messed up in work, what to do next?

LegacyUser

I've a fairly high pressure job and yes, I've made a few mistakes in my time.
I'm certainly no top performer but I do ok and get averagish performance appraisals.

A few weeks ago I made a horrendous mistake in work. Wasn't entirely my fault but my name is going on a report to senior management.
And it's pretty much guaranteed I'll be in the boardroom in the next 2-3 weeks and asked to explain myself.
I hold my hands up, I messed up and the sum of money involved is possibly more then I'll earn in the next 20 years. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This happened in early January.
Oh yes, I've lost several nights sleep over it! It's replayed in my mind a hundred times a day. Hell I was watching Premiership Soccer Saturday in the gaff last Saturday night and broke down into tears on it.

I typed up my notice today and wanted to walk into HR but with a recession it's not something I'd do on the spur of the moment.

Is it an idea to ask my manager for ten minutes of their time and express my concern? Or wait for another few weeks for my inevitable call to the boardroom?
I realy respect my manager but I've let them and the department down badly here.

I've made mistakes before, learned from them and even got a payrise this year so I'm doing something right.
But this is a collasal mistake to me and it's consumed me for weeks on end

Yeah if possible get a union rep,Walk into HR and make an apology.
if you have never been reprimanded before you might be ok. good luck. don't worry mate whatever happens. its not worth the stress. why haven't these b*stards called you in yet if it happened that long ago?

Shelflife

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah if possible get a union rep,Walk into HR and make an apology.
if you have never been reprimanded before you might be ok. good luck. don't worry mate whatever happens. its not worth the stress. why haven't these b*stards called you in yet if it happened that long ago?

Sorry but what exactly have the company done wrong here? maybe they are investigating the matter properly before rushing into a decision.

its the Op that has screwed up here not mgmt.

Op if you trust your manager you caould have a chat with him to see how the land lies.

amdublin

I'd talk to your manager but don't do anything rash like resigning or anything!!!!!! More talk about your concerns and not the situation. ie. the situation is what the situation is so just talk to him about what could happen now and what should you be doing (ie. talking to union rep?)

In the meantime if I were you I would be talking to your union rep!

LegacyUser

Deleted User wrote: »

why haven't these b*stards called you in yet if it happened that long ago?

OP here.
And to answer this, these things take time. A risk report is done, checked by management, amounts checked and so on. It'll be weeks before it's finalized. Realy, I wouldn't be blaming management here, they're tidying up my error

I don't have a union rep, nobody here is in a union.
Most private sector workers aren't unions I suppose.

Shelflife

Shelflife wrote: »

Sorry but what exactly have the company done wrong here? maybe they are investigating the matter properly before rushing into a decision.

its the Op that has screwed up here not mgmt.

Your right they arent doing anything wrong and all well within their rights. Just angers the f*ck out of me that they can cause someone so much stress leaving him stew like that. Everyone makes mistakes. He is in a job of high pressure as he said himself.
I honestly don't see how people can defend companies in the modern age. The person defending them one week could be out of a job the next. That's the way its gone. i feel sympathy for op. he's a human who make a mistake - that's all.

amdublin

Deleted User wrote: »

why haven't these b*stards called you in yet if it happened that long ago?

Maybe they are fixing the problem or the results of the mistake that was made?

Once they have cleared that side of things maybe then they will deal wit the employee?

Zambia

OP I feel your pain I once had to put Direct debit files together. Anything I sent to the bank on this file would be removed from customers accounts. If I ever got it wrong almost every customer we had would go mental overnight. It would be paper making stuff.

Every time I hit process I used to kak myself a little.

If I where you I would sit down with the Manager and discuss it. Find the worse scenario and plan for that... chances are you will be over prepared in the end

Sleepy

Talk with your manager OP. Everyone makes mistakes, it's how they deal with them that separates the good from the bad.

A mea culpa usually goes down pretty well because people are so used to people trying to shirk responsibility for things they're usually so shocked by someone admitting it was their fault that it dissapates any anger which may have led to a rash firing / disciplinary action.

Go in armed with a proposal to correct the mistake or a means of preventing this mistake from happening again and it should stand to you.

unJustMary

Is there a defence that the company should have had processes and safeguards in place to stop the screw-up happening? Or do these exist, but you did you ignore them?

If you're not in a union, you should be seeking advice from an employment lawyer. (I think of union fees as a limited form of legal-advice insurance.)

Motley Crue

feckedup wrote: »

I hold my hands up, I messed up and the sum of money involved is possibly more then I'll earn in the next 20 years. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Is there a chance you haven't messed up as bad as you think? Does someone know about this incident already? I mean, if this is the case, I would assume you'd already have been fired...but you've not been, there's no sign of it, and if it is as massive as you say it is surely you'd be gone by now right?

Companies don't like bad workers, I assure you, if you'd been a bad worker you would never be where you are today - and despite what anyone else tells you - incompetence does not thrive in a workplace afflicted with recession.

I know it's hard not to think about anything else, but just try to examine what you actually did, ask yourself if the sum is as grave as you think it is...ask yourself how you would do it better next time, and prepare yourself for a meeting by having the answers to their questions....predicting what they would say to you, play devils advocate, and try and answer everything that might come up

and good luck

eejoynt

how do the work rules treat owning up to mistakes?

if you owned up it would be good, because somtimes people covering up an errror can cause more damage than the error itself


In some industries such as pharmachem the procedures of the FDA specify that someone who owns up immediately cannot be punished because of the downside of encouraging cover ups

sometimes a union can be helpful not just for mounting a defence but for talking you through your options

eejoynt

eejoynt wrote: »

how do the work rules treat owning up to mistakes?

if you owned up it would be good, because somtimes people covering up an errror can cause more damage than the error itself


In some industries such as pharmachem the procedures of the FDA specify that someone who owns up immediately cannot be punished because of the downside of encouraging cover ups

sometimes a union can be helpful not just for mounting a defence but for talking you through your options

Your absolutely right. Covering up in cases such as in the pharmachem industry, they look at it that your prepared to send potentially defective and not built to standard parts out into the market which could be fatal, also in other industries when look at the Toyota situation at the moment. Unfortunately its also human nature to panic at even the smallest of cock ups. Then you either climb up out of the hole by owning up or dig down further.

i don't know if OP is working in financial industry or pharmachem industry or whatever but if he/she did own up to making a genuine mistake he/she has grounds. its what he/she didn't own up to that's where 'gross misconduct' comes in. Even if you leave a gap between owning up its frowned heavily upon.

I can totally understand that if you make a mistake, you could panic, especially if your bosses put you under alot of pressure which in alot of cases you have unreasonable as*holes in charge who haven't a clue how to manage people.

Hope everything goes ok for the OP anyway. the fact it is eating he/she up shows that he is cut up about it and does care about his job.

LegacyUser

OP here, thanks for the feedback
It's financial sector anyway, executing hundreds (sometimes thousands) of transactions a day around the world. Messy and complicated as can be

In the end I did ask for a 10 minute meeting with the boss last week.
I didn't cover up anything, I didn't cause the mistake but I failed to solve it either so I was the last one to touch it and it's my name on the report to senior management!
I escalated to my team leader the second the problem got recognized who went their assistant manager, to manager and then to risk team and so on. No cover up for sure.

Oh yeah I got a bollocking over it but deserved I have to say. And a new fix and procedure put in place to stop it happening again.

It was explained to me that if I covered it up it's gross misconduct. And I know people have been sacked and gotten warnings on this in the past.
But in the sector we have, mistakes happen and sure we have a risk department for this very reason.
No warnings, no disciplinary action but what I learned was to ask sooner. This issue consumed for weeks and weeks and I visited a GP over anxiety and stress and was prescribed tablets. I won't be taking the tablets anymore anyway.
It's good to talk I suppose if you're weighed down with an issue

feckedup

feckedup wrote: »

OP here, thanks for the feedback
It's financial sector anyway, executing hundreds (sometimes thousands) of transactions a day around the world. Messy and complicated as can be

In the end I did ask for a 10 minute meeting with the boss last week.
I didn't cover up anything, I didn't cause the mistake but I failed to solve it either so I was the last one to touch it and it's my name on the report to senior management!
I escalated to my team leader the second the problem got recognized who went their assistant manager, to manager and then to risk team and so on. No cover up for sure.

Oh yeah I got a bollocking over it but deserved I have to say. And a new fix and procedure put in place to stop it happening again.

It was explained to me that if I covered it up it's gross misconduct. And I know people have been sacked and gotten warnings on this in the past.
But in the sector we have, mistakes happen and sure we have a risk department for this very reason.
No warnings, no disciplinary action but what I learned was to ask sooner. This issue consumed for weeks and weeks and I visited a GP over anxiety and stress and was prescribed tablets. I won't be taking the tablets anymore anyway.
It's good to talk I suppose if you're weighed down with an issue

glad you didnt get fired anyway mate. put it behind you.