Advice please,

[Onestepatatime]

Daughter of a friend (X) works for a company, she started in April 2017 with a 6 month probation period in September she was transferred to another department and the probation was extended until January.
The manager has now returned from mat leave and has taken a dislike to her, she has already summoned X to a meeting giving a letter to her one day then expecting the meeting on the next day. X complained and they extended the meeting date by 5 days. X is trying to get a representative to attend the meeting and X has been asked to obtain 1) employee file, 2) Previous appraisal notes and employment and training policies.

The employer is asking for a SAR payment to release X's personnel file is this correct or are they being awkward?
Thanks all

[Kati]

Re: Advice please,

[MENTION=51026]Ula[/MENTION] [MENTION=26290]mariefab[/MENTION]

[Onestepatatime]

Re: Advice please,

[MENTION=49370]Kati[/MENTION] thanks

[Peridot]

Re: Advice please,

Hi Onestepatatime,
So X is on probation until January 2018?
Did she have any appraisals and did she not keep a copy?
Under the Data Protection Act if a request is made for personal data held then the employer is entitled to charge a £10 fee, although I would have thought that any information the representative has requested should be readily available to x in any event.
The employee handbook should be accessible by X in any event. This would have the various policies that apply to employees contained within it and as I say readily available to all employees.
As far as training is concerned, does x not have a record of what training she has had? Are there other issues that have been raised about her employment previously? If this is the case then it may be necessary to obtain her personnel file.
More queries than answers at the moment, sorry.

[Onestepatatime]

Re: Advice please,

[MENTION=85500]Peridot[/MENTION]

from what I am told, bearing in mind X is a young one, previous appraisals whilst in other dept didn't throw any issues. Re: training X has had 1/2day shadowing in new position however I understand that she had more training on original dept, the new position is different from what I gather to the original position.
With regard to paperwork X tells me that she didn't get any appraisal papaerwork. X says she may have original contract at home.
I'd have to ask about employee handbook?
From what I'm told the issues have started in last couple of weeks since this manager has returned??

[Peridot]

Re: Advice please,

Hi again,
So do we know what the meeting has actually been called for? Have they described this as a disciplinary hearing, in which case have they provided supporting documentation to any allegations that have been made? Is the info the representative (who I presume is either a work colleague or union rep) is asking for relevant to the issue being raised?

[Onestepatatime]

Re: Advice please,

What this manager has said is that X has made in region of 12 mistakes within her job some of which is misspelling of words, a list has been produced.
X's argument is that she hasn't had sufficient support or training in relation to the new position, and that prior to this manager returning the deputy manager and supervisor at no point indicated that there was any problems with X.
Th meeting has been arranged as a Formal probation meeting, however this manager had X on the office and told her that she doesn't have time check X work for mistakes and any more made between now and Jan will result in the position being terminated.
sounds to me as typical power trip by this manager. ??

[ULA]

Re: Advice please,

A formal probationary meeting is not unusual particularly if there has been an extension.

Was the original extension due to the fact that X was transferred to a new department?

What type of work is X doing?

Can X document the training - both formal and on-the-job since joining the company as that would be useful for having available at the meeting and may demonstrate that this has been limited and therefore is a contributory factor to the mistakes that are being made.

If the manager does not have the time to check work would a possible suggestion be that someone else in the team is delegated the task to do this and provide some on the job training for X over a period of time.

This could lead to an performance improvement plan (PIP) with given objectives/targets that X has to meet and which can be measured objectively.

[Onestepatatime]

Re: Advice please,

[MENTION=51026]Ula[/MENTION]
i can only assume that the extension was to do with the transfer. Will confirm with X this evening. The work is telesales from what I gather or of that ilk.
I have asked X to list the training that she has been given and then compare with file/policy. For the exact reason of ensuring training is both adequate and appropriate to job.
In relation to time what struck me as odd is in the letter that X received the person has written that they don't have the time then said that it's a quiet time for the business being prior to Christmas ??

Thank you for the modern terminology PIP, being self employed I'm not familiar with all this stuff. I'm surprised that if this is what companies do these days that it hasn't been suggested in the letter? Will ensure that it is raised at the meet by X or her rep.

[ULA]

Re: Advice please,

If you do get any further information from X that may help us give further support then please post it up.

My other though now knowing X's possible role is the focus on spelling mistakes in a telesales role - is the impact of this on internal staff or has written "work" gone to external customers.

Yes PIPs are quite often used to provide a framework for improving an individual's performance (within agreed timescales) if there are issues in a way that provides for objective monitoring.

[Onestepatatime]

Re: Advice please,

I believe that the original position was telesales, the new position is more marketing so posssibly involves sending info either to customer/or posting online for customer.

Just another thought as she is unable to get a union rep as she joined the union the day that she received the letter, the union can only give telephone advice? I was thinking of the CAB or ucas? Any suggestions of who else she could ask, employees are out of the question as its a clicky environment?
the company are saying that they can only reschedule for the first day back after festive break, on the grounds that they have already postponed the meeting by the five days, according to them they have fulfilled their obligations? Personally i think this is unfair and leaving X little time to sort things out?

[ULA]

Re: Advice please,

The change in role to a more marketing position supports any issues there are regarding spelling particular if the correspondence is going to customers. There are simple things like use of spell-checker that can assist and being sure to proof-read work before it goes out - if X is young then these practical tips could be tried in the first place then the work can be checked for a while to see if has improved the situation. Just some suggestions but ultimately I can appreciate that if this aspect cannot be improved without continual supervision then this may give the company an issue.

If any other categories of mistakes have been raised it would be good to go through them and see if there further practical suggestions to help alleviate them and then X can go to the meeting with these as a way forward and they can possibly form part of the PIP I mentioned earlier if the company is willing to consider this.

On the issue of being accompanied it is usual to only allow for a union rep or work colleague to accompany.

Are the union saying they cannot attend because of the short notice or that since X has only joined them recently they would not be entitled to have personal representation? If the former it may be worth finding out when anyone would be available and then X could go back to the company explaining that a union rep will be accompanying however that person's next available date is xxxx. If it is not too far away then they may consider postponing the meeting.