Toronto Employment and Labour Blog: Sure Signs You Are About To Be Fired - Sign #2

SIGN #2: TIGHTENING THE NOOSE

You receive memos from your superior confirming meetings and conversations, a process to which you were not previously subjected.

Why is it that your employer is requesting confirmation of your actions, attendances and level of productivity in writing on a regular basis? What has triggered this need for written confirmation when none was required before? Why is there now a need to monitor your freedom of action when no such supervision was previously required?

Your employer is engaged in building a case that you are an underperformer to justify the initiation of steps aimed at remedying the situation by way of warning letters or other more draconian measures.

Once again, the best approach is to address your employer's concerns directly. Arrange a meeting to discuss the perceived need for reporting to your superior on a regular basis in a manner inconsistent with your level of responsibility, length of service and past practice.

Employees who are under pressure from demanding employers tend to react emotionally, often engaging in confrontational behaviour, rather than addressing the issues that have precipitated the reporting requirement. Employee resistance, particularly if adversarial, confirms employer perceptions that were responsible for the imposition of the limitations in the first place. Better to address these concerns in a low-key manner in order to ascertain their basis than to react negatively to these new restrictions. Some compromise may be negotiated, thereby re-establishing your willingness to work towards a solution and at the same time reducing your employer's concern that you are on a frolic of your own that justifies monitoring your behaviour much more closely.

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