bullying counter managers

[the old girl]

When will the business wake up to the fact that their counters managers are costing the company a fortune, being allowed to bully the counter clerks to try to increase sales. In my office 4 are now off sick with stress related illness, and we only have 10 staff!

[billyhayes]

There are 2 sides to this coin...

Side A - The CAMS and Area Managers are looking to reduce frontline costs by 4.5% this year.

Side B - They HAVE to act on any incidents of bullying and undue pressure etc etc, (and in my personal experiences over the years, have done so).

So on one hand it looks likely to most that they would turn a blind eye to this and hope that the sickies just leave.

But senior management have made it one of their pet projects to 'get people back to work' and 'give help where it is needed'.

Therefore, only recently, because of a direct result of the latest HYS results, branch managers have been 'moved sideways' from offices where basically they were bullying little wonkas.

Firstly, has your CWU Area Rep been informed? If so.. what are they doing about it? If 'nothing' is going to be your answer, then go above them to a territorial rep.
Names and numbers can be given if needed.

If your rep HASN'T been informed and I'm guessing that this pressure has been going on for at least a couple of years, then as much as this may seem harsh...
Don't come on here moaning if you think that that alone will get the job done. Stand together as an office and stick your heads above the parapet. If there's one thing that put's the s##t up a bullying manager it is the sight of a united office fighting back.

Sermon over.

[smj17]

I am reducing my hours at work because of the pressures we are put under. My manager has not acted upon recommendations from ATOS that were asked for back in March and I have had enough. Unfortunately, I am not able to leave my job but if I could then believe me I would. I am not the only one in our office that has had enough I suspect there are going to be quite a few staff changes with people leaving and reducing their hours.

[Running Man]

I would love to know what's happening with the manager referred to by the old girl.
Is he/ she one of those being moved sideways as billy puts it or is he/ she simply being left to bully the rest of the team?
Stress will kill our business and it is about time the senior managers took this problem seriously (I mean REALLY seriously and not just pay lip service to the issue) and bring to account those managers who feel that threats and intimidation are the way to run a successful business.
Billy suggests that senior management have to deal with the problem and investigate when necessary but in my experience of harassment and bullying, the managers who are in a position to deal with it tend to simply hope the problem goes away. In most cases it doesn't and very often becomes worse until it reaches a point when it cannot possibly be ignored any longer. It is at this point when it becomes almost impossible to deal with effectively and reconciliation between the parties involved is probably a non-starter.
I wonder how many people are suffering from workplace stress and continue to work for reasons such as 'not wanting to let the team down' or 'it's alright I can handle it' or 'worried about the consequences' to name but a few possibilities?
I reckon for every one person who goes off sick with stress or a similar condition there must be another two or three people who carry on in the vain hope that things will get better.
After four years of crap at the counter I think it's a pretty safe bet that things won't get better.
Those who are suffering in silence should take a good long look at themselves and their situation and seriously consider the possibility that working on the counter under such conditions could well be affecting their health and their home life.

[billyhayes]

Those who are suffering in silence should take a good long look at themselves and their situation and seriously consider the possibility that working on the counter under such conditions could well be affecting their health and their home life.

Well said. As I have mentioned somewhere else on this board before, the 'silent sufferers' are the ones that need to wake up a bit.

But to put my previous point another way, as the Man quite rightly states, CAMs etc just want to hide their head in the sand and hope the problem, (or the staff), just goes away. This is where you MUST be strong. Dig the heels in, become as repetitive as the Rain Man until they bloody well sort it!

This is not the way it should be, I know. It should be easier. But they don't want that.

At the end of the day, all anyone can do is what is right for themselves. If you really feel that leaving is the best or only option, so be it.

And for those that stay and try to change it from the inside, fair play.

But those others that stay and think that it will change for the better all by itself....

[goggins69]

So far this year two of my colleagues have been off for several weeks with stress. Bullying scored highly on the last have your say. Nothing has changed although the managers have tried to turn it round and say that we were bullying them.

[Mr Love Pants]

So far this year two of my colleagues have been off for several weeks with stress. Bullying scored highly on the last have your say. Nothing has changed although the managers have tried to turn it round and say that we were bullying them.

same in our office - nearly everyone completed the latest HYS and I think there were only 2 that did not mention bullying- however when we discussed an action plan bullying was ignored.

[Running Man]

I think all of the comments so far prove (if proof was needed) that our wonderful leaders do not care one bit about the way our people are made to feel every day in crown offices.

Have Your Say? This is now not even worthy of being called a paper exercise. It appears to be a complete waste of time, money and effort for everybody involved in the process.

Our senior managers might as well produce a video for use in the next WTL session that says "we don't care what you lot think. WE will run OUR business how WE want to. Just put up and shut up the lot of you, including managers."

And these are the people we trust to do the right thing for our business and safeguard our future!!!

Enough said.

[the old girl]

We did stick together and complain, several times in fact, but the CAM refuses to accept our Manager is a bully. There is only 2 Offices within reasonable distance for her if she were to be moved, this wouldn't be possible as 1 of those Offices has said "over my dead body" is she going there, and the other Office where she used to work she is having a relationship with the flagship Manager.
The CWU area rep and territorial are well aware of our problems, constantly fighting for us, but to no avail.
2 of us have reduced our hours because of the situation.
2 of us had 6 months off sick last year. This year 3 on LTS etc. Where will it all end?...
We are not suffering in silence, but what else can we do to improve things? Several of us ring each other every night just to offload our stresses.
Even an H1 was useless, originally it was accepted even though it was outside the 3 months (due to ill health), but then it was rejected later. It is all corrupt.

[bigjames]

We did stick together and complain, several times in fact, but the CAM refuses to accept our Manager is a bully. There is only 2 Offices within reasonable distance for her if she were to be moved, this wouldn't be possible as 1 of those Offices has said "over my dead body" is she going there, and the other Office where she used to work she is having a relationship with the flagship Manager.
The CWU area rep and territorial are well aware of our problems, constantly fighting for us, but to no avail.
2 of us have reduced our hours because of the situation.
2 of us had 6 months off sick last year. This year 3 on LTS etc. Where will it all end?...
We are not suffering in silence, but what else can we do to improve things? Several of us ring each other every night just to offload our stresses.
Even an H1 was useless, originally it was accepted even though it was outside the 3 months (due to ill health), but then it was rejected later. It is all corrupt.

As a counter manager, you have no idea how angry and sad reading a post like this makes me feel. So many of us strive, alongside our teams, to do the best job we can, and situations like this serve only to drive a wedge between us all.

My advice would be to adopt a multi-directional approach, co-ordinated with your CWU reps. Complete more H1 forms, as far as I am aware all such claims have to be investigated within tight timescales, and serious questions are asked if not. However, don't stop at the H1 forms, copy in your Regional Manager, Richard Barker, and the new guy in charge (whose name escapes me - it's been a long week!). It seems that along with customer complaints, harassment and bullying is often only taken seriously when it is brought to the attention of someone high enough. Using the timescales that should be followed chase up the people who should be dealing with it, and copy in all of your communication to the top people I have already mentioned, it is amazing what can be achieved when the alternative is to explain the failure to act to Mr Barker! It will mean more pain for you as a team in the short term, but if it gets a result it can only be for the good.

Good Luck

[Running Man]

An excellent post from big james.

I agree wholeheartedly with all of his comments and I think that the time has come for the old girl and her team to take some more direct action in her office.

Action like that shouldn't be necessary I know with all of our wonderful policies and guidelines but if the situation isn't improving then I don't see what else can be done about it.

Big james is quite right in pointing out that the odd email or phone call to a senior manager might just move things along more quickly than expected.

Good luck.

[The BFO]

When will the business wake up to the fact that their counters managers are costing the company a fortune, being allowed to bully the counter clerks to try to increase sales. In my office 4 are now off sick with stress related illness, and we only have 10 staff!

Why not wait for the next ‘Life Focus Day’, and then go ‘On Strike’ in protest?

[the old girl]

It has been spoken about, but not that easy. As we have so many off sick, we have borrowed in staff and a new casual doing full time. The office could still open.

[billyhayes]

Why not wait for the next ‘Life Focus Day’, and then go ‘On Strike’ in protest?

It might 'open' but they wont like it up 'em!!

[the old girl]

H&S have now come on board, fingers crossed that something can finally be done....