advice re work matter

[Sylar]

I have some personal circumstances that are quite absorbing and serious which have resulted in me taking time off my studies and mt aprt time work. Now, i have been with this organisation for several years and my department has been changed to carry out a new job fucntion. I have been training for this, but only attended some sessions.

However, without going into too much i have genuine reasons that are really making life difficult for me now.

Now i was thinking of emailing the general manager of my department(shes the manager of the manager who manages my manager, if you know what i mean), to see whether i could take UNPAID TIME OFF for a few weeks while i try to resolve these issues and start training on a new date.

Now, i spoke to one manager, and he said tell your manager. my manager is quite new, and hes not the brightest of sparks so he will naturally seek advice of his peer manager and then go see senior manager. Thats probably the way to go about it.

However, i dont want too many people knowing my situation and the only reason im wanting to tell this big cheese is because i dont want a situation to arise where my job maybe in jeopardy.

I just wanted advice from those in HR Or senior management what is the best way to go about it.

I was thinking of just emailing her saying i would like to meet and discuss something important.....or something thats affecting me a great deal....

however, how do i express this in a way so she doesnt turn around and say go see your manager

please help

[nheather]

Assuming you have got a good HR department I would raise it with them first and in person rather than by email.

My reasons are

(i) - They should be more in tune with your welfare whereas, a manager has to balance the needs of the team and the needs of his project.
(ii) - HR should be better aware of your rights and will act accordingly.
(iii) - Never put in writing (especially email) something that you don't want to leak out.
(iv) - This is what HR are for and your manager cannot consider it inappropriate. But if you bypassed him and went to his manager or beyond he would feel that you have disrepected his authority.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by Sylar

I was thinking of just emailing her saying i would like to meet and discuss something important.....

Emailing is the most impersonal method of contact that there is. I would suggest that at the very least you telephone her to ask to see her.

[welshy]

I agree with the above replies, telephone your HR department (if you have one) or go and see them in person and explain your situation. Employees have more rights these days so I'm sure they (HR) will explain the procedure to you and they will help you, after all that is a big part of their role.

If you don't have an HR department then personally I would go and see the "big cheese" and explain that you wish to speak of a delicate matter and that you would rather "others" didn't know about it. I find most people are sympathetic and if you are a good hard working employee then they will not want to lose you and will help you accordingly.

[markdugdale]

I'd echo the advice from the last two posts. Speak to your HR Department over the phone or ideally in person. E-mail can be used against you.

It's why I am currently job hunting.

[unique]

Originally Posted by nheather

Assuming you have got a good HR department I would raise it with them first and in person rather than by email.

My reasons are

(i) - They should be more in tune with your welfare whereas, a manager has to balance the needs of the team and the needs of his project.
(ii) - HR should be better aware of your rights and will act accordingly.
(iii) - Never put in writing (especially email) something that you don't want to leak out.
(iv) - This is what HR are for and your manager cannot consider it inappropriate. But if you bypassed him and went to his manager or beyond he would feel that you have disrepected his authority.

Cheers,

Nigel

thats the best advice really. sylar mentions organisation, department and mutli managers, thus they should have a proper HR system in place, and they should have procedures to deal with issues like this in the best way. they may be able to help you with your work related issues so you can cope with them better so you may not need to have to take time off, or you can reduce hours, take annual leave etc so you aren't left without pay for the duration

going above your line manager to their manager or above isn't usually a good idea for a number of reasons. what you say would usually have to go back down the line in some way to your direct line manager, and some managers or organisations don't like it if staff bypass the official chain of management. if you feel your direct line manager isn't approachable to discuss your issues then it's possible they may not appreciate you going above them to a higher manager, but HR should have procedures in place which avoids that complication with your manager

you may find that in the end a number of people will be made aware of your circumstances to some degree, but if done properly they will be made aware of this information to help support you. your line manager would need an explanation of why you can't attend work as normal, and if they are a manager they should be responsible enough and perhaps used to dealing with the issues you may have

[Sylar]

thanks for the advice folks

I have 2 concerns

our HR department are not very empathetic...ive learned that by watching other being walked out the door

re my manager...if i tell him everything, i dont really know what he will say or what he can do...so maybe i can tell him and rely on him to ask the big manager on my behalf or something.

i need to act quick so will have to do something tomorrow

this enw job training is in its 6th week now, and out of the 12 days ive only attended 3, and had 3 as annual leave.

Im more than willing to say that i will start the next training session even taking it as unpaid if needs be

[Sylar]

my only concern with HR is that if i go through them and they dont like the sound of what im saying...maybe they can or will use it against me now, or in the future?

maybe i can ring the big manager first, and say listen i would like to meet you as im experiencing difficulties and would like to request a meeting ion confidence. i can cite that i feel uncomfortable telling my manager as i know him as opposed to the big cheese, who i dont know at all?

does that make sense

[paul1967]

Only other way if you are worried is to see your doctor expain to him and get a sick note for said time, other than that is you have to go through chain of command , as each manager will back the other up ,also if the first person you talk to in the chain agree's to you taking time off ,which i cannot not see why not ,being as you are willing to train unpaid, you then have backing, when going futher up the chain. Also I would not phone or email for a meeting I would ask in person ,as you can judge the manager's reaction there and then to your request.

[Jono_Doire]

speak directly to the biggest cheese, only way something will get done about it, without delay of a manager asking another manager who may ask another manager

good luck mate

[paul1967]

Also if you say it's personal and you would not like to disclose the reason they are not allowed to pursue it.

[paul1967]

When I went over the top of my direct manager where i worked ,when he found out it realy made him as it made him look silly when the big chesse asked him about what i said.

[markdugdale]

Try going by the book. Speak to your manager first, be honest give them a general idea of your problem and they may understand.

If they are unsympathetic then try the big boss, but try to speak to both people in person if you can

Everyone comes across personal problems that effect there working lives at some point, including the people you need to speak to.

[Sylar]

i will ring my manager tomorrow

should i just say:

" i have a very difficult persnal situation which is affecting me a lot and requires my urgent attention....and i need time off work for 2-3 weekends(only work there sat and sunday) whilst i resolve this. im more than willing to do next training course, or even attend the fulltime one"

the objection will be that he will want to know exactly what it is...and i dont want to go into much detail as he would probably have to seek his managers authorisation...therefore once i ve spoken tomy manager...should i ring the big cheese and explain the situation but in more detail and say that ive discussed briefly with my manager and i dont want too many people knowing which is why im being cautious as i ahve my personal reasons

how does that sound?

[unique]

either speak to your manager (which in normal circumstances is the person you should initially speak to, with HR usually being point of contact for greivances and personal issues) or HR. going above your line manager is likely to cause you more problems. the big cheese probably has bigger concerns than those of individual staff lower down the line, and to be frank might not care, could get annoyed and throw it back down the line

if your manager doesn't deal with the issue appropriately you can then go to HR and may have grounds for a greivance. they can't really fire you as they have to go through formal procedures, although it could unofficially restrict your growth in the company in future, although that could always happen anyway, so concentrate on resolving things short to mid term and when you are back on your feet, if things aren't going so well you can consider a change of job. i wouldn't leave until things are sorted out as you may find it harder to find alternate work if things aren't going so well

if you went into a little more detail about the type of problems it might help. i'm not clear if your problems are purely personal out of work, and dealing with those issues is causing lack of concentration and knock on problems at work, or if the training and change of duties is causing you the problems, or if it's a combination of both. if it's work related issues that are causing you problems then your employer has a duty to take reasonable steps to assist, particularly if you have recently changed your job description and duties, moreso if that change was forced on you or an alternative to redundancy