Accused of bullying at work

[Workinmu]

I work in the NHS as consultant. I have been asked to take someone as a secretary for my NHS patients, who is also doing a lot of private secretary work for my fellow consultants. So I thought she would not be able to get the NHS work done for me to look after my NHS patients . But my line didn’t give me a choice so effectively I have forced to work with this person for a couple of years. As I expected her work was not upto the standards I expected so I repeatedly sent emails to my line managers to change her. Now she has filed a complaint against me saying that I have been bullying her but I have never spoken to her in person and all our communication was via email. My line manager is not very supportive as she was the one who appointed her. I have a feeling that my colleagues are ganging up against me to to get rid of me . I am very stressed about this and don’t know how to deal with this. Any professional advice from people with the know how would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

As all of your communication is on email there will be proof either way surely. Are all of your emails professional?

Are you in a union? Speak to them.

If all communication is by email there can't be anything you're not aware of.

The issue is whether your standards are reasonable.

Also if you've tried to get the secretary replaced without communicating what she needs to do differently that's not very helpful.

You've started off with a preconception of what she could do or not do and then subsequently made zero effort to build a relationship with her.

Not a single phone call, no personal interaction? If the quality of your post is anything like your emails she's had her work cut out to start with.

As I expected her work was not upto the standards I expected so I repeatedly sent emails to my line managers to change her

You sound like a CFO I once had the misfortune to work for. Six months into his tenure our line manager berated us for 'not meeting his expectations' - the ones that had never been communicated in the first place.

Were your's? or did you just assume she could mind read?

You sound like hard work tbh. You had already decided they weren’t up to the job before they’d even started or had a chance to prove themselves? No interaction at all except email? Sounds like you’ve been cold and unaccepting from the off.

Sorry I didn’t convey the information coherently. I certainly made a lot of effort to come to an understanding with her to get the work done but she was not concentrating on the NHS work but on her private work. But I ended up doing all the work on top of looking after my patients. There is a lot of racism in the NHS. I worked hard to get to the position where I am . But I have been subjected to a lot of racial discrimination against women especially women of color. A lot of judgement is based on this.please do not comment without knowing what exactly is going on. Most of the nurses ,doctors who are subjected to disciplinary actions are from the ethnic minority backgrounds. So please don’t make the assumption without knowing the full context.

My DSis had a similar experience in the NHS. From her point of view she was just trying to get a member of her team to work effectively and meet targets. This person had coasted along with limited IT and maths skills for years. My sister offered to book her onto relevant training courses. The lady in question then accused her of bullying.
It was a clash of new vs old culture. Sadly the NHS is full of people like this who resent change. It is massively inefficient. My DSis had to leave - it was her word vs the entire might of the NHS. Good luck trying to change things!

Sorry but your race doesn’t have any relevance to whether you bullied her or not. What exactly are they accusing you of? What evidence is there?

This has to be a wind up. Supposed consultant posts incoherently. People disagree with op so she says they shouldn’t comment without the facts (which she supposedly gave in her original post). Then she randomly pulls racism out of the hat.

A lot of judgement is based on this.please do not comment without knowing what exactly is going on

We can only base replies on what you tell us. We're not mind readers either.

Based on this short thread your communication style does feel unfriendly and blunt. There may be cultural factors here, we don’t know.

You've worked with her for a couple of years and never spoken to her in person!

This is so wrong. If you have an issue with her work you need to speak about it, not just send emails.

Many of us NHS workers have been spoken to and treated like shit by consultants who think they're better than us/their query is more important than any of the other aspects of our job role.

You're either bullying her or you're not. The way you talk about her is quite indicative of your general attitude. And there are actually far far more BAME colleagues being bullied than are the bully/disciplined for bullying.

What is the management structure in your dept? Who is her line manager?

Where I am a consultant would be managed by the medical director and secretary/admin staff would be managed by an admin team lead.

Your emails may be coming across as very curt and blunt, it can be difficult to read the tone in emails.
Can you arrange to meet in person with her line manager for a discussion on your expectations versus what is the reality? Her line manager should know whether the amount of work she is being given is doable in the hours she has, and if it is then should be addressing why she isn't performing. If it isn't then you need allocated additional admin hours. Is she meeting the standard for getting clinic letters out to GPs etc?

Keep all your emails as HR will now be involved if there's a bullying allegation. They may bring in mediation. Get advice from the union if you're in one.

Is the issue the number of hours she is contracted to work for you is too few for the workload, or is it that she is not completing the work expected for the number of hours she is allocated to you?

This is a bit weird, is it some kind of reverse or posting for a friend?

As you expected her work wasn’t what you expected? What?

She is not completing the work for the number of hours she is allocated . I end up doing a lot of work myself.

Your style may come across as brusque OP but whether you are judged more harshly than your male counterparts is more than possible. I imagine you are very busy and found someone who was supposed to be supporting you making your job harder was very frustrating. You may be driven but she may just be coasting along
This assistant may well be incompetent but it sounds as if you havent addressed that as constructively as you could but equally she could be doing this because she knows shes shit and this is a way to deflect attention from that. There are some people working within The NHS who aren't up to the job but unless they are blatently incompetent or do something awful its very hard to get rid of them, especially if they have been there a long time.
You presumably have a Union? Take advice from them

Your writing style is austere and not warm.

English is not my first language so maybe that’s why you feel that way.

Can you please explain why you have never once spoken in person to someone who works for you?

That sounds like heavily gendered expectations. Her writing style should be professional. Warmth is besides the point.

But if you have good evidence for that fact she is not completing the work in the time. And spending her time doing private work. If you've already reported that, how did the investigation conclude?
Is her allegation of bullying just a false accusation? Not unheard of re someone feeling vulnerable stooping to desperate measures.

What did you say in the emails? Did you reference her personally and say she wasn't performing?

If so had you clearly set out the work load indicating the task, timeline etc. Did you clarify with her direct manager her capacity level.

A lot of times people are assigned extra work but no extra hours. But that can only be solved between her managers not her.

Beware of posting. OP sent me a message on here after I did. It’s all racism apparently.
OP you have no idea whether this person is spending all their time elsewhere or simply crap or overwhelmed by work. Your manner suggests you haven’t dealt with this in a calm and professional way. That’s not about race.
Sending private messages on a public forum accusing a third party of racism is odd too.