Help, I am losing a valued member of staff - possibility I will be expected to increase my hours as a result

[blueskythinker]

I'm hoping someone with a bit of perspective can help me here.

I manage a small Unit developing policy in the public sector. I recently came back from maternity leave, on a part-time basis (I was previously full-time), and work 2 x 10 hr days per week. I have another member of staff who works 3 days a week, and who will be leaving, not to be replaced, at the end of the financial year. My other staff member is full-time, and started the role in January this year. It has taken a while to train her, but she is excellent at her job, and I really value her.

I have just been told by my boss I am losing my full-time staff member, to be replaced by a part-time member who, although I get on well with personally, does not want to do this new role, and I also believe she is not suited to it.

My existing member of staff does not want to move, but has said if she has to, she will.

I am pretty gutted by this. It effectively means I have lost 25% of my capacity, yet my Unit has also been given additional responsibilities. It also means that I have to start from square 1 with the new member of staff, training her for the role, and as I only work 2 days, this will eat up a lot of my time.

Budgets are being squeezed at the moment in the public sector, and I recognise that everyone is being expected to do more with less, but I feel in a pretty impotent position, and I suppose I am looking for advice on how to deal with this situation with my boss.

My PT working application was approved initially for 3 months, to be reviewed. When I initially applied for pt working, my (male) boss told me directly that he was not a fan of pt working. The review is due this week. I feel that if I make too big an issue about how I won't be able to deliver on my work because of the loss of my staff member, the most obvious response will be 'If you are so worried about it, why don't you increase your hours'.

I really don't want to increase my hours - both my DC are young, and I have them in a nursery on the 2 days I work. I am not happy with my choice of childcare, but I console myself by the fact it is only 2 days a week. I don't want to increase the number of days I send them there.

I have worked for the organisation for 15 years, and am extremely committed to my job.

I was thinking of asking my boss for a meeting to review the timescales & expectations of the projects I am responsible for, given the reduction in staff and increased responsibilities - but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot.

Any advice?

bump?

bump for blue sky

Perhaps you could work out the productivity levels for both yourself and another full time member of staff, then how these will slip when having to retrain (will you?) a new member of staff. If anyone suggests that you should increase your hours I would a)explain that this is not the basis in which you returned to work and b) you are more expensive than the already trainedmember of full time staff.
If you can equate your needs with money, ie productivity, then I think you should have a case.
Do you have a union?
I am not the best person to ask but thought I ought to respond.

Ah, reread and saw that pt was being reviewed. Think about everything you do that's positive as a pt employee. Look for another job too, it wouldn't hurt to know that you are a valuable candidate should you want to jump ship, network a little.

bluesky this is tricky isn't it?

As the manager of the unit do you really have no say in terms of what happens to your staff? That's a bit rubbish if so.

Do you feel your pt arrangement has worked well so far? What reason are you being given for the fact that your boss feels you need less staff given the extra responsibilities your unit has taken on?

Presumably if there isn't the budget for more capacity in terms of either keeping your ft member or keeping the other one leaving, then there also isn't the budget to increase your hours anyway? Presumably you know what the salaries budget is for your unit, if it's being cut and that's why you are losing team members then you need to discuss with your manager how whatever budget you have is spent to make best possible use of it to achieve what you need to achieve.

I think the meeting as you have proposed is a good idea - I would push for a bit more involvement in decisions which so fundamentally affect the work you are doing and the team you manage. But go into the meeting with solutions not whinges. You know what your unit's objectives are, go in prepared to fight for more resources (or to keep the ones you've got), but also with solutions to prove that you increasing your hours won't improve results.

Hope that helps a little bit - a really difficult situation, hope you get something sorted.

Thanks for the responses. The reason why my member of staff is being taken away, is because another unit made a case that they needed another member of staff. There was minimal consultation with me.

My boss called me in on Monday and told me that XXX had expressed an interest in the other post. I was aware that our HR person had spoken with her and asked her would she be interested in this post, and that XXXX had said she didn't want it, she was happy where she was, but that if she was told she had to go, that she would have to go along with it. All members of staff of the same grade were being offered the post. I told my boss that it was not accurate that my member of staff had expressed an interest, and informed him of what had happened. He said that if she didn't want to move, then he would bow to what she wanted. I spoke with her again immediately after the meeting, and she reiterated that she didn't want to move. I e-mailed my boss to this effect. I got a phone call on Tuesday from my member of staff (I was off) to say that my boss had called her in, and told her there was a business need for her to move, and that she would be moving in 2 weeks.

He didn't even bother to phone me to let me know! I phoned him straight away, and he reiterated the line that there was a business need for the move. I was at home with both my DC, so couldn't really have a proper conversation with him. He went on leave for 2 weeks the next day.

So the issue isn't really that he is telling me I need less staff, but that another unit is claiming they need more. Our organisation doesn't really work on salaries - it is more a blunt instrument of counting bums on seats, and this is the problem I have tried to explain to my boss, that although it appears there are 3 of us in the unit, actually because 2 of us are part-time, it equates to 2 full-time posts.

A best value review was conducted of our Dept only a couple of months ago, and they were satisfied with our staffing levels.

At the end of that day, my organisation is a hierarchical one where the bottom line is that what the boss says goes. I just feel so pissed off with the way it has been handled, and that I haven't had the opportunity to properly state my case.

oh blue sky! I hear your frustration! You are obviously an intelligent capable person which makes all this 10x worse! I'm not in a position to give advice, but you suffer under a line management structure that it incredibly defective and ineffective.
your boss sounds like a two faced twit.

I'm keeping my eyes open for a new job and hoping for better

best of luck hun

I meant to say that I suffer

James, I think you had it right first time.

yes hmm