Constant (possibly well meaning) criticism

LegacyUser

Without giving too much away

I work in a small company. Everyone has there own roles but I look after all the day to day running of the company and maintenance.
The work I do needs to be done everyday 365 days a year so when I am off at the weekends someone else has to do my job. We do it on a rota system so everyone works one weekend a month.
Unfortunately for me this means that everyone gets to pick faults in my work.
I dread the weekends that I'm not working because of this. I always get an email on monday detailing problems that were discovered or telling me things I should have done etc.
I don't think this criticism is meant to feel so harsh, and it is neccessary that I know of any problems but its getting ****ing tiresome.
I am always in on the weekend anyway, I work everyday. I come in on the weekend to check that everything is OK and that I haven't caused someone a major headache. If I have (which is rare) I stay and help them sort it. I work late every friday to do my best to make sure that all is OK for the weekend.

The criticism I get is usually very minor but its really starting to get me down. I sometimes get the feeling that everyone feels they can do a better job than me. They are always full of suggestions about how I should do things differently.
I love my job but I'm starting to think I am just **** at it.
Does anyone have any advice at all?

smcgiff

It would be helpful if you gave example of the types of advice.

Is it 'If you take the brake off the machine will run more smoothly' or 'I think you should leave your seat in the high position' type of advice.

I.e. is it ultimately useful advice or just mindless opinion?

dickdeasy

It is really difficult to tell

But here is what I would suggest - compile all of the emails, and create a checklist for yourself. Make it as detailed as possible. That way you don't repeat mistakes. Make checklist as detailed as possible

stevenmu

It's always worth keeping in mind that there's a lot of people out there who would prefer to complain about other people's work than to do anything constructive themselves. Sometimes it's just to make themselves feel better and more important, other times it's to make it look like they're doing constructive work when in fact they're doing feck all.

But, there are also people who will make constructive helpful suggestions, that may or not be poorly phrased and end up sounding like criticism.

It's important to learn the difference between the two.

When you get criticism in future, ask yourself if you could actually make similar criticisms about that person's, or other people's work, if they leave you in the same/similar position. And ask yourself if the criticism really makes any significant difference to anything, or if it's just pointless moaning.

Mrs OBumble

You should not be going in when you are not working: you are most likely overtired and stressed because of it. I can understand that you might need to do 7 days very casionally, but it shoudl be a one off not a regular thing.

It's quite possible that your current hours is leading to stress which is why you find the feedback so tiresome: if you were in a better frame of mind, you would welcome the feedback.

Also - have you talked to your manager about the problem?

mickdw

You do the job 5 to 6 days per week, each week. Anyone else does the job 1 day per month and they see fit to tell you how to do it better. Tell them to Fcck off.
Quite frankly, I would email them on a monday morning and advise that you do not wish to have your systems changed etc if they have messed around with your setup.
All assuming its not your boss thats filling in at the weekend.

Neyite

Yep, I'd be of the opinion that if the job runs smoothly while you are there, then the people who fill in for you are doing it wrong?

The checklist is a good idea, write out your duties as you do them every day,and how you do them, and they can tick them off accordingly. If it continues, keep a note of them, and ask to discuss with your appropriate supervisor which method should be standardised.

Bandana boy

mickdw wrote: »

You do the job 5 to 6 days per week, each week. Anyone else does the job 1 day per month and they see fit to tell you how to do it better. Tell them to Fcck off.
Quite frankly, I would email them on a monday morning and advise that you do not wish to have your systems changed etc if they have messed around with your setup.
All assuming its not your boss thats filling in at the weekend.

But what if they have spotted something you have missed ?
Often fresh eyes can see a problem that has previously gone unnoticed.

Also that attitude comes across arrogant , I doubt there is an employee out there who could not improve and refusing to accept the observations from the team seems foolish.


@OP
I think you need to take the criticism in the manner it’s given which appears constructive .
I think inviting those who have covered you to a workshop to brainstorm all the ideas they have might help get some traction on the ideas people have while also putting in place a forum for advice/criticism that is easier to handle than random e-mails on a Monday.

GS11

Its so easy to pick holes in how someone else is doing their job.

mickdw

Bandana boy wrote: »

But what if they have spotted something you have missed ?
Often fresh eyes can see a problem that has previously gone unnoticed.



.

I fail to see how the OP could be missing critical items each week and still manage to do the job day in, day out.
I think its out of order for the guy who in filling in to be continually offering advice in this manner.

ifah

I would be more inclined to send out an email to everyone thanking them for their feedback but that you woukd prefer it in a more structured fashion ratherbthan more emails that get lost in the sea of email - then at the same time suggest putting some type of bucket list in place to allow people to make suggestions about any note company processes you all feel could be improved.

I'm a big advocate of Lean and its processes and I have introduced LeanKit into different places I've worked to allow tracking of tasks, generating to do lists suggestion lists and then tracking progress. Have a look - leankit.com. Free to register a project and invite up to 10 participants.