I’m Incompetent Apparently!

[Selfishlazyme]

Last week I came across an email all about me (legit came across, no sneaky snooping).
It was from a Manager in my team (Not my Line Manager), to Upper Management listing all my apparent failings, and the impact it was having on her (already failing) service.

Nobody has ever brought these allegations of incompetency to my attention. I work hard for her dept.

Im obviously angry, but more so deeply hurt by this. I feel I’ve not been given any opportunity to defend myself, and I’m so embarrassed that UM will now believe this of me, plus any other colleagues who may have read it.

Any advice before I curl up and die of shame ?

Press send to soon
you said the dept is failing so it’s common sense managers would look why it’s failing and staff performance they’ve probably done that will all the staff

as for it’s never been brought to your attention that was more than likely the next step

I’m a bit confused how you’ve seen it .if you we’re just seeing someones calendar
ours would just show heading unless unnecessarily went clicking and digging round make sure it can’t be seemed as this

It sounds to me that this person is trying to scapegoat people below them for their own failure to manage.

I would contact HR and your manager. Say that you were sent an invite with an attachment which you of course opened and were shocked to see what it contained and that you are surprised by this as no issue has been raised so far by your own manager.

I think the person has shot themselves in the foot by being so careless and by trying to shift the blame and you need to make others officially aware of what is happening.

So if department failing and staff are doing incompetent things
that’s what a managers job is to sort it and discuss this could be the start of the process to do that
the meeting could of been to discuss the document OP has seen

not sure what HR could advise just seems like a manager doing a managers job

we haven’t established if any of the contents of the document were justified

I have access to my bosses Callander/ where about but if is says meetings I don’t click on it and read what it about

This sounds like the best advice. Even if it takes longer to get the information, it is useful to know what you are dealing with.

Many managers are totally unsuited to
people management and are in the wrong roles. I once read on here that managers are only people who got jobs because they were good at a completely different job. That has always stuck with me. Covid and WFH showed many of them are creating roles for themselves citing people management when they don’t have the qualities needed for the role.

A managers job is to discuss and manage your performance
the company will have a policy on handling performance make sure you know what it is and they follow it

kicking off and doing gdpr requests isn’t really necessary

kicking off and doing gdpr requests isn’t really necessary

Most managers shouldn’t be in people management at all. Most people know this.

Requesting data does not equate to ‘kicking off’. What an odd thing to suggest. Having all the information and being prepared prior to any meetings is always advised.

there’s nothing to suggest they shouldn’t be a manager
this has only come to light as OP been snooping in attachment’s to a Calendar she has access to

They didn’t send it to her, she was opening attachments on meeting invites in someone else’s calendar that she has access to.

there’s nothing to suggest they shouldn’t be a manager^•
this has only come to light as OP been snooping in attachment’s to a Calendar she has access to

There is also nothing to suggest the OP shouldn’t be as organised and prepared in advance of any potential performance meetings particularly when she was previously unaware.

In fact, it is highly advisable to be as prepared.
The alternative would be the OP being completely blindsided.

Good advice.

Make sure you keep it professional and factual

You don't need to go to ACAS or a TU at this stage 🙄

It is possibly a bit questionable how you came across the info - access to others emails and calendars does come with an implied assumption that anything clearly private shouldn't be accessed (am sure theres case law around this but cant find it right now) BUT there's nothing to suggest that was the case. So the question is more of a trust thing - did you have a reason to look in the calendar at that particular attachment. If yes then fine to refer to it, if no its a bit of a grey area.

In any case I think my approach would be "I have reason to believe XXX is unhappy with my performance at the moment, can we discuss this please", and take it from there. Id cc HR in - it is true they are there for the business but that includes making sure employees are being treated fairly so they don't cause headaches for the company down the line.

I have full access to my line manager's diary, and that of every other member of my team, so that I can arrange, change and cancel meetings/events. (I am not a secretary/PA - it is just the way my team works)
I would certainly NEVER open an attachment for a management meeting, or for a 1:1 or anything except a team meeting or organisational event. It would be a breach of trust for me to do that and would probably result in some disciplinary action if found out. If you opened an attachment not addressed to you, rather than it being in the body of the email, you most certainly should NOT refer to the letter in any way.
Instead, if you do not have a regular 1:1 meeting set up with your line manager in the next couple of days, you should request one, and at that meeting you should ask for feedback on your performance and any compliments or issues that may have been received or raised. It may also be useful to find any feedback from people you work with that you have had in the last 6 months. If it is good feedback you can use this to show that you have been working well. If it is bad feedback you should prepare some ways in which you intend to work on the issues raised so that you can show your line manager that you are being proactive in working towards being more effective at work. If you do not have anything, then asking for feedback from your colleagues is a useful thing to do (if somewhat cringe-making) and you can use that to demonstrate that you are working well or being proactive in working towards being more effective.
I hope this helps.

and at that meeting you should ask for feedback on your performance and any compliments or issues that may have been received or raised

I’d LOVE to email my manager to request a meeting to discuss what compliments may have been received about me. It has really given me a reason to chuckle on this grey morning.

Admitting that you have read the email could get you into more trouble. It also suggests that you don't follow preceedures correctly.

Requesting data does not equate to ‘kicking off’. What an odd thing to suggest. Having all the information and being prepared prior to any meetings is always advised

A subject access request to your current employer will 100% be perceived as kicking off. It will result in hours of work pulling together the response reading probably 1000s of documents (for an employee with 10 years' service) and redacting other peoples' data and generally be an enormous pain in the arse.

Absolutely you are entitled to do it but it is a pretty aggressive move from the employer's point of view.

Yea there's absolutely no need to slam a SAR in over this, it just makes people look overly combative when a conversation is all thats needed. Then go in heavy if you think there's unfairness going on.

A subject access request to your current employer will 100% be perceived as kicking off.

The reason the data access requests exist is for people to obtain information about themselves.

How employers perceive people availing of it is up to them. Employees are doing nothing wrong in requesting them at any time.

How employers perceive people availing of it is up to them

Well yes and I am warning the OP that it will be perceived as kicking off - which you said was an odd thing to suggest. It's a massive overreaction to something that is not even a dispute yet and may never be.

In terms of whether employees are doing nothing wrong in requesting them "at any time" I disagree and so does the ICO. See here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/law-enforcement/guide-to-le-processing/individual-rights/manifestly-unfounded-and-excessive-requests/

Edited to add: I am not saying OP would fall under this by the way - I don't know enough about it. I am just pointing out that your perception of a SAR in any circumstance as a neutral act is not all correct.

I think a lot of people are jumping way ahead

the email was more than like to highlight and deal with concerns in the first place
we have no idea if there valid points in the first place
until there discusses with both parties and they both put there point across

I was pulled in many years ago for being one of the most unproductive employees
turns out I wasn’t booking work off correctly on the system so looked like I’d been on it all day

listers to what they have to say before emailing hr ,directors and asking for information requested

For the employer:

You must demonstrate why it is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

I worked for a regulator at one stage and had to retrieve this information. It is a pain but the OP is absolutely entitled to request this information without fear of repercussions.

Totally unhelpful

Do a GDPR request to officially get the email.

Don't do this.

@Blackandwhitemakesgrey actually we are encouraged to get feedback from anyone we have worked with and to discuss this with our line managers. At my last performance review I had 17 responses to my requests for feedback, 16 of which were extremely complimentary and one which was 50:50. I asked people to send feedback to my line manager if wanted, which they may have preferred to do if there were issues with my work. It is certainly not unheard of in my workplace to receive thanks or comments on good work. I have certainly received several over the past year even without asking for feedback. I believe that letting people know they have done a good job improves morale and motivation and makes for a happier and more productive workplace. Likewise if somebody is not doing a good job they need to know so that they can improve, and this should be done before the issue is too big to resolve.

Yeah I agree that some people on this thread are blowing things out of proportion. It’s a situation to keep tabs on, but there’s no urgent need to “go off sick”, call HR, demand meetings etc. There’s interim steps you can take before the most severe actions. You can tell who on this thread is clutching at straws vs who have sound experience