What should dh do about his manager?

[Octopuscrazy]

Advice needed please. The situation is as follows. Dh has been working at his job for about 2.5 years. Initially there were some issues with his work and he had a short period of probation and everything has seemingly been fine since then. Recently his manager has left and he has a new manager. New manager met with him last week and said she is concerned that he isn't working at the appropriate level and to give a list of 12 people who will give feedback on his performance. This seems to have come out of no where and no one has said anything to him about this recently. He provided this list promptly without any problems. Now she has sent him a new email saying that she is also seeking feedback from 5 more people. Some of whom work on another site and have had limited contact with him.
I am concerned with where this is going. Please advise. Thanks.

Has he had a full 2 years employment, beyond his extended probation?

Yes. He started October 2018.

Can he arrange a meeting with manager and HR?

Yep this sounds strange and unreasonable and that it is being badly handled. Has she explained what the issues are / where they are coming from? Those are huge numbers of people to be seeking an opinion from.

Does he belong to a Union - or could he quickly join one? If not I would talk to Citizens Advice who can probably point you in the direction of someone who can advise on employment law and procedures - it doesn't sound like this is proper process. I think you are right to be concerned and you should jump on it.

@Justmuddlingalong

Can he arrange a meeting with manager and HR?

Sorry for being obtuse, but what would be the benefit of involving hr? And what would the purpose of the meeting be? Sorry never been in a situation like this before.

I thought HR could be impartial in determining if there was actually an issue. Being an intermediate between the manager and your DH.

• intermediary.

Has the new manager indicated what the (possible) issues are with his performance? If so, are they similar to the issues that were raised during his probation? Is it possible that the concerns are valid?

I think he should cooperate with her investigations without being defensive, while simultaneously making sure that he is meeting expectations. If she expresses concern about specific aspects of his performance, he should ensure that he has very clear information on how he is expected to improve.

Does he belong to a union?

ACAS Website will be a good starting point for you. They have an advice line, I used it once when pregnant and they were brilliant.

If your thinking along the lines of disciplinary there is a process they have to follow, except I think in cases for gross misconduct (maybe someone knowledgeable along soon that can clarify).

It sounds odd, does your DH have targets etc, does he have any inkling what it could be about? Tell him to get his ducks in a row and cover himself, make himself bullet proof in terms of work and performance, write everything down re; managers requests, times, dates etc just incase.

HR should be impartial however I read an article once that said HR will claim to work in your interests, however HR are effectively there to cover the company and ensure there can be no comeback on legal issues etc for the company. Or something along those lines.

Reading that back I sound like a right paranoid personality oh my haha.

I thought HR could be impartial in determining if there was actually an issue. Being an intermediate between the manager and your DH.

HR won't really be able to assess whether there is actually an issue with his performance. That's what the manager is paid to do. It isn't really their role to question the manager's judgement, but they do need to ensure that due process is followed. The manager's approach of asking loads of people for feedback seems rather unorthodox and I think it's quite concerning, so HR might have something to say about that. However, I certainly wouldn't request a meeting involving HR at this stage as it would just look antagonistic and might actually push the manager to escalate things to a formal process more quickly.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to answer.

We have an idea about what it might be about. Nothing specific, I don't think, but possibly similar to the earlier issues right when he started. The thing is that it hasn't been flagged up since then and she hasn't explicitly said anything and he hasn't had any other feedback since the initial issues 2.5y ago. She is newly his manager and just seems odd that no one mentioned anything till now.

It is a small but significant part of his role. So it is just a feeling on our part.

He is not a member of a union yet.

A lot of performance issues tend to get picked up by new managers tbh. That doesn't necessarily mean that the issues weren't there under the old manager as well - it could just mean that the manager didn't have the time and/or the appetite to address those issues. That's why I wondered whether the issues raised were similar to the issues raised during his probation. If there is consistency in the feedback, it's likely that the new manager's concerns may be valid to a greater or lesser degree.

If there is a chance that the feedback is fair, then your dh's best option is to take it on the chin and try to improve his performance in whatever way is required. Engaging positively with the feedback and trying to address the manager's concerns will put him in a strong position. Being defensive and saying that she is victimising him will not, but that tends to be the default response for most people. Of course, if the concerns really aren't valid and she is victimising him, then that's a different matter, but he should at least hear her out initially and consider whether the feedback is fair.

Join the union, now, before there are any issues. It could be invaluable to have their back up but he needs to do it while all is good so they don't refuse to help on the basis it started before he joined.

Thank you all for your advice. We really appreciate it. He has joined the union and we'll see how it goes.

I didn't find the union helped me...but BEING in the union did. Saying 'my union says' really, really gave the impression I was being strongly supported. (I talked to them on the phone but had hoped they'd be more proactive.)

When it came round to this year's fees, even though I am not facing those issues any more, I paid up straight away!