You ask: I am a design engineer with some marketing and sales experience and have been seconded to the Marketing Department in my company. Recently, the director of the Design Department said that my job is being transferred to Marketing and I will have a new line manager and report to him permanently. I don’t want to move to this department permanently as I’m afraid of breaking my links with the Design Dept so that I can never move back, and also that I could be made redundant if Marketing have no use for me after this project is over. What should I do?
Janet answers: It is unfortunate that your director seems to have presented you with a fait accompli rather than involve you in his/her decision making process. I think there are two aspects to consider here; the first human, the second
procedural.
Let’s explore the human aspect first. I assume your secondment was done with your agreement, even though I detect perhaps a little reluctantly. Did you share your concerns about this move with your director at the time? If you didn’t then is it possible that he/she has just assumed that you’d happy with a permanent move? To correct any false assumptions ensure your director understands how you feel about both the job itself and your future job security.
Does your new line manager know how you feel? If he doesn’t then I think he deserves to know. He may not wish to reconsider your transfer if he knows how it has come about.
What would the Marketing job have to contain to ensure you maintained your links with the Design Department? It is possible that your new manager may be able to build these aspects into your marketing job description. Would that be OK for you?
You’ve mentioned job security. Do you know how secure a job in the Design
Department might be? You may be more secure in Marketing even though it’s not your ideal choice. Would knowing this make working in Marketing more acceptable?
Understanding what you may of not accept with regard to this move is a useful exercise to carry out especially if you may be able to negotiate job content with you new manager.
Don’t forget that you are quite within your rights to seek advice from HR if you feel that your views are not being taken seriously by management. Indeed if your position within the company was to become tenuous at a later date it would be no bad thing to have this logged with HR.
Of course just because you have made your views known to both outgoing and incoming managers does not mean that the move will not happen. So now let’s take a look at the procedural aspects.
There are obviously a wide range of possibilities as to why your director may have decided to transfer you. I don’t think a hypothetical discussion on what these might be would be useful here. However what I will say is that your move will only be valid if the receiving department has agreed to:
• An incremental headcount increase, or
• has a vacant head to fill (in this case the vacancy should at least be advertised internally to demonstrate that the best candidate has been chosen for the role)
In both cases the Design Department would be expected to give up one headcount to affect the transfer. Should this not be the case then your transfer would not be a legitimate one. Seek assurance from both your existing director and new manger that everything is above board. If you are not satisfied with the answers you get then involve HR straight away.
If you were to be made redundant at the end of this current project, having been moved unwillingly, then you may have grounds for claiming unfair dismissal. However you would need to seek independent professional advice in these unfortunate circumstances.
In summary you deserve an explanation as to why you are being moved. How you handle the situation beyond this basic courtesy depends on whether you get an acceptable answer and also if your transfer has been carried out legitimately or not. No matter what transpires I think involving HR sooner rather than later would be a wise thing to do.
Categories: On the coaching couch ,
Comments
All comments
You need to be registered with the IET to leave a comment. Please log in or register as a new user.