Advice about work....

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Soldato
Joined
27 Jul 2011
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Location
Staffordshire
I've worked for the same company coming on for 2 1/2 years now and have a great working relationship with my employers, or at least I thought so.

Since my father died this year and I was asked to deal with the fallout, including a lot of complicated international dealings with Sri Lanka, I have not been as focussed as work as I perhaps could have been.

That said, I have apparently been doing well at work, I've made the odd mistake here and there, no more so than usual at any rate.

However, I walked past the MD's office earlier and heard him talking to the Commercial Director who I answer to in my current position, about me. I specifically heard 'Ben's costing the company more than he's worth at the moment with the number of mistakes he's making'.

I paused to listen for a moment longer, and heard my Director say 'we, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it'. Not wishing to (get caught) eavesdropping I moved on sharpish after that.

I have not been spoken to, or advised or even warned about mistakes/my conduct at work. In fact I've been given more and more to do as our busy period approaches - nothing untoward to report at all.

Do I pretend this never happened, knuckle down and hope that I don't make any mistakes (as clearly I won't be informed of them until my P45 arrives).

Do I let on that I overheard this nugget of info and initiate a meeting to discuss whatever it is I'm doing wrong.

Or, should be getting my CV and job applications out on the double before it turns nasty here and I end up unemployed?

The third option I am already kinda doing anyway as I'm always looking for new opportunities, but I don't like the idea of being pushed.
 
Start by trying to reduce your mistakes. Surely if it was that big a deal they'd have mentioned it, which makes me think the MD was potentially exaggerating in what he said.
 
It may just be an acknowledgement that you're up against it lately and although they have not moaned at you about it due to you being under enough stress because of your personal life, they are aware of it.

You could always sit your boss down and have an informal chat, fill him in on your recent issues if you have not already done so and ask if you are living up to expectations.

If you are making errors they would have to push you through the usual disciplinary processes before giving you the boot anyway, it's only if they are looking at the possibility of making redundancies that you may have cause for concern.
 
Minxy said:
It may just be an acknowledgement that you're up against it lately and although they have not moaned at you about it due to you being under enough stress because of your personal life, they are aware of it.

You could always sit your boss down and have an informal chat, fill him in on your recent issues if you have not already done so and ask if you are living up to expectations.

If you are making errors they would have to push you through the usual disciplinary processes before giving you the boot anyway, it's only if they are looking at the possibility of making redundancies that you may have cause for concern.
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That was my impression too. Sounded more like a compassionate conversation about your issues. I take it they know what you are going through at the moment?
 
I would request a meeting one to one, show intiative. Talk about how you want to raise your game and how you are able to effectively manage you work. This might involve asking for some help as you're being overloaded a bit.

Also ramp up your effort, do the little things that count, get in 15/20 minutes earlier than usual, and try and reduce your errors. Stuff like that maybe.

Saying that, I can only begin to understand what it must be like for you at the moment. Have you also considered seeing a counciler to help you discuss the stuff?

You really don't need this type of stress right now, such as being forced to look for a new job etc. So I say stick with it and raise your game.
 
Tyrone77 said:
This might involve asking for some help as you're being overloaded a bit.
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I wouldn't do this personally unless it really was a massive issue and part of the cause of the mistakes (I'm guessing it's not as OP doesn't mention having been given more responsibilities), surefire way to stick your neck out as someone that can't cope.
 
Right sorry I haven't been back until now, the internets at home have been playing up and this morning I thought it best to just head down and work hard.

Many thanks to everyone who has posted in here, it's made me feel a lot better and prompted me to just sitting down with my Director this afternoon to ask how things are going. The upshot of it is, they're not as bad as I thought. Apparently I have made a couple of errors recently which cost a lot of money although this only became apparent yesterday as the project was being wrapped up (I made the mistakes back in February (2 weeks after my father's death) and and March (three days before his funeral) and ultimately ended up costing us most of the margin on the job....eek. Still, it's not a loss, and we're still making a profit.... but that's not the point.

Also apparently a couple of weeks ago I quoted someone the wrong price for something which we had to honour, which prompted the 'Ben isn't worth it....' comment. Turns out I was in fact correct and the client's order was wrong (we have two derivatives of a product which are noted by a -DD on the end - about a £420 difference and 88 of them) - boss thought I had just thrown away £37k. The purchaser had gone over the top of his last order and not removed the -DD, but had put the lower price on as that's what I quoted him.

Anyway, I have been given my first verbal warning, personal issues notwithstanding.

And relax.
 
shoes said:
Anyway, I have been given my first verbal warning
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Ouch, a verbal warning for two mistakes made around the time of your father's death...also do you think they'd have still given you the warning if you hadn't instigated the meeting?

Best keep your head screwed on from now on, you're in the line of sight :p.
 
Robbie G said:
Ouch, a verbal warning for two mistakes made around the time of your father's death...also do you think they'd have still given you the warning if you hadn't instigated the meeting?

Best keep your head screwed on from now on, you're in the line of sight :p.
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Yeah, first verbal warning in my whole working life too :mad:

part from that time I got fired from Dominos pizza 8 years ago..... but I don't think that counts.

Yeah my employer takes a no screwing around approach, as I've been here for 2 1/2 years now they are bound (I believe?) to give me 2 x verbal and 1 x written warning before they sack me. This time last year I reckon I'd have been binned already.

Considering how much I put into this job I'm a but disgruntled, but it is what it is.

Yeah apparently they were arguing this morning over who was going to give me the warning - bulldog that's just been kicked in the balls style from James (my director) or the more pragmatic and reasonable David (MD). I sat down with James as he's my director and it went fairly well. I can confuse him with vocabulary as he's in the job through family, not merit ;) which makes the meetings we have more fun.

Like you say mr G - knuckle down and keep on top of it all.
 
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