My boss at work tells me he is getting complaints about me (temp, position)
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I work as a temporary Office Manager though my title is Administrative Assistant. Almost everyone in the office has interacted with me for offical purposes at one time or another. I am the person they talk to about Phones, new hires, telephone lists, company events, furniture, maintenance issues, office arrangements, etc. I am filling in for someone who has been sent to Iraq.
My reputation in the office according to the people I talked to (many) is easy going, approachable, friendly, quick to please, and efficent. I am not in real life at all like I am on this message board, goodtype is a charactor. The only person in the real life who says I am difficult is my boss, but he will not tell me how.
Many times when a temp company sends someone out for a job, they have a contractual agreement that if the temp is doing a good job, the company will hire them on permanently and pay a certain fee to the temp agency. Since they haven't asked the temp agency to replace you (since you're doing such a bad job according to them) I would guess that this is a tactic they use to avoid having to honor their obligation to the temp agency to offer you a permanent position. This way they can keep you on doing your job but they'll have a good excuse to let you go when your contract is up. Then they tell the temp agency that you didn't do the job right, and according to the contract, the temp agency has to send them someone else. Sometimes they get the next temp at a reduced cost or free of charge, or sometimes it's just cheaper to pay a temp agency to permanently supply them with a string of temps than it is to pay benefits to FT permanent employees. Depending on your state law, after a certain amount of time in a temp position, they may be required to offer you the job, so I would check into that.
I work as a temporary Office Manager though my title is Administrative Assistant. Almost everyone in the office has interacted with me for offical purposes at one time or another. I am the person they talk to about Phones, new hires, telephone lists, company events, furniture, maintenance issues, office arrangements, etc. I am filling in for someone who has been sent to Iraq.
My reputation in the office according to the people I talked to (many) is easy going, approachable, friendly, quick to please, and efficent. I am not in real life at all like I am on this message board, goodtype is a charactor. The only person in the real life who says I am difficult is my boss, but he will not tell me how.
Unfortunately, you'll never get a straight answer from your coworkers. I went through this. Was pulled aside by my boss saying coworkers felt I was being difficult and had developed an attitude (funny because for the prior 3 years everyone loved me - all of a sudden i was difficult and had an attitude). Remember, it's a temp job. you're "real boss" is the temp agency. they're the ones who can be your reference if needed and if you develop a great working relationship with the temp agency. If the job starts to really become a problem, I would call the temp agency and ask them to start looking for a new assignment for you. good luck.
I agree with Sassberto and others, cuz I can be a complete knucklehead, but I've been lucky to work with people who tell me so!
If you want to try again, I suggest going online to some Human Resource sites, who can give you tips on how to deal with people (or buy a few books).
Ideally, you can do the following:
1) Smile and make small talk - but keep it short and non-political/non-religious/non-controversial.
2) Smile when coworkers call or come to your desk. Find out what they need, advise them of what you know. *Smile* again and say "Thanks and let me know if you need anything else."
Problems like this can arise when co-workers are snarky or likewise, if you give them the short-shrift because you are overwhelmed.
Bottom-line - this is not a permanent or likely to be permanent position, so you can choose to 'play' with your working style and maybe observe and learn; or
Ask your temp agency to re-assign you, that you would like another assignment as this is a bad fit for you (if you can do this financially, of course).
Good luck, Goodtype. Whatever you do, don't panic and have faith that you can pull through this.
Sounds like the boss needs to grow a pair. Just do your job until you find something else. If they won't tell you what you are doing wrong, then just do what you've been doing. You probably aren't doing anything wrong or they would have already canned you. But whatever you do, keep your chin up and remain cheerful and don't let them know they are getting to you. Don't let the bad attitudes of a few morons dictate what kind of mood YOU are going to be in. Good luck.
I am working a miserable job as a temp for the foreseeable future. Or at least until they fire me. I was called into the bosses office today and here is a summary of the conversation:
BOSS: I just wanted to know I have been talking to some of the people in the office and many of the people are not happy with the customer service you are providing them.
ME: I am committed to doing a good job so I would like to sit down and talk to the people who are complaining about me and find out what their concerns are, so I can do a better job next time.
BOSS: I am sorry but that is not possible because they came to me in confidence. I promised them that I would not tell you who they were.
ME: Then could you tell me what I did wrong so I can do a better job next time.
BOSS: Sorry, I can not get into details because that way you would find out who is complaining about you.
ME: Then I can not improve because I do not know what I am doing wrong.
BOSS: (just before he leaves the room) Just clean up your act and do a better job in customer service.
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I am working as a temporary Administrative Assistant and am now demotivated. How can the boss not tell me what I am doing wrong unless he lets me know who is complaining about me behind my back. (He wants people to be able to come to him in confidence but the final result is management by gossip.) The agency just said do your best and they will try to find something for me if I get fired. (Doubtful... because I will have a black mark on my record)
I have a boss like that.
Unsubstantiated claims against me by someone who didn't pass her boards and I did. So she is trying to get rid of me. No one sees this but me and they dance around the whole thing.
If I'm not mistaken, isn't a company required to hire a Temp after a certain period of time?
Maybe this is a tactic the boss uses routinely to avoid keeping a Temp past this time period. This way the company doesn't ever have to provide benefits for that position.
Companies aren't required to do anything.
Even if there was a contract asking them to have them go direct and pay a fee after a certain amount of time, there is always a clause. And the company can always claim the employee is a bad fit.
And you're right, they don't want to pay benefits or give anything more than they have to.
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