being pushed out / set up to fail?

dublindiehard

I've been in an irish company for 2.5 years and currently having issues.

basically i have always had good reviews, in annual reviews I always get good or outstanding in all areas for the last 12 months, however over the past six months a senior member of management, in the level above my boss has been out to get me and try and force me out.

my boss has always been supportive and my colleagues are as well and she shielded me from a number of issues that her boss was trying to cause me, he has had it in for me ever since he became my bosses boss.

recently there was company awards bu my bosses boss refused the nomination for me from the majority of the team because s he felt i did not deserve it, much to the shock of all my colleagues who voted for me, the person who won was who i voted for.

on a day before a promotion to another role in another department, i was brought into disciplinary hearing for being late 3 times in six months, once due to train breaking down and another due to suicide on line the company breached all company policy and withdrew me from interview at last moment and handed me out warning in an informal meeting and breached own company policy. the next day they advertised a role that seemed to include some of my duties that I was not able to apply for, effectively demoting me as well as preventing promotion.

I then heard rumours that some of my duties would be lost and put in new role a few days later which I could not apply for bcs of warning. This was denied by bosses boss, and said this would encompass some duties but not all and my role would not change. a few days later, after recruiting person to said role they said duties would change and I would lose some of them.

more recently there has been a number of untruth and lack of honesty from people in business, i am lied to on a regular basis and am not treated fair, people are being dishonest to me all of the time and are inceasingly make demands which are very hard to meet.

recently company have started to set harder and harder targets for me to achieve, this week they said I had to spend 32 hours on certain tasks, despite the fact previously I managed 16 hours on such tasks on average in past. they are also calling random meetings and one off events which restricts the number of free hours available to me without deducting relevant time from targets.

I believe they are trying to manage me out since they not apply the targets across the board but rather just to me. My friend argues that by making me double hours on a task and then also setting up activities which reduce time avaliable and not reducing targets, they are also setting me up to fail?

_Brian

Mmmm sounds indeed like you are being managed out.

Issuing a warning For three lates sounds right, no matter why you were late.
Denying promotion or interview based on warning, not unusual.
Setting individual targets on the back of a warning, fairly standard stuff.

I'd say look for another job ASAP. They are implementing a well known process to remove an unwanted employee. Employees sometimes fall foul of senior management, sometimes with reason sometimes not.

If you had a union they may help but you haven't mentioned them so I presume there is no Union.

You could appeal the lack of procedure on your warning for being late but the warning was warrented so will stand anyway.

For the other stuff all I can say is be careful what targets you agree to following the warning. When managing out an employee this is the best opportunity to make it happen, employees are pissed off following the warning and easily agree to unreasonable targets which are then used to further the process down the road, not nice but it's a technique that works regularly.

Again, start looking for a new job. And don't expect a good reference either.

Caliden

_Brian wrote: »

...

Again, start looking for a new job. And don't expect a good reference either.

Sounds like the OP actually has a good standing with their immediate boss so I would say getting a good reference shouldn't be an issue.

I've never gone beyond my immediate boss for a reference.

_Brian

Caliden wrote: »

Sounds like the OP actually has a good standing with their immediate boss so I would say getting a good reference shouldn't be an issue.

I've never gone beyond my immediate boss for a reference.

A fair point. It would help them get out under where they are at the moment.

KomradeBishop

Talk to a solicitor for advice, and see what your companies procedure on making a complaint is - my opinion is, definitely get in a complaint and have it all formally logged etc., so that if you get pushed out later on, you may have a chance of hitting the company back with an unfair dismissal complaint (if you follow proper procedure of making a complaint etc., they will likely be aware of this possibility, so it may cause them to back off).

This is just based on my opinion though, I have absolutely no experience of something like this - which is why it'd be best to talk to a solicitor.

http://findlaw.co.uk/law/employment/constructive_dismissal/forced-to-resign.html (based on UK, but mostly applies here too)
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/unemployment_and_redundancy/dismissal/constructive_dismissal.html

It's a form of bullying really, the way you are being setup to fail. Fighting it may cause further 'politicking'/grief while there, but at least then they aren't going to just get away with fúcking you over without you putting up resistance, and you may be able to hit them back legally later on.

dublindiehard

update - my boss has now been re-assigned to another position and another person has been assigned to the managers role.

i have noticed since the manager took over, from another part of the business they have been going through all of my work trying to find inconsistencies, they have not been doing this to anyone else work.

the new person i believe may be under lots pressure as a new manager of a department, to follow the orders of the senior manager who wants me out?

Irish_Elect_Eng

A Question:

What triggered your boss's boss to dislike you? Was there an event that created his poor perception of your performance? Is there anything you could do to address the perception?

Has the business changes in any way recently that would impact your team? Is there a business reason that he would want to trim the team that you are in, what is your seniority compared to the rest of the team.

Are there dynamics at play that you have not mentioned, age, sex, politics, race, support the wrong team even, it is strange that a senior manager would randomly take it into his head to manage someone out of the business without a reason?

dublindiehard

nothing directly, however almost 3 years ago when i started in company, there was a relationship between 2 people in the team, a Irish girl who was assistant TL and Spanish guy who was regular employee, which was not really allowed under code conduct, then manager was best friend with spanish guy, spanish guy frequently insubordinated irish girl, when me, Irish male, got on well with Irish girl, just as good friends, spanish guy got very jealous. manager then appeared to be looking out to catch me out, and made some allegations about me which were later thrown out because nothing 2 back them up and i could prove they were totally fabricated.

he (ex manager from almost 3 years ago) is still in business and works very closely with my bosses boss now having been moved departments, they get on very well and he hinted at hearing negative things from my ex boss from 3 years ago once in discussion which i feel could be creating a perception in my eyes.

I am second most senior person in the team, in a few days will be first, generally I have very good standing with 90% of the team.

MarkAnthony

Sounds like a large company and that perhaps these 'senior' people aren't very senior? Would that be a fair statement?

If so raise a grievance through your HR department.

MarkAnthony

Sounds like a large company and that perhaps these 'senior' people aren't very senior? Would that be a fair statement?

If so raise a grievance through your HR department.

moc moc a moc

+1 to the suggestion of speaking to a solicitor. If one individual seems to be targeting you despite good reviews from your immediate superiors, I would say the situation is getting dangerously close to constructive dismissal territory.

Immediately start documenting anything suspicious. e.g. what you mentioned about the new manager apparently singling your work out for extra scrutiny. Personally I would probably confront the new manager on this, although it might not be a bad idea to play your hand a bit more carefully.

5rtytry56

with regard to your new manager, act tactfully OP.