I sent this to my boss today. I have been in "secret" discussions with his line manager as i wanted to go grievance or at least try and resolve things - i find him very difficult to talk to because he is so defensive and never wrong.... Please tell me if you think it rude/confrontational/whatever. Sorry it is such a long one (its an email reply btw).I have amended names for obv reasons. Thanks.
"Since you have asked, my reason for contacting your line manager was originally because of the Staff Questionnaire sent out. At that point DS was 19 weeks old and I had not heard a peep out of the company/you, no congratulatory phone call, response to my message, a card and certainly no flowers. If you say you sent flowers then I won?t argue that fact, but if I had sent someone flowers and not heard back from them I would have called to follow up. I would have called anyway to be honest. I am in no doubt that you have been busy, and I am aware of the changes going on with Rentokil at the moment but I don?t believe it to be reasonable excuse enough to not contact me at all in 6 months. That is just how I feel.
I have to say I am not particularly happy to have be put on the spot with questions over the phone about vague excerpts from emails your line managers secretary has forwarded to you. The simple fact is that I have reflected a great deal during my maternity leave about our ?working relationship? . The lack of contact from you since the birth of my son has compounded how I feel about how the last 2 years have been, which is as follows:
It is my opinion that you do not like the current working arrangement of my working part time and you make your annoyance quite clear often times.
You regularly reminded me (unsolicited) that I cannot return to my original role full time and would have to take a ?step down?. You repeated told me that you really wanted the role fulfilled in a full time capacity. You have also mentioned often who it was that originally wanted my job.
You have regularly used the decrease in the number of my working hours as the excuse for underperformance when you are well aware that this factor is beyond my control (and indeed if I wanted to go full time I couldn?t anyway). In fact you insisted I enter into my appraisal (with which you couldn?t fault with me I might add) ?problems with workload due to number of hours worked?. I remember clearly a conversation we had once when asking for unpaid leave due to a family problem to which your response was that I have enough time off as it is now I am part time without taking annual leave AND unpaid leave. I may have misconstrued this but I don?t see how I could have.
I think I performed exceptionally well last year yet my pay increase didn?t reflect that. In fact my pay increases over the last 2 years in my opinion, have been the lowest they have ever been in my employment with the company (percentagewise). This amongst other little comments etc here and there all add up to me feeling thoroughly undervalued and demoralized. I thought I might have been being a little oversensitive about it, but your lack of contact has only proven to reinforce it to me.
I have always found you to be difficult to talk to, our telephone conversation today has proved that. (No apology for lack of contact, just excuses that you are busy). This is why I contacted your line manager. I sought his advice and counsel on how to resolve this. Unfortunately it has come to a point where I was due back on Monday and couldn?t delay it any further. I felt that handing in my resignation was the ?last resort? .
Im sorry if you find this hard to swallow but I don?t think I can convey my disappointment any more clearly. I do not wish to leave a company I have 10 years invested in but I don?t see how else this can be resolved. Which is where the comment regarding transfers arise ? they don?t just happen because an individual wants it.
Yours sincerely
QueenVic"
Honest opinions welcome - seriously!