided. Basically, we've been given a free version and more content is accessible with the paid version, which they haven't got for us.

I am a customer success team member. I think they want us do to the job of a solutions architect, but they are too busy and cost more. Weirdly, the job that we currently do will fall to the SA and account manager if we are not there to do it. So stupid.

The whole thing sounds utterly surreal, I'm not surprised your migraines are back. I feel like I'm getting one just thinking about how stressful this must be.

They want us to be "technically enabled to present to customers solutions for for their environment", or words to that effect. The training they are asking us to do is partly what SAs are asked to do when they come to us. It's sort of "SA lite" that they're expecting. Thanks for your perspective on this.

And thanks to everyone who's replied! It's nice to just talk it out with people who aren't involved.

Oh crikey. (Ex programmer of 22 years here). If they're trying to convert non programmers into programmers or solution architects then they are both deluded and incredibly tight fisted (I am assuming they aren't going to pay you 80k or whatever it is SAs make these days - perhaps if you're feeling bolshy you could all collectively demand it).

I do wonder whether this is borderline constructive dismissal territory here (making it impossible for you to do your job) but am not an employment law expert. If you are in a union, ask them. If not it might be worth asking ACAS.

There is no "solution architect light". All the SAs I have come across have been people with at least ten years programming experience. I don't see how you could do it without having that technical background. And you can't really learn programming from a course. You learn it by doing programming.

This kind of stuff makes me really angry. It devalues programming and tech skills and also it's crap for the poor bastard that's being pressurised to learn something complex in a couple of weeks by reading a book or watching a video.

Unfortunately in many tech companies, the shit floats to the top (and then makes these sorts of decisions).

@Nixer

Yeap, I come from a family of computer nerds (not including me) and I've always felt that that stuff requires a certain type of person.

I do wonder whether this is borderline constructive dismissal territory

Constructive dismissal cases are very hard to win.

An employer is entitled to re-organise. As part of that, they may decide that a role as it is currently configured is no longer required and that the role that is required needs a higher level of skill/knowledge. They are entitled to try and upskill the existing employees so that they can fill the new roles rather than simply making them all redundant. Where they may overstep the mark is in how they deal with employees who fail to make the grade, but that hasn't happened yet.

Where they may overstep the mark is in how they deal with employees who fail to make the grade, but that hasn't happened yet.

No, and they won't tell us what happens if that is the case.

@Nixer You get it!

We've just been offered a pay rise. I'm concerned that taking it would mean it seeming like we are accepting these changes. I've taken today and yesterday off because my anxiety is through the roof, and my GP has not called me back, but my colleague told me about it. I will refuse it if it helps illustrate that I am not accepting these changes.

@aggretsuko make sure you have an up to date job description for your current role plus organisation structure.

Try to get a copy of a current SA job description in your company - look for recent vacancies, or ask a current SA.

Put in writing that you are requesting a copy of the new organisation structure and job description.

This will be useful evidence to show how well your current and new job “match”.

@aggretsuko you said in your op “I suffer from depression and anxiety, which is diagnosed and I am medicated for. I have been doing well for a couple of years now, but this is triggering it and I am considering asking my GP to up my dosage.”

Put this in writing to your manager making it clear that the lack of information is exacerbating your pre-existing conditions. Ask for a referral to OH.

If you can, ask your GP for a fit note that says “you may be fit for work” they then add on the fit note that “the lack of information and uncertainty around your future job role is exacerbating your depression and anxiety. A referral to occupational health is strongly recommended. “

When you get to see OH, make it clear the lack of info is making you ill and is impacting on your whole life I.e. at home and not just when at work.

“ I have a one to one with my manager tomorrow which I am extremely anxious about. She will ask how I am getting on with the training, and I'm not.”
Keep on with the training but keep updating your manager in writing. If necessary ask to re-do modules you feel you didn’t understand.

Start looking for a new job - I’m sorry but this may be your best option.