Work Issue – What Should I Do?
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Copa, I think they did separate out the personal vs. sick. MissDre mentioned 10 personal days and 12 sick days as the split.
I have been following along and tend to agree with what Kate and Copa have said. Asking to work remotely from another country is a HUGE privilege and one I would think would require a proven track record over several years at a company, not nine months. Sure, you negotiated for more time off, but what you got in writing isn’t a use it at your leisure agreement. It clearly says what type of time and for how long. The “at your discretion” text is irrelevant. You can’t schedule sick days unless you’re having major surgery or something.
Is it frustrating that you can’t just whisk off to Scotland at any time to be with your boyfriend? Of course it is. However, the facts you’ve laid out here lead me to believe a few things:
1. Your management team is trying to show they value you (this client only chose us because of how great YOU are).
2. They’re also trying to gently tell you that your requests aren’t ok – I think it’s telling they are coupling it with the need to have you represent them with big clients. They’re not trying to reprimand you; rather they are saying no with some really complimentary things. Again – showing they value you.
3. Your direct manager may have issues with confrontation, which is why she put you off for as long as she did.As with anything in life, you can’t control or change their behavior. You can only control or change how you react to it and how you handle it. So decide what’s most important here. If you dgaf about burning bridges, then by all means, call in sick while you’re in Scotland. If you want to be a take the high road and keep some good contacts in an industry it sounds like you’re trying to consult in (I could totally have that part wrong), then I would suggest you keep your head down for the rest of the time you’re with this company.
No company is in the business of trying to screw you over. They invest a lot in you and if you leave in the first two years it is a loss to them.
You abused the policy with your situation last year and now you are complaining that you are being denied. By your own words you don’t care to be there now ,it likely shows in your attitude of “Whoa is me, I can’t go to dontgiveafuckisstan for three weeks and visit my partner/fiancé/but not engaged yet for three weeks”, get over yourself and the situation. The writing is on the wall, be smart enough to take the hint or be dismissed.
It annoys me when one person in a small company screws up an open and relaxed policy for all.
Jimmy, you’re making shit up. I have not abused policy in any way.
I asked if I could work remotely, they said yes. So I did. There were no issues.
Working remotely is not the issue here. They’ve told me they don’t want me to be out of the office in March. I said ok no problem I understand.
If they thought I was abusing policy or there were issues with my time off last September, I’m sure they wouldn’t have promoted me.
Did they know in September that there would be recurring requests like that? Not saying you did anything wrong at all. You asked, they said yes — great! But it does seem like they’re trying to discourage it now, for whatever reason, and aren’t doing a great job of being direct about it or explaining what the time off policies even are. I refer to my company’s policy handbook all the time, actually, and would be very frustrated without clear rules.
Yeah, all this stuff was talked about before I ever even accepted the job. The thing is, I didn’t apply for it. They came to me, they recruited me and asked if I’d be interested in leaving my current position to work for them instead.
So I asked all kinds of questions in my interviews to get a feel of whether or not it was the right fit for me.
I asked specifically about their policies with working remotely, whether they were flexible with this because I travel a lot personally. I asked how they’d feel about me working from overseas from time to time. And I was enthusiastically told “Oh yeah! That’s no problem at all! With your position, all you really need is a laptop and an internet connection, you’re so lucky that way, you can totally work from anywhere!”
I specifically told them that I did NOT want my personal time separated into sick vs vacation. That I’m used to working under the kind of structure where we have a set number of days to do with whatever we wish. In previous positions, I had 21 days. It didn’t matter if I was sick or taking a vacation or just didn’t feel like working. They were my 21 days to use at my discretion. And I was told “No problem, we can work with this structure!”
I asked if my job would be client facing and told them I’m not looking for a position where I’d have to be dealing with clients. I said I was comfortable stepping into meetings if I had to answer specific technical questions but I wasn’t looking for any sort of account management role. And they said “No no, your job is behind the scenes. We have managers who handle all client relationships and you’ll be briefed by the managers.”
Now I find myself being in every single client meeting and having to present my strategies to big rich guys in suits with millions of dollars, which scares me, and because I apparently did so well leading this recent pitch for they’re now talking about sending me on secondment to work full time at the office of this major account we just won. I don’t want that. It’s not what I signed up for.
I asked what their policies were regarding continuing education. I told them that continuing to upgrade my skills is particularly important for me as my field is constantly evolving. I asked if there was a budget for yearly continuing education, and they said “Yes of course, we wholeheartedly support that, any conferences or training sessions you want to attend just let us know!” And so far, all of my requests have been denied, even though they are extremely relevant to the tools I’m currently working with.
There are a lot of other things too… things behind the scenes that I feel are incredibly unethical and had I known about them beforehand I would not have accepted the position. Things that affect my ability to do my job well and do right by the clients.
I basically feel that this job has been the opposite of what I was lead to believe. I turned down another offer specifically because of the things this company promised me and it has not turned out at all the way I thought it would.
I’m just… worn out.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore. I have a plan in place to leave and I’m giving my notice in July.
Ok,ok I will take a step back and back track. How many days did you work remotely on your last trip in September?
“When I went to Scotland last September, I worked remotely the whole time. Full days, and covered all my usual tasks.”
It seems like something may have misfired in that time that caused them to reconsider letting you do this again.
Why wait? You sound miserable and completely disappointed with the opportunities they’ve given you. And also, despite what you discussed, the contract states a split between sick and personal time.
