surprise meeting with hr and manager

Super fast and dependable service and very friendly! I used to work for someone who was the best business communicator I have ever metclear, direct, and reasonably kindbut she had a grave, serious manner that she used for almost everything. But his schedule was free, so he took that time to reach out to team members. Open to any strategies on how to manage this as a manager! (Not just being fired. Still, a notification email could at least be clearer about the topic. . He had a specific format: Joe Bloggs, please come and speak to me after assembly, You Are Not In Trouble.. It just means that HRs function is to serve the needs of the company. Grand-boss told me my department was being eliminated, effective immediately. I was terrified. At the start of each meeting, pick a word of the day such as cucumber. See who can slip the word into the conversation without others noticing: I really think that if we cucumber the system with a little extra investment, everything will work much faster. If you catch someone using the word yell, word of the day! (Bonus: It might also keep the team more focused on what is being said.). Its very useful. I once was laid off and once had a coworker with whom I worked closely be fired. Done laundry or cooked a meal while on a call. I was totally there. Human resources management is a process used to manage employees working for an organization. While there are certainly things that managers can do to mitigate the anxiety response many folks have for understandable reasons..but for the times when it really is about someone else and they will not tell you until the time of the meeting, its worth being mindful theres never going to be completely correcting for it. My you-are-being-laid-off meeting for OldJob the week before Christmas was so sudden that I think it may have done the opposite for me (i.e. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Alisons answer nailed it. Watched a full show on YouTube or Netflix while on a call? It only takes a few extra seconds to say got a sec? The last time this happened to me, I was laid off. Why? Except I was so relieved that I agreed on the spot when he threw in casually that they would of course raise my salary something like 3%, in line with inflation. My original salary was set as part of a college program, and it was extremely low. Because it just tells the rest of us that we can also be valued and talented and respected and still lose our jobs tomorrow. Even in times/jobs when I know Im killing it I get a little panicky with these short-notice no-agenda meetings. (It wasnt the first time I had been late.). Im realizing, though, that I often text my boss with do you have any time this week we could meet or something to that effect and I dont give them a heads up as to why. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Glad that it was good news for the OP. But irrationally they can fire you for anything! Turns out, one of my coworkers had died in a tragic accident and they were trying to be break the news in a sensitive way by meeting with everyone individually. That was how they handled our layoffs at exJob. An HR meeting refers to any sit-down (or virtual) discussion between human resources and an employee, manager, department head, or anyone else in the had this happen to me. Copyright 2007 - 2023 Ask A Manager. Is that something I should be attending?. literally was blank. Some were just kind of shell-shocked. When checking calendars to schedule that meeting, I noticed my boss had a event titled Jane check-in (my name) for later in the week, but I hadnt received an invite. It was not worrying at all, and Id strongly recommend it. One thing I learned in my sometimes-rocky management career is that your reports always, always watch you much more than you watch them. For YEARS almost every time I was called in my boss or grand bosss office I was terrified I would be fired. As a manager, my reasons for saying something like, Hey can you come to my office when you have a chance? always means I have something to discuss thats non-urgent and wont take much time, so doesnt need a formal meeting invite. His response is also always whats wrong?. On the other side, I called a quick meeting with my then-manager a few years ago, with the intention of asking to start using an available benefit. Update the question so it focuses on one problem only by editing this post. Other than that, theres nothing you can do, so dont let anxiety consume you for something that may not happen. Ditto this. So I can prepare. I did appreciate that, but I still remained a bit on edge the whole time I was there. I am a teacher in Ireland and I have never heard of a teacher having a regular scheduled 11 with the principal. I stressed about it for days and thought there was at least a 25% chance I was going to be fired or reprimanded (for what, I have no idea! You tend not to remember them because they are immediate problem/solution things and you move on quickly. Alternative to 'stuff' in "with regard to administrative or financial _______.". I accept everything Alison says about catastrophising and running through worst case scenarios in ones head, but these days if someone wants me to attend a meeting, I expect them to have the courtesy to tell me what its about in advance. Web26 Thoughtful Ways To Celebrate Birthdays At Work (Remote Ideas Included) 1. Workplace anxiety is similar to a trauma response, and it doesnt magically go away when you leave the anxious workplace. And if its about something else, like a scheduling issue, a brief note to that effect will help them assemble their thoughts on the matter so they are not blindsided and having to respond on the fly. But basically the new executives were there to announce at the Town Hall that they were closing our office and everyone was being let go. Yes, I work with a therapist and a psychiatrist. And it was for terrible news a coworker whod been battling a long-term illness had died but I was so relieved for myself personally that I had to remember not to smile in that very solemn meeting. For my colleagues who are in their 50s or 60s, the phone is the only option, for discussions of any urgency. Damn, dude! So really do your best to keep your mind out of it and, if you have reasons to believe youre going to be fired, take a look at what can you do to control the damage, like update your resume and start saving money. Showing search results for "Surprise Meeting" sorted by relevance. And THATS supposed to make you feel better? I guess Ive just worked in some really strange places because this whole comment section has me feeling like Im from a different planet :)). A meeting that offers no information like that is what people are talking about. My supervisor is so dang clueless. If you do choose to involve HR, be wary that some find it distracting (if not a bit ominous) to have HR in the room when the PIP is being Not only will it bring attention but laughs as well! I highly suggest preparing No.4 from @Hilmar's answer: Prepare for the worst. This is an extreme case, but it sounds like your boss isnt. Far more likely, ofc, that it's something very formal but not fatal. Have a trophy 6. This OP could have been me last week. 5. So, a well-known set of actions within a well-known framework. Im not alone! Scheduling a meeting with your employee with no information about the topic says to them I am your superior, and I can command your time with no explanation whenever I feel like it. Nobody likes to be treated like that. This happened to me twice. If you have never played Have You Ever, its pretty simple. Im honestly not sure for myself, so curious how others feel. If I get a no topic invitation, I ask what its about. I didnt sleep all night, I kept telling my spouse I was sure they were firing me before I was even licensed! Grandboss in Teams chat: Hey, do you have a few minutes to talk? My family was adamantly against that, but Alison pointed out- after some back and forth emails to get more info- that they hadnt been job hunting at all/in years so their advice wasnt based on experience. Performance reviews or meetings with my immediate supervisor cause defcon-1 levels of anxiety. Our meeting rooms have names. It is such poor form. It could be about something which doesn't relate directly to you at all - for example an incident involving some co-workers which needs to be investigated, and someone has stated (whether correctly or not!) I think were at the point where all managers should be aware that these blind invites cause a lot of stress for *many* people. Its absolutely a trauma response that I cant get over, because theres never been safety or resolution since. Grave matter that must be addressed. I really feel for this letter writerthat is so stressful! As a manager who has been involved in a few firings/PIPs that led to resignations, I can tell you that at most midsize and large employers youll never be immediately fired if things are going well with your job. A meeting I genuinely thought would be about reviewing a task due while I was away. Does that make sense/help? I was late, after all, so I was expecting to be scolded or even worse, fired. LOL. how do I respond to employees asking if they should be worried about an upcoming bad-news meeting? When I get such invitations I email back and ask the person who invited me how/what they hope I will contribute to the meeting. Turns out my boss had cooked up a reorganization of the office so that she could get rid of me and another employee she didnt like (the other employee luckily was able to resign for a better job in time). All the activities below require no preparation and take less than 10 minutes to run. I ended up getting a diagnosis of PTSD and am taking steps to deal with it (including research, mindfulness, medication, and strategies for telling my new and not-insane management about my challenges). When my boss had to schedule a last-minute meeting he put added good news in the subject line. And there are definite steps the OP can take to prepare. What it was about and how you handled it. rev2023.6.28.43515. The higher-ups reiterated the team leaving out of the blue were fantastic, did an awesome job, and exceeded all expectations. Alison, your back-and-forth here is so kindand absolutely wonderful to read. We got a departmental meeting request, which wasnt entirely rare. ! Sometimes your personal notes end up public!! I am 50 & hate phone calls! I just stopped caring about their opinion though I still cared about my job. Ah! If my coworkers see this they will recognize it, so Im not using my usual name for it, but its too hilarious not to share, in this context. update: is my job the problem or is it me? Or when the whole leadership team is in the office early. So Im not saying OPs fear was unfounded. That being said: I once worked a place where a couple of new executives came to visit and put out a notice there was to be a Town Hall on Monday morning. 13 functions of human resources departments The human resources department holds responsibility for numerous tasks and activities that support the business and its employees. Nope, nothing in the first meeting indicated that at all. Of course, when its followed with If he doesnt do these five assignments in the next three dayswhich hes known about for weekshell flunk for the grading period, thats a whole different kind of alert. Its just like yeah, okay, I guess were checking in about [what Ive been working on/some project were both on/my thoughts on a change in the office/a new assignment]. And, hopefully, its not too late to turn the situation around. With companies likeGoogleextending working from home until as late as 2021, and others likeTwittergiving employees the option to continue working remotely indefinitely, virtual meetings are more likely to become the norm than the exception. I had another where I asked for feedback on a difficult assignment and it turned into a surprise mid-year review (we never did mid-years up to that point). I was wondering about this. Current job is excellent in all aspects, but it took me three years of working here before my boss could say, Hey could we talk and it wouldnt result in me getting heart palpitations. Years ago (long before the pandemic), my organization switched to optional work from home, and the uptake was huge. And it was about how I should take breaks at work and try to eat snacks to keep my energy up lol. It is understandable if it needs to be rescheduled in a specific week, or if it doesnt Usually, its just Sorry, but I told this team youd help them with this thing FYI or Please explain this project to me I missed all these meetings. But I am also high anxiety so there is always this little ping even now after dozens of these impromptu meetings where Im like OH GOD IM GETTING FIRED!!! I dont see any reason to worry its a firing though! It turned out to be a buy-out that we didnt know was in the works, but WHY TELL US ON FRIDAY IF YOURE NOT GOING TO ACTUALLY TELL US? Government progress on meeting net zero commitments is now "worryingly slow" according to the independent Climate Change Committee. Most likely a formal change to your work arrangements. Right, but only if people already had that fear. Then I would be able to focus on the actual content of the meeting without worrying if what was being said was leading up to me not having a job. My coworkers also have similar emotional reactions not a psychologist, but it kinda seems like a trauma response. You will make people so much more relaxed just by doing that. Project partners and project teams have a regularly scheduled time to coordinate their project work and I hate Town Halls to this very day. My principal invited my mom to join a parent-teacher committee that was not the PTA but had some sort of specific goal about improving engagement. The OP was looking at schedules to complete an assigned task and noticed the appointment. Is that normal? That happened a lot at my company and everyone would whisper and try to find out and sweat and speculate. I would just say dont worry I am not quitting I just need to talk about something personal/sensitive, Haha the same thing happened with my boss. I have been on the other side of this (kind of). It was also announced what the severance payouts would be, and calls for volunteers for layoff or early retirement were sent out. It's clearly significant: Written invitation and HR presence means it's something official where HR makes sure that all laws and procedures are followed. The only other time I have seen a large impromptu meeting was: Scared me something good until he told me about my raise. I am very careful to say what a meeting is about in very broad strokes or to be clear that its just news, neither good nor bad. Ive experienced something similar to your second scenariodepartment head suddenly told me that were doing annual reviews, when we have never done themand Im pretty certain I was the only one being reviewed. My personal worst iteration was when the HR rep messaged me to ask if I had a few minutes to talk, then disappeared for 45 minutes, then came back and clarified that I needed to be somewhere private, and disappeared for another 30 minutes. This. Either we were merging with another division, or a site was closing, or they were announcing that a coworker had died. ), our team was folded into another group (we have since been moved yet again), and at least two of the folks newly above us were very fond of scheduling meetings last-minute. Performance issues, ways to address them and next steps should come up in that setting, so that, at the very least, people expect theyll be having that kind conversation. Everything he was going to say got completely derailed by people panicking because suddenly being told theres a reorg and that its a ten minute meeting isnt the best way to do it. Ill send him an email and ask. It is a well known trap. update: do I need to give up an impressive business contact whos hitting on me? Constant rescheduling and disorganization. We walked over to a meeting room and, yeah. Should I ask my boss what the meeting is about and say I saw it on his calendar when scheduling the other meeting for project B, or let it go and see what happens? I checked his calendar and I saw my meeting got moved to 3:30pm today but still no invite. (Her backup is fine, but she is A+++). Another person (also a contractor) started around the same time and was fired (deservedly so as they were determined to do the jobs of higher-level coworkers before they had even mastered their own). Like, Wait, was I supposed to be afraid of losing my job? 3. When I schedule meetings with others, I have a clear subject and as much information as is known at the time. I haaaaate got a sec? IMs. But I dont think thats typical. I'm confused as to why a member of HR is attending on a supposedly one-on-one meeting and no other explanation was given. Or, they offer you your job back, when they realize they didnt think the layoff/firing through quite enough. Do you like it? If all your people are working from home, organize a rapid-fire home office scavenger hunt. Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor. My group has used them for both big but vague news and information they dont really want to put in writing. These kind of very shocking, your employment ends this second layoffs dont make sense to me unless the employee works with very sensitive material, but perhaps theres a legal reason I dont understand. I was totally blindsided, the meeting seemed so innocuous since Id only been there three months. People legitimately need to know when you are available, but they dont necessarily need to know what an existing appointment is about. Reward your staff based on individual interests 9. A few bosses ago we had a principal that would send you an email at 6 pm or later on a Friday night that said see me first thing Monday. With no context. I also worked for a kind but serious boss who had a habit of impromptu calling me from his office across the hall with Can you come to my office? No hello, no nothing else. In the US, most of us have been through at least 1 restructuring and almost everyone knows someone whos been laid off at one point. More transparency in those positions would likely have helped OPs anxiety here. I remember the two times it was Something. How common are historical instances of mercenary armies reversing and attacking their employing country? I feel like companies just operate this way because they assume they have to for security reasons, or to avoid people flipping out (or even worse), but I also think that the consequence of this is a lack of trust between the worker and the company. On the flip side, my husband recently got a an invite for a 15-minute quick chat from a direct report. I received have a sec? messages from two excellent colleagues last week telling me about their resignations before I heard about it by official channels or gossip. This applies even if your workplace is not unionised. I had the same feeling in my Old Job someone got fired, I was clearly annoying management, and they asked me at the end of the day if I was willing to come into their office. Ive started saying Im going to send you a meeting invitation so we can go over (insert topic here) before I even send the invitation. Reminds me of a few months back when my manager said we needed to meet about some administrative business. promoting someone). Why not? But in previous jobs I hated it b/c I never knew what they wanted. Fundraising or other donations might also be a topic of discussion. I needed to schedule a chat with my supervisor to tell her I was pregnant. This happened to a coworker of mine recently. Turn this sad reality into a game by trying to fool each other into thinking youre frozen. Because no one knew what this meeting was and he had scheduled it for 10 minutes.

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