Work; is this happening to you?

[bluemoon]

OH works for the government and I work for a charity, so to a certain extent we're cushioned from the effects of the credit crunch, but our son is having a dreadful time, and work for him and his colleagues is becoming a misery. Is this happening to anyone else?
He works for a company which has always had fairly fluid staffing, people would leave for pastures new, if managers left they would be replaced by promoting someone from the lower ranks. If the company found itself overstaffed these people simply would not be replaced, but more likely it would mean they'd be understaffed so they'd advertise new jobs. Now, suddenly, they're overstaffed, no-one is leaving, the company apparently want to reduce staffing levels without paying redundancy packages and they are doing everything to find reasons to sack people or force them to resign. Instances include publicly disciplining someone who was 3 SECONDS late back from lunch, sacking someone who had a suspected heart attack at work (and they themselves had called the ambulance, so knew he was in hospital) and, somewhat more trivially, ensuring that the food in the staff canteen is inedible - there is nowhere else in the area for them to eat so most are now having packed lunches quickly at their desks then getting back to work, not much of a break for them. No temporary staff are being taken on, so maternity leaves are being covered by those already there, which means that many a day they finish far later than they should (much more than 3 seconds is being given to the company every day by just about every employee) and they are stuck because there's nothing else available out there.
I feel so sorry for our son, he finished uni 2 years ago with a good degree and took this job (which is admittedly well paid) in the hopes of paying off his loans and debts quickly before moving on to do something which interests him, but which will sadly not pay much for the first few years. Now he's trapped in a dreadful atmosphere and growing increasingly depressed. I just wondered how widespread this sort of thing was.

[Incy]

Sounds like you're son's company is running a HUGE risk of being taken to court for constructive or unfair dismissal there.
Having worked in HR I am sure that the things you have described are not admissable in employment law. You can't for example sack someone for being hospitalised!
If you son has a good degree and 2 years experience under his belt, I would recommend he looks elsewhere. There are jobs out there just not as many and with more competition for them. If he starts looking now he has at least got a job while he looks. Much better than waiting to be pushed first.

[Capsid]

Sounds like harassment to me. Employment law should protect employees against this.

[HeyWayne]

Can't say Im too knowledgable about emplyment law, but they do sound like iffy practices.

Unfortunately it does seem that too many companies forget that without people they wouldn't have custom, or staff.

[vikkib]

It certainly does sound like there are cases of constructive and unfair dismissal going on. Unfortunately a lot of companies will 'try it on' with this sort of thing and hope that the staff feel too low/harassed/depressed/scared to want the hassle of going through the employment courts.

It's truly horrendous and unfair and the effects of work related stress and anxiety are not really spoken about enough. It effects a HUGE number of people and with the job market in the state it is in currently it's going to be effecting more people.

My OH suffers hugely from anxiety and depression as a result of his job (of course it spills over into other aspects of his life) and it's taken him years to recognise it himself, let alone getting the company he works for to recognise it and they still don't really know how to handle it or do anything about it.

A big part of the problem is that once feeling low it's incredibly difficult to have the motivation to get out and look for another job, let alone go through the stress of going to interviews and having to sell yourself to a new company etc.

Is there any union presence in the workplace? Is there anyone in the HR department who is approachable and will treat discussions confidentially? (I know this should always be the case with a HR department but from my experience it, sadly, isn't always the case, especially if HR feel under pressure from management to help cut costs )

I'd echo what Incy says and maybe suggest he starts looking for another job now while he can motivate himself to do so.

On a practical point it's worth talking to a sympathetic GP about work related stress, anxiety and depression at as early a stage as possible. Even if medication isn't required a lot of GP's offer very good talking therapies which can provide support and very practical help.

I hope things improve for your son soon.

[Two_Sheds]

It certainly does sound like there are cases of constructive and unfair dismissal going on. Unfortunately a lot of companies will 'try it on' with this sort of thing

We had a lot of this going on at my company during the last recession (1994).

Certain staff were very closely monitored by management; made to do jobs outside their remit; had breaks cut; toilet breaks banned; requested holidays refused; days off changed at the last minute ... basically anything and everything to put people under stress and pressure.

Staff quit, including good workers who we should have kept.

Within 6 months of all this hassle starting, redundancies were announced - of course, the company then had fewer staff and so had fewer redundancy packages to pay out.

[bluemoon]

Two Sheds, what you are describing is almost exactly what is happening at my son's company. Fortunately he doesn't seem to be on anyone's hit list, but just working in that sort of atmosphere is getting everyone down.

[Two_Sheds]

Two Sheds, what you are describing is almost exactly what is happening at my son's company. Fortunately he doesn't seem to be on anyone's hit list ...

No, I wasn't, or so I thought.
I was "promoted" to Asst. Branch Manager. I was supposed to liaise with the Branch Manager, but he excluded me from all meetings, except the ones where we had to discipline people

I was not given necessary training in one particular area, because I had glandular fever.
I was dragged back in to work while I had GF, because work "needed" me. I still didn't receive that necessary training though.

Then, some money went missing one day (I wasn't even on duty), but because it was "my responsibility" I got hauled over the coals for it.

With hindsight, I realised I was set up. I didn't crack though ... I made them wait a further 6 months before they made me redundant.... the position they promoted me to no longer existed.

[butter fingers]

same sort of thing 6 months ago,after getting rid of so many staff the college i work for is now paying more in overtime than it did for the wages of the people that it got rid of.as a unison union rep for health and safety this is why we are allways trying to increase membership because we know these are the tactics used in business.unfortunatlly people are not interested untill to late then out come the cries"why are you not doing something about it".also what is achieved is for all the workforce and not just members.and this makes us targets to get rid off straight away because tjhis makes sure everybody is uninformed and disorganised.
sorry to go on a bit but its like this everywhere.

[Maximillian]

Sounds like your son or you should be looking very closely at the BERR and ACAS websites to check his and his employers rights. The websites are very good.

[pip1954]

hi some companys are very under hand, where i work they told us all the drivers at all the branches were to have there hours cut because of the credit crunch hr came down and told us our working hours are not needed and we all had to lose 5hrs each a week ,but we wearnt aware it was only going to be us,
i only worked 35hrs at the time their was no dicussion a five minute chat and that was that. others in the office lost their commision, they have now got that back but we wont be getting our hours back and just found out there will be no pay rises only basic gov increase ,
it is a two tier thing and you can guess which tier we are on.
the thing is this company have taken every perk till there was nothing else to take apart from wages

[OllieMartin]

Personally, I'd do everything I could to collect evidence of any mistreatment as a contingency for being unfairly dismissed or even suiting for constructive dismissal. I doubt they'd be stupid enough to put anything in writing that could be used, but if they do he should get a print-out.
I was screwed over enough times by my old company to know that you've got nothing unless you've got evidence.

[beefy]

same sort of thing 6 months ago,after getting rid of so many staff the college i work for is now paying more in overtime than it did for the wages of the people that it got rid of.as a unison union rep for health and safety this is why we are allways trying to increase membership because we know these are the tactics used in business.unfortunatlly people are not interested untill to late then out come the cries"why are you not doing something about it".also what is achieved is for all the workforce and not just members.and this makes us targets to get rid off straight away because tjhis makes sure everybody is uninformed and disorganised.
sorry to go on a bit but its like this everywhere.

Fully agree - I was getting hassle at the beginning of this year (asked to do duties outside my job description and when I asked for more money was told there was none so I stopped doing the extras - and the s**t started .) Joined Unison - it stopped.It was the best £6/month I ever spent.
Once the union rep got involved the nonsence stopped and all of a sudden everybody became very interested in my welfare .
IMHO you can't fight your employer by your self - you have got to use an organisation as big if not bigger than them to stand up for your rights.

[Bagpuss]

I'm afraid that there is lots of this going on at the moment. Companies are trying to reduce the cost of redundancies by performance management - in otherwords they take on the risk that a small proportion of people will issue tribunal proceedings against them.

Its so difficult out there at the mo. I am, thankfully, busy at work, but today my firm announced that there would be lots more redundancies and have asked everyone (even the people bringing home the bacon) to take a pay cut. Whilst it is presented as something they cannot impose on people, in reality none of us have any choice, so working harder longer hours for less money ( which no doubt will not be changed back when things improve)

Whilst it sticks in the throat I would suggest that, unless he has something else to go to (not sure what he does so not sure whether there are any signs of recovery for him), he would be better to keep his head down and get his cv up to date. It might be getting him down being there, but its better that being unemployed.

[Bagpuss]

Oh don't I sound like a gloomy sad sack - sorry bluemoon!