Bullying in the workplace

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Acorn22

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Hi,

My partner is in the throws of a PIP. As far as I can make our they are being currently managed out of their position. The manager over my partner is changing the content of anything my partner writes or creates such as reports and claims they are errors. He (the manager) is claiming 'wrong spacing' on a report and calling it an grammar/spelling error however the manager himself is doing this in his work. Other areas that they are nit picking at her is for example if my partner writes 'it's a rainy day' her manager will put down 'it's a wet day' and is claiming this is an error. As a result her work is destroyed in so called 'errors'. If she includes attachments her manager says 'that should not be included'. When she does not include it in next piece of work the manager is claiming 'why did you not include x attachment'. When my partner refers to previous times when this was called an error the manager says 'all reports are different and require different inclusions etc.'

I am generally uneducated in the area of my partner's line of work however, I know when I see a spelling and grammar error and there are none there. My partner's work (spelling and grammar) is in line with her colleagues including the manager himself, however, he is claiming otherwise. Now if there are false and exaggerated claims being made in this area of her work it is clear its happening in all the other areas her manager is onto her about.

It is easy to change a person wording and call it an error? The issue here is what should we do? She has consulted with a employment law solicitor who has advised her to get out fast and change jobs. The solicitor also told us that it is really easy to get someone fired and really hard to prove. The union have asked her to submit a grievance but has advised that the ultimate outcome to a grievance will be the manager may be sent on bullying/staff management course and have asked my partner to consider her options carefully as they may end up working with the manager at the end of the grievance claim. We are not in a position for my partner to quit or accept a payout right now. She is applying for jobs etc but its a waiting game. What should we do next?
 
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The norm in any organisation where a PIP is in place would be for an appeal to be allowable on the initial review done in the first place. So her starting point should be to review the current process for reviews that are in place and if an appeal is allowable, to ask for one.

the PIP itself should be in writing, should set out the areas for improvement, should have a policy and process that sit behind it and those should be followed. Are they?

Is the PIP justififed? Most firms have a standard method and process for writing reports and certain phrases and approaches that are followed. Is she adhering to the company standard. There is always the possibility that when you step back from your admirable personal loyalty, that she is actually rubbish at her job.

What isn't clear from here is why her manager is picking on her and if there is another underlying reason here.
 
What is a PIP? I thought you meant personal insolvency practitioner but that doesn't fit. Productivity improvement plan?
 

No the Union have had a look at what her manager is calling spelling and grammar errors and acknowledges that there is an issue there. Also they recognize that the work is in line with her colleagues including the manager himself and hence the call for a grievance claim.
 
Its not about her work/performance - its personal.
 
Sorry to read about personal situation. It appears most distressing.

What is contained in the PIP - has your wife addressed these issues ?
 
For extending the PIP, ensure *ALL* communication with her boss is in writing, and for any meetings of any kind, she should follow up with a summary, hopefully before the other person does. The PIP itself should have a detailed list of requirements/goals. She should focus solely on those, and if anything else comes up in the meantime, even small stuff, have a canned response along the lines of I need to focus on the goals of the PIP to ensure you are happy with my performance so I'll need to park this task for now.

Now to why I said extend, I've only seen two people subjected to a PIP come out of it happy. One had some personal issues that we'll say lowered job performance. The PIP triggered some better communications and the boss in question was much more understanding after finding out there was an external issue, everything improved etc.
The second one did the above, got signed off as passing the PIP, then immediately downed tools so to speak. The company had at the time a policy that someone couldn't be put on a second PIP for a number of months after passing one to stop bullying, so they took advantage of this and did almost nothing for that period until they entered the second PIP. Queue repeat of the above. Not suggesting your partner does this btw, although their boss sounds like someone who deserves it.

Really though once a boss decides to put someone on what is obviously a malicious PIP, the only goal is to extend things long enough to jump ship as short of the boss being exited from the company, things will never be ok again.
 
I've done PIP's (personal improvement plans) with staff in the past. They were never based on personal issues and were always based on performance issues and usually down to stupid careless errors being made by the employee, a lack of attention to detail that in some cases resulted in losses to our company.

Firstly, I'd take what the union said here with a very large pinch of salt. they won't have any true understanding of what other people's output is like or the quality of it.

Secondly, an employee can easily turn a PIP 360 degrees if they are clever. If they ask the manager, "what do you think I need to do to improve my performance", get that put in writing into the PIP and then show how they are delivering it, it puts the manager in a more difficult spot. In any large organisation, a PIP will also be recorded by HR. If they smell something funny going on, they may not be in any rush to support a manager if they see a hint of a tribunal or other case coming down the line.

There does seem to be a broader issue alluded to here and it is not clear why the manager may have a vindictive issue against this employee. There is more to this story then meets the eye.

If it is a case of malicious behaviour against the employee then the employee needs to do everything by the book, record everything but I wouldn't jump ship, file a grievance, file a complaint of bullying, whatever. You won't be working there long term and no major company wants the hassle and bad publicity of a tribunal case so it may be time to see what you can exit with in terms of financial compensation.
 
Peanuts20 has given some great advice.Co-operate with the pip. If it's private sector just look for another job while doing so. Your partners goal now should be to get a decent reference. That's why co-operating with pip and staying calm is important. If it's public sector and she's been there a long time, I'd be getting a second opinion from a specialist employment lawyer as there's pension issues to consider which can be valuable.
Bullying is extremely difficult to prove and generally disciplinary procedures (even tough ones) aren't considered bullying.
 
Thirsty said:
Take the Solicitor's advice and get out.

No amount of money will compensate for the distress you will go through if you try and stick it out.
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Yes that would be my advice too. I've been told that the book Bully in Sight by Tim Field is very good. Everything can be twisted to make it look as it if is justified but bullying for the victim is soul-destroying.
 
Thanks she's going to go the distance in this instance and pursue the company and the manager as the manager himself has the same so called or invented errors in his work (they are not errors that is the issue) and so do her other colleagues. Its easy to track and trace the dysfunctional patterns of behaviour in the PIP and demonstrate that this process is being used to manage her out of her position. It's unfortunate for the manager in this situation as he got lazy and is not that smart. He left a very obvious trail that will now enable her to hang him out to dry. I feel for those who have a more capable manager/person at the helm. You wouldn't have a leg to stand on. What's worry in all this is that while there are valid grounds for some people to be put on a PIP there are those out there whereby it is used as a tool to get rid of them which is unbelievable in this day and age. Managers/people who are blind to this in general need to wake up. It like trying to suggest that there is only such thing as daylight and that the darkness does not exist. I've chatted to friends and family who claim it's rampant especially in companies who lack an ounce of integrity. I think that companies need to review this and maybe an external person recommended by the union who is an expert in the said area of profession to step in. Just a suggestion but it's better than the current situation in companies.

I wouldn't be recommending that she sticks it out for a reference. You are entitled by law to a good reference anyway. That's according to the union.

Thanks
 
muinteoir said:
Yes that would be my advice too. I've been told that the book Bully in Sight by Tim Field is very good. Everything can be twisted to make it look as it if is justified but bullying for the victim is soul-destroying.
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I know its chilling but guess what there has to be something fundamentally wrong with someone who sets out to harm another especially when you've done nothing apart from put up a few personal boundaries around your time off . Lets face it! Anyone who has issue around someone who has personal boundaries needs help.
 
People like that don't stop until someone higher up stops them.
 
Yeah , it's called being bad
 
muinteoir said:
People like that don't stop until someone higher up stops them.
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There's no interest higher up! Turn a blind eye while at the same time have a bible on their lap. Seriously - if it wasn't so serious it would make a good father Ted episode.
 

kingvagabond said:
I wouldn't be recommending that she sticks it out for a reference. You are entitled by law to a good reference anyway. That's according to the union.

Thanks
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That's incorrect. An employer is legally obliged to provide employment dates and role, nothing else.

An employer can't write a 'bad' reference out of the blue, but they can write a truthful one. For example, the ee had a below par attendance pattern.

I read references as part of my job and take most of them with a pinch of salt. People in private sector have told they don't much rate written references.
 
While they might well pay lip service to HR process, Business usually just circles the wagons and tries to focus on silencing the complainer rather than the one being complained about
 
kingvagabond said:
I wouldn't be recommending that she sticks it out for a reference. You are entitled by law to a good reference anyway. That's according to the union.
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There’s nothing in law that entitles anyone to a good reference. If the union is saying otherwise, I wouldn’t trust any other advice they give.

Nobody likes to be called out on their performance but don’t automatically rule out that there may be an issue. As others have suggested, your partner should engage with the process but ensure everything is in writing. Ask questions, look for clarity etc. Convey the sense that she wants to turn things around.

She’s naturally hurt and her back is up. It may be that the manager just isn’t handling the process well. They may be relying on a gut feeling that performance isn’t adequate but incapable of articulating the specifics of what the problem is or how it can corrected.
 
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