can I get fired for this? how bad is it?

[Snowowls]

I work in a company where I enter data manually into a system. I do about 8000-10000 entries per annum (it's about usage of a certain product which is linked to invoice creation). I was informed last week that in the last few months, 3 entries were incorrectly entered (though the have been corrected after the customer complained), all invoices had been corrected. I have been told that is is an unacceptable standard of working and I am having an urgent meeting with my line manager about it next Monday to discuss my poor performance. I have been in my job for 5 years but I worry I will let go. There were innocent mistakes. Not sure how they happened, just human nature. It's the first time in 5 years such a mistake has been flagged to but I am absolutely terrified as I have now a (disciplinary?) meeting about it. Any advice on how to respond? I am not in a union.

OP this sounds crazy! You are a human being with clearly an excellent track record, at work. Every human makes mistakes, and the mistakes that you did make are nothing in the grand scheme of things, because they were rectified. The fact that you management are treating you like this, is a complete over reaction. I think you need to start looking for another job, somewhere where you are appreciated and treated as a human being and not as a robot.

Jesus I would have been fired after a week. How on earth is zero errors a target?!

Another thought on this, their system seems not to have any checks and balances. Any normal financial system (I work implementing them) has a header and a line, you put the total amount in the header, add the line(s) and the system checks that the total of the lines adds up to the amount on the header.

If this isn't happening, you should suggest the system is modified or implemented properly to ensure this happens. Even if it's in Excel or a web form you can do this.

No but my point is if you round that number which is common in business practise it rounds down to zero percent so thr amount is really really marginally small.

depends on the job. DH works in a national security type job where data entry errors can mean a fine for the organisation each time.

"I expect my job to be done my a machine soon."
In that case they are looking at avoiding your redundancy payout!
Do NOT resign. Speak to ACAS.

As an employer this is totally unacceptable; they are trying to bully you out of your rights!

I work in a similar environment, so there is a second person who reviews significant and judgemental work, a systems check that catches most typos (like the header and line system referred to above) and spot checks on a random sample. And still we sometimes get fined.

If no mistakes is required, then you need to implement a system to identify the inevitable mistakes.

You've been in your job 5 years so your employer has to follow disciplinary procedures (unless it was gross misconduct, which this isn't.) You've not previously made mistakes so there is no pattern here. This could be a chat/ an off the record warning/ a verbal warning or a written warning (harsh given your previous track record.) Give some thought to what may have caused the error: illness, not sleeping well, any mitigating stress factors and use those in your "defence."
Frankly, given your previous 100% track record over the last 5 years, your talents might be appreciated more elsewhere. You're a human being not a bloody robot!
Good luck.

There has to be an allowance of human error. In every job there’s minor errors.

this thread has got to be a wind up.

Why? If I make 2 errors in a month I lose all my bonus for that month which can be a fair amount of money (difference between min wage or an extra £1000)

That's not even a data entry job

This is a very good point to firmly state in your meeting OP.

I know it's all new and scary, but your employers are being totally unrealistic in their stated expectations.

For what it's worth, at one stage of my career I was a senior audit manager in a billion pound a year undertaking. There's no way we would ever have expected employees to have a zero error rate. That's just nonsense.

Just stay calm as best you can, go along and see what they say. I would expect them to offer you the possibility to take a witness along with you at the least.

From where I'm standing and what I currently know, you are more professional and on the ball than your employer. You definitely sound like the kind of employee most employers would bend over backwards to employ. Don't panic. x

Could there be a change in you, OP? Menopause maybe or a thyroid problem or something? If you’ve been so accurate for more than four years, three mistakes in a few months might have a clinical cause. Though it seems very very low to me and acceptable.

Yep, if it's that critical it should all be double keyed.

I have no medical or personal problem I can think of. not menopausal either (and even if, it wouldn't make a difference as the target is zero). these were just genuine errors I suppose. I really haven't got a clue how I let this happen so many times. The more I think about it, the more mortified I am - esp the the not knowing what caused it. If I could identify a reason, it would be easier to address the root cause but I really don't know what it is.

"So many times?"

I'm really concerned about how badly you're beating yourself up over this. You have done absolutely nothing wrong at all, and your employer is treating you appallingly badly.

It must be so worrying for you. You are doing your best but your best is less good suddenly. I’ve never managed more than about 98 percent accuracy with data entry and I don’t know why either. I could not apply for a job like yours.

This sounds a soul-sucking job...

You are a human being, not a machine.

But you can make one error without penalty... And then it resets the next month.

The OP is not allowed to make even one! Ever!

Don’t be harsh on yourself, try to enjoy your weekend. Hope all goes well in your meeting, prepare, stick up for yourself and make your points clearly and calmly.

It’s not misconduct, but performance. It’s seems such a small human error - are ther any precedents with other staff?

I have a colleague who now left and she made mistakes like that often and was never pulled up. Other staff have been let go bit there were usually also other things involved. The response to me seems unusually heavy handed. I suppose some posters further up had it - AI is coming in soon. I wonder if its a means to get rid of people slowly without paying redundancy. but I made the mistakes. I cannot argue with that.

We don’t think they can fire you or make you resign for this. They may try, to minimise redundancy pay, if they are moving to AI. Don’t help them.

Please call ACAS on Monday.