Huge fuck up today

[HugeFuckUp]

And I’m still on probation. 😭 In my job you have to be signed off by supervisors in different areas before you are allowed to do it alone. Today I completed a task that I have not been signed off on (and completely screwed it up) by mistake. I’ve been signed off to produce designs in area A. I had a request come through for A but with a tiny bit of C. I didn’t realise that C meant it needed to be put through as a new task type. To make it worse one of my fundamental calculations was ever so slightly out so the whole thing is wrong. I have to confess all of this to my boss tomorrow morning. Help!

I think you can be quite bullish about this - you considered it a type A problem with new elements, and no guidance had been given to you as to where, if a C thing crept in, it should be classified as a separate authority for type C. I suspect the employer does have some guilt to bear in this, and you could suggest to them helpful ways that their actual training could be improved, maybe?

Unless the work you aren't allowed to do without sign-off is a regulated activity (ie law, audit etc) then I absolutely don't think it'll be as bad as you imagine

I work in tax accounting and I can't count on one hand the times I've made a f up by sending clients the wrong version of things / things that haven't been signed off

And as easy as it is to say it, try to stop the panic spiral you are in, you are catastrophising and that doesn't help anyone

In the morning you need to speak to your boss professionally, not emotionally and definitely with no self flagellation involved!

Everyone makes mistakes. It's how you deal with them that matters. The mistake has been spotted in a timely manner and you've dealt appropriately with the client.

Let your boss know tomorrow morning but if you were my line report I'd be happy how you dealt with it and we'd have a discussion about avoiding it happening again.

Have an early night and don't panic.

@HugeFuckUp I’ve made serious errors at work and I’ve managed people who have done the same. It happens.

In my experience the way you handle the fuck up is what keeps you in the job.

So you’re doing the right things. Raise the issue with your boss immediately. Don’t make excuses for the error. Explain why the experience means you won’t make the same mistake again… and most of all, offer a solution for how you will resolve the error.

This is one error in an otherwise positive probationary period. I think you’ll be fine!

good luck.

Awww OP. Honestly this is not a massive fuck up. It's a mistake, mistakes are expected in your probation! And you dealt with it and took ownership of it by telling the client and will be telling your boss tomorrow. Really, you will be FINE. The only way you wouldn't be is if you tried to cover it up.

I thought you were going to say you'd lost your company millions! I know it feels like the end of the world right now but it really really isn't.

Look at it this way, OP. By admitting your error, taking responsibility , immediately acting to rectify it, and preserve the client relationship, plus figuring out how it happened so as not to repeat it; in all this you have demonstrated a veritable feast of highly desirable qualities in an employee and colleague. Whereas the probationer who has not made an error (yet) is still an unknown quantity, and potential liability.

Hopefully the fact that literally every post is saying the same thing gives you some reassurance!

Look at it this way,
You won't make that mistake again, and being open and honest with your boss means that you can be trusted to tell the truth when you have made a mistake.

If they do sack you, it's not a company that you want to work for.

Just own your mistake, lessons learnt and move on!

They will already know if you are good or not by now. If you are they will let it go, if you're not they will use it as a good reason to exit you. You say you've done well so far so I doubt they'd let you go. You didn't try and hide it and you know better now. Try to not stress.

People make mistakes. Even partners at prestigious firms. How you deal with the mistake is what is important. The good thing is you aren't trying to hide it.

When you speak to your boss, explain calmly what happened. Task was 90% A and a small bit of C. You provided advice, identified it was wrong through ..... and immediately rectified with the client and provided correct response. To prevent this happening again, you will refresh your reading of the manual and follow processes, be very attentive to breaking jobs into their correct elements and follow the correct peer review process prior to sending advice to clients. Apologise for making the error.

If you go in saying everyone makes mistakes and seeming like you are trying to minimise, then your boss will be pissed. Take responsibility for the error, demonstrate learnings and things are usually ok.

If your error, as a probationer, was only picked up on the off chance by a colleague, then the company’s checks and balances procedure is not robust enough. It cannot rely on you, as a probationer, telling them whether or not they should be checking your work because you’re not signed off for it. Particularly if this is in any way automated - you shouldn’t have authority to complete a task without a second stage authentication. You may have fucked up but you are in no way the biggest fuck up in this.
(Go on admit it, you’re the one who didn’t tell Alan Sugar he’d have to pay full U.K. dividend tax if he was a member of the HOL aren’t you? 😉)

And in audit nothing should go through to the client/be finalised on file without a second pair of eyes on it - precisely to catch mistakes like this.

I think it's worth suggesting they might like to update procedures to be clearer that it's not the case that a task being majority A renders it type A, and in fact if a task has any component of Type B or C it should be treated as A + B or A + C or whatever. I don't think it's circumventing a procedure as long as you didn't know it was a type C task - it's just that the procedure wasn't clear enough.

Mistakes happen and it was rectified. I used to make mistakes (as does everyone) in my old job and I'd get the sick churny feeling and wouldn't sleep and jr was always always fine so please just try and switch off and get some sleep. You're still learning after all!xx

I'm manage a team of junior staff who are new to the business. You made an honest mistake, which was picked and you've dealt with it well. I would appreciate your honesty and would want to chat about how we could make sure it doesn't happen again. I would only think badly of you if you lied to cover it up, made a load of excuses, or massively paniced/overreacted. (Which you haven't!)

I'm sure you'll worry overnight! Practice some talking points/write down a couple of notes, and plan to have a very quick, to the point chat with your boss in the morning.

Own it
Sincerely apologise
Explain what you have done to remediate
Explain how you will ensure you won't do it again
Look for additional tasks to ensure you can pass this grade
Do Not under any circumstances resign or suggest that this is a terrible personal flaw.

Try not to worry about it. It's human error and was rectified!

Some people (including myself) don't learn something correctly without a mistake or two along the way. Please don't stress. I'm sure you're not the first nor last to make an error at your workplace.

This ^ great advice

Good luck tomo hope all is ok

I once sent an email with incorrect legal advice to a client when I was a newly qualified lawyer because (whilst trying to do way too many things at once) I was applying the wrong set of regulations to the issue. My boss noticed and told me about it. I was apologetic but calm, drafter an email apologising for the mistake to the client and clearly setting out the correct legal advice and sent it off. (At that point the calm wore off, guess it must have been adrenaline or something. I went to cry in the loos!!) The client was fine about it, my boss (who had appeared to me to be the world's biggest perfectionist) was surprisingly chill about it, told me the lesson was always to look away from something for a few minutes and then give it a final proof read with fresh eyes, and congratulated me for having handled it well.
Honestly if you'd told me that morning what was going to happen I would have assumed I would be sacked if I made that mistake. Instead nobody ever mentioned it again!! It made me think that almost EVERYONE probably has a story like that, and knows that how you handle it is a big part of professional competence.
So I hope your story will have a similarly happy outcome, OP.
FWIW it sounds a bit confusing as to how to classify something as A or C in your organisation!

At least you didn’t try to turn a cargo ship in a canal and get stuck

I have found out tonight through doing some digging that roughly only 1% of cases that are checked each month are ever given an “unsuitable” grading, and it’s made me panic all over again. Not good to be in the bottom 1% whilst on probation is it. 😭

But yes at least I didn’t do this! Thank you for the smile. 😂

Ah sorry OP, it all sounds really stressful, and your DH panicking and trying to get you to contact your old firm won't be helping your stress levels. I really hope they are fine about it tomorrow.

A colleague of mine fucked up massively a few months ago - he gave the wrong information which cost the client an extra €350k in tax, but luckily wasn't sacked.