'Not working to grade'

[bollockstothis24]

Name changed. I posted last year about my half year review and I'm finding myself in a similar situation this year in that my manager says I'm not 'working to grade.' I managed to get it overturned at the end of the year by basically over working myself and getting very very stressed. But this half year it's the same story and I've been told I'm underperforming.

I work 80% in a very under resourced team, manager isn't very present and I end up doing a lot of tasks to support and run the team, making sure that everything runs smoothly.

I haven't had objectives for the first half of the year so he can't even tell me what I'm not achieving. He's given me objectives for the rest of the year which are not achievable within my working hours without a lot of additional support (which I'm unlikely to get).

I've been told numerous times that I need to go back full time (I don't want to - I'm 55 and want to slow down, don't need the extra money). I think this is borderline bullying.

The final nail in the coffin is that he said he thinks my job should really be a grade below and suggested I take a voluntary demotion which I'm obviously not going to do - why would I? I've been mulling all this over and I think this gives me a case to ask for a redundancy package. They should either find me another same grade job or let me go.

Any advice appreciated. Also thinking of consulting an employment lawyer but don't really know how to go about it.

Sorry yes managed out for me included a settlement agreement, it nearly always does unless gross misconduct, and that’s not relevant here.

so you’re open to a settlement agreement and to leave?

I think I remember your last thread. Sounds like you have a battle just coz your manager is a dick and has decided you are the easy target.

I guess it depends if you want to fight or can’t be bothered. If you want then payment then I would talk to an employment lawyer.

did you get HR involved last time? Were they helpful?

you could just drop all the extra stuff and see how it all plays out.

Sounds like they're going to pull a Philadelphia trick

As other posters have said- speak to ACAS. Also check your home insurance for legal cover as this usually offers a free legal advice helpline amd covers legal fees if required

The can 100% manage you out but here’s the thing. You haven’t had your objectives? So how do you know what to be working towards? What training or support is in place to help you improve to reach the expected standard. I would also 100% stop doing anything that not your direct job description. I used to manage in financial services and the union would wipe the floor with them

Wow, lots of questions.

I've been there for over 23 years and have never had an underperforming EOY rating.

I redundancy payoff would be an absolute result for me. I want out now, can't play this game any more.

HR didn't want to know last year because it was only a half year rating which can be changed (it was, after a shit load of work and stress on my part).

Haven't signed up to new objectives. No adjustment made to work load when I went to 80%

You sound very smug and unresponsive to criticism.
I think if you negotiated an ‘out’ they’d welcome it. I wouldn’t want to manage someone with your attitude in an already under-resourced environment.

Good luck! I think you’re onto something.

I sound smug?! Well my apologies for standing up for myself (as many people here have told me to). FFS

I don't know what criticism it is that I'm meant to be responding to. Some people have said I must be crap at my job for me to be in this position. I know that not to be true. Is that what you're talking about?

OP, a few things spring to mind….

I think they’re are trying to manage you out, likely so they can get a full time headcount in. They are presumably struggling with budgets hence the understaffed team?

If they can mark you down as under achieving they absolutely need to document why so you have clear areas for improvement and focus for the next 6 months in order to meet their “achieved” grade.

I would be engaging HR and stating you need the above otherwise you wish to raise a formal complaint about the treatment you’re receiving if it not justifiable.

Secondly, if you’re doing work which is not your remit, stop. Management sometimes need to system to break for them to fix it. If you are papering cracks which someone else should be doing, but can’t as they physically don’t exist, demonstrate this to them. Make the problem a management problem. It goes against how we want to do things, but as someone who has also had to justify resourcing requests, showing the work isn’t getting done is a very easy way to highlight the need for extra headcount. If however you’re doing it, the problem goes away, and the focus instead is that you aren’t meeting your own KPI’s.

Don’t accept a demotion. Your job load and targets won’t change, you’ll simply be getting paid less. Again, if they can’t justify this because you’ve had no objectives.

If of course you’re underperforming this should be easy to demonstrate if they had suitable process in place.

Having been in a similar position in the same industry, my take on it is that they want you to leave so they don’t have to make you redundant. They don’t have a reason to sack you so they’re doing their best to make your working life untenable in the hope you’ll just retire or go of your own accord.

There’s nothing you can do except wait it out for them to cave in and make you redundant (what I did) or leave. I would not accept a demotion because it will change your contract terms meaning they can give you less a favourable redundancy if that’s the route they go down.

Yes, smug 👆

He's given me objectives for the rest of the year which are not achievable within my working hours without a lot of additional support (which I'm unlikely to get)
Again OP, did you agree to these or did you raise objections, officially?

Hi, I answered this above. I haven't agreed the objectives.

It's pertinent that my 'support' has just been signed off sick, and we don't know for how long. It's not clear to me how my line manager expects me to meet objectives without any support, so I won't be agreeing to them. I think he's burying his head in the sand and expecting me to magic up more time from somewhere.

I am an HR professional who has worked in 10+ big organisations dealing with performance management and redundancy, not an employment lawyer but very well versed in it. I’m very sorry to hear about your experience and the situation sounds unfair and upsetting. That said, I’m going to give you the same advice as I would give to a friend. (1) The most important thing for you is to decide what outcome YOU want from this. Is it to keep the job on the current terms (would that be possible given the manager, history etc?) Do you want to get a pay off/exit package? There are obviously other possible outcomes but you need to thing about this carefully. (2) If you have not already done so, document everything which has happened, keep notes of conversations and especially when you have asked for objectives to be given, asked for admin support etc. Keep a note of how frequently you have met with the manager, when the meetings get cancelled etc. If it means spending several hours in the evening trawling through email then you need to suck it up. (3) Understand your company’s policy & process on performance improvement etc. As others say, it is dependent on role & industry. Be clear on the facts. Gather up personal info - contract, role description etc. You will need all of this if you decide to see a lawyer (4) Be scrupulous about keeping to the letter of all HR policies, including use of company equipment, laptop for personal chat, timekeeping etc. Make sure there can be no question about your behaviour (5) Write to the person who gave you this review noting what you heard, make sure it is factual, check that they agree to it - and ask in writing what the next steps are. Gather all this together because you will need to know it if you want to get any external advice, free or otherwise. You will also need it if you are trying to leverage an exit! Good luck.

Thankyou @MyPearlMentor , that's really helpful.

If you don't already belong to a union, join one. They are absolutely invaluable for situations like these!

You need to call ACAS for guidance. It’s free, impartial, and you can disclose full details in confidence. There will be many HR Pro’s on here who will give you fab support, but you need to understand your rights and ACAS can help you navigate any discrimination aspects which might be present, as well as look at your overall case and recommend next steps.
Your focus should be on protecting yourself. The very fact you had no objectives and manager cannot give you clear examples of what the standard required is, and where your work and input falls short, suggests you’re in a strong position.

Rule number one is work out what you want out of the situation and then plan accordingly.
Maybe you want out, this manager is clearly not nice, not supportive and bluntly doesn't like you/your working pattern, so I can see wanting out. If that's the case you want to push for redundancy, ask in writing for him to outline the job spec being a lower grade, push him for evidence that the job you're doing at your current grade doesn't really exist. Once you're at that point you can go back (ideally copying in HR or a snr manager) saying "I don't like the offer of a lower grade role because it's different terms e.g. lower salary, different role description and therefore I'll take the redundancy option if my job doesn't exist at this current salary and grade point." You do need to be wary of this though, I've had cases where changing someone's grade isn't enough of a change of terms to warrant redundancy (it would be if it meant a change to benefits or salary - so you need to suss out exactly what this lower grade entails - also if they ring-fence your salary and benefits then a lower grade will be easier for you to succeed in and might not be a bad shout for you)
If you want to stay and stay with your exact current terms, I think you've two options. Option1 - go hard, raise a grievance, say he is bullying you to the point of constructive dismissal because of your working pattern and that youve had no support and no objectives. Think about a solution you actually want though, maybe you move teams, have better objectives and 121s more often, the manager is more present etc - the investigator for the grievance will want you to explain some pragmatic solutions
Option 2 - go softly, see how your objectives go, strive to meet them, ask for the support you need and keep documenting (gather positive feedback from all stakeholders, if there are any values you're measured against then document agaibst these too), then at YE you can ask to have any poor rating over turned again. Do you have any disabilities or health issues etc that might be impacting your performance that you could bring up, which would force him to change the objectives and expectations?

There's a couple of reasons this might be happening to you. 1. In some organisations they level/calibrate their performance ratings in each team, managers are effectively pushed towards choosing someone to be at the bottom and its easy to pick you. 2. This manager wants to manage you out and with a underpeforming rating he will move to a pip and follow the path to termination for underperformance, if this is the case he might jump at you being voluntarily redundant (if the business can afford this). I wonder if he knows he could be allowed to recruit someone full time if you left.... Also do genuinely look at yourself, its hard having conversations if someone is underperforming, most managers actively avoid these chats and ratings. I don't know you or what you do, but if you think there's a chance he's correct you do need to be honest with yourself (and again plan accordingly).

Good luck OP, sorry this is happening. I'd suggest using Acas, and the government website, they have good explanations of the underperformance process and what is/isn't allowed. My top tip is document everything, get everything in writing and arm yourself!

I would approach ACAS and your union for advice, this sounds like bullying to me.

Internal processes first, before asking for a redundancy package. From what you say, yes, it’s verging on bullying, and definitely unprofessional and unfair, but you don’t get redundancy just by asking for it - or at least you shouldn’t.

You do if it suits their agenda. There's a restructure coming up.

Only accept SMART targets.
Ask why he feels that way. What exactly does he feel you are not doing? The word feel is vital here.

Don't accept anything that isn't measurable. They need to objective and clear. I used to have targets like "Make 10% saving on outsourcing", "X project on time/budget".

If he cannot quantify what you're doing to not making the grade, he cannot insist you're not...

I had a heart attack in a meeting about not making unquantifiable targets and work quality not meeting standards. I was accused of not knowing how to mark exam papers to a required standard. I'd spent months trying to understand what my manager wanted for something I'd had no problems with prior. Guess what? I'm now marking for a living - and the way he was teaching me was incorrect...

Having experienced similar behaviour before your employer is trying to manage you out. Basically it's a combination of bullying and constructive dismissal.
As other PP have said, discuss with ACAS to get their take on it and good luck.

I just sat it out at the end so I had a termination package (redundancy) and early access to my pension and it ended up costing them.

This why we all need to be in a union. We don't know when managers will bully us or try to push us out of employment. A union has our backs and provides the legal support we might need.
I'm not a union activist or anysuch, I've just seen why they're vital in my 35 years working!