Going to "consultation" - what does it really mean?

[HildaAlida]

Further to my last thread about a potential demotion, I've reached an impasse with my employer over my revised role. There has been a minor restructure and I'll be re-deployed, the new role is great and very exciting, but I was promised a specific title which is now causing unrest amongst the wider team and even my new manager.

I had a call from the CEO apologising for trying to rush things, and that they wanted to slow things down a bit and commence a period of proper consultation via HR - to map out the new role compared with my existing one, which sounds quite a lot more senior (which is good, might set me up for the promised title and even a review of my package).

But now I'm off the phone and idly googling what it means to enter into consultation, I'm suddenly panicking that I could lose my job altogether! Maybe "consultation" comes hand in hand with "redundancy" far more frequently than just a change in contract terms, but it's making me very jittery.

Someone talk me down, what does it meeeeeaaan!? Do I just wait for HR to contact me?

The consultation sounds like it’s more about the job title than redundancy.

Why is it causing unrest?

Because my manager thought it was "too close" to his own, and made me look "more senior" than the upper level of managers - which it would be though

Sounds like they want a meeting with each other about how to structure their resource allocation (including you).

Have a look at the gov.uk and ACAS websites

Although 'consultation' implies a two-way process, it is unfortunately not unknown for companies to use it as a way to tell people stuff.

I think this might be the case here, if your manager didn't know where you new role fits into the structure. Can't say for definite, of course, but it sounds like they haven't told all the people who would come under the new structure of the change yet.

Runkle why? It’s just a meeting

Ragged has hit the nail on the head, it could work out positively for you.

Errr for more information seeing as the OP asked what it means? Just a suggestion 😏

Ah ok. Thank you, I needed some strangers in the internet to stop me going from "all is going OK" to "REDUNDANCY" when no one has even mentioned it, I think I'm just feeling very anxious suddenly. Nearly cried in a client meeting again today, that would be twice in a week.

Is that stress? I don't know if I'm coming or going.

Yes that's ok Runkle thank you, I had had a look at Acas before my phone call in case I needed the info.

There is one point I've raised, and that's that if my job change has to go through consultation, why did my male colleague go straight into a role with a new title under another specialism, with no consultation at all?

I notice that of 10 director level positions across the group, only 2 are held by women. Not that I would ever accuse them of sexism of course...but in one dept where 2 of a team of 3 were promoted to director level, the two were both men.

Presumably few women are ever deemed appropriately competent...

Did your male colleague's new job title cause "unrest amongst the wider team and even" with his new manager?

At this stage I’d just focus on where you are now and what’s possibly in the future.

You may not be privy to any other meetings when position have been offered, or people have egged over the meetings to make it look like they breezed the process.

It’s a positive that your CEO has heard moaning from the ranks and brought HR in as a 2nd layer with new eyes to tick all the boxes and hopefully stop all the heckling.

Best wishes to you.

No Ragged, it didn't - there was nobody to contest or get annoyed about it, there is only him in that role and that dept. I guess that's why no consultation was required.

Yes you're probably right Cheeky, this is just anxiety talking. It's probably for the best that it's being picked up by HR now, maybe it will go in my favour. But I've become rather mistrustful after multiple u-turns on other subjects in the last 12 months, so I find myself looking for double meanings, riddles and subliminal messages in every conversation.

Can they make my existing role redundant but make me apply for the new one I was originally allocated to 5 months ago when this all kicked off - and if I don't measure up after consultation, or there are other candidates (I know there are none internally) I have to take my 3 months salary and go?

Well, I emailed HR today to ask for confirmation of the process and for some reassurance that I'm not geing managed out, but they haven't replied.

Do you have a timescale for the consultation process?

Sort of, the CEO said by the end of June, but if it ended up taking a bit longer he was relaxed about that.

HR did come back to me, they gave some mild reassurance ("you are definitely an integral part of our ongoing plans for the business") and scheduled a call with me early next week.

I'm listing questions as they occur to me, but I dont really know what to expect.