Role doesnt seem to exist anymore - what to do

[fantalemon]

Hello

I would be grateful for any advice about the problems I have been having since returning from Maternity Leave last November.

To cut a long story short, I have no work to do. No one covered my maternity leave but whilst I was away an additional, and more senior, member of staff was recruited, the idea being (or least this is what I was told) that she would pick up my work while I was away but with a view when I return to her taking on the more complex work (given her seniority) and directly supervising me on the work more suited to my level.

This hasnt happened. Reading between the lines, there is just not enough work to do for the pair of us, even before I went away, I wasnt that busy, and I think she has just enough to keep her occupied and obviously reluctant to pass stuff down. I have raised my concerns my line manager (we share the same line manager) who has pretty much dismissed my concerns saying work will pick up and he doesnt want to take work off her just to give to me.

I spoke to HR about this and they havent been terribly helpful. Its been about 7 weeks now which I know is early days but my moral and motivation is at rock bottom from days of just sitting at my desk on the internet. I also feel very excluded from the team as I have no work to do and little idea of what everyone else is working on. At times, I have found it quite upsetting and found myself in the toilet crying.

I have looked at the regulations etc and it seems that having taken AML, I am entitled to come back to a job with similar duties, responsiblites etc and this doesnt seem to have happened. I have very little client contact etc like I did before.

I am not sure what to do next. Shall I just ride it out a bit longer revelling in the fact I am getting paid to surf the internet? Should I think about raising a more formal grievance? On one hand, I dont want to fall on my own sword and be given so much work that I cant cope and cant get out on time to get to childminder but on the other hand I am really fecking miserable at work and very much like a spare part.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Hi - this is a serious breach of the law - you have effectively come back to no job and are also not being provided with work 'at the appropriate level' which is a recognised breach of both employment law and rules on maternity leave. Also this has a whiff of them having got used to the person who wsa there whilst you were away, and also perhaps that they are a little afraid of undermining her.

On the flip side, though, if your work is seen as at a lower level of responsibility to the other person - it effectively means that her role should be downgraded if more than 50% of her current work is your old work - so it would be in her interests to pass it to you anyway.

Being paid to surf the internet (as I was in my last role when a significant training opportunity that I had scheduled my work around was withdrawn) is soul destroying, an insult and could be easily positioned (as could not providing work at the appropriate level) as evidence of constructive dismissal - I know several people working in a public body who took out a class action (equivalent) on precisely this - withdrawal of work at the appropriate level - who won and carried on working taking on work from a new team brought in elsewhere in the country.

Without knowing much about the work, or personalies etc, its difficult to find a certain route through this - but it certainly sounds like neither of you are being managed well if your manager has a vague plan about the replacement supervising you, but hasn't either put it in place or, it seems, communicated that idea to the replacement - if it is vague and an idea/one interpretation, it might be best to try to set a date when you feel you will have got used to being back and set a date with your replacement to discuss levels of responsibility and boundaries of roles - this should happen anyway so this shouldn't be seen as aggressive, just logical - you could position this as 'hey x(replacement) I'm getting pretty used to being back now, could we meet next week to talk about how i fit in with you, you and I with our boss and all that?., perhaps tuesday?'

If you can pick sensible colleagues that interact with your team, talk it over with them about a) what has been happening b) how they understand current interactions and c) whether they would appreciate guidelines over who to go to for what now there are two staff.

If you position all this as you seeking responsible confirmation and understanding in a way to help your boss get things done a) its difficult to resist b) you can throw your hands up in shock if they accuse you of pshing too hard and say ' no I've been away for a while and I think we should make th most of x(replacement's) higher level skills until I find my feet a bit more. c) HR will support you if it goes a bit weird d) you will look professional and responsible,

At the moment, if your manager is anything like my last, he/she will let you carry on doing nothing, then complain behind your back that you are always doing nothing, so if you get some evidence that you have tried to start a discussion - and others know it, thie will give people the strength to say 'no she hasn't!!'

In the background, though, start making notes about this (EG CUT and paste your entry above and date it), speak to Union or other adviser (this is easy employment law and could probably be covered by a quick half hour chat with an emplloyment lawyer) and just get into the habit of copying pertinent e-mail to a private account, and make notes of discussions - you'll hear this a lot, and it might turn you off, but believe me I have found even the tiny nuance (eg 'x said to me in the corridor that she 'didn't know what I did anyway' - she is my line manager! 3pm 05.06.10) can add to a significant case.

If you and your maternity cover (sorry not replacement!) can generate work, why not propose a strategy to her with your new boss present - and then when you explain strategy divvy up the high and low level tasks immediately you present this (eg I think we could go for 5 new corporate clients with x taking on these three (over 500 employees) and me taking on the rest)...

anyway just some thoughts - but I thik with evidence (eg send the odd e-mail asking for a work schedule or ';just to clarify, do I handle y and x(cover) handles ,,,) you would have a reasonable andd sensible area of concern that should be managed.

oh seven weeks i thought seven days - sorry! that is a reasonable time to ask for a meeting especialy now new year is over with - fast action now will be seen as 'new year new professional outlook!
:)

Thanks Heroine - that is all really very helpful and glad to know I am not over-reacting/going mad with the boredom!

You are spot on when you say that they dont seem to want undermine the other person - she definately has her feet under the table with my boss and fair dues to her as she seems to work hard and is committed (even if it is at the expense of giving me work). I do wonder whether she thinks I may be a threat which is as far from the truth as it could be, I have no desire to do all the client networking in the evening, stay late, climb the greasy pole to partnership. Am happy to just do a full day's work and leave.

I will definately start to make a note of what happens each day. I have been trying to strike a balance between not always moaning to my boss "I have no work" and appearing to be negative with letting them know that I am not happy with the way things are.

I think why it is also a frustrating situation is because my flexible working application to come back 3 days a week was refused so it feels almost perverse to have me sitting at a desk doing nothing when I could be at home with my baby.

As it happens, a meeting has been set for next week with my boss and I have requested we talk about the issue of my workload. I suspect they will just wash over it again, i.e. we have told X to start to delegate more, it will take to build up caseload etc etc. I am not quite sure how to play it - whether to just accept that or to perhaps play a bit hardball and read them the riot act about my rights on returning from ML.

Either way, I am hoping something positive will come out of it as I am beginning to lose the will to live surfing the internet all day!

oK.. Well speak to as many advisers as possible, but if they say 'we have told x to delegate, as to see a copy of what they have said to her and ask when this delgation will happen and what they are expecting to delegate- (if they are being vague then its difficult to hold them to account - you need to be able to say something like 'we agreed that work would be delgated by x date - is there a hold up?)

I think you need to gently push back if there is an assumption that you should wait. You are returning from maternity with x covering your job - if your work is with her, and that means she doesn't have a full workload it is her that should go to reduced time - if they want to take a punt and risk that she is worth investing (and losing money in at the moment) that is their additional look out, not yours to fund!

You should say that you do expect to have an appropriate level of work assigned to you, and could they let you know if the current situation is likely to be ongoing for more than a month?

After the meeting confirm your understanding back to them as soon as you can eg 'thanks for meeting today, ust wanted to confirm that we agreed that I would be given delegated case work by x date and that when the lient workload is fuller tasks defined as will go to me with x handlikng work at y level.

If it feels right, ask direct questions about whether they feel uncomfortable taking work away from x and express sympathy, but write this down and say 'have you asked her?'

Simple questions asked fairly dryly (practice!) and then silence work extremely well.

If it goes badly, let us know outcomes - and also write down what is said afterwards - and if it is particularly bad (eg 'we have considered there is not enough work for you at the moment') fire this back in the same way as above

'you said in the meeting x that there was not enough work, but I understand that my workload whilst on maternity leave was passed to x, and that you have asked for this to be delegated back to me. Is there any reason why x hasn't complied with this?'

it will be sticky for a bit and you'll need to be careful what you say, but the issues are pretty clear and you have a good understanding - you have done well to address this before you got to resentful and mental with boredom - if you are interested boredom is probably one of the most difficult things to manage

oh you could say that you understand why in her position it might be difficult for her to delegate appropriately, and perhaps you can help by drawing up some guidelines!

Thanks again Heroine - I wrote a reply over the weekend but just realised now it was never posted.

Not much has changed this week, still nothing to do and am not expecting a huge change after the meeting later this week. It is now being billed as a review of what is expected of me over the next 6 months so I suspect they will say well by July we anticipate you will have x number of cases in an attempt to get round the argument that I have come back to no job! I am also slightly confused as why there needs to be a detailed discussion of "what is expected of me" and what the firm say is an appropriate split of work for someone of my level given that surely I should just come back to the job I had before?

Interestingly, I was reassured after I first raised my concerns that any new work would come to me but a quick review of cases opened since I came baack shows thats not happened and rather they have been given straight to x even when they were suitable for me so not sure how I am meant to believe what they say about what is going to happen going forwards.

Anyway, rant over and thanks again for the advice, much appreciated.