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Hello
I would much appreciate your advise.
I had worked for the company for 4 years and in first two years i received a very good review, bonus and even a pay rise. Then HR people have changed, we got a new Office Manager who i never clicked with. Suddenly a year after she started i received a review in which it clearly states that i do an amazing job as an assistant and the team i work for is very happy with me, but apparently some people in the company of 150 complain i intimidate them sometimes, my emails come across blunt, i have a bad attitude. Last year even though i did not agree with most of what they said and they did not give me any specific examples of incidents or any guidance, i took on a coaching sponsored by the company that i thought was great and helped me not only with stress management but also made me look at things from a different perspective. I realised to keep company happy i need to stay quiet, nod and smile and get on with my work. Also I chnaged, I was happy, cheerful and stopped looking for a job elsewhere.
This year - again i received a review with high scoring and praises from my team of 6 managers who told me what a great job i do as an assistant, but a new Office manager, and Chief of Staff say that apparently people still come to them complaining i sometimes come across scary, even aggressive and make them feel uncomfortable. They say i still have attitude problems. As a result they give me no bonus this year.
I am realistic and i know i am not perfect, i am Polish and i have a strong personality i am a bit opinionated, confident, I speak my mind, i am honest and true to myself. I am also kind, caring, hard working, always raise my hand to help others, loyal, passionate and my teams receives the best quality support which they acknowledged by scoring my high on my review (4-5 of out 5 max) and writing great things about my work. In the last year I have never felt happier in the company, i love my team and i thought i did a great job with not only my work, but also by being happy which i thought showed. Apparently my team and people sitting next to me noticed a major improvement, but seems other people in the company have not changed their minds.
My emails, although never intended, can possibly sometimes come across a bit blunt, but i did not receive one example of incident when i offended someone so badly i would deserve to be categorised as under performer and given 0 bonus.
My team who likes me and 3 other assistants who I sit next to know well i work very hard, i often work long hours, weekends, evenings or even when i am sick. I was told by people who sometimes had to cover for me that they could not cope with the amount of workload my team creates, on one occasion i had to be replaced by two people.
So they said to me yesterday that i have 3 months to improve my communication skills and my attitude and if i do i will get a very small bonus for Christmas. They did not tell me what would happen if I didn't want to take up training and coaching again.
I want to know what my rights are. They could combine few petty examples of my attitude and communication problems, but it seems ridiculous comparing to what my team says about me and my work. With a hand on my heart i can say i have never done anything that would categorize as inaapropriate or agressive and strongly offensive. It's a company of 150 people - multicultural, so unfortnately you always get someone who will not like you or your sense of humour, or the way you communicate sometimes over emails. What amazes me is that i always receive a very positive feedback from external companies i work with, but i have a problem within my company, Perhaps they are right and my persoinal style does not fit within a culture of this. However is it a ground on which they can fire me?
Thank you.
Noushki
I would much appreciate your advise.
I had worked for the company for 4 years and in first two years i received a very good review, bonus and even a pay rise. Then HR people have changed, we got a new Office Manager who i never clicked with. Suddenly a year after she started i received a review in which it clearly states that i do an amazing job as an assistant and the team i work for is very happy with me, but apparently some people in the company of 150 complain i intimidate them sometimes, my emails come across blunt, i have a bad attitude. Last year even though i did not agree with most of what they said and they did not give me any specific examples of incidents or any guidance, i took on a coaching sponsored by the company that i thought was great and helped me not only with stress management but also made me look at things from a different perspective. I realised to keep company happy i need to stay quiet, nod and smile and get on with my work. Also I chnaged, I was happy, cheerful and stopped looking for a job elsewhere.
This year - again i received a review with high scoring and praises from my team of 6 managers who told me what a great job i do as an assistant, but a new Office manager, and Chief of Staff say that apparently people still come to them complaining i sometimes come across scary, even aggressive and make them feel uncomfortable. They say i still have attitude problems. As a result they give me no bonus this year.
I am realistic and i know i am not perfect, i am Polish and i have a strong personality i am a bit opinionated, confident, I speak my mind, i am honest and true to myself. I am also kind, caring, hard working, always raise my hand to help others, loyal, passionate and my teams receives the best quality support which they acknowledged by scoring my high on my review (4-5 of out 5 max) and writing great things about my work. In the last year I have never felt happier in the company, i love my team and i thought i did a great job with not only my work, but also by being happy which i thought showed. Apparently my team and people sitting next to me noticed a major improvement, but seems other people in the company have not changed their minds.
My emails, although never intended, can possibly sometimes come across a bit blunt, but i did not receive one example of incident when i offended someone so badly i would deserve to be categorised as under performer and given 0 bonus.
My team who likes me and 3 other assistants who I sit next to know well i work very hard, i often work long hours, weekends, evenings or even when i am sick. I was told by people who sometimes had to cover for me that they could not cope with the amount of workload my team creates, on one occasion i had to be replaced by two people.
So they said to me yesterday that i have 3 months to improve my communication skills and my attitude and if i do i will get a very small bonus for Christmas. They did not tell me what would happen if I didn't want to take up training and coaching again.
I want to know what my rights are. They could combine few petty examples of my attitude and communication problems, but it seems ridiculous comparing to what my team says about me and my work. With a hand on my heart i can say i have never done anything that would categorize as inaapropriate or agressive and strongly offensive. It's a company of 150 people - multicultural, so unfortnately you always get someone who will not like you or your sense of humour, or the way you communicate sometimes over emails. What amazes me is that i always receive a very positive feedback from external companies i work with, but i have a problem within my company, Perhaps they are right and my persoinal style does not fit within a culture of this. However is it a ground on which they can fire me?
Thank you.
Noushki
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