Having to raise a grievance with work
 

Has anyone raised a grievance with their employer before, and can give me some kind words? Essay/story to follow

I'm stressing out, I like my job, but I'm looking for a new job, any job now.

I'm still employed, by the same company I've worked for for 4 years now.

It all started going wrong at the start of October. I applied for a promotion and was interviewed on 02/10. On 03/10 I was told I was unsuccessful for the position I applied for, but there was the same position available in a few different branches within the city if I wanted one, I had the weekend to decide. The interviewing manager called me at home on 06/10 and I accepted the offer, clarifying that I definitely had a job, which he confirmed I did.

Sounds awesome, right? Wrong. Didn't hear anything else about start dates etc, but went ahead and sorted out a nursery place for my daughter since my work hours would be increasing to full time when my job started. When my manager chased up a start date for me on 23/10, she was told I had misunderstood, and I didn't have a job, I was just being considered for one.

Last Monday I went into the branch the interviewing manager was in to see someone else. This was in the afternoon, and the job results had been announced in the morning on a call he was on. He was still making out that I had a job, he just didn't know my start date. My own manager phoned me at home that night, and told me I was the only person from the original interview group that didn't have a job.

I'm angry, and upset. Tried calling hr this morning to raise a grievance, but apparently only my manager can do it. Luckily she is supportive, but I'm not working again until Wednesday, so it won't be started until them.

I've never been in this situation before. I love my job, I'm really good at it, but I'm being held back unfairly. My branch managers theory is it's because I am a multi skilled staff member, and so for unfair business reasons I'm being over looked. I just wanna cry when I think about job searching, I'm super unconfident when it comes to jobs/interviews :-(

Thanks if you read all of that!

You need to raise a grievance with your manager, yes, and if you are wanting to do it formally it needs to be in writing.

If you have not already done so (although you probably have), you should take a look at the ACAS website as they outline things quite well.

What I would say is that raising a grievance, although it is your right to do so, can certainly rock the boat and make things worse for you in the short term.

I sat down with my line manager today, and we called hr together. They advised putting it in writing since trying to resolve it at local level was getting no where.

Since the local directors office would need to arrange an in dependant hearing manager anyway, with my agreement and hrs aggrement, we decided to give them one final chance to resolve the issue locally, and the local director was emailed.
To be fair to her, she was quick to respond. She will speak to the interviewing manager when he returns from holiday on Monday, and I have a meeting with her at 1030am on Wednesday, which is the first day a week that I work. I'm glad they are being proactive

I did apologise to my manager for being a pain and creating loads of work for her, but she told me not to be so silly! I'm glad my direct managers are being supportive of my choice to take it to the stage of being a grievance

It sounds like it's progressing positively. I still think that you should seek some sort of advice from ACAS, as grievances can be tricky, and can end up making you worse off.

This is ridiculous! It sounds like, relatively speaking, you're actually in a good situation to raise a grievance about this. They've treated you very unfairly, so good on you for standing up to them!