Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?
My daughter works for the probation service. She started as a part-time receptionist, and had a long commute, but early in the spring was accepted for a full-time post supporting clients in her home town.
The job has been bedevilled from the start. Firstly, the company took well over six months to relocate her, arguing that they were designing the job package as it was a new post. She then discovered that the post was designed for probation service users, to reintroduce a workplace experience.
My daughter is not a “service user” and has therefore been placed in a false position.
After completing three weeks’ training, she has now been placed in the local office, where she is given nothing to do. She has been told that she cannot offer to help other staff in any way, as that is not her job. When she tried to help a colleague with new computer protocol that my daughter was familiar with, she was immediately reprimanded.
Her manager has simply said she should “research training opportunities on the internet”.
She desperately wants to leave, which is a shame as she entered the probation service with a keen desire to work with clients. Her position is further weakened by the fact that her new role is only a short contract, whereas her previous role (taken before the probation service was privatised) was a permanent contract.
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
