Right - bit of a strange one to post on a forum, but after a little advice.
I work for a small-ish company, with two sites - 130 miles apart.
I do the ICT for the whole of the company (8 servers, 70 computers & 130 users)
The site I work from is based in Merseyside, a few other admin based roles are at the other site (HR.etc)
My question / issue is about working relationships between a particular department based at the other site.
The two staff in question work in the same (small) department and have only been working for the company for 6 months, one member of that department is a manager, the other an assistant.
As I am the "one man band" as it where covering ICT, more often than not I am very busy, often working early, late & weekends.
I feel that as a professional I provide a very good level of skill and support to the company, having completed various training and gained a few qualifications (Microsoft based, Cisco.etc)
As a person I feel I am very approachable (trying not to make this sound like a CV!) with a good attitude.
I feel I always have time for other employees, provide robust & adequate solutions for problems & questions.etc
From day one, I have felt fairly uneasy about these two staff in a certain department, they have the attitude of "they know best".etc
I have always done my utmost to cater for their needs for a department (they are known for being quite demanding) - they have much more ICT equipment than any other department.
My issue is around that department and myself - from my perspective im getting the feeling they think I am effectively rubbish with ICT.
They are constantly suggesting things to the CEO around ICT that do not make sense in a business environment, i.e requesting a colour printer for their department (even with access to a shared colour laser) and specifying the cheapest one available in Asda.
There are various instances of other things, another one was the fact they went above my head for ICT advice and started making requests straight to the CEO.
In the past I have bitten my tounge and got on with it - but its got to the point now where I am getting very frustrated with it all.
Here is the latest scenario;
They had a new member of staff, bringing the total to 3 - I was asked last minute to provide a computer with all the necessary software installs.
I was at that site the next day and managed to fulfill their request with setup done at the same time - computer was ready to be used.
A week has passed and they decided they needed an additional desk in the office for the new computer to be moved to (apparently having two desks next to each other is too crampt).
They had a new desk put in yesterday by the facilities department whilst I was on site.
Members of this department walked past me numerous times whilst I was working on a few other jobs.
When I got home last night I checked my emails to find a request to relocate the new computer onto the new desk - this was sent at 1pm - whilst I was working next to this particular departments office, as I was busy and didnt get home til 8pm, I didnt have the chance to check my emails until this time.
Co-incidentally, today I was asked for assistance by the CEO on the site I work at. As it was an issue with Microsoft Outlook, I instantly saw my name being mentioned on an email - naturally I read the email.
This email was from the manager of this certain department complaining at how unhappy they are with the ICT service they are getting & how it is unorganized - they stated that they had asked for assistance moving the computer yesterday whilst I was at site (but failed to mention it was an email, instead of asking me when they walked past!)
I bit my tongue again, but really feel like they are having a go at me behind my back at every opportunity.
I felt like calling and stating I had read the email, but obviously this would be an invasion of privacy - in my role this would not be good.
I feel I need to get my point across but again, my line manager is blatantly biased towards this certain department (she employed them).
I have rested safe in the knowledge that it isn't just me so far, as other department managers and staff have told me about issues they are having.
It is all very complex, another factor is that this managers "partner" also worked in ICT but is unemployed at the minute - you can guess what I'm thinking (trying to ween me out).
I have thought about making an anonymous complaint - but unfortunately the size of the company and nature of complaint will instantly give me away.
Hope all of that made sense!
I work for a small-ish company, with two sites - 130 miles apart.
I do the ICT for the whole of the company (8 servers, 70 computers & 130 users)
The site I work from is based in Merseyside, a few other admin based roles are at the other site (HR.etc)
My question / issue is about working relationships between a particular department based at the other site.
The two staff in question work in the same (small) department and have only been working for the company for 6 months, one member of that department is a manager, the other an assistant.
As I am the "one man band" as it where covering ICT, more often than not I am very busy, often working early, late & weekends.
I feel that as a professional I provide a very good level of skill and support to the company, having completed various training and gained a few qualifications (Microsoft based, Cisco.etc)
As a person I feel I am very approachable (trying not to make this sound like a CV!) with a good attitude.
I feel I always have time for other employees, provide robust & adequate solutions for problems & questions.etc
From day one, I have felt fairly uneasy about these two staff in a certain department, they have the attitude of "they know best".etc
I have always done my utmost to cater for their needs for a department (they are known for being quite demanding) - they have much more ICT equipment than any other department.
My issue is around that department and myself - from my perspective im getting the feeling they think I am effectively rubbish with ICT.
They are constantly suggesting things to the CEO around ICT that do not make sense in a business environment, i.e requesting a colour printer for their department (even with access to a shared colour laser) and specifying the cheapest one available in Asda.
There are various instances of other things, another one was the fact they went above my head for ICT advice and started making requests straight to the CEO.
In the past I have bitten my tounge and got on with it - but its got to the point now where I am getting very frustrated with it all.
Here is the latest scenario;
They had a new member of staff, bringing the total to 3 - I was asked last minute to provide a computer with all the necessary software installs.
I was at that site the next day and managed to fulfill their request with setup done at the same time - computer was ready to be used.
A week has passed and they decided they needed an additional desk in the office for the new computer to be moved to (apparently having two desks next to each other is too crampt).
They had a new desk put in yesterday by the facilities department whilst I was on site.
Members of this department walked past me numerous times whilst I was working on a few other jobs.
When I got home last night I checked my emails to find a request to relocate the new computer onto the new desk - this was sent at 1pm - whilst I was working next to this particular departments office, as I was busy and didnt get home til 8pm, I didnt have the chance to check my emails until this time.
Co-incidentally, today I was asked for assistance by the CEO on the site I work at. As it was an issue with Microsoft Outlook, I instantly saw my name being mentioned on an email - naturally I read the email.
This email was from the manager of this certain department complaining at how unhappy they are with the ICT service they are getting & how it is unorganized - they stated that they had asked for assistance moving the computer yesterday whilst I was at site (but failed to mention it was an email, instead of asking me when they walked past!)
I bit my tongue again, but really feel like they are having a go at me behind my back at every opportunity.
I felt like calling and stating I had read the email, but obviously this would be an invasion of privacy - in my role this would not be good.
I feel I need to get my point across but again, my line manager is blatantly biased towards this certain department (she employed them).
I have rested safe in the knowledge that it isn't just me so far, as other department managers and staff have told me about issues they are having.
It is all very complex, another factor is that this managers "partner" also worked in ICT but is unemployed at the minute - you can guess what I'm thinking (trying to ween me out).
I have thought about making an anonymous complaint - but unfortunately the size of the company and nature of complaint will instantly give me away.
Hope all of that made sense!
