Hi all,
I'm 26, an MSc graduate and have been at this food company for 15 months. I will have 3 years experience in food NPD this December.
My manager that hired me stepped down at christmas to begin the transition to retirement. The new manager who was brought in, I feel took a disliking to me, and this culminated in a disciplinary hearing at the end of May. I countered all the points with hard evidence (vs hearsay) but was given a verbal written warning relating to my "performance and capability".
I immediately appealed this, citing the reasons from company handbook that the (1) disciplinary process had not been fairly followed , and (2) in which case the punishment was excessive in respect of the recorded crime.
Anyway, after a long wait my appeal hearing finally rolled around this past friday. It was with the HR director and my bosses boss. They began the meeting saying we apologise to not go straight into your appeal but some other company business has come to head.
They went into some drivel about sales growth not meeting targets etc, and that in cost saving measures they were looking at 11 redundancies across the business, and low and behold the 1 from my department would be my role.
I'm not shocked, because I got the feeling my manager probably wants me out, what i'm concerned about is how they can justify it. The company is a £150 million turnover operation with hundreds of employees, has just opened an international office, and has been heavily recruiting in the past months, including 2 graduates who have started less than 2 months ago, and 1 further lower experiences person a month before that. Other departments have been having plenty of new people also.
I'm just wondering how they can have inexperienced graduates still in their probation period, seen as more valuable then someone who has been there for much longer, and by industry standards I would say I'm below average on the salary scale for my experience and qualifications.
Obviously my manager will have had something to do with this, and since the disciplinary I have been actively seeking new roles, but summer is probably not the best time for this industry. I'm worried i'm going to be let go and not have time to get anything lined up, and that as i've not been there 2 years I have no rights.
As a department, there is about 20 people, and the structure is pretty flat, one manager, one supervisor, 18 technologists/assistants.
One technologist recently moved sideways into a related role, I am well versed in all of his responsibilities and have been handed his accounts. Yet one of the graduates that brought it was referred to as his "replacement".
As a candidate profile, i've got the highest level food qualification in the department, middle experience levels, and in 15 months I have never taken any sick or bereavement leave. Also of the 20 persons, only 3 are men , me one of them.
I basically need to do what I can to fight this and hold on as long as possible to get another job. Just any advice relating to all this would be very useful as i haven't got a clue what is going to happen at the consultation.
Thanks for reading.
Joe
I'm 26, an MSc graduate and have been at this food company for 15 months. I will have 3 years experience in food NPD this December.
My manager that hired me stepped down at christmas to begin the transition to retirement. The new manager who was brought in, I feel took a disliking to me, and this culminated in a disciplinary hearing at the end of May. I countered all the points with hard evidence (vs hearsay) but was given a verbal written warning relating to my "performance and capability".
I immediately appealed this, citing the reasons from company handbook that the (1) disciplinary process had not been fairly followed , and (2) in which case the punishment was excessive in respect of the recorded crime.
Anyway, after a long wait my appeal hearing finally rolled around this past friday. It was with the HR director and my bosses boss. They began the meeting saying we apologise to not go straight into your appeal but some other company business has come to head.
They went into some drivel about sales growth not meeting targets etc, and that in cost saving measures they were looking at 11 redundancies across the business, and low and behold the 1 from my department would be my role.
I'm not shocked, because I got the feeling my manager probably wants me out, what i'm concerned about is how they can justify it. The company is a £150 million turnover operation with hundreds of employees, has just opened an international office, and has been heavily recruiting in the past months, including 2 graduates who have started less than 2 months ago, and 1 further lower experiences person a month before that. Other departments have been having plenty of new people also.
I'm just wondering how they can have inexperienced graduates still in their probation period, seen as more valuable then someone who has been there for much longer, and by industry standards I would say I'm below average on the salary scale for my experience and qualifications.
Obviously my manager will have had something to do with this, and since the disciplinary I have been actively seeking new roles, but summer is probably not the best time for this industry. I'm worried i'm going to be let go and not have time to get anything lined up, and that as i've not been there 2 years I have no rights.
As a department, there is about 20 people, and the structure is pretty flat, one manager, one supervisor, 18 technologists/assistants.
One technologist recently moved sideways into a related role, I am well versed in all of his responsibilities and have been handed his accounts. Yet one of the graduates that brought it was referred to as his "replacement".
As a candidate profile, i've got the highest level food qualification in the department, middle experience levels, and in 15 months I have never taken any sick or bereavement leave. Also of the 20 persons, only 3 are men , me one of them.
I basically need to do what I can to fight this and hold on as long as possible to get another job. Just any advice relating to all this would be very useful as i haven't got a clue what is going to happen at the consultation.
Thanks for reading.
Joe
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