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I had a dream freelance job recently. It was a lot of a fun and I really wanted to continue to work there.

However it started to become apparent my manager was a mess. He would often turn up hungover and couldn’t follow conversation. When asked about docs he said he wouldn’t keep any documentation “so no one could take over”. The whole attitude and professionalism was awful.

Some days on release he (and another member of the team) would turn up to work four hours late as they’d been out the night before. I would absorb all of the impact. Technically I felt he was quite significantly junior than myself. Management saw, directors saw, no one did anything.

To cut a long story short - I raised it with HR, I was told unless I raised an “official grievance” nothing would be done. I asked if I could move - I was met with a shrug “we don’t know”

I eventually reached a point where I felt my only real power is to walk away.

I now have no confidence in HR at all. I don’t think I’ll ever involve or raise anything with them again. 😔

Comments
  • 2
    If they said you should file an official grievance form and you didn't, why are you complaining? Don't call a department useless without first trying to follow their proper procedures...
  • 4
    The only thing HR has ever been good for at any of my jobs was delivering paychecks and stocking the kitchen. 😕
  • 1
    @svgPhoenix they are useless due to the way HR is structured. It’s not independent, it’s not for the employee. I followed their processes upto that point, my manager’s freelance contract ended at the time of taking to HR - the choice would be for them to re-hire. I asked, if I raised this officially, what happens to me - they just shrugged - “we don’t know”
  • 1
    @svgPhoenix this type of situation shouldn’t have been possible. Preventing this type of misconduct is basic - and preventing this comes from HR process and structure.

    They didn’t advise me to raise it officially. They couldn’t do that due to *appearing* impartial.

    When I asked “if I raise this officially what happens to me” vs “if I don’t raise this officially what happens to me” - they couldn’t tell me. There’s was no solution on the table either way.

    Raising an official grievance places the onus on me to aggregate the evidence, emails, screenshots etc and to see it through and for what? They couldn’t tell me a possible outcome or solution.

    They had plenty of upfront notice but they just didn’t care. That’s the crux, my experience and contributions are not valued to the point where the only real choice I have is to take myself out of it.
  • 0
    @onlinechris sounds like you need a different job then
  • 1
    @svgPhoenix I’ve already moved jobs. The point is I didn’t want to and shouldn’t have had to.
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