Am I being stitched up?

[ICouldBeSomebodyYouKnow]

I think I’m being stitched up and would like to hear your thoughts.

Colleague A and I report to the same line manager. She has a team, but I don’t. My job description includes the words “work with A and their team to deliver XYZ”. XYZ is in the job description of one of her team. I have discovered that she is revising the job descriptions of her team, and indications are that XYZ will no longer feature in anybody’s job description. It’s something that has to be dealt on a monthly basis, so it really needs to have several people available to do it (to cover absences etc).

The changes are being made with the agreement of A, and our line manager, and HR. This change makes it impossible to do a part of my job.

I don’t know whether to raise this formally or informally, and how / with whom. Is it a grievance?

Raise it formally with your line manager.

I have discovered that she is revising the job descriptions of her team, and indications are that XYZ will no longer feature in anybody’s job description. It’s something that has to be dealt on a monthly basis, so it really needs to have several people available to do it (to cover absences etc)

Just trying to understand your concern more fully - Do you believe there is preferential treatment going on, with Colleague A modifying her team's JD so they don't have to do XYZ anymore, but because you don't report to A, your JD isn't being similarly changed, and now the responsibility has been shunted onto you, even though you don't have backup i.e. you are effectively a lone worker on that task?

How confident are you that your 'discovery' of the fact is accurate? I would book an informal discussion with your manager to talk through the matter first, don't lodge a grievance at such an early time. Try to resolve the matter informally, highlighting what you believe to be unfair about the new arrangement. It seems this is happening without any consultation with you, which is not right.

dailychain01 - you've got it. I expect that l will remain responsible for XYZ, but there will be nobody to do the day-to-day work. I shouldn't even be doing it myself, as the day-to-day processing is not part of my role - and if I do it, I won't be able to deliver the rest of my role properly.

It seems this is happening without any consultation with you, which is not right. Thank you for confirming what my gut was telling me!

I'd prefer to get this resolved informally, but I think the options are limited. But that's my/our line manager's problem!

If you know the changes are being made with the agreement of your line manager and HR presumably that means you have spoken to your line manager about it. What did he/she say?

flowery, no, not spoken to my LM yet. The info came to me from A.

Does the job still need to be done? If so, it seems unlikely that you're being deliberately stitched up.

I'd just chat to your manager and say that you understand things are changing, what's the plan to make sure you can get the job done?

They might just not have considered it. Cock-up is always more likely than conspiracy IME.

You need to bring it up to your boss but not in a defensive way. If indeed this is all very much planned knowing the impact it has on you, sadly there is little you'll be able to do to change this.

If however it is an oversight on behalf of your manager, approaching him in a co-operative way will make it more likely for him to take your concerns seriously than if he takes it personally and his priority is to protect himself.

I suspect it's deliberate on the part of A, who didn't see XYZ as a core part of her remit. I doubt our LM noticed the omission, and won't have realised the consequences.

Definitely will be approaching this from the 'what's the plan' angle though. My LM will not take kindly to it if looks like he's the one who's messed up!

Thanks all.

I agree with floyella.

You don't seem very trusting of your job environment. I am surprised you haven't raised it with your manager. Are you looking to move on?

”I doubt our LM noticed the omission, and won't have realised the consequences.”

Easily sorted then, just query it and explain.

Easily sorted then, just query it and explain.

Got a meeting with LM later this week.