Responding to a formal reprimand

[Anonymous]

OP - when you are ready to respond, remember to keep all emotion out of your sentences. Facts only. No indignation. Have a third party read it over to make sure it is as professional as possible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like the sort of thing a company does when they are building a paper trail to get rid of someone.

My spouses boss started this kind of thing to start a paper trail. Luckily he outsmarted them. Started logging everything, sending copies of emails home for documentation etc. Sure enough when the shit hit the fan, it was his boss that was almost fired. Long story but OP better have a plan B.

[Anonymous]

You didn't respond timely to one person who matters, and you probably know who. If they are powerful enough to demand a formal reprimand, I'd be wary of how you respond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup have an autoresponse saying that

OP here. My spouse suggested this as well and I implemented this and very specific automatic responses for when I'm in a meeting when I arrived at the office today. Thank you!

This was going to be my suggestion.

I really think you need to know exactly what the reprimand says before you can start planning your response. If you don't get specific examples then ask for them. When you do respond be very precise. Include the fact that you have now start using an autoresponse.

I don't know if they will tell you who it was but maybe you can figure that out from whatever information they do give you.

[Anonymous]

Is this a private sector gig? To me, it would seem strange to refute a reprimand at a private sector company. If you are getting cross with a higher up this might just make you more cross with them. I realize government may be different but if you are essentially an at will employee what good would this do? At most I would say something very neutral like " I am aware that this concern has been raised. I make every effort to be responsive and will continue to do so. There have been some challenges associated with our department being somewhat understaffed that I hope will be alleviated in the near future with a recent new hire. Nonetheless, I will take this concern seriously and work with my direct supervisor to be sure that any issues are addressed."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a private sector gig? To me, it would seem strange to refute a reprimand at a private sector company. If you are getting cross with a higher up this might just make you more cross with them. I realize government may be different but if you are essentially an at will employee what good would this do? At most I would say something very neutral like " I am aware that this concern has been raised. I make every effort to be responsive and will continue to do so. There have been some challenges associated with our department being somewhat understaffed that I hope will be alleviated in the near future with a recent new hire. Nonetheless, I will take this concern seriously and work with my direct supervisor to be sure that any issues are addressed."

I've never (no has any of my family) have worked for the government, which is probably odd in this area, so I'm not sure how things work there. But as a "private sector" employee all my life I would always refute something like this. Why would you want something that is untrue or even not the true picture in your file. I also think at one point OP said that this can effect raises, bonuses and promotions. I would most certainly want to clarify an incorrect account if that was the case.

[Anonymous]

I think you need to find out what the expected timeframe is for responses and then stick to it.

Auto-response message, too.
Subject: Got your email!
Body: I'm in meetings / on deadline / etc. until 0:00, and I'll get back to you with more info. then.

[Anonymous]

Are you the adminstrator in my department? Because if you are, please know why you are being reprimanded.

You have failed to do essential tasks that have resulted in real people both suffering personally and not being able to do their jobs. When you do do tasks, you fail to update me so that I end up have to send you three emails you have to read, in addition to the email from your boss that you finally respond to.

I am a valued employee that is integral to your organization and I am sick of what you are doing. You are getting in the way of my mission. I have a folder of the emails you never responded to after 2, 3 or 4 requests, and a list of the things that happened as a result of your failure to respond, even if it was just to say you were too busy, or to forward them to delegate.

I am helping another colleague get rid of you which is why you got the reprimand, which is your first step out the door. Yes, you were overloaded but you could have delegated. You could have problem solved but you just created a huge hole that damaged my team, my work and is going to be very expensive for my organization to dig out of when we finally hire new people, which thankfully we are doing.

Get your resume together, and hope that they never call me as a reference. Although I might just say a few nice things about you to ensure that you never come back here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you the adminstrator in my department? Because if you are, please know why you are being reprimanded.

You have failed to do essential tasks that have resulted in real people both suffering personally and not being able to do their jobs. When you do do tasks, you fail to update me so that I end up have to send you three emails you have to read, in addition to the email from your boss that you finally respond to.

I am a valued employee that is integral to your organization and I am sick of what you are doing. You are getting in the way of my mission. I have a folder of the emails you never responded to after 2, 3 or 4 requests, and a list of the things that happened as a result of your failure to respond, even if it was just to say you were too busy, or to forward them to delegate.

I am helping another colleague get rid of you which is why you got the reprimand, which is your first step out the door. Yes, you were overloaded but you could have delegated. You could have problem solved but you just created a huge hole that damaged my team, my work and is going to be very expensive for my organization to dig out of when we finally hire new people, which thankfully we are doing.

Get your resume together, and hope that they never call me as a reference. Although I might just say a few nice things about you to ensure that you never come back here.

OP here. Thanks for that! That just gave me a laugh which I needed after all this unexpected stress. Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not your administrator.

As far as an update at this point I'm just waiting for my letter to see what it does say. HR let me know that there is no formal policy about timely communications and that it is up to each department. My boss is out so I can' fact find there. I've just been getting all my facts together so I can respond to the letter when it does arrive so I can just put this to bed and move on since this is just such a time suck. I went from being super excited about my job to being really down about it and went from being the department all star to getting reprimanded in a matter of seconds. My head is still spinning. Thanks for all of the advice thus far! I have used a lot of it .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For emails asking that you do something, can you send a one-line response acknowledging the email and giving them a timeframe for completion? That way at least they can't say you are completely ignoring the emails.

I don't agree with the poster who said if they give you a timeframe for emails, then your bosses need to adhere to that same timeframe. They are bosses and can do what they want. I do agree you should get clarification on expected response timeframe, and also be sure to put in writing that you are doing multiple people's jobs and that is a reason why email responses may be slightly slower, if they are really slightly slower.

Disagree. If OP is being accused of violating a company policy, the company policy must exist somewhere in writing, and if it's going to be selectively applied, it needs to be worded in a way that indicates that the expected timeframe for responses applies to employees of a certain level within the company. If the policy is being used to generate formal reprimands, which as OP stated can have negative effects on various things for employees, then it needs to be crystal clear what the policy is and who it applies to.

I think we are talking slightly past each other. We both agree the policy should be in writing, but my point is that a written policy does not necessarily need to apply to those high up on the food chain. There are different standards for underlings and those who run things; whether that is fair or not is a separate question. So I would never suggest that OP adopt the attitude that she could ever call her superiors to account for taking longer to respond to her emails that she takes to respond to theirs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For emails asking that you do something, can you send a one-line response acknowledging the email and giving them a timeframe for completion? That way at least they can't say you are completely ignoring the emails.

I don't agree with the poster who said if they give you a timeframe for emails, then your bosses need to adhere to that same timeframe. They are bosses and can do what they want. I do agree you should get clarification on expected response timeframe, and also be sure to put in writing that you are doing multiple people's jobs and that is a reason why email responses may be slightly slower, if they are really slightly slower.

Disagree. If OP is being accused of violating a company policy, the company policy must exist somewhere in writing, and if it's going to be selectively applied, it needs to be worded in a way that indicates that the expected timeframe for responses applies to employees of a certain level within the company. If the policy is being used to generate formal reprimands, which as OP stated can have negative effects on various things for employees, then it needs to be crystal clear what the policy is and who it applies to.

Umm, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you the adminstrator in my department? Because if you are, please know why you are being reprimanded.

You have failed to do essential tasks that have resulted in real people both suffering personally and not being able to do their jobs. When you do do tasks, you fail to update me so that I end up have to send you three emails you have to read, in addition to the email from your boss that you finally respond to.

I am a valued employee that is integral to your organization and I am sick of what you are doing. You are getting in the way of my mission. I have a folder of the emails you never responded to after 2, 3 or 4 requests, and a list of the things that happened as a result of your failure to respond, even if it was just to say you were too busy, or to forward them to delegate.

I am helping another colleague get rid of you which is why you got the reprimand, which is your first step out the door. Yes, you were overloaded but you could have delegated. You could have problem solved but you just created a huge hole that damaged my team, my work and is going to be very expensive for my organization to dig out of when we finally hire new people, which thankfully we are doing.

Get your resume together, and hope that they never call me as a reference. Although I might just say a few nice things about you to ensure that you never come back here.

OP here. Thanks for that! That just gave me a laugh which I needed after all this unexpected stress. Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not your administrator.

As far as an update at this point I'm just waiting for my letter to see what it does say. HR let me know that there is no formal policy about timely communications and that it is up to each department. My boss is out so I can' fact find there. I've just been getting all my facts together so I can respond to the letter when it does arrive so I can just put this to bed and move on since this is just such a time suck. I went from being super excited about my job to being really down about it and went from being the department all star to getting reprimanded in a matter of seconds. My head is still spinning. Thanks for all of the advice thus far! I have used a lot of it .

PP here. I'm glad your not my admin. I knew you weren't because her boss is not a woman. You actually sound like a good employee who has been overwhelmed.

That said, one trait you could use more of is to truly listen to criticism. Not mine, of course, since it's not necessarily relevant, but when your boss gave you feedback about things that aren't going as well as they could you immediately got defensive. Yes, of course you want to avoid being fired, but the best employees investigate this feedback thoroughly to see how they could do better. You have failed to recognize this opportunity and act on it. Setting an "I'm away" auto email is a start, but you could otherwise investigate how you can do better.

In my own job, honest constructive criticism is amazing when I can take it and use it like an adult. I hope you get through this but also do that too. It will be valuable not only when your department is understaffed, hopefully a transient event (but honestly, probably will happen again) but also when things are back to normal.

[Anonymous]

In addition to some of the good advice you are getting here, may I add, do not be combative. Be pleasant and factual. There is nothing I hate more than giving an employee negative feedback and getting a temper tantrum from them as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like the sort of thing a company does when they are building a paper trail to get rid of someone.

My spouses boss started this kind of thing to start a paper trail. Luckily he outsmarted them. Started logging everything, sending copies of emails home for documentation etc. Sure enough when the shit hit the fan, it was his boss that was almost fired. Long story but OP better have a plan B.

They are setting up a paper trail. Document everything. I did this some years ago and was able to show harassment and that many of the citations were pure BS. My supervisor left company shortly thereafter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For emails asking that you do something, can you send a one-line response acknowledging the email and giving them a timeframe for completion? That way at least they can't say you are completely ignoring the emails.

I don't agree with the poster who said if they give you a timeframe for emails, then your bosses need to adhere to that same timeframe. They are bosses and can do what they want. I do agree you should get clarification on expected response timeframe, and also be sure to put in writing that you are doing multiple people's jobs and that is a reason why email responses may be slightly slower, if they are really slightly slower.

Disagree. If OP is being accused of violating a company policy, the company policy must exist somewhere in writing, and if it's going to be selectively applied, it needs to be worded in a way that indicates that the expected timeframe for responses applies to employees of a certain level within the company. If the policy is being used to generate formal reprimands, which as OP stated can have negative effects on various things for employees, then it needs to be crystal clear what the policy is and who it applies to.

I think we are talking slightly past each other. We both agree the policy should be in writing, but my point is that a written policy does not necessarily need to apply to those high up on the food chain. There are different standards for underlings and those who run things; whether that is fair or not is a separate question. So I would never suggest that OP adopt the attitude that she could ever call her superiors to account for taking longer to respond to her emails that she takes to respond to theirs.

yeah, pretty sure this approach towards policies is going to get a company sued.