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I work as a fleet mechanic and the manager at the place I work is past retirement age and doesn’t seem to care one bit about the company or the staff.
We have had quite a few people leave and they have been replaced by contractors as job adverts have been up for getting on a year with hardly any applicants, the lads that are left aren’t happy with the shifts, the managers solution, a new even worse shift pattern involving working ten days straight and with four different start times.
When it comes to doing the job, bodging is what is actively encouraged by the manager and new parts orders cancelled off by him, leading to unreliable vehicles and of questionable roadworthiness, so much so that a vehicle failed out on the road and the manager himself crashed into the back of it in his own car and pressured the driver into keeping the incident quiet.
Our performance is terrible as a team, moral is rock bottom.
We are part of a huge national company, yet it seems there’s just no consequences, no matter how badly we operate nobody cares.
What can I do in this situation? Write an email to those higher up, do they know, do they care…
this is what whistle blowing is for.
Send emails (anonimously)
this is what whistle blowing is for.
Send emails (anonimously)
If you do it, do it with no way that they can trace it back to you. In 30+ years of work I have never seen a whistle blower been treated fairly after raising valid concerns
Write an email to those higher up, do they know, do they care…
They can't know what nobody tells them. So they don't have a chance to decide whether they care or not until then.
pressured the driver into keeping the incident quiet.
So they don't know
I’d read what Funkydunc wrote.
I’d read what Funkydunc wrote.
Agreed
The name linked to the happy mondays at all.
You could even flag it with vosa? And the vehicle manufacturers...
If it's customer rental it's their o license they'd not be impressed either
All of the above plus VOSA, and FORS if they have it.
What can I do in this situation?
Find another job (seriously).
You aren't going to be able to change a coporate culture, and you can drive yourself to despair trying. Far better to dedicate your energies to finding a new employer - "A fish rots from the head down"
Tip off the transport manager. They have such a personal responsibility on matters of roadworthiness via the operators lisense.
As above do so anonymously. New email address with no connection to any online pseudonym.
Find another job (seriously).
^^^That!
The fact you are struggling to recruit suggests that finding a better position shouldn't be too difficult.
I've had informal chats with our managers managers and peers to mostly make them aware of their shortfall. They tend to do the company thing and recommended a formal complaint, but the manager in question is all too familiar with the process and appears Teflon coated. Everyone that has followed this process has found themselves in a worse position and normally leave in the next 12 months.
I have used the third party provided whistle blowing service, it remained anonymous, but leaves you distant from the process, I just had a single line to say it was acknowledged and dealt with. I only know from other contacts how.
Don't know what it would take to get them to improve. They had a meeting last year in which every department slated them but thought it was successful.
Pretty much a whole department left before Christmas, a department assumed to be closest to him.
It seems a long game, management love their own. But we have long term unfilled roles with another 20% added and an inability to even hold steady where we used to progress.
Unfortunately, as crap floats we are probably just waiting them to find him a higher position of ineptitude.
......the manager in question is all too familiar with the process and appears Teflon coated
I've worked with people like this before. Couple of options, either stick it out until they inexplicably get moved upwards in the hope that you'll not have to deal with them any more, or leave. Life's too short to be dealing with arseholes and nepotism.
As a once minor whistleblower I can tell you that its a waste of time, you will be investigated by some of the people you have accused, they will find all your "crimes" and in the end you will leave or be pushed, you will wish you had just left.
My advice?
Find another job. Leave on great terms, tell everyone how much you will miss them and get a great reference.
This may not be very good for the company, the clients or your coworkers, but it will be good for you.
(EDIT, I have now read everyone elses comments, and they all seem to agree)
I had some bad management in my last couple of years working. Bullying was the main issue. I reported it to management formally - nothing was done indeed one of the bullies got promoted. As I retired I asked for an exit interview with the next level of management. I gave them all the details. As far as I am aware nothing was done. I now wish I had used the whistleblowing policy to make the complaint harder to ignore.
Ultimately you have a choice. Make as much fuss as you can and accept there might be consequences for you or leave
For a moment there I thought you worked for the same employer as me, but then you said your manager cancels parts.
They'd have been pushed out the door by my employer for that, and replaced with somebody with a more KwikFit mindset in terms of getting customers to spend money.
In short, leave. There's an industry wide shortage of techs, so it's not like other jobs are hard to come by.
I'm only sticking it out with my current employer as the hours suit, while I'm studying for a bigger change. Plus we got a new manager, who actually doesn't automatically respond yes to everything management want done.
From what you describe, you have a manager who isn't motivated or keen to do the best they can. This then is an impossible task to change them.
I would look for a new job.
If you are knowingly sending dangerous vehicles out on the road I would predict a world of pain for you if one kills somebody. Besides individual moral responsibility for the safety of others, an inquest or criminal proceedings may not be overly fussed about allegations of poor management if the buck can be hung on the guy who did the actual work, which I suspect your boss would try and do. Leave the job.
In that situation I would a) leave b) report the negligent work practices to whatever licencing authorities exist in your industry.
Sending borderline unroadworthy vehicles out is a disgusting practice for a company to (seemingly) champion internally.