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.

Yes you made mistakes, but at a much lower rate than most humans and within the range of an automated service. Print out some of the facts and figures of rates on the links upthread. Show them how lucky they are to have you.

I won’t pretend to know much about data entry but it seems absolutely ridiculous to expect Zero human errors to be made. It is quite abusive to be berating you about it in my opinion.

The reason is that you are a human being, not a robot.

If there is a zero mistakes policy then each entry should go through 2 pairs of eyes at least - the same way text is proofed, you can’t proof your own work. Suggest more fail safes put in place? This sounds like very few errors for the amount of entries, I’m sure they are lucky to have you.

We would all like to be perfect but sadly we are only human and mistakes sadly do happen. Just calm down as you sound like a girl I know who says to me all the time in work"im going to get fired" over trivial things, I constantly have to tell her to stop saying that as its not going to happen.

Have the meeting and see what they suggest but I don't think it would be termination but maybe just take a little more time in the future over the decimals.

Good luck and stop worrying

Go and see (or call) your union rep urgently so you have some support.
you may have left due to finances but you can rejoin at any time.
I would say that time is now!

This company sounds awful to work for.

3 errors out of 9000 is a pretty good error rate for a human. For them to blow it out of proportion and have you worried like this is ridiculous, especially as it doesn’t sound like life changing mistakes with life changing consequences.

Go to the meeting. Ask for the policy on error rate . Zero might be an ideal but there will be an actually error rate, if it exists. I would say very little at the meeting then consult ACAS .

This is fundamentally unreasonable though. Everyone makes mistakes because they are human. 3 errors in a few months when you are processing thousands sounds like a perfectly acceptable error rate.

1. Approach meeting with an open mind.
2. Ask for help devising plan to help you reach “zero target”
3. Don’t use “human nature” “simple accident “ type words, they obviously don’t see it that way and will have negative reaction to those words.

Perhaps it’s the magnitude of the errors? Or that they feel that you aren’t double checking?
Keep it positive, like you are eager to fix - if you want to keep job.

Are there major consequences for the company due to these mistakes? If they result in reduced client confidence and reputation which hits profits, or they result in increased risk to human life, then I could understand the apparently harsh response. Have the mistakes all happened close together in time? If so, perhaps they are concerned that you have become less competant at the job. In any case speak to the union rep for advice if you are a member of a union. Is there something else you are not telling us that could have escalated the situation?

Are there major consequences for the company due to these mistakes?

no, all corrected. no consequences whatsoever. All good. It's not an area (like medicine) where there could have been implications. That's the bit I don't get. I work for a little over NMW.

This is ridiculously unfair.
Join the union! For god's sake, join the union!

Don't resign, that's an exceptionally high level of work quality and output !
How many other people do this work - if it's just you, you won't be replaced soon as anyone new would need to get up-to-speed ?
Has the company a plan to, or already, automated this work as that may add a different perspective ?

I don’t think you’ll be sacked. If it helps you to feel better, we recently received an invoice from a customer of ours (for a promotion we ran in their stores) for around £550 BILLION. It should have been a few thousand tops. The following week, despite a credit the day after, they sent another invoice for a similar value. These invoices were generated because someone there company manually entered a product code into the “trigger” box (the amount we pay them for every unit sold on deal). Human error but could have had massive repercussions - no-one there was sacked over it. We all had a laugh over it (after the initial heart attack) in fact. If they can make a mistake like that AND not fix it so it didn’t do the same thing the following week, I’m sure you’ll be fine given you rectified the mistakes.

Good luck - but I don’t think you’ll need it.

You're a human op not a machine
People make mistakes and as pp have said do not resign.
Line manager sounds like a prick

Just saw your update,that's great news for you op.👍

Do you have a toddler, by any chance? A similar thing happened to a friend. They suspected she might have a second child and wanted to push her out before any pregnancy protections kicked in.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/

no, primary school aged and too old (and tired) to have more.

A data input error cannot be classified as gross misconduct.

Obviously you feel you need expert advice and support. Call ACAS. If you do want legal advice elsewhere try Citizens Advice Bureau (free). Your home insurance probably provides free legal advice, or there is Which? Legal Services for a quite small fee - they include employment law.

Don't feel like a wuss for taking this so seriously. It's better to go in knowing your rights and how to respond to whatever your employer says, than to worry and perhaps go in looking guilty. Far better to know your legal position before than after. Good luck.

You need to check your employment contract and the company's HR policy, usually you can only get sacked immediately for gross misconduct and this doesn't seem a likely example of that. If they're concerned with your performance then they should be addressing that through a performance improvement plan and give you around 3-6 months to improve. Pls speak to ACAS before you make any decisions.

BTW I'm not suggesting that your situation is necessarily that bad, just being cautious!

I've just read all your comments OP, sounds like an awful job and an awful company to work for! As others have said, it's impossible to eliminate human error, and a zero error rate is unrealistic, especially if there's no way for you to check for errors. I really don't think they can sack you for this, especially after 5yrs of employment, but maybe it's a sign to look for another job anyway? If you think they're replacing your role with automation, maybe they're trying to push people out to avoid paying them redundancy?

It is ludicrous for any company to expect a zero error rate on tedious work like this, especially given that they pay the employees concerned so badly. If as an employer you set that target, then you need to put in place practices and procedures to help people achieve it, including regular breaks, time to double and triple check, and IT to help you.