Someone keeps tampering with my roster

Carlomann

Hi guys, really unsure of what to do here. Appreciate help.

I work in a small team, in a large, well-known company. The team I work in is very old and they all know each other very well.

Someone has been going into our offices and changing the roster -- specifically my roster.

I have clear photos showing, for example, that the roster said I had three days off next week. Then someone changed the roster to say I had two days off next week instead (with my other hours changed on the days I was working) then today, I was not working but I went in to see if this person was tampering again and the roster had changed again, this time someone had scribbled on my segment of the roster with a biro to change my hours (I also photographed this).

I am furious. If they came to me and asked I would be understanding. But to not even ask and constantly change my roster is infuriating. I saw the original 3-day-off roster and made important personal appointments.

What can I do, or can I do anything about this? Keeping in mind I have to work with these people and they are already a well-connected team who've been firends for years.

I have been working here 17 months.

Should I confornt the team as a team, one-on-one, or email higher management in Dublin?

Strumms

Carlomann wrote: »

Hi guys, really unsure of what to do here. Appreciate help.

I work in a small team, in a large, well-known company. The team I work in is very old and they all know each other very well.

Someone has been going into our offices and changing the roster -- specifically my roster.

I have clear photos showing, for example, that the roster said I had three days off next week. Then someone changed the roster to say I had two days off next week instead (with my other hours changed on the days I was working) then today, I was not working but I went in to see if this person was tampering again and the roster had changed again, this time someone had scribbled on my segment of the roster with a biro to change my hours (I also photographed this).

I am furious. If they came to me and asked I would be understanding. But to not even ask and constantly change my roster is infuriating. I saw the original 3-day-off roster and made important personal appointments.

What can I do, or can I do anything about this? Keeping in mind I have to work with these people and they are already a well-connected team who've been firends for years.

I have been working here 17 months.

Should I confornt the team as a team, one-on-one, or email higher management in Dublin?

I’d go straight to your manager. I wouldn’t pay them the compliment of engaging with them on the issue. They are fûcking with your shifts and therefore with you, your life, family and commitments. This is a big deal. Keep photographing the shifts both when issued and amended with pen.

You can present these photos to your manager. On contacting your manager ask that shifts are sent via email to everyone so they cannot be tampered with.

_Brian

have you spoken to your manager about this, and what did they say.

This is the first step before doing anything else.

Call me Al

Who sets your roster? Have you approached them? If so what has their response been? If you haven't, why haven't you?

Imho, before deciding your next step, that's your first port of call.

Call me Al

Call me Al wrote: »

Who sets your roster? Have you approached them? If so what has their response been? If you haven't, why haven't you?

Imho, before deciding your next step, that's your first port of call.

100% this.

somebody is responsible for the roster. why would you not already have asked them what's up?

circadian

Yeah go straight to the manager, I'm sure if they're setting the roster they won't be happy that people are just tampering whenever hey see fit.

I had this happen years ago in a previous job resulting in me missing my shift because I didn't know someone had switched it. The silly thing was that I was assistant manager so we figured out who done it so they got a roasting.

Again, the manager most likely won't be pleased that they're being bypassed for this kind of thing.

Sparkey84

Carlomann wrote: »

Hi guys, really unsure of what to do here. Appreciate help.

I work in a small team, in a large, well-known company. The team I work in is very old and they all know each other very well.

Someone has been going into our offices and changing the roster -- specifically my roster.

I have clear photos showing, for example, that the roster said I had three days off next week. Then someone changed the roster to say I had two days off next week instead (with my other hours changed on the days I was working) then today, I was not working but I went in to see if this person was tampering again and the roster had changed again, this time someone had scribbled on my segment of the roster with a biro to change my hours (I also photographed this).

I am furious. If they came to me and asked I would be understanding. But to not even ask and constantly change my roster is infuriating. I saw the original 3-day-off roster and made important personal appointments.

What can I do, or can I do anything about this? Keeping in mind I have to work with these people and they are already a well-connected team who've been firends for years.

I have been working here 17 months.

Should I confornt the team as a team, one-on-one, or email higher management in Dublin?

this mentality is surly based on lack of respect for you. someone feels you have not earned their respect yet.

fighting your corner is one way in which to gain that back. I'd open the discussion to the team tell them it will not stand. tell them your first draft of the Rota will be honoured and any undiscussed vandalism of the rota will be ignored.

do not ever work the extra days someone else forces on you, the very reason you need to keep working with these people is why the boundaries need to be set.

i work in the public service where the concept of seniority is fully engrained. people actually believe they are more important human beings than someone else just because of a start date.

go to a boss if a firm approach fails but this will not happen if executed right.

i dont think any of that is good advice. its overly based on assumptions and its a bit of a stretch to gird for war with anyone without simply going to the person responsible for the rota and asking politely

Sparkey84

[Deleted User] wrote: »

i dont think any of that is good advice. its overly based on assumptions and its a bit of a stretch to gird for war with anyone without simply going to the person responsible for the rota and asking politely

of course your correct asking that person politely is the first step.
my quote is based on the assumption that someone other than the Rota's author is amending it. that is what i took from the original post.
I'm not saying war, I'm saying boundaries. all healthy professional relationships have them.

sasta le

Take a photo the day it’s out or ask for it in text or email form

Bicyclette

In my daughter's work, they started to email rosters privately to people because a number of people were messing with the roster.

_Brian

Deleted User wrote: »

i dont think any of that is good advice. its overly based on assumptions and its a bit of a stretch to gird for war with anyone without simply going to the person responsible for the rota and asking politely

I’m Not quite sure what your saying.

In a work situation where any problem arises the first thing to do is talk to the relevant person in a calm rational manner.

gabe1977

Just take a photo of the original work roster every week and work to it regardless of what changes are made afterwards.
It won't be long coming to a head when there's multiple people on one shift and none on another.
That way you don't have to confront anyone and can just play dumb and say you checked the roster when it went up and can't be responsible for changes made afterwards.

SteM

gabe1977 wrote: »

Just take a photo of the original work roster every week and work to it regardless of what changes are made afterwards.
It won't be long coming to a head when there's multiple people on one shift and none on another.
That way you don't have to confront anyone and can just play dumb and say you checked the roster when it went up and can't be responsible for changes made afterwards.

Being passive aggressive in a small team doesn't help imo.

The OP should just go to the manager (or whoever organises the roster) and say that they organise their week around the roster and it's inconvenient when it's changed without notice. Show them the photo of the change and say it's happened a few times and let the manager look after it.

Jim2007

Sparkey84 wrote: »

this mentality is surly based on lack of respect for you. someone feels you have not earned their respect yet.

fighting your corner is one way in which to gain that back. I'd open the discussion to the team tell them it will not stand. tell them your first draft of the Rota will be honoured and any undiscussed vandalism of the rota will be ignored.

do not ever work the extra days someone else forces on you, the very reason you need to keep working with these people is why the boundaries need to be set.

i work in the public service where the concept of seniority is fully engrained. people actually believe they are more important human beings than someone else just because of a start date.

go to a boss if a firm approach fails but this will not happen if executed right.

And if it turns out that none of them had anything to do with the changes, it was in fact management that made the changes, your next move would be what exactly? A grovelling apology to the team.....

This is not remotely a good approach.

Jim2007

gabe1977 wrote: »

Just take a photo of the original work roster every week and work to it regardless of what changes are made afterwards.
It won't be long coming to a head when there's multiple people on one shift and none on another.
That way you don't have to confront anyone and can just play dumb and say you checked the roster when it went up and can't be responsible for changes made afterwards.

And when your manger/team lead asks you why you did not work the roster that he had changed you'd do what exactly????

More advice, best ignored.

Jim2007

Carlomann wrote: »

Hi guys, really unsure of what to do here. Appreciate help.

I work in a small team, in a large, well-known company. The team I work in is very old and they all know each other very well.

Someone has been going into our offices and changing the roster -- specifically my roster.

I have clear photos showing, for example, that the roster said I had three days off next week. Then someone changed the roster to say I had two days off next week instead (with my other hours changed on the days I was working) then today, I was not working but I went in to see if this person was tampering again and the roster had changed again, this time someone had scribbled on my segment of the roster with a biro to change my hours (I also photographed this).

I am furious. If they came to me and asked I would be understanding. But to not even ask and constantly change my roster is infuriating. I saw the original 3-day-off roster and made important personal appointments.

What can I do, or can I do anything about this? Keeping in mind I have to work with these people and they are already a well-connected team who've been firends for years.

I have been working here 17 months.

Should I confornt the team as a team, one-on-one, or email higher management in Dublin?

The most likely person to have changed the roster is the person what drew it up, either a team lead or manger, so start by talking to them and find out why it was changed.

If a manager found that a roster he had prepared had been changed by some random person, then I doubt he'd have been OK with it and would have already addressed the issue.

Sparkey84

Jim2007 wrote: »

And if it turns out that none of them had anything to do with the changes, it was in fact management that made the changes, your next move would be what exactly? A grovelling apology to the team.....

This is not remotely a good approach.

the original post clearly says "someone" and he suspects within the team, it does not reference a particular boss that does the rota. maybe the op can expand

the obvious first step is to identify the source of the change.
irrespective of the result of this the conversation needs to be prepared and ready; about the concern over how rota changes are implemented.
if its not a boss, and nobody is owning up (as inferred from original post) then a calm conversation with all team members needs to be had. not confrontational at all but certainly assertive.

if this is a managerial practice it is bad practice

if its a team member taking liberties its also bad

either way boundaries need to be set.

by the way jim you are welcome to your own opinion i respect that, but please consider though the op did not email you specifically, for your expertise.

rather he asked for multiple sets of advice on a public forum and im sure he can discern on his own which suits him best.

Carlomann

Sorry, I should have explained. I can't go to our manager, he is away for a while due to work stuff and that. The rosters were left behind for us.

FishOnABike

Carlomann wrote: »

Sorry, I should have explained. I can't go to our manager, he is away for a while due to work stuff and that. The rosters were left behind for us.

Has the manager an assistant manager or who has the authority to make decisions in the manager's absence. This is the first person you should go to.

Sunny Disposition

Definitely go to the manager OP, do not ask someone who had no authority to change it in the first place to stop doing it, it's kind of implying they had some right to do what they did.

Tiddlypeeps

I'd grab some tipex and put your roster back the way it was, then let the team know you have done this and tell them that if anyone who is not your manager wants to change your roster they need to talk to you first.

beveragelady

Surely it's a simple matter of getting a look at the roster before it has been tampered with and taking a note of everybody else's shifts. If somebody else's shifts change when yours are changed then you know who the culprit is.
That's assuming it's not management, of course.

Strumms

Photograph it before the ink is dry, the moment it’s amended....

- Contact your manager with photographic evidence.

- Ask if he knows by whom any why this has been changed.

- Ask for him to detail what authorization parameters are in place for changes to occur.

- Tell him you expect a fair roster system and for you to be consulted prior to changes.

- Remind him that you have expectations of you from other people outside of work in your family and personal life and changing shifts after they have been issued is not acceptable.

- This is an ongoing issue despite you providing feedback about it previously and you will be left with zero options but to escalate unless the issue is finally dealt with.

Carlomann

Issue is resolved --

A senior member of another team had spotted what was going on, and informed a senior manager who caught the wrongdoer literally in the act.

So, all-in-all, the problem actually solved itself. The tamperer is being punished and I didn't have to get involved in the drama. I am glad I took the time to think carefully and plan, rather than go all guns blazing.

I will add that the perosn who was benefitting the most was not the tamperer, as was suggested by a few people.

I guess being patient and tactful worked, for anyone reading this who may be in a similiar situation.

Thanks for all the advice, guys.

Strumms

Great to hear it’s sorted. Hopefully the tamperer gets a nice big slap on the wrist the devious little fûcker.

LegacyUser

Hey, so I've been having a similar problem in work but management has been changing the roster without telling staff which has caused issues with staff. I've been told it's illegal but can't find anything to back it up. Does anyone have advice?

FishOnABike

listentoit wrote: »

Hey, so I've been having a similar problem in work but management has been changing the roster without telling staff which has caused issues with staff. I've been told it's illegal but can't find anything to back it up. Does anyone have advice?

At least 24 hours notice should be given. See https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/hours_of_work/working_week.html
or
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/20/section/17/enacted/en/html#sec17