Raising concerns

[VexedNext]

I wasn’t sure where to put this.

I am aware and very uncomfortable that my employer (senior/top management) is doing things underhandedly in terms of employment laws. We are not a big organisation and perhaps it isn’t even large sums of money or people but it feels wrong.

Giving people jobs and titles without advertising them, not using proper contracts or consultation processes, always trying to manipulate a situation instead of doing the right legal and moral thing. They ask me to do things that feel unethical and biased sneaky and underhand.

Communication at work is dreadful. Seniors think they are fabulous communicators but as they micromanage so intensely, they create closed circles of half information, half instructions spread across lots of people and it causes tension between colleagues. I have spent the past two days on the verge of tears considering going sick to try to get away from the toxicity.

My manager today told me off in an email for stepping up to take action to deal with a major problem whilst they were on annual leave. Yes, you read that right - whilst they were on holiday I stepped in to cover them and tried to deal with an issue. only to be told off as they were already ‘on top of it’. What kind of fuckery is this?

I raised with a colleague very tentatively and they seemed to agree but I am afraid to say more or who to trust.

I am aware I need a new job but I am trapped, Im single need a certain income to pay my bills and rent and it’s not really a great job market for me out there unless I take a dramatic pay cut and end up on benefit support.

I don’t know how to navigate this situation

Make sure your CV is up-to-date and look for another job. Once I got a new job secured, I'd tell them that I was leaving because of the culture, but I suspect if you try to raise it before then, they'll push you out anyway.

Or you could just go anyway, without saying anything, but I like to give them a chance - and things did change at my previous job after I went and gave feedback. Things have also changed at my current job - not down to my feedback alone, but that did feed into some of the changes. But sometimes, it's easier to go.

There is nothing illegal about giving a job to someone without advertising. Without better details there's nothing to suggest they are doing anything else illegal either. Morals are frequently in the eye of the beholder. So unless you have some actual evidence of illegal actions, then you have nothing to raise. Obviously, you already know what to do if you don't like the culture of the workplace. As for what kind of "fuckery" it was, if there is an issue whilst your manager is off I assume that you would discuss this with the next manager up before intervening in something within your managers remit? If you didn't, you were quite likely out of order. But without actual details it's not possible to comment further.

I am the cover (why would I cover something that was nothing to do with me?) I was covering as I would have expected. All that happened really is I look stupid for doubling up work and being out of the loop that it was ‘in hand’ and told suitably scolded like a child.

The roles are externally funded, we have to abide by external rules. It’s also against our own policy to do it. I don’t want to out myself so I am using generic terminology. We have no leg to stand on with some of the discrimination that goes on, if people do or don’t like you, if you are missed out of jobs because you have had a baby. The contracts people are on aren’t right either.

I have lots of examples but I am not going to post them all. I am looking for support and advice not someone else to tell me I am stupid or imagining things and don’t know what I am doing, I don’t need to prove it to you do I?

You will have to trust I have made this post in good faith and that I am not imagining it.

I am senior, I am asked to do things I don’t like, that do not feel right. Sometimes we feel unsafe. I worry MY name is on documents and at an employment tribunal, would this come back to me? Managers are careful not to type out emails. The only reason we haven’t been taken to tribunal is that no one has really found out whether they are being discriminated against or we have a few of us who stand up and say something

Is this a public sector organisation ?

But please, that isn't what you said, is it? You said "whilst they were on holiday I stepped in to cover them and tried to deal with an issue" - that doesn't indicate that your were the delegated or official cover, just that you stepped in to cover them and tried to deal with something.

As for the rest of it, I think you have to consult your union or a lawyer as to your own position. You aren't giving any detail at all here, and nobody could possibly tell you where you stand - except for suggesting you redouble your efforts to get another job. Nothing you have told me here is illegal on the face of it - what policy or processes might say are not the same thing as proving unlawful activity because there are always a multitude of ways around the them. I've been working in management in all three sectors for nearly 40 years, so and none of better nor worse than another, and my experience is that you might know what is going on but it is far too easy to "play by the rules" and still do what you want. A partcular manager I am thinking of in my wider service area has NEVER appointed a single person that we haven't all known would get the job no matter who applied. Yet there has never been any question that she "followed the rules" - and "played the rules". If more senior managers like them then the only person who will be hurt by you trying to complain will be you. They know as much as you do, so if nothing is being done, they don't care either.

If you are not going to say what the issues are, I don’t see how anyone can give you meaningful advice. You say “discrimination”, well yes that is unlawful but there is not much more to be said because there is not much to go on there.

Where you have been more specific, such as with the recruitment, it is widely considered poor practice to not advertise but even if it is against company policy, it still isn’t unlawful. Poor communication isn’t unlawful. Telling you off for dipping into something your manager was dealing with isn’t unlawful.

It sounds like you don’t fit in here and finding a new role would be your best option.

If as you say you need this income and moving isn't an option, then you need to switch your focus to your job and stop directing energy to problems which you don't bear responsibility.

Unless you are the CEO, no one is going to take action against you personally for any of these company wide issues.

They might strike you as very unjust and potentially problematic, but you are not responsible for them nor can you influence them.

Focus only on your job. Don't try and fix problems that aren't yours.

I did give an example though, it was giving a promotion out to someone whilst someone else with the same job was on Mat leave.

changing and inventing job titles to be able to claim funding for it but not giving the person in the role the salary attached to the funding or anyone in a similar role the chance to apply.

putting pressure on people not to apply for roles that are advertised

Not having proper contracts and those on some contracts being hidden to the benefits they are now entitled to

those are my examples

I am instructed to carry out some of these things, so it’s my name on it. I do not trust that in a situation that comes down to it, the CEO wouldn’t throw me under the bus to save themselves. At the higher level, annual leave and sickness is taken and never documented by seniors so they have as much time off as they want and that’s not in their contract. I don’t believe this is known by all so it’s not an accepted culture it’s just sneaky fraud