Come and cheer me up! I used to love my job but so many changes have made it unrecognisable and I think I am going to have to leave :-(

[Ceebee74]

Life sucks sometimes doesn't it??

I have been in my job for 8 years now and I used to love it - but we have restructured twice now in the last 3 years and all the changes have made it almost impossible for me to do it now

It is mainly the travel aspect as the area we cover has become at least 4 times the size it was and is geographically huge now. Pre-children, I would have loved this travel and thought it was great....but now I have 2 DC and have to get home to pick them up from nursery etc it is just too hard to do.

I realise things change but my main gripe is that I wouldn't have dreamt of applying for it now with the commitment of 2 DC as I would realise it was incompatible - yet it has all been forced on me and making things very difficult.

So, I know I have to lump it or get out....so I guess that leaves me with one option The people are so lovely, I actually will be heartbroken at leaving

Oh, no. But if the job has become impossible for you to do, isn't that the same as your being made redundant?

Are you a member of a union?

Winged it isn't that it is impossible to do - just for me because of my personal circumstances which obviously management don't care about. I hate the pressure of having to make sure that I leave places in time to get back home to pick my DC up (and some of our sites are a good 2 hours away) and I always have a fear of being stuck in traffic/accident or whatever.

I just don't like feeling like this all the time so I guess it is time to start a job search

Ceebee - I thinkbmy job maybe going the same way. The job I do was agreed as part of my flexible working request and the new boss has put in a weekly meeting 5 hours away from my home meaning an over night and a very late arrival home the next day!! I'm also worried that I won't be able to manage it and was even thinking that if the job is made impossible to do I have no option but to resign, does this it constitute constructive dismissal. Not sure if that is right!!

Bubble omg, that is far worse than what I have to contend with! Constructive dismissal is notoriously hard to claim and win unfortunately. And they wonder why women struggle to achieve anything in their career - cos it is made so bloody difficult for us!!!

I was actually going to suggest constructive dismissal. Or at least contact line managers (HR if line managers are being arsey by - e.g. Mylittlebubble - scheduling work which it is hard to complete in the agreed time and with the agreed constraints). There is a line in most contracts about working some additional hours and at additional places as required, but that is always meant to be on a temporary basis, otherwise surely it constitutes a variation to contracted terms and conditions which you did not sign up to!

I also once went to HR to put on record that I was concerned my performance was going to be judged by terms which had not been spelled out and which seemed very much subject to change. I was under notice that I was "at risk" of redundancy at the time, so my legal position was somwhat more protected. (And I was a member of a union, which was really helpful). However, HR is obliged to minute situations like this, and if you put on record that you have been treated in a certain way - having failed with your efforts to compromise, conform and/or maintain your contracted position - HR has to take seriously the legal position this could put the company in. Even if constructive dismissal is hard to prove, etc., surely HR has a legal duty to protect the company from the expense of a claim, even if they don't give a shit about you!

Thanks WingedVic - My next move if the traveling is made compulsary is to work out a compromise then speak to HR if needed.

Good that you have started making plans. You will feel - and be - much less helpless if you are prepared! I had about a day's warning that I was being placed "at risk" of redundancy, and it really did help me to keep my mouth shut when The Bomb (as they thought) was dropped, so that I gave nothing away and still had options after the first meeting was over. It really did feel good, to know that they had not succeeded in putting me at a disadvantage because of surprise. (after all, they did all their planning before trying to dump things on me). Do take care of yourself.

There are two threads running here so I?ll address CeeBees first: It is unclear how many other people are involved in this ?restructuring?. However, your employer should involve you in any consultation exercise. Furthermore, you will only be able to convince a tribunal of constructive dismissal if a fair procedure to change your terms and conditions was not followed. You need to consider whether their proposed changes, i.e expanding the size of your territory permanently under the reference to ?additional places? within your T & Cs, is reasonable. For example, if you were a salesman covering London who occasionally visited clients just outside the M25 and then your territory was extended to be the entire South East on a regular basis, then this could be considered unreasonable.

In the case of LittleBubble?s ? I would consider that if these weekly meetings are made compulsory then you may have a case for constructive dismissal ? however you would have to resign first (obviously consider carefully the financial impact if you don?t have another job to go to) ? and the burden of proving your case at a tribunal will rest entirely on you and yes, this is hard and requires a lot of time and effort. Alternatively, you could (I?m not suggesting that you should) decide not bother to attend these meetings. However, your employer may invoke disciplinary proceedings against you for not turning up, so ultimately (after complying with their procedure) they may sack you...then you could claim unfair dismissal but it?s up to them to demonstrate why they took this step. Some alternative solutions: Has your employer considered conducting these meetings via telephone or video conferencing? Or rotating these meetings to a variety of locations which means you would only have to do this long-distance journey once in a while?

In both cases, if it looks like new conditions are coming into effect, I suggest that the way to strengthen your position would be to write to your employer and indicate that you wish to discuss the situation regarding the new conditions. This will offer them a chance to find a compromise with you. You might wish to raise your concerns as a formal grievance to force your employer to deal with it under their procedure, but this might be something you might contemplate as a second step if they do not deal with your issues in an informal way. Also by raising a grievance your employer should commit to a ?status quo? while the grievance is being heard, i.e. any changes to your working conditions should not be made until a satisfactory resolution (on both sides) is found.

Wizzie

Ceebee - I've found that once you start thinkin you need to leave a job for practical reasons, your attitude to the job gradually changes and you become ready to leave, even though you used to love it and the people you work with. So it may well work itself out emotionally!