Restructure..is this fair

[Chippychop]

I returned to work last nov after ML, i now work 3days a week within a team i previously managed. My old direct report heads the team now but i report to our head of. I didnt want to report to her given my previous role and i didnt want her knowing my salary, advising me on my personal development, etc.but as she is responsible for the numbers as it were i accept i need to work with her etc My head of agreed with this at the time. Today he has told me that under a proposed structure change she is being given more responsibility as we all are really, but that i must now report to her.

I think he's going back on what we agreed in nov...can he do this? Can they make me report to someone who used to report to me? And report to someone on the same grade? AIBU? Yes she' good and ambitious, i employed her for gods sake i asked for her to be fast tracked even. But she is a relatively young and inexperienced manager...what am i going to gt out of it.

I dont want to be managed by a self confessed princess, who talks about wanting go out and get shit faced, who talks over people and insists on going first when giving updates in a 'its my game' sott of fashion.

Dont get me wrong we get on always have, she is clever and i may even be a bit jealous she has the time to put into her job and the attention she gets but at the end of the day i am a married mum of two with a busy life, i dont aspire to be any higher saying that i dont want to have to answer to her.

Sorry for the long ramble. Advise please friends

I think you've placed some unreasonable demands into the equation. I also think you sound like you want your cake and eat it. Does thus sound fair? "I want to relinquish my managerial role, but I
want a guarantee that person X will never be promoted above me or made my line manager"

True i probably do want my cake and eat it. But i honestly dont mind her being promoted at all. I just think she's not a good people manager yet due to lack of experience

I think i feel a bit conned into not having to work for a previous dr and a short time later i do

Agree with Hairylights.

There is absolutely nothing to stop any employer promoting someone over you so that you end up working for someone who used to report to you. It happens to a lot of people. Reporting to someone on the same grade is, if anything, more of an issue for her in that she could reasonably expect to be on a higher grade than the people reporting to her. It is certainly not unfair to you. You may not like it but your employer can do this.

You work within the team. She heads the team. Yes YABU to expect special reporting line arrangements, of course it's reasonable to expect you to report to her.

I agree with prh47, she should be addressing the fact that she is the manager and yet is still on the same grade as those she is managing, doesn't sound right at all.

Not perfect i agree But they cant downgrade me

You should both be on the correct grade for your role, however that works in your organisation. If you were both previously on the grade you are now on in your non-managerial role, and she's been promoted to manage the team but has not had an appropriate reassessment of the grade of her role, then yes it sounds as though she should be on a higher grade rather than you on a lower one.

I just think she's not a good people manager yet due to lack of experience

So exactly how is she supposed to get experience in people management?

I am, I think I am a good peoople manager. I made some monumental cock ups when I was first in a management role, but it's the way I learned.

I'm afraid that having gone part-time, you have (probably unfairly) given up a lot of your bargaining power and you should just suck it up.

Yes I agree with hairy. No one is a good manager immediately. You can do as much training in people management as you like, it's no substitute for actually getting experience doing it.

Flowery... She was promoted to the same level as me only after i decided to go part time and relinquish my 'big' job. As a ml returner they were obliged to give me a job on the same level. We are both senior managers albeit her responsibilites are broader as she is f/t.just because i work p/t does not mean i should step down a grade

Today i have told our head of i dont mind working for her under the new structure, at the end of the day we all have jobs to do and i'll Do mine to the best of

I do think i have been treated unfairly in terms of how they have announced the restrucutured, she and other seniors have been consulted and i havent that is down to me working p/t. Working p/t should not be disctiminated against

Hairy...i agree we al make cock ups when learning to manage and often are overtly ambitious

I cannot afford not to have this

No you shouldn't step down a grade just because you're part time, I agree. But you are not doing the same job are you? You said yourself you now a a member of the team you used to manage. It's not your part time status that impacts on your grade, your grade should be about the job you are doing.

Yes they would have been obliged to give you a job on the same level had you wanted to go back to your full time hours. Assuming doing that job part time wasn't possible, or desirable, there is no obligation for them to retain your grade when you move to a lower level job. If they have protected your salary it was not because they had to.

True, and i do know i am lucky and have a rare p/t well paid job but thats probably thanks to all the efforts i put in for years. Mark mywords though a big corporate gets its pound of flesh regardless

I bet it does! :)