Hi everyone. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the story...because it's a long one. 
I am a 28 year old female that works for a large financial corporation. I have been with the company for eight years, became a Manager in February 2004. I started off my career in Branch A. I always wanted to be the manager of Branch A, which has been a problem branch. It is in the city with a large account base and more difficulty delinquency issues than others. I had three different managers while in that branch. When the second manager quit, I was promised the Manager position at branch A. I ran the branch as the manager with an Assistant Manager title for two months. At the end of those two months, the district manager at the time, hit me with the surprise that they were going to give the branch to a gentleman from another branch instead. This man got a very large raise for taking on Branch A. Six months later, Branch B had an opening for a Manager, so I put in for that and got it. I didn't get any type of large increase. In fact, when I got to the branch, I realized that I was making less than the Assistant Manager that had worked there. I stayed in that branch for 5 months until the Manager position came open again in Branch A, and I immediately put in for it. I was the ONLY person that put in for it because it is a difficult branch, but I didn't care. I was asked by the Regional Manager at the time to type up a letter stating why I wanted the branch, and why I thought I would be able to handle it. This is not standard when someone is applying for a position. But I did it. I couldn't understand why I had to, but I wanted that branch. Long story short, I got the branch in February 2004. I received a 10% increase which is nothing compared to what the previous managers there made.
As soon as I got to the branch, one of the employees, a male, went on disability. I was told later on that he didn't want to work for a woman and was transferred to a branch where there was a male manager. So, off the bat I was one person short. The following year, 2 more employees quit because they were unhappy about salary and found better paying jobs. That left me with three employees plus myself in a 6 person office. We hired another gentleman in September 2005, which left me 1 person short. In January 2006, another employee quit for the same reason as the two prior employees. This left me again, 2 people short. In March 2006, an employee from another office transferred to my office. She quit in April because she wanted to be closer to home and was promised that my office was only temporary until they could find her a position closer to home. So, two people short again.
From May 2006 until November 2006, I was 2 people short. So, there's the staffing issue of this whole problem. On top of that, my district manager promised me to have another employee in my office June 2006, that didn't happen. The branch was due for an audit, so for three months, we became consumed with that and interviewing was put on a back-burner. The Managing Director came to my office and saw that I was not getting any resumes from my recruiter, and had over 30 resumes emailed to me that day. Now, keep in mind that in August, I had found a candidate that I wanted to hire. She was a 20 year old female with no previous experience, but I could tell that she had what it took to do the job. I was told to hold off on hiring her, because she wasn't the best candidate.
In October, my district manager became aware of an employee that wanted to transfer to my office who had 2 years experience. With that information, he told me that I could hire the 20 year old because this transfer could help me train her. So, the transfer started Nov. 5 and the new employee started Nov. 27. Finally FULLY STAFFED!
Now, before I go any further, I need to give you a little background on the branch. It is a problem branch. In 2006, the regional manager at the time told me that he was going to look into a mass sweep of accounts because after analyzing the branch's portolio, he saw that 58% of our customers could not be renewed and we could not get any business out of them, so that was hindering our production and hurting our delinquency. Well, that mass sweep never happened.
The company has a program called the Impact Branch Program. It is for branch's not growing their receivables and doing poorly in Loss Control. The program is a joke. The branch manager is supposed to be set up with a mentor, the district manager is to be more involved in helping the manager and it is supposed to be at training program to help the branch. I have been in the program for the past 3 years and none of the above has happened. I have been promised training, conference calls, etc., but no one did their part. The program starts January of every year. The mentor is to visit the office in December prior to it starting to determine what we need to do to succeed. It is now March, and I have only received one phone call from my mentor. No visits, no extra training.
Okay, so back to the staffing. After the 2 new employees started, things were looking up. But, to no surprise, there was a wrench thrown into the mix. My Assistant Manager, who was my best employee, applied for an accelerated Manager training program. He was accepted, and was given a mentor in a different office, because I was not qualified to be his mentor due to failing an audit in the prior year. My district manager picked a male manager from a different office. I was told by this other manager, that my assistant manager would be transferring to his office in Jan 2007 because he could not stay in mine. When my Assistant Manager found this out, he wanted to back out of the program because he didn't want to leave my office. He was told by my district manager that it would look bad on his part and hurt his career if he decided to do that and that he had two days to make a decision. Again, long story short, he transferred Jan. 2nd. So now, technically 1 person short, but I also have a brand new employee with no experience to train. Now, the employees that I currently had working in the office...two of them were not producing. The one female employee went to my dm and advised him that she had a lot of personal problems going on and that she comes into work every day and fakes it. She does what she needs to just to get by. The dm did nothing about it. She was given a Record of Discussion for her performance. The other gentleman working for me was doing a great job in one area of his job description, all others needed improvement. He came to me and told me that he wanted a raise. When I went to my district manager and told him this, I advised him that I didn't agree with it because he was not meeting the expecations. He advised me to come up with a 90 day set of goals and if my employee met them, he would submit it. I did that. He spoke to my employee one-on-one and advised him that he didn't care about the goals I came up with and was going to submit for his raise anyway. The employee got a 10% increase and is making 2K less than my Assistant Manager who is a female. He is a position lower than her. Since the raise, his behavior and performance has gone downhill.
Ok, so now that you know a bit of history on the branch and staffing, let's talk about my current situation. On Dec 7, my dm came to my office and took me in the back room. He told me that I was doing a great job, he noticed improvement in me as a manager, the office was really turning around, BUT he had to give me a PIP. A PIP is a Personal Development Plan. What this means is I am given a set of goals for 90 days. If I don't hit these goals I am either demoted or fired. I was blown away. The goals that I was given were goals that not one other branch in his district (which consists of 5 other branches) were hitting. I couldn't understand how after all that I had been through in the past year with the staffing issues, branch performance, etc., could be put on a PIP. When I asked him about it, he said he had to and had no choice because the branch lost over 600K in 2006. The PIP was dated Nov 1, 2006 and was not given to me until Dec. 7. My dm scratched out the date and handwrote the actual date. He said that he was going to help me get through this, and that the Impact Branch Program would help me, etc. Keep in mind, that December, January and February are our slowest months. So I was facing a big challenge here.
In January, the employee that transferred to my office brought to my attention that she was being harrassed by her former manager. We spent 2 hours documenting everything and forwarded it to my dm. He advised me that he would talk to this manager's district manager and see what he could do. I advised him that I was going to report everything to HR, and he advised me that it wouldn't be in my employee's best interest to do that because it would put her in a bad "limelight" and if I wanted to give her a raise, she needed to stay out of that light. He said that I really needed to talk to her and convince her to just "let it go". I didn't have to talk to her at all, she came in the next day and said she was just going to focus on doing well in my branch. While talking about this employee, she makes 4K less a year than the male in my office that got the raise. They are in the same position. When I addressed this with my district manager, I advised him that she is a better producer, has more job knowledge and needs to be brought up to the same salary immediately. He told me he would take care of it. That was in December. This month, when I submitted their annual performance reviews to be reviewed for increases, he came back with hers and she only got a $600/year increase. When I asked him about bringing him up to the same salary as the male employee, he said that the recruiter advised him that I needed to decide if I still wanted to do it after a few months based on her performance, and if I did, we could submit for it. I was very upset. There should be no question of performance or whether or not I want to keep her, she should be making the same as the male employee. They are the same position. He said he would talk to the recruiter about it and nothing has happened since.
continued on next thread...
I am a 28 year old female that works for a large financial corporation. I have been with the company for eight years, became a Manager in February 2004. I started off my career in Branch A. I always wanted to be the manager of Branch A, which has been a problem branch. It is in the city with a large account base and more difficulty delinquency issues than others. I had three different managers while in that branch. When the second manager quit, I was promised the Manager position at branch A. I ran the branch as the manager with an Assistant Manager title for two months. At the end of those two months, the district manager at the time, hit me with the surprise that they were going to give the branch to a gentleman from another branch instead. This man got a very large raise for taking on Branch A. Six months later, Branch B had an opening for a Manager, so I put in for that and got it. I didn't get any type of large increase. In fact, when I got to the branch, I realized that I was making less than the Assistant Manager that had worked there. I stayed in that branch for 5 months until the Manager position came open again in Branch A, and I immediately put in for it. I was the ONLY person that put in for it because it is a difficult branch, but I didn't care. I was asked by the Regional Manager at the time to type up a letter stating why I wanted the branch, and why I thought I would be able to handle it. This is not standard when someone is applying for a position. But I did it. I couldn't understand why I had to, but I wanted that branch. Long story short, I got the branch in February 2004. I received a 10% increase which is nothing compared to what the previous managers there made.
As soon as I got to the branch, one of the employees, a male, went on disability. I was told later on that he didn't want to work for a woman and was transferred to a branch where there was a male manager. So, off the bat I was one person short. The following year, 2 more employees quit because they were unhappy about salary and found better paying jobs. That left me with three employees plus myself in a 6 person office. We hired another gentleman in September 2005, which left me 1 person short. In January 2006, another employee quit for the same reason as the two prior employees. This left me again, 2 people short. In March 2006, an employee from another office transferred to my office. She quit in April because she wanted to be closer to home and was promised that my office was only temporary until they could find her a position closer to home. So, two people short again.
From May 2006 until November 2006, I was 2 people short. So, there's the staffing issue of this whole problem. On top of that, my district manager promised me to have another employee in my office June 2006, that didn't happen. The branch was due for an audit, so for three months, we became consumed with that and interviewing was put on a back-burner. The Managing Director came to my office and saw that I was not getting any resumes from my recruiter, and had over 30 resumes emailed to me that day. Now, keep in mind that in August, I had found a candidate that I wanted to hire. She was a 20 year old female with no previous experience, but I could tell that she had what it took to do the job. I was told to hold off on hiring her, because she wasn't the best candidate.
In October, my district manager became aware of an employee that wanted to transfer to my office who had 2 years experience. With that information, he told me that I could hire the 20 year old because this transfer could help me train her. So, the transfer started Nov. 5 and the new employee started Nov. 27. Finally FULLY STAFFED!
Now, before I go any further, I need to give you a little background on the branch. It is a problem branch. In 2006, the regional manager at the time told me that he was going to look into a mass sweep of accounts because after analyzing the branch's portolio, he saw that 58% of our customers could not be renewed and we could not get any business out of them, so that was hindering our production and hurting our delinquency. Well, that mass sweep never happened.
The company has a program called the Impact Branch Program. It is for branch's not growing their receivables and doing poorly in Loss Control. The program is a joke. The branch manager is supposed to be set up with a mentor, the district manager is to be more involved in helping the manager and it is supposed to be at training program to help the branch. I have been in the program for the past 3 years and none of the above has happened. I have been promised training, conference calls, etc., but no one did their part. The program starts January of every year. The mentor is to visit the office in December prior to it starting to determine what we need to do to succeed. It is now March, and I have only received one phone call from my mentor. No visits, no extra training.
Okay, so back to the staffing. After the 2 new employees started, things were looking up. But, to no surprise, there was a wrench thrown into the mix. My Assistant Manager, who was my best employee, applied for an accelerated Manager training program. He was accepted, and was given a mentor in a different office, because I was not qualified to be his mentor due to failing an audit in the prior year. My district manager picked a male manager from a different office. I was told by this other manager, that my assistant manager would be transferring to his office in Jan 2007 because he could not stay in mine. When my Assistant Manager found this out, he wanted to back out of the program because he didn't want to leave my office. He was told by my district manager that it would look bad on his part and hurt his career if he decided to do that and that he had two days to make a decision. Again, long story short, he transferred Jan. 2nd. So now, technically 1 person short, but I also have a brand new employee with no experience to train. Now, the employees that I currently had working in the office...two of them were not producing. The one female employee went to my dm and advised him that she had a lot of personal problems going on and that she comes into work every day and fakes it. She does what she needs to just to get by. The dm did nothing about it. She was given a Record of Discussion for her performance. The other gentleman working for me was doing a great job in one area of his job description, all others needed improvement. He came to me and told me that he wanted a raise. When I went to my district manager and told him this, I advised him that I didn't agree with it because he was not meeting the expecations. He advised me to come up with a 90 day set of goals and if my employee met them, he would submit it. I did that. He spoke to my employee one-on-one and advised him that he didn't care about the goals I came up with and was going to submit for his raise anyway. The employee got a 10% increase and is making 2K less than my Assistant Manager who is a female. He is a position lower than her. Since the raise, his behavior and performance has gone downhill.
Ok, so now that you know a bit of history on the branch and staffing, let's talk about my current situation. On Dec 7, my dm came to my office and took me in the back room. He told me that I was doing a great job, he noticed improvement in me as a manager, the office was really turning around, BUT he had to give me a PIP. A PIP is a Personal Development Plan. What this means is I am given a set of goals for 90 days. If I don't hit these goals I am either demoted or fired. I was blown away. The goals that I was given were goals that not one other branch in his district (which consists of 5 other branches) were hitting. I couldn't understand how after all that I had been through in the past year with the staffing issues, branch performance, etc., could be put on a PIP. When I asked him about it, he said he had to and had no choice because the branch lost over 600K in 2006. The PIP was dated Nov 1, 2006 and was not given to me until Dec. 7. My dm scratched out the date and handwrote the actual date. He said that he was going to help me get through this, and that the Impact Branch Program would help me, etc. Keep in mind, that December, January and February are our slowest months. So I was facing a big challenge here.
In January, the employee that transferred to my office brought to my attention that she was being harrassed by her former manager. We spent 2 hours documenting everything and forwarded it to my dm. He advised me that he would talk to this manager's district manager and see what he could do. I advised him that I was going to report everything to HR, and he advised me that it wouldn't be in my employee's best interest to do that because it would put her in a bad "limelight" and if I wanted to give her a raise, she needed to stay out of that light. He said that I really needed to talk to her and convince her to just "let it go". I didn't have to talk to her at all, she came in the next day and said she was just going to focus on doing well in my branch. While talking about this employee, she makes 4K less a year than the male in my office that got the raise. They are in the same position. When I addressed this with my district manager, I advised him that she is a better producer, has more job knowledge and needs to be brought up to the same salary immediately. He told me he would take care of it. That was in December. This month, when I submitted their annual performance reviews to be reviewed for increases, he came back with hers and she only got a $600/year increase. When I asked him about bringing him up to the same salary as the male employee, he said that the recruiter advised him that I needed to decide if I still wanted to do it after a few months based on her performance, and if I did, we could submit for it. I was very upset. There should be no question of performance or whether or not I want to keep her, she should be making the same as the male employee. They are the same position. He said he would talk to the recruiter about it and nothing has happened since.
continued on next thread...
