A friend of mine has been with a company for 6 months, his regional manager came in to work and said he's doing really well that he should should apply for a managers job elsewhere within the company, following this his direct manager isn't to keen and had discouraged him before from considering management, the next day my friend gets suspended from work with no explanation.
Any stories welcome and what to do next, seems a strange coincidence and obviously has torpedoed trust between my mate and the employer
Are they in a union ? Either way I'd be conducting all meetings with a witness and getting everything in writing . I was a union rep for a long time and companies will have their own version of policy's to follow but I find it hard to believe a HR department would be OK with suspending someone without telling them why .
Worth checking contracts and company procedures to see if the fact they've only been there 6 months has an impact on anything .
Sounds like a classic case of gate-keeping.
RIP to your mate getting caught in the cooperate crossfire, being only 6 months old.
I'd suggest he goes straight over the head of his immediate manager and speak *directly* to the regional manager...he's got nothing to lose and that's his best bet at surviving.
Be extremely cautious at 6 months. Get things in writing. You have very few rights in terms of comeback and job security.
the next day my friend gets suspended from work with no explanation.
No normal functioning co. is going to suspend anyone with 'no explanation' If they have, he's had a lucky escape and should walk away.
Be extremely cautious at 6 months. Get things in writing. You have very few rights in terms of comeback and job security
This.
But also there is much more to this story than is being told. No-one gets suspended with zero explanation. At very least when he got told he was suspended he'd have asked "why?", and been given an answer of some kind.
No normal functioning co. is going to suspend anyone with 'no explanation'
Yep - this is either a company issue, so he should run now, or an out of control manager issue, in which case I'd be going over his head with a grievance if there is no explanation.
Either this will confirm the company are shit to work for, or he will be providing the evidence the company need to sort out the shit manager that they want rid of.
Nothing to lose after only 6 months, go down fighting
If they aren't unionised then they may want to drop ACAS a line for some free advice on the matter as this sounds like the exact sort of thing they are set up to help with:
https://www.acas.org.uk/contact
My wife was at a company she'd been at nearly from the start, had helped it grow and recruited a vast majority of the staff along the way while working closely with the CEO. She was happy enough there, was looking to advance but was in no real rush and knew her work and workload inside out. Came back from holiday last summer and logged on (fully remote, no office) to the scheduled catch up meeting to be greeted by her immediate boss and a HR person who promptly told her they were paying her off and she was on gardening leave. It shocked her to the core and the experience has scared her for life as there was no adequate reason given for what happened. Best guess is that the line manager (who'd been there six months) saw her as a threat (even though my wife had never given her reason to) and wanted to replace her with her own people. It was no surprise when someone on a temporary contract, who the boss had appointed suddenly became less temporary. Basically it was a stitch up.
After the dust had settled and the legals sorted the CEO rang and apologised but basically said he felt he couldn't overrule the people he'd employed to make those decisions. He went a bit quiet when she asked why he'd not checked in when the made up fantasy story was spun to him as to why she needed binning!
We'd have taken them to the cleaners with any grievance or tribunal but the pay off was set at a level to make it pointless and there was no way my wife could go back to work for them so she took it and moved on. Moral of the story is never trust private businesses as even the ones you trust will stab you in the back if it suits them, regardless of how good you are at your job. Hope your mate gets sorted.
Moral of the story is never trust private businesses as even the ones you trust will stab you in the back if it suits them, regardless of how good you are at your job
Id say never Trust any employer
Definitely never trust an employer. My sister has just been binned off (and others) as she's returned from cancer treatment. My wife has had a number of crappy employers, but she ended up with settlement agreements as they were so shoddy.
What kind of work is this? I've been working in various companies - private, govt, education, etc for over 40 years and never known anyone to be suspended!
Moral of the story is never trust private businesses as even the ones you trust will stab you in the back if it suits them, regardless of how good you are at your job
Id say never Trust any employer
True but in my public service job they couldn't do to me what happened to my wife. There'd at least be a process and a chance to argue the case. I wouldn't turn up at work after leave just to be told I wasn't working there anymore!
I've been working in various companies - private, govt, education, etc for over 40 years and never known anyone to be suspended!
I have, once. It was partly to protect the individual and let the dust settle after a particular incident, and partly to let the related investigation take place before they were binned off anyway. He certainly knew why he was being kept away
over 40 years and never known anyone to be suspended!
I work for a utility and it’s not uncommon. I’ve had a several colleagues suspended pending disciplinary. Sometimes for deliberate or foolish safety issues, sometimes just unlucky with one-off mistakes or misdemeanours that are generally overlooked to get the job done even if technically against the rules but for some reason you are taken to task.
Some have a few weeks on full pay with a ruined Christmas then come back with some sort of warning/probation, others are shown the door.
Difficult when there are people around you that will ‘go the extra mile’ to get stuff done but undermining those that are trying to follow company rules 🙄
But also there is much more to this story than is being told. No-one gets suspended with zero explanation. At very least when he got told he was suspended he'd have asked "why?", and been given an answer of some kind.
My thoughts too.
Maybe your friend isnt telling the whole story ..
If regional manager is seemingly a fan but the one below maybe isn`t .. its doesnt make sense the lower manager putting his neck on the block and potentially causing issues for himself by suspending your mate.
One thing I`ve noticed about the type of people who become managers, is they are exceptionally skilled at kissing their managers a$$ .. typically its this skill that got them there, and its this skill they continue to develop before any other.