Colleague returning from career break with short notice

[PillowQuilt]

Hi, looking for some advice on how to handle this.

For the past year I have been covering a career break for a senior role in a large international consultancy. The written agreement was I would move to an undefined role at the same pay/seniority level when the original person returned.

About 9 months in I was told the man I was covering for would come back to a different role in the organisation, so I could continue in the original role. However, I have just learned he changed his mind and wants to resume his old role - and start next week(!). This leaves us with very short notice to reconfigure our whole department, and create the new role for me.

I'm worried that in the rush to do this I will be sidelined and risk being allocated only the work he doesn't want to do, as there was never an official job description for the role i was to move into. I'm also worried about his attitude to me as I've done a really good job and am very popular with clients. Has anyone faced similar? How would you handle this?

“This leaves us with very short notice to reconfigure our whole department, and create the new role for me.”

Who is “us” ?

It is short notice but you were told in writing he was planning to return to the role, so it was only ever a temporary posting for you.

It’s unfortunate, and possibly a breach of GDPR, that you were told he was returning to a different role when clearly there were ongoing discussions between him and HR/managers. It made you privy to his private discussions and unnecessarily raised your hopes.

It is very positive that he is being treated like a woman returning from Mat leave, very fair to him. It also suggests you will be treated fairly and they will sort the promised role for you.

Do you definitely know they haven’t thought about you e.g. the role he was going to take must be vacant?

Why not come up with a proposal - not how to split his job, but how to create a role for you. After 9 months you must have had some thoughts about where there are gaps that your excellent client relationship skills etc. could make a real difference.

A word of caution your last paragraph comes over as I’m better at the job than he is/was. That may be the case but don’t show it. I sense your frustration as you clearly love the job but accept it was always going to be temporary.

Thanks for the reply @Tippingadvice

I agree they have been fair to him. I don't think this short notice has been fair to me or the department I lead (the "us" I referred to), as their roles will be affected too. I am not privy to HR discussions so don't know why he has suddenly changed plan but I know I have to deal with it. Hence my asking for advice.

Re the last para: I spend a good deal of time offsite with regional clients, and some are very unhappy with the change. I fear this may be clear to my returning colleague and have repercussions for me, as I don't think he'll be pleased to be unfavorably compared with a much younger female colleague. If anyone has faced similar I'd be happy to hear how you handled it.

I will focus on creating a new portfolio proposal, that is good advice.

@PillowQuilt Ah so you are Dept lead, I can see why carving out a role partly falls to you but it is primarily your managers/boards/SLTs responsibility as they committed to find you a role in the organisation not necessarily your Dept.

I agree the short notice to you has been unfair to you, but again your manager/board/SLT should have been proactive to defining a role for you.

WRT clients, the additional detail helps in why this may be an issue. It appears the Board/SLT have been trying to slot your returning colleague into another role so they can keep you in this role. This is down to them not you, they either address it with him or deal with the clients.

My advice is be scrupulously professional, hand over to your colleague with updates on each client relationship. Send an email to clients confirming the date colleague is taking over with his contact details. If after the handover date the clients try to bypass your colleague and come to you, forward the emails to him cc’ing in the client making it clear you have handed over. If any emails from clients are not appropriate to forward to your colleague I.e. saying they want you back, refer them to his manager/Board/SLT it is for them to manage. Your stance should be if I had resigned what would the clients do, what would his manager/Board/SLT do.

It's not clear, did you work for the organisation before you took on this cover role, or were you an external recruit?

Have you met the person for whom you were covering and to whom you are now handing over?

Will there be an overlap and, if not, what are you going to do in 2 weeks' time since they appear not to have worked out a role for you?
These clients who will be unhappy- are they new ones that you won, or ones that you took over from him?

The fact that the clients may seem u happy is a red herring as you knew on day 1 that he was coming back eventually and presumably you were not able to tell anyone that he was moving elsewhere when you learned that after 9 months? What I am saying is that what is happening now is what you initially expected to happen when you took the cover role. The short time frame is ridiculous though.

Two things it was always temporary, you knew that, and you don't know what will happen between him and the clients (and how unprofessional of them to tell you they are unhappy with the change), also it isn't down to you to make a role for you that's down to the SLT/Board.

Why will the rest of the department be affected by him returning? How will it change things for them? And pulling the ' much younger female' card seems a bit presumptuous when you have no idea what will happen, it's like you've already decided that he'll be an ageist, sexist pig who will use that against you. Be careful you don't start making comments like that in public without proof.

Yes 2 weeks is a bit shit but these temporary things can change quickly.

Re the last para: I spend a good deal of time offsite with regional clients, and some are very unhappy with the change. I fear this may be clear to my returning colleague and have repercussions for me, as I don't think he'll be pleased to be unfavorably compared with a much younger female colleague. If anyone has faced similar I'd be happy to hear how you handled it. you’re not coming across at all well here OP.

For all you know he may do better than you, he may build excellent relationships with the clients. Clients often aren’t happy purely by virtue of the fact they have built a relationship and don’t like change. Doesn’t mean it has anything to do with you leaving and being better.

The timescale is shit but this was only ever a temporary role, so unless you were told that you would be given x months notice you knew that it could change at any minute. And his returning to a different role should never have been communicated to you. Presumably you knew when he was due to come back so you should have been preparing for that in the absence of a new role.

It's not down to you to reconfigure the department. He takes his job back, you step aside.
You're coming across as very grandiose.

Interesting responses.

For additional context, my industry is 90% male dominated and both sexism and ageism are fairly common among my colleagues. Not All My Colleagues Are Like That of course, but enough are that I would be naive not to factor this in.

It's also why I sought advice on dealing with this situation on an anonymous, female-centred messageboard as opposed to a professional forum. Both my clients and I are sufficiently professional not to air these feelings publicly; but they exist nonetheless.

Thanks to those who offered constructive suggestions, which I will take on board.

What role did you do previously and how has this been covered?