Are work taking advantage or is this common?

LegacyUser

Hey guys, I hope someone can clarify something for me or offer advice. I have been in my job for 5 years. 3 years ago I was promoted to team leader which was great. Last year I was offered a strange position in my department. A junior line manager left very suddenly due to personal issues in her family. I was the newest teamleader there but they wanted me to take over her job but were worried about how the othertwo teamleaders would react. So they asked me to unofficially take up her position and ''over the next few months would release her post so we can all apply''.

Well, I have been doing her job for 11 months now and they still haven't advertised the job. On a daily basis my job is to recruit new clients, hire staff, conduct performance related reviews of staff, perform investigatory and disciplinary actions, provide training for new colleagues, run background and reference checks on potential new employees etc Yet none of this stuff is in my current contract. Since then one of the men I trained 2 years ago was promoted to the same position but in our sister company (it was actually in his home town so was ideal for him). When I asked how they released the position in the sister company before they did in my one they're response was ''oh we'll get around to you by the end of 2013''. This means it will be almost two years without my job being made official.

We don't get a pay rise or anything for being promoted so I'm not losing out financially. I feel like a loser though. I'm around 25 years younger than the other managers and one of them has started cracking jokes about how they are ''an actual line manager so my opinion counts more''. The irony is, he doesn't work with the staff anymore. He was taken off of investigations and training stuff over something that I have no real details on.

I brought it up again recently after they promoted yet another line manager in our sister company and they said ''titles don't matter around here, it's only about ego'' and then said they had no immediate plans to upscale our company. Am I being egotistical? I don't want the title to boss anyone around with but I just feel like I do lots of important work that other's don't have to do who are in positions higher than I am.

Where do I stand with this? What can I do? I have thought about starting as a new employee in my sister company but it means I will be trained by the people I trained and I'll have to move to the UK. It's really awkward for me.
Can anybody help?

Curry Addict

i had a similar situation years ago. I figured that I wasnt kissing enough asses to get the recognition. In this company kissing asses was really valued by the management.
Being well aware that im not that type of guy and wasnt ever going to be, I decided to play hardball. I rejected my review that year and was required to respond in writing so I simply pointed out from my point of view the responsibilities I had taken on and work I had done that year.

My review was revised and I got a 50% pay rise but no real recognition beyond that. I didnt get much further opportunities over the following years but i also didnt push for them in the kiss ass way they wanted. I had to console myself knowing i was being very well paid for my time but would never reach my potential and i could live with that because i never had to compromise my personality. I was also on the kick list in the first round of redundancies that came later.

I guess you have to follow your gut feeling, fight your corner and do whats right for you. Company politics are difficult to manage, hope this helps.

Kevster

I'm not sure if this is related to your particular situation or not; but I think that, when people are in a job for too long, they end up making their own rules and feeling as if they can get away with doing anything. They become too settled/comfortable and keep the status quo going if it's worth too much effort to change it.

Not sure if that helps or not, but just a small comment on what you wrote.

Kevin

jimmycrackcorm

Op, what's the difference between being a team lead and the line manager activitiesas what you've described pretty much fits team lead roles I'm familiar with.

Overheal

Curry Addict wrote: »

I rejected my review that year and was required to respond in writing so I simply pointed out from my point of view the responsibilities I had taken on and work I had done that year.

I didn't even realize you could "reject" a review. I could kiss you. Mine is sometime in the next 6-8 weeks and I get the feeling they will pass me off like they did last year with another inflation-based wage increase. With the amount of changes the company and my job description has gone through though I don't think I'll let them get away with it though. Thank you very much.

OP I had a situation in my own job where I was constantly getting brushed off about Full Time. For over a year. "The positions aren't available." They became available. "We're going to leave them open for a while." A while passes, they transfer someone from another store. They work me FT hours without FT benefits.

Eventually I build up my body of evidence and email HR. Over 52 weeks They had me work less than 16 of them under the definition of Part Time (<32 Hours), and in many cases OT. I asked my District HR Mgr, "What do I have to do to get promoted around here?" And I send him a colorfully formatted spreadsheet with the hours I worked over the year. Within 2 days, my store opened up applications for the full time positions. If not for a corporate requirement to open 3 weekday morning shifts, I'd have it right now, but at least I had my justice on it. They were seconds away from appointing it to me, the last thing they asked was am I available for those 3 shifts. When I said no my MGR about fell out of his chair, like he went through all that hullaballoo for nothing. Good riddance!