advice on discrimination/bullying/unfair treatment?

takito

Hi all

I do not even know what to expect from this thread, I supposed some advice on what I should do or just to know about some other people experiences.

English is not my first language so I hope you can forgive any mistake, and sorry for the length of the thread.

I have been working for a very big construction company for more than 2 years now. I am an engineer. I was hired to do a very specific task.
My line manager, let's call him Peter, is based in a different city (he works for different projects) and I have only seen him 4 or 5 times in 2 years.
I was assigned in this project to the department related to my profession. This department has its own manager, let's call him Dave. So my line manager, Peter, is different from my colleagues' manager, Dave.
Dave and I did not get on well from the beginning, but since he was not my manager it did not bother me too much. I just carried on doing my job and sending my results to my line manager, Peter, and trying to avoid Dave.


Initially it took me the whole week to complete my assignment , since it was something new to me. At the moment, after 2 years, they keep me doing exactly the same task and it takes me 2 days to complete it, I can do it with my eyes closed. The rest of the week there is nothing to do for me. There have been some other new jobs very similar to the one I am doing and they have been assigned to my colleagues (by Dave) while I stay with nothing to do. Dave should be assigning me tasks but he does not.

Initially they used to send me reports and information related to my job, I was included in the conversations, after some time, all this have been decreasing to the point that nothing is shared with me. I just collect data. I have asked to my line manager why is this, but he ignores my emails.

Dave and his friends were badmouthing me for months. If I were not a very talkative and friendly person I would be completely isolated. Sadly I cannot prove all the gossiping and badmouthing, but one can notice it when is happening.

There have been some other things, but I do not want to make this too long.


Finally in March I raised a complain to my line manager, Peter, about being discriminated by Dave (although I believe Peter is partly responsible for this situation, I did not want to blame him).
He replied promptly, saying that the first of April, he would come to our project to talk to me and Dave together to sort out the problem. He showed up the 10th of April. Dave got "sick" that day so he did not attend the meeting. I explained to Peter the situation. He had no idea I spent most of the week doing nothing. I told him that I could continue doing my tedious task, but the rest of the week I would like to help in a different department. He told me he would try to do something about it, but I should give him a couple of weeks. Until now, nothing has changed, I have not heard anything from him.


I tell this to my family and friends, and they say they would like to be me (getting very well paid for doing nothing), but for me is very distressing, I have had many sleepless nights and I can't take the matter out of my mind.

I am thinking about raising my complain to HR, but seeing the lack of results I got after going to my line manager, I have doubts. Maybe it is going to be worse. Maybe I have not enough proof to accuse anybody.

With all this that I have told you, does it sound reasonable to complain to HR?
Have you got any advice to bear this situation without being psychologically affected that much?

Thanks for your time.

dreamers75

Few questions as with anything you are giving your side.

Do you get performance reviews?

Do you complete your task to a low or high standard?

What are you actually complaining about? Not being utilised or being ostracised? Completing your easy job in 2 days?* I would reword that is it is the case.

How do you know Dave and his mates were badmouthing you? Do you know the content of this badmouthing?

We dont have to like the people we work with we just have to work with them because someone gives us money for it.

OMM 0000

takito wrote: »

With all this that I have told you, does it sound reasonable to complain to HR?
Have you got any advice to bear this situation without being psychologically affected that much?

I don't think you should go to HR yet.

The problem is very clear to me.

Your manager, Peter, is in another location and is busy with things in that location.

You have no manager in your location. The guy in charge there, Dave, doesn't care about you.

You are not a lazy person. You have a good work ethic. So you don't want to be doing nothing half the week.

OK onto the current situation.

1. Peter hasn't solved the situation yet.

2. Dave doesn't care. (Why should he? He's not your manager).

You need to follow up with Peter.

Here is my suggestion:

Give Peter a list of things you could do, and ask him is he OK with you doing them. Can you think of some tasks you could be doing from your current location? These should be things which would benefit Peter.

Another thing you could do is find a friendly manager where you work, approach that manager, and say you can help out with some tasks if they need someone.

What I'm saying is you need to make this as easy as possible for Peter.

If I were you I'd be using this time to get new skills. For example, doing a Prince2 course.

The first thing you should do before making a complaint is look up the definitions of discrimination and bullying in the workplace. Apart from you being efficient at your job and them not giving you additional tasks beyond what you are employed to do, where is the discrimination/bullying?

judeboy101

So you get well paid and have very little work to do and you are complaining?

Jim2007

takito wrote: »

Dave and I did not get on well from the beginning, but since he was not my manager it did not bother me too much. I just carried on doing my job and sending my results to my line manager, Peter, and trying to avoid Dave.

Team work works both ways. You did not try to build a bridge with Dave, but instead you tried to ignore and avoid the project lead, not a good idea.

takito wrote: »

There have been some other new jobs very similar to the one I am doing and they have been assigned to my colleagues (by Dave) while I stay with nothing to do. Dave should be assigning me tasks but he does not.

Have you informed Dave that you can now cover the tasks assigned and have free capacity?

takito wrote: »

Initially they used to send me reports and information related to my job, I was included in the conversations, after some time, all this have been decreasing to the point that nothing is shared with me. I just collect data. I have asked to my line manager why is this, but he ignores my emails.

This is nothing for your line manager, you should be talking to Dave!!!

takito wrote: »

Dave and his friends were badmouthing me for months. If I were not a very talkative and friendly person I would be completely isolated. Sadly I cannot prove all the gossiping and badmouthing, but one can notice it when is happening.

Do you have any actual evidence to support this or is it all supposition?

It sound to me like you have not been much of a team player on this one - particularly the way you have been deliberately ignoring and circumventing the team lead. That never ends well.

OMM 0000

Takito, what country are you from?

SCOOP 64

That was well written for by the way as you say English not being first language.

tedpan

SCOOP 64 wrote:

That was well written for by the way as you say English not being first language.

Apart from the first two paragraphs. The OP obviously forgot.

takito wrote:

I do not even know what to expect from this thread, I supposed some advice on what I should do or just to know about some other people experiences.

takito wrote:

English is not my first language so I hope you can forgive any mistake, and sorry for the length of the thread.

takito

Thank you very much for all your replies. I now see things from a different point of view.


I will try to answer to all your questions.

takito

dreamers75 wrote: »

Few questions as with anything you are giving your side.

Do you get performance reviews?

Do you complete your task to a low or high standard?

What are you actually complaining about? Not being utilised or being ostracised? Completing your easy job in 2 days?* I would reword that is it is the case.

How do you know Dave and his mates were badmouthing you? Do you know the content of this badmouthing?

We dont have to like the people we work with we just have to work with them because someone gives us money for it.

I should have performance reviews but my line manager keeps ignoring them. I fill them up with comment and questions, he signs them but never makes any comment or answer to my questions.
I think I have been doing a good job, I actually had a pay rise last year. When I saw it I was thinking... wtf?? Anyway, I came to the conclusion that nobody cares about what I do, I could make up al the data and nobody would notice. They just have to comply with the procedure and have records.

My complain is more about being professionally ostracised.


I do not have proof of the badmouthing, it is just that one can feel this kind of things. When a new person in the office, during his second day tells you "oh, hi, I've heard a lot about you"...that makes you think.


You are right, we don't have to like the people we work with, and probably I am doing wrong trying to avoid people that I do not like.

takito

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I don't think you should go to HR yet.

The problem is very clear to me.

Your manager, Peter, is in another location and is busy with things in that location.

You have no manager in your location. The guy in charge there, Dave, doesn't care about you.

You are not a lazy person. You have a good work ethic. So you don't want to be doing nothing half the week.

OK onto the current situation.

1. Peter hasn't solved the situation yet.

2. Dave doesn't care. (Why should he? He's not your manager).

You need to follow up with Peter.

Here is my suggestion:

Give Peter a list of things you could do, and ask him is he OK with you doing them. Can you think of some tasks you could be doing from your current location? These should be things which would benefit Peter.

Another thing you could do is find a friendly manager where you work, approach that manager, and say you can help out with some tasks if they need someone.

What I'm saying is you need to make this as easy as possible for Peter.

If I were you I'd be using this time to get new skills. For example, doing a Prince2 course.

Thank you very much for your reply and your advice. I am actually doing a course during my free time, if not I would go crazy, the whole day there!!

takito

Dav010 wrote: »

The first thing you should do before making a complaint is look up the definitions of discrimination and bullying in the workplace. Apart from you being efficient at your job and them not giving you additional tasks beyond what you are employed to do, where is the discrimination/bullying?

I would call it discrimination, because I am not treated the same way than my colleagues, they are given opportunities to do different tasks and develop professionally while I do the same week after week. And bullying because I feel that there have been some behaviours aimed to diminish me as a professional, like assigning tasks to my colleagues that should be assigned to me, or being invited to a meeting by one of the engineers who deals with my data, and "uninvited" by Dave 1 hour later.
But yes, It is not like I am being discriminated because I am different, and nobody yells at me and all that.

takito

judeboy101 wrote: »

So you get well paid and have very little work to do and you are complaining?

Yes, I know it feels weird but it does not feel good spending the whole day in front of a computer without much to do.

takito

Jim2007 wrote: »

Team work works both ways. You did not try to build a bridge with Dave, but instead you tried to ignore and avoid the project lead, not a good idea.


Yes, you are right. That is something about me that I can't help, I avoid people that I do not like. That does not mean that I cannot work with him. If he has asked me anything to do I have always done it, but I just cannot be one of his "yes men" I just can't. And in my opinion a good leader should be able to deal with all kind of people.

Have you informed Dave that you can now cover the tasks assigned and have free capacity?

He knows I have nothing to do, but no, I have not talked to him personally.



This is nothing for your line manager, you should be talking to Dave!!!



Do you have any actual evidence to support this or is it all supposition?

It sound to me like you have not been much of a team player on this one - particularly the way you have been deliberately ignoring and circumventing the team lead. That never ends well.

Yes, you are right. I can see my fault there.

Thank you for your reply

takito

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Takito, what country are you from?

I'd prefer not to say, from some European country.


I should add that I am right working in UK. I was in the past in Ireland and used to read this forum, and I think Irish people deal very well with this kind of situation, I find that in general you have a high level of emotional intelligence.

takito

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

That was well written for by the way as you say English not being first language.

Thank you, the corrector helps.

takito

tedpan wrote: »

Apart from the first two paragraphs. The OP obviously forgot.

Could you please rewrite them? Usually people never tell me when I make a mistake, so I keep doing them.

takito

takito wrote: »

I would call it discrimination, because I am not treated the same way than my colleagues, they are given opportunities to do different tasks and develop professionally while I do the same week after week. And bullying because I feel that there have been some behaviours aimed to diminish me as a professional, like assigning tasks to my colleagues that should be assigned to me, or being invited to a meeting by one of the engineers who deals with my data, and "uninvited" by Dave 1 hour later.
But yes, It is not like I am being discriminated because I am different, and nobody yells at me and all that.

I’m just not sure that an employer who only requires you to do what you were employed to do constitutes discrimination. If it did, job descriptions would be worthless. I’m also not sure that an employer is required to give you additional tasks above and beyond the job you are employed to do, again, every employer would be accused of discrimination if that were the case.

There are 9 recognised grounds on which you can be discriminated against in the workplace, you state you are not being discriminated against because you are different, which one are you claiming applies to you?

I’m sure you are very good at your job, but maybe your employer thinks someone is better at doing those tasks which are outside what you are employed to do. Perhaps your colleague was employed to do those tasks. Is being not asked to do tasks that you were not employed to do bullying? Hardly.

OMM 0000

takito I believe you're probably a good person who wants to do a good job.

But I think you need to keep some perspective.

If what you've described qualifies as bullying and discrimination, and we're using a scale of 1 to 10, it's probably a 1 or a 2.

It's clear the managers in your company are busy or distracted or whatever, and you aren't really a concern of theirs.

You should use this as an advantage to have an easy life, and fill you day doing things you want to learn.

Take a glass half full approach.

takito

OMM 0000 wrote: »

If what you've described qualifies as bullying and discrimination, and we're using a scale of 1 to 10, it's probably a 1 or 2.

:D:D, could it be at least unfair treatment?? I am starting to feel very stupid

Well, Probably I have taken things too personal. I was enclosed in my little box and could not see the big picture.

Thank you for your opinions, you have been very helpful.

kravmaga

takito wrote: »

I'd prefer not to say, from some European country.


I should add that I am right working in UK. I was in the past in Ireland and used to read this forum, and I think Irish people deal very well with this kind of situation, I find that in general you have a high level of emotional intelligence.

Solution is to move to Ireland :-) I worked in UK for many years, Southern English are not the most friendly people imo, ie London

Sajid Javid

Quit with your sanity.