Role still not reviewed after 2 years - do I go to the union?

[ILoveJoeBrown]

My role profile was submitted for review almost 2 years ago now. HR have dropped their method for reviewing roles and our roles have gone out to an external agency for company-wide review. We have not been told who this is or what they are actually reviewing.

I have found out from similar companies with whom I have contacts that my role is seriously under-valued. The profile I was recruited to is now very out of date as we now have a new Information System that I was primarily responsible for implementing and now manage and I am working well outside my original profile; hence the request for a review; with no recognition whatsoever. I have 'proof' now that my role should be 2 grade above where I currently am.

Add to the mix that we are now on our 4th interim department manager in 3 years, who is also looking at staffing structure and we don't know what his remit is.

I have a colleague who was downgraded 2 levels 2 years ago and he is also awaiting a review of his role. With no end in sight [there is still no sign of a job advert for our manager being released for recruitment yet] do we have any recourse for the union to step in and sort the mess out? To have an HR department with no method for reviewing roles is just beyond a joke, surely? There is no point in trying to better yourself if there is no formal method for recognising it?

I would ask my union for a chat to get their take on it. Is the union recognised by your employer?

Yes - Unison.

Little update - a colleague was downgraded 2 years ago, despite still doing the job 2 grades up. He has been trying ever since to have his role regraded back up. He finally thought he'd cracked it by asking the newly installed interim manager to push things with HR, only to receive a letter yesterday confirming that they had confirmed him in post with an extension at his current grade! WTAF!

I've also been asked to redraft my own role but after what has happened to my colleague I have no faith that anything will happen - they are taking advantage of my technical and social skills without having any remuneration in recognition of it.

Do you think the external review you’ve been advised about isn’t happening?

Where is your line manager in all this? Supporting you/pushing for whatever needs to happen? That’s crucial.

My line manager is the interim head of department and has not been in post for long.

I've had a 1:1 with him and he has asked me to redraft my role profile.

The manager I used to report to whilst the project was in the implementation phase has left and there are no plans to recruit to replace her as we are now at 'business as usual' and I'm running the show now. She realised I didn't need 'leading' and that I was capable of doing it without immediate supervision.

I hope this external review is actually happening as there will be a lot of unhappy employees otherwise. It doesn't surprise me that we haven't been told as this often happens. What I worry about is that they might review me based on my current role profile, which is not correct by a long shot.

Ok well if your current manager has asked you to redraft it, presumably that is with a view to ensuring the review takes places based on an accurate profile of what you're doing.

Honestly, if I'd been waiting 2 years for a simple review I would have given up trying by now. Most companies/organisations do benchmarking exercises on an ongoing basis to ensure their staff are largely aligned to the general employment market rate. Otherwise they become uncompetitive and they risk losing staff or having a demotivated workforce who don't have incentive to deliver. Having to wait two years, and being told you have to do the job that HR are meant to be doing, somewhat underlines how little they value their staff.

It sounds like you could be on a hiding to nothing. Have you any external market proof of the extend to which you are being under paid in your role? If so, either apply for the roles and leave or provide them with tangible relevant evidence. If they aren't prepared to face facts, then are they the right employer for you if it's all give and no take on your part?

Considering my options. I have my 1:1 next week so will wait and see if my boss can give me any reassurance.

That said, our HR is currently being run by yet another interim, so not hopeful that my boss can have much influence. I have plenty of proof of my worth. The reasons I'm still here really is: it's only a mile away from home; I can work from home; and it's flexi-time.

If proximity to home and worklife balance are important factors then you may find those difficult to secure if you move companies.

You're saving a significant chunk of money having zero commute costs. That could equate to the money you'd get by moving jobs.

However if your current role is going nowhere and you have little opportunity to advance and grow your skills and experience, the downside is your career will stagnate which is frustrating from a personal development perspective.

daisychain01 [and others] update: my manager as now reassured me that my role profile will go to HR next week but I had to remind him because in the meantime, we have had 2 further resignations.

We are severely under staffed and over worked. If I left too, there would be no-one at all to maintain our new shiny MIS that the bosses are supposed to be so keen on that they under pay me to run it on my own [I'm happy with that responsibility as I am more than capable but am fed up of not being remunerated for it - is that the right word?]. One of the resignations is my 'sponsor' in that I will need him as my technical witness if/when my role ever gets to review panel. Time is now of the essence, so I have reminded by manager of this.

Tops it off when one resignation - actually a very early retirement - was only announced when it was because some tw@t from HR wrote his name up on a publicly available whiteboard in HR and another colleague started asking questions! Sums up our HR department really.

I am now looking at other jobs available but not 'seriously' yet as I do want to see whether my role profile does in fact get as far as any review panel. Not holding out much hope right now as the priority will now be to recruit for the [now] 5 more senior roles first.

As for my colleague who is still fighting to get his role upgraded too - he now has his new job title in his email signature. That's it - no pay rise or official verification of an upgraded role! Seriously?