Am I unreasonably worried? How do you know if you're going to be fired?

[revolution909]

I hate my job. I know a lot of people do and just do it to pay the bills. Well mine to some extent is also a detriment to my mental health. I work from home for an American company, I have to work 40 hrs a week but as you would expect I get absolutely no social interaction from it, it makes me lonely and sometimes very depressed. I now the easy answer is to change jobs, but jobs with my salary are really hard to find where I live.

The truth is that i don't give my 1005 it's really hard to be motivated. My boss hasn't skyped in over 6 weeks, and just sends me erratic emails when I've done things wrong. She's taking away projects from me (in my area of expertise) and generally just feel left out.

The above shows that she hasn't been a very good manager at all, so I think if it came to the worst HR would at least let me change teams. I know I haven't been the best employee either but in a company where they say they have "progressive management" I think this is pretty poor.

They have UK based offices as well, so if i get dismissed I know they'll follow British procedure. The question is how do I know if I really am on my last leg?

I think they're currently trying to tire me out and I'm actively looking for other jobs now.

Thanks!

How long have you worked there?

Are you on any kind of capability process at the moment?

I've been working for them for 4 years, 3 / 4 months. No i don't think I'm in any "capability process". My boss asked me for "an action plan" to stop making mistakes, but that's about it. Thanks!

If you've been there 4 years then there will be a process and you'll have warnings before you can be sacked.

How long does that process take? Would it be clear to me it's an actual process? Like will it be explicit or they can just produce email chains showing my failings?

The company is likely to have a capability process that they would need to follow in order to move you to a dismissal.

I would ask HR for a copy of this process.

There should be several meetings with clear guidance on how to improve failing to meet expectations, with support in place from the company.

I think you are potentially overthinking this, but if it making you so unhappy - please get another job, no job is worth your mental health!

In that case you'll know because you'll already be on some kind of final warning. Unless they are the kind of organisation that will want to bypass a lengthy process and offer you a settlement agreement to leave.

Do you actually hate your job, or just the lack of social interaction?

If you are paid well to work at home, then there are an awful lot worse things.

Can you take control here - get in touch with your manager, if necessary CCing in their manager too, work out a plan for how to move forward, where best to utilise your skills, how to avoid errors creeping in, communication loops etc.

The find some way of making the WFH element work for you - dog walking, lunch time fitness classes, working in a freelancer hub a few days a week, whatever might help. To be harsh, that's not your employers' responsibility (I freelanced for nearly a decade, so I understand it by the way, I'm not dismissing the problem, I just think that needs to be tackled separately to any work/management issues).

I wouldn't let an otherwise good job slide for no very good reason.

I've never know anyone who actually got fired. I know of someone who had a whole investigation done by HR because he was accused of being a bully and he was just moved to a different department and left a couple of months later. After talking to my husband I do think we're maybe overthinking this but we're still very paranoid about losing my income.

I actually hate my job, it's a lot of admin and there's a lot of attention to detail involved. My role has changed drastically over these 4 years. Socializing has become part of it too though. I've looked into freelancing hubs and the like but haven't found that many around (I live in a very rural area). I know the WFH is usually seen as an advantage, and i get it. but I don't even think my skills are being used. Historically I've never had an awesome relationship with my manager, but i don't think that's the issue here. It's a VERY decent salary so that's the main reason why i haven't left.

Only communicating mistakes is bad management, which as it seems to be the norm, ie not a sudden change, then it's more likely the manager is just not aware, but bad managers also act weirdly instead of managing, and that could manifest in behaviour that could be read in the way you have particularly if you are already dissatisfied. . I suspect that you may be best to treat it as though it is anyway, and protect yourself as though that's the case by looking for other work, or positions in the same company. It may be your own signals you are reading, so seek development..

Well that's what dawned to me, that she's not a great manager and I think she might even know this. So it wouldn't be great for her to get me fired. So yeah, for her own personal gain she might try to tire me ot but never actually pull the trigger.

It's not necessarily the same employer - it could be a different health trust.
Given they are in different places.