Work situation - need advice

[worksucks2023]

Have name changed for this.

I've worked in financial services for the same company for over 20 years, been in current role for 5 years. Mid management level. Never ever had any performance issues in all of that time.

I've just had my mid year review and have been put in a category which effectively means I'm not performing. This has come completely out of nowhere, no previous conversations about issues with my performance. I'm very angry and upset. The summary that my manager has put together of the first half of the year is inaccurate and unfair. There have been some development needs flagged, which I'm ok with, but I'm not ok with being put in an underperforming category. Manager isn't very good, doesn't motivate, basically made me feel like shit to the point that I was in tears in the meeting and had to cut it short. He suggested next steps are that I work on pulling things back during the second half of the year.

BUT: I don't want what will effectively be a black mark on my record. In the business I work in, this marks you as first out the door if there are redundancies.

I haven't changed anything about how I work, but the business I work for have become more and more demanding around performance and you have to do a lot more now just to be seen as having a good performance.

My instinct says I need to challenge this with HR but I don't know if that will do me any favours in the long run. I also feel like I want out - I'm in my 50s and just don't feel able to cope with these kinds of demands any more. But I can't afford to leave unless I get a pay off.

Any advice?

I don't have a union. And could an employment lawyer actually help? They haven't dismissed me or anything.

Join a union, OP. You may find as you get older you face more and more discrimination. A union can help you formulate your approach to your boss/HR about various things, and they can definitely advise you on what is reasonable from each side. They can also tell you if your company, or you, are on dodgy legal ground (it's not all about strikes and work to rule)

My union, for eg, helped me (and ultimately everyone else working with me) when our company relocated and said "you can come with, or you can quit, that is the offer" and in the end we got redundancy, tax advice, move (if we went), CV writing services (if we left) paid for by them. (redundancy was one month salary for each year worked at the company - several had been there 15 years). Those who went had extra days off above the legally mandated ones (Germany has rules about these things, due to the need to register your address). Some of us went to help them and the new people settle in for a year. And had tickets home on the train paid for once a week (3 hour journey) and an allowance for an apartment near the office (which covered mine in the entirety). And still got redundancy.

If i hadn't asked my union what to do, i would never have thought to ask for most of these concessions.

I honestly don't have the headspace to fight any more. It's wearing me out and I'm not sleeping.

I'll do my best and if it's not good enough then so be it. They can make me redundant.

i get it, i have been there. You have made your feelings known, and that is good. It's time to rest. But if they make you redundant you are going to have to fight for a good reference and a decent pay out, right? gather your energy just in case.

Good luck.

I know exactly how you feel and it’s shit, it really is.

Goodness OP - just sounds awful.

Is it worth going back up to five days, but then totally slacking off? I found working part time was a con as you did all the work and none of the in office chat, and STILL got penalised.

Personally I used to assume no pay rise and no bonus and just used to please myself. Some months the only thing that got me through was thinking about my monthly pension contributions. Then those crappy male managers moved on and it was pleasant again.

Also look at trainings, and industry networks, joining a working group or similar.

You could start sending the crappy manager a weekly summary of what you have done that week. This means you have a record, people can't claim your work, and also it's useful to use as a to-do list ! And also useful for updating your CV. My manger asked me to do this and I was a bit offended but in the end it was great for the reason above. Also if brain fog, it helps with that.

@mainbrochus it's a good suggestion but I suspect that whatever I do is not going to be good enough. The perception of me is not as a 'leader' because I just keep my head down and crack on. What they're asking of me requires me to be completely on my game 100% of the time. If I have a bad day and someone gives slightly negative feedback about me, I'm screwed. It's exhausting to have to think like this.

....and I need my Fridays off to maintain my sanity. I can't do this shit 5 days a week.

Just posed this on some else's thread as thought it was this one !

I read this before work everyday. I got it from Mumsnet :

All jobs are dead end jobs. You don’t win the job when you’ve finished.
You retire and then you die.
It’s not Mario Cart. You don’t get a trophy and infinite lives…

@mainbrochus love it.

I also read this on LinkedIn last night and it resonated with me:

Your best team member may not be your best leader. The skills for doing and leading are often different.

Are manager types not familiar with Belbin team roles these days?!

Final update for anyone who is still interested. Meeting today with twat manager. I've decided to pretend I'm playing the game, whilst secretly hating the fuckers. I will continue as is with a nod to the whole 'raise your game' bullshit and if that's not good enough then so be it. Seeya later employee of 22 years. Life's too short to worry about this shit. From now on I will mainly be not giving a fuck.

Good attitude. I hope things either die down and get better or you get a good pay off soon.

FWIW, without wanting to be rude (which I know usually follows with a rude comment but I hope you know what I mean), I wouldn't expect you to show leadership at your salary. In my ex organisation (which sounds v similar) yours is the salary for a 'manager' level role - which doesn't actually manage. At that level people are either young and trying hard to impress and scramble their way up the grades or they are older folk who stay at that level forever and they are the 'workhorses' - the ones who have loads of knowledge and get all the stuff done without fanfare. We really should appreciate the latter group but sadly do not.

That's interesting @Chewbecca - I think I'd definitely be the 'workhorse' - I don't manage people, but have seniority because of what I do. I actually just said to my boss, I think all Im guilty off is keeping my head down and getting things done with minimum fuss. But increasingly my organisation is wanting people at my level to display 'leadership qualities.' I agree that my salary doesn't really match that expectation.

@worksucks2023 please don't assume there's a payout and a redundancy. They are more likely to put you on the PIP conveyor belt and get you out the door on capability.

I don't say this to frighten you but to forewarn you that their intentions don't sound positive. The underperformance result could be the beginning of the process.

I would lodge a grievance stating factually why their assessment is inaccurate. Use all feedback you've received to evidence your side, shore up your defences. If they move you to a PIP do everything to meet and beat the targets they set. Document everything. Send them a weekly update on progress even if they dont ask for it. They will know youre building your own file of evidence, good!

They are likely to fail you anyway if they want you out the door. Meanwhile I would contact an employment solicitor and get their advice. Ask them if they see there's any hint of discrimination due to age/sex. Think about if you're treated differently to your younger / male colleagues.

They also need to be aware that menopause in the workplace is nowadays a significant challenge to employers in terms of their staff being inhumane, aggressive and exhibiting harassment to women. HR hold their head in their hands when management beat women with the underperformance stick when they fail to recognise they are suffering instead of supporting staff. Please mention this if you get legal advice. It will strengthen your case.

@daisychain01 that's not how they do things here - they pay people off. Have seen it many times in my 22 years of working for them.

I had something similar happen to me some years ago. We also had he bell curve - you were rated 1 to 5, with 1 being amazing and 5 being close to your P45. Even if you were in a team of amazing people everyone couldn't be a 1 or even a 2, and someone had to be a 4.

I was somewhat ambushed and given a 4 on the basis of one piece of work from the year that my boss didn't like. She'd had to look around for a stick to beat someone with, and it was me that year. I'd had a 2 the year before.

I thought about challenging it, but a job came up elsewhere and I applied and got it. It still annoys me a bit although I've since moved jobs again and am in a much better role now.

It happened to a work colleague but she was able to overcome it and got a 2 the following year.

I think you should raise a grievance anyway. HR don't get to tell you that you can't raise one, that's your decision. Good luck.

Bell curve rating systems are so illogical and dysfunctional.

If you have a team of amazing people, in what way is it even financially beneficial to force some of them to leave and have to recruit replacements? That's just stupid. (And unethical.)

Sorry you're having to deal with this shit, op.

Yep, where the hell is the logic in this? What are the positives? I can't think of any at all?!

The logic (for them) is that it minimises pay increases.

hey @worksucks2023 ! Yeah Fuck them and their laws !

Just keep plugging away. Raise with HR. I'd also (coz I am evil) go to the doctor and whinge a lot about menopause symptoms so it's on record.

Is there a employee assitance package? Sign up for the free counselling.

Send weekly emails, set up bi weekly one to ones with crappy M (CM). Watch CM cancel them at the last minute. Love that ! Document it all.

Apply for all the trainings you can be arsed to do. Look at internal moves.

22 years is a lot of money, do you get a week for every year?

A lot of companies don’t want to pay redundancy, so they manage people out, often by bullying them and making their working lives so awful that they leave of their own accord.

In the OP’s case (and mine) they don’t have any grounds to actually sack her, so they hope that using performance appraisals to undermine her will push her to find another job.

In my case, I didn’t find another job so they eventually bit the bullet and made me ‘redundant’.

Translation: we know we’re behaving like atrocious cunts so we’ll call it redundancy and pay you off.

@mainbrochus two weeks pay for every year.

Oh yeah they have no grounds whatsoever to sack me. I'm not looking for another job at my age unless I absolutely have to and with a nice cash cushion behind me. I know exactly what game I'm playing.

I'm actually fucking good at my job and they would be screwed if they gave it to someone less experienced.

yeah keep buggering on, your CM will probably move on soon enough anyway.

Two weeks nice! Def no reason to jump.