Tricky work situation

I'd like to float by people this situation in the workplace we have going on and would welcome your thoughts.

A month ago we got a new manager in our store and I and everyone else took to him right away. He seemed more chatty, open, and is certainly a hard worker who is not afraid to get on with hard work.

We have this situation nationally where the company is looking to make efficiency savings and they are looking at cutting contract hours or maybe redundancies (this despite hiring more workers in August!). This is pending in January which is always a tough month in retail anyway.

Anyhow, yesterday I got to work and got about my usual task for that shift, and part way through another colleague approaches me and asks if I heard about another colleague (I will call him Tom). Tom does the same job as me on different days. Apparently he was told he had to do this task in two and a half hours. The job usually takes 4 hours and that is what I am contracted for on the shift I do. According to this colleague Tom was almost crying. Tom is a sensitive guy so this may be true but it may also be gossip.

Tom was told to do the job an hour and a half quicker however, another colleague verified that. Nobody has said anything to me about doing the job quicker, and I know it is not possible for me to do the job properly in that time. In context as a runner it would be like me being told to do a half marathon in 1:25 instead of my best time of 2:00 - it ain't gonna happen, not uless I miss out bits of the course.

At the moment I have said nothing, but I am not liking the vibes. I feel like this hours cut is hanging over us as it is. I may add this is an international company making massive profits, so not exactly a failing business. They just want to make more!

I like my job, but things like these are really really wearing and I cannot afford a cut in my contract, I am part time as it is.

How would people handle this situation, both outwardly and inwardly (maintaining my mojo in difficult times). I hate that Tom was spoken to like this (he is a nice guy, maybe a little slow but he is older and due to retire). I also feel like it could be me next.

That is tricky. My thought is that this may only have to do with Tom, because why did they not ask you the same? I wonder if someone in management wants to build a case that Tom can't do the job to get him to retire early or let him go. Could that be possible? I was in a job where my manager purposely gave my coworker a difficult project to make a case to HR that he didn't have the skills for the job (this employee didn't have great skills). He ended up using that to get him transferred to a lower level position.

If I was in the situation, I might talk to the manager about what you heard about Tom. I think it will continue to bother you until you know what is really going on.

I agree with Yzen. If the rumor about Tom is true, management may be trying to build a case against him (although it's not very smart of them to set different standards for different people). That whole thing with Tom sounds pretty strange.

Re: the pending cuts: These decisions are outside of your control (and probably your manager's control as well). I'm not sure there is much you can do besides continue to do well in the job so they want to keep you and to try not to let it get to you outside of work. I find that plotting out my Plan B helps.

That situation is really very difficult. I don't envy you having to deal with the Christmas rush with these 'efficiency' efforts hanging over your head.

Thanks so much both of you for responding.

I had wondered the same, if they were building a case against him. I am tempted to ask my manager what is happening, but concerned that I may be opening a can of worms. Not sure if I trust this manager yet either.

I do think the impending cuts are way above my manager, and also agree I should try to put it out of my mind. Maybe I do need to start looking around for other jobs though, just in case. The hours at this one really suit me and my other commitments however so I am reluctant to leave until I have to.

Thanks so much for the sympathy hvert, yes it is awful timing to announce these things just as we are dealing with the higher workload, not good for morale at all. Talk about Scrooge.

Is it possible that Tom was doing the job slowly already, slower than the 4 hours that it normally takes you?

Honestly, I would stay out of it. I love to be the person who stands up for others, but dammit, it has only brought me pain. So I'm going to say, keep your head down and do your job. Let others worry about their job.

Seesaw

There has definitely been an issue with Tom's pace generally, but it's not clear cut - the job workload varies from day to day plus also the supervisors often ask him to do little extra jobs which adds more time on (they have done that to me too). I do think he is slow anyway but these issues don't help.

I'm thinking along the same lines as you Seesaw, I'm not sure if my interfering would make anything worse so I'm keeping quiet. Although I very much sympathise with his situation.

Okay, so here is how it panned out. I was told by an admin that the manager said what he did to Tom because he felt Tom was not pulling his weight and it was not fair on other staff, including myself, who were picking up the slack. He felt Tom was dawdling along while we were busting a gut. Tom does dawdle, and tbh I'm not sure if he can help it or not.

I think this has served as a reminder to me not to jump to conclusions. Which I tend to do.