Back story... I'm 56, have worked part time for a local authority for 15 years. I used to say I love my job but since a new line manager took over a few years ago I dread being at work on the days she's in. I'd say I'm conscientious, reliable, honest, I'm good at planning, and I'm well liked by clients and colleagues. Generally I quietly get on with my work, but will happily speak up and ask for help/guidance if I come across a problem too big for me to deal with. I'm at a loss as to why she is giving me such a hard time, and it's starting to affect my mental health and my self esteem. Sorry this is long...
Some examples:
- When my husband went semi retired I asked if I could swap one of my days so we could be home the same day one day a week. (He's in education so impossible for him to change days unless they reorganised the whole department timetable to suit him). I put forward a case of how it could be done without any impact on our workflow. The reply was an outright no, and the only way I could have that day was if they cut my hours to two days so they could hire someone else for then. As I can't afford to drop any more days I declined. A couple of months later someone in the same department was granted that day as regular study leave so he could concentrate on his degree.
- for the last few years I have requested extra in-house training/job shadowing in a related department to mine. We work closely together and I have always thought it would be beneficial to have more understanding of what they do. Colleagues in that department agreed it would be a good idea but it needs approval from management. It's never happened despite me requesting it year after year. Then I saw on the rota that another colleague had asked to be put on a job shadow with them and the very next week he was down on the rota to spend a day with them. He'd only asked about it a week before.
- when my mother in law died I got the news at lunchtime. I said I needed to go home to be with my family (there was nothing urgent so it wouldn't have affected work). I was upset and shocked, and wanted to be with my husband who was distraught. Before this manager let me go home she got her notebook out and grilled me about health and safety issues to do with a medical diagnosis I'd recently received. I sat there feeling tormented. I later heard that she'd told another colleague that I didn't seem bothered about going to the funeral and that I didn't get on with her anyway so wasn't that fussed. WTF? At no point did I say any such thing.
- in my last PDP she put one of my aims should be to focus on staying fit and healthy so I could continue to carry out the duties involving heavy work required by my role. None of my other colleagues had that in theirs, even though we all have the same job. Nothing was said about my development or training needs.
I suspect she is trying to push me out (maybe thinking I'm near retirement age so not worth bothering with?) and wanting someone younger, even though I'm physically very fit and active and the same age as her. Ironically I've been the one covering for a couple of younger colleagues who've been off long term sick, while I've only had one or two days sick at most over the last couple of years.
At this rate though I will be asking my GP to sign me off as I don't know how much more strain I can take. I don't know what options I have. I love my job, love my colleagues and clients. I'm too young to retire yet - can't afford to anyway - but can't face retraining or starting a new job right now, not while my confidence is so low. I'm in a union if that's relevant, but guess who our union rep is?
Any advice or tips would be really appreciated.