H aRRgh!!

The Economic Situation Starts to Bite...

2008-10-07T16:09:35Z

It's fair to say that the worsening economic situation has begun to take its toll on us here.

Customer orders are falling at an increasingly alarming rate, which has resulted in the inevitable early discussions about the 'r' word...

]]> As a company, mass redundancies are something we have always thankfully avoided, and we hope to this time.

In a bid to avoid this, we have frozen recruitment and are increasingly relying on temporary labour. It has it's obvious disadvantages for skills, but if it can help us to avoid a redundancy situation for our permanent employers it will be worth it.

The other avenue we are exploiting is an increasingly strict disciplinary process. Dismissals have gone through the roof, but this isn't a time for giving time wasters a second chance.

Senior Management Meeting; An Eye-Opening Experience

2008-09-11T16:54:09Z

In the absence of my boss, who is off enjoying some sun somewhere exotic, I sat in on a Senior Management meeting today.

My brief was to keep an eye on them, and I now understand why that was...

]]> Given the salaries that these people command, and given that they all represent the company at the very highest echelons, the amount of bickering was quite surreal.

I felt like I was a school playground monitor rather than being involved in a serious discussion about company plans.

Given the times that we find ourselves in, it hardly makes you feel very secure when you see how our 'leaders' behave...

Communication: A Forgotten Practice?

2008-09-10T15:58:57Z

Within our department, communication is usually excellent, which is just as well given our small size and huge variety of tasks that greet us every day.

The same cannot be said when we look outside of our office.

]]> Today, whilst in the middle of a presentation, I was dragged out of a meeting by a panicky member of another department, who had conveniently forgotten to inform us of an audit on the training function today.

Cue lots of panicking, and even more lying when I came face to face with the auditors 5 minutes later.

Thankfully I'm quite good at thinking on my feet and seemed to manage to satisfy them, but a bit of notice would be nice next time...

Bullying Case Concludes: The Judgement Is In

2008-09-03T15:56:28Z

After much agonising, re-interviewing and general to-ing and fro-ing, the judgement in the bullying case has finally been made.

Well, I say bullying case, but although it did begin as a 'simple' bullying case as one reader described it, it ended up as something more than that.

]]> As it was, and after much research, the original bullying complaint was not upheld.

However, this did not prevent the individual from losing their job over the other allegation.

Such was the serious nature of that allegation, and the strength of the evidence, that we had no real choice.

This didn't make things easy though, as I think everyone involved in the case believes the individual did something ill-advised and stupid, but not malicious.

That was not enough to save the individual, but enough for us to quietly advise that they may like to resign rather than be sacked for gross misconduct.

Small mercies and all that...

Bullying Case: Judgement Day Looms

2008-08-28T16:06:43Z

Tomorrow is judgement day in the bullying case that has dominated the past couple of weeks at work.

Having conducted the investigation I won't be involved in the disciplinary meeting, and I have to say I'm thankful for that.

]]> During the initial stages, I really thought that the case was going to be a pretty easy one to deal with, which would end in the individuals dismissal.

However, the further I have gone into it, the more I am not at all convinced by the allegations against him, even though the initial allegation has since been joined by an even more serious one.

I can't quite explain my misgivings, especially without going in to specifics which it would be unfair to do here, but the whole situation really doesn't sit easily with me.

I would be quite amazed if the individual didn't lose his job tomorrow, but I can't help thinking that even though that will legally probably be the safest thing for us to do, it doesn't make it the right thing.

Someone who has worked for the company for 15 years, with no previous trouble, could find that all gone in a blink of an eye, with a dismissal for gross misconduct also potentially affecting future employment opportunities (which are in scant supply at the moment). That isn't something I would wish on many people, and I certainly wouldn't wish it upon this person.

This could end up being a successful and well organised witch hunt by a few individuals, and that is what is haunting me at the moment as I now think that this is the case.

Sometimes it's easy to see why HR employees are often polling very lowly in the job satisfaction stakes. It's really not a nice job sometimes.

Evidence in Bullying Case Mounts Up

2008-08-20T15:51:15Z

As is often the case when such a situation arises, more people are coming out of the woodwork to complain about the individual who was accused of bullying last week.

A couple of these simply back-up what has already been said, but one has added a further disturbing twist to what is already a messy situation.

]]> With all of this going on, it is no wonder that the individual concerned went off 'sick' last week.

To be fair this made our investigation somewhat easier to carry out, and we have since taken the step of suspending them (with full pay and no presumption of guilt, obviously).

As I'm now off for an extended weekend break (one holiday is simply not enough in August, especially with the weather as it is), I could come back to find the situation has taken further twists and turns.

Another Day, Another Disciplinary

2008-08-14T15:57:40Z

Whilst the investigation into the bullying case continues, another significant disciplinary situation has arisen in the company.

Like the bullying case, this could prove fatal for the individuals career at our company...

]]> It turns out that for the past few months this individual has been lying not only to his manager to cover up a mistake, but also to one of our major clients.

The situation has become clear after the client complained to the individuals manager and imposed a fine on us for not meeting the terms of our contract with them. This came after 2 weeks of our employee ignoring the clients emails and calls. Having seen the emails, I'm frankly disgusted and embarrassed by the whole episode.

As well as being ignored, the client has been continually mislead about the progress of something that we have been doing for them, which in fact has not been progressing at all thanks to the gross negligence of this one employee.

The disciplinary could be very interesting. Obviously we must never pre-judge an outcome, but nothing I have seen so far suggests to me that the employee deserves to keep their job.

Bullying Case provides an unwelcome return to work

2008-08-11T16:05:14Z

After 2 weeks off work enjoying a well earned (I think) bit of relaxation and sunshine, I had hoped to break myself in gently today.

No such luck unfortunately. Apart from the 312 emails that I came back in to, within 2 hours I found myself taking a very serious complaint from an employee.

]]> The employee has alleged that his manager has being bullying him for the last 2 years, and is now at a stage where he can no longer work for him.

Sitting there, taking down all the details, it became quite clear that this is an exceptional messy situation, one with potentially very serious consequences for the manager and possibly even the company.

Obviously a full investigation has been launched, but my gut instinct tells me that this isn't a malicious claim and is very genuine. This has surprised me somewhat given that I personally have no time for the complainant, but nobody deserves to face bullying in any form and I'll be doing my utmost to bring the case to a swift, fair and satisfactory conclusion.

Watch this space...

Document Saga Rolls On

2008-07-17T16:10:39Z

The saga of the document checks rolls on, with no signs of abating.

Today there seemed to be a coordinated effort by a few employees to constantly email me protesting about the planned checks.

As much as I tried to ignore them, I quite like a good argument so couldn't resist putting my factual point of view across...

]]> However polite I was in my replies, nothing seemed to pacify these employees who seem to have worked themselves up in to quite a frenzy.

In the end I had to settle for telling them that we are still looking in to things, but that as far as I was concerned we would be proceeding as planned.

Next step will be to ask them to check the lines in their contract about providing us with all required information. That could be fun...

Internal Barriers to Document Checks

2008-07-15T16:25:50Z

The last couple of days at work have been 2 of the most frustrating that I have had to endure since starting with the company.

As we are due to apply for a sponsership licence so that we can continue to bring skilled immigrant workers in to the company, we are trying to get our 'house in order' with regard to the checks that we should be doing as an employer.

After years of neglect from the previous HR administration, it's a fairly sizeable task. In order to avoid any discrimination, we are obviously asking to see the appropriate documents from all employees, regardless of nationality.

It's here that our problem lies.

]]> Whilst all of our foreign workers seem to be happy enough with the request, a minority of our UK workforce seem to be in uproar about the proposal.

Worse still, the ling reader is one of the senior managers here.

It's all led to some unsavoury confrontations, with us being occused of being overly officious (something that I never thought I would be accused of!).

I can't really understand what all the fuss about to be honest. We're trusted to hold bank records and all sorts of other personal details, but not a copy of a passport?

Unfortunately, all the kicking and screaming has meant that our directors have asked us to postpone our plans, and double check them with the Border and Immigration Agency.

We've even been told that we must write to the BIA explaining our situation and asking for advice.

Quite why it seems a good idea, to supposedly intelligent people, that we write to a government agency and admit that the company has neglected to carry out checks that should have been carried out since 1997 is beyond me, but who am I to argue?

The Truth Comes Out

2008-07-09T08:25:48Z

A couple of weeks ago, a junior member of our department left for pastures new.

At the time, we were all fairly sorry to see her go as she seemed to be good at what she was doing and generally a very popular character.

As it turns out, she was exceptionally good at what she was doing... not an awful lot and then covering it up.

]]> It's become increasingly apparent since her departure that many of her tasks have been neglected over the past 3 months at least, and now we face the 'clear up' operation.

Needless to say my boss is incensed, and as a result I wouldn't fancy her chances of obtaining a favourable reference...

HR taking the lead in cutbacks

2008-07-04T11:03:23Z

As reported last week, the current economic climate has started to have implications at work.

Firstly we were told that recruitment was indefinitely on hold, and now every department has been told to come up with measures to save 3% on their budget for this financial year.

]]> As an area that is seen to only cost the company money, we are determined to lead the way with the cost savings and make ourselves as indispensable as possible.

Thankfully we've come up with a couple of cracking ideas which, if accepted, will actually represent an initial 5% saving.

Whether other departments can come up with similar savings remains to be seen.

Employee Opinion Survey Results: Already Proving Useful?

2008-07-01T16:24:04Z

After some intensive inputting all of the results of our employee opinion survey are now logged.

The analysis will be done over the next week, but it's fair to say that some problems have already been identified.

]]> One worrying form came from one of our Managers (they are confidential, but the information divulged within the form meant that I instantly recognised who had completed it).

Answers to some of the questions point very strongly to someone who is under too much stress, so I have sat down with her management today and started the ball rolling with how we should tackle this problem.

The first obstacle to overcome is how to speak to her about it without revealing that the source of our information is a confidential document...

Contract Renegotiation: Not for the Faint Hearted

2008-06-27T11:15:39Z

I've had a fun morning renegotiating a contract with an external labour provider.

These things are never easy, but they can be very rewarding and fun in there own special way, and today was certainly no exception.

]]> The end result was a £16,000 per annum saving and a pat on the back from my boss.

When I suggested that maybe some of that could go towards a bonus, I was given one of those looks which never fails to disappoint...

The Opinion Survey Feedback starts to flood in...

2008-06-26T15:15:31Z

With only a week to go before the deadline to hand in responses to our opinion survey, the responses are starting to flood in.

Many have provided some potentially useful feedback, and we have already started throwing ideas around to deal with some of the issues that have been raised.

Some responses, inevitably, have not been quite so helpful...

]]> Among my personal favourites was, when asked what they liked least about working here, a response that stated "the lack of fit women". Nice.

Another somewhat moronically complained that we do too much to ensure employee's Health and Safety...

There are also a couple of people who stated that they like nothing and hate everything about the company. Makes you wonder why they don't do themselves and us a favour and leave...