Fed up with work situation, and not sure what to do.

Khaleesi07

Dealing with a situation at work, and not really sure what to do...

Back in February I started as one of two temp to perm employees hired to work in the sales/marketing department for what has been a great company to work at so far. Everyone is super nice, I like my job and my clients. When my supervisor initially hired me she said we should know if the position is going permanent in 3-5 months. We've been working on selling/marketing a new product for the company, and while there has been some trial and error (since it's a new product) things have been going good so far. Last month, my supervisor told myself and the other temp that they were going to hire one person for the permanent position, they hadn't decided if it was going to be one of us temps or an external hire, but that we would know in the next few weeks.

I figured that I knew going in there was a possibility of not getting hired permanently, (especially since I'm 7 months pregnant) and if they decide not to hire me, I can still collect unemployment. I'm due in August anyway, so I figured I would have enough time to figure things out, and still have at least some income.

Well a few weeks ago my company decided to restructure the sales/marketing/customer service departments, and with that restructure my supervisor, who I LOVED working for decided to leave the company. During a meeting with HR, I was told that because of the recent changes they would need more time with making a decision regarding the permanent position, and right now it's a "question mark". I was ok with that since even though the 5 month mark was approaching, and I had been getting a lot of good feedback that I was doing a great job.

Now that the 5 month mark has passed, I found out on Friday through a client, that the initial product the temps were working on is now being sold on-line by the company, and they had been sending out generic e-mail blasts to clients we've been working with! Which not only takes away from the commission we're trying to earn, but it makes us look incompetent that our own company didn't bother to inform us of this change, when clients call to ask about it! They basically had no intention of telling us and we would not have known if my client hadn't brought it up.

To add insult to injury, our new supervisor, who I do like, has asked us to work on other projects, similar to what the permanent sales reps are working on. Now, I'm more than happy to have an opportunity to take on more projects and hopefully make some commission off of it, but not at the expense of cheap labor! I am I being irrational in thinking we're just being used at this point? We work for a much lower wage than the permanent sales reps, and if they have us taking on more projects, it's been five months, and it's only fair to give us some clarity as to what our position with the company is!

I just don't want to continue until August, go into labor, and have to leave the company, when my position is in no way secure if I ask to come back after having the baby. And if I choose to leave, I won't be eligible to collect unemployment, so I'm not really sure what to do. At this point 5 months is more than enough time to know if someone is going to work out, so I'm starting to get fed up. Anyone else been in a similar position? Any advice would be great...thanks!

AsOctoberFalls

Khaleesi07:

To add insult to injury, our new supervisor, who I do like, has asked us to work on other projects, similar to what the permanent sales reps are working on. Now, I'm more than happy to have an opportunity to take on more projects and hopefully make some commission off of it, but not at the expense of cheap labor! I am I being irrational in thinking we're just being used at this point? We work for a much lower wage than the permanent sales reps, and if they have us taking on more projects, it's been five months, and it's only fair to give us some clarity as to what our position with the company is!

I do think it's irrational.  You agreed to work as a temp for a specific wage.  They're allowed to assign you to any project they deem suitable... you work for them!  If anything, I think it's great that you're being asked to work on the types of projects that permanent employees work on.  They need to determine if you're a good fit for the team long-term, and what better way than to throw you to the wolves, so to speak?

I was hired as an "intern" in a very similar situation at the beginning of my career; the only difference was they promised me I'd go permanent within 6 months if it worked out.  After 9 months, I had to start interviewing elsewhere (even though I had NO intention of leaving) in order for them to make the permanent offer.  I wasn't insulted by the work I was being asked to do.  It's part of the game.

BeckyTheEngineer

I worked this past year as an intern, where it was implied that I would be fully hired upon graduation. Intern pay is less than half of the going rate for my field. I was great with this set up, but the promised full time job has yet to materialize. But the thing is, I am also free to pursue employment elsewhere. I do like my current job, but will leave in a minute for double the pay. I also just had a baby, but I get no benefits or paid time off so that was not a concern. I'd say you are completely free to look for a new job, with the understanding that it will impact your maternity leave plans.

Khaleesi07

I probably am getting a bit too anxious, but it's mostly because I'm a unique situation because of the pregnancy. I'd like to spend time looking for another job, but with no PTO, I'm not sure it would be worth taking time off of work to go to interviews while realistically, I'm not going to have a lot of prospects being due in August. My plan was just to work my butt off for this company, and if I get hired, great, if not, at least I'd have unemployment to fall back on, and I can continue the job search after I have the baby. My former supervisor was always straight forward and honest with me, and things have been a bit disorganized since she's left unfortunately.

 

I'm just hoping they come to a decision or give me some sort of clarity before I go into labor. If there's no clarity in the next month or so, I'm going to have to talk to my current supervisor about where I stand in the company...I know that I agreed to work for a certain wage on a temporary basis, and I'm OK with them not hiring me, because I knew that a permanent job wasn't a guarantee going in. But as stated in my offer letter, the position was slated for 3-5 months, so I think it's only fair to keep us in the loop and let us know where we stand since it has been 5 months.

 

 

IBackBevo

I was in a somewhat similar position when I was in law school. I lived in Austin at the time (where the job market for lawyers is tight) and a local firm would hire 3rd year law students and recent grads as "law clerks," but essentially have us do the same work that young associates do in most firms...only at a pay rate that was a fraction of what they could hire a first or second year associate for with similar credentials.  The way they were able to get people to work for so little was that they continually dangled a carrot in front of you of saying that you might be hired on as a full-time employee.  What is more, is that they would even dangle this "you are competing for a job" scenario in front of all of us to induce us to work late, work on weekends, work during finals and otherwise do things that we never would have done for the little bit of pay we were getting.  It didn't take me (and others) too long to figure out that their law clerk program was really just a way to get cheap labor and that they virtually never hired any of their clerks.  I think we figured out that they had only hired 1-2 clerks in a five year period and had probably had 50 or more come through so-called law clerk program.  I ended up getting a much better job offer at another firm (for a permanent position) and left.  Of course, there were more na?ve "clerks" waiting to fill my shoes.     

Of course, you are in a different field and it is with a different company.  My thought process would be to just keep working hard at the job and start looking for something new.  It sounds like you can't really quit right now anyway because you wouldn't get any unemployment if you quit unless you just wanted to be without a job.  Plus, I think it is always better to look for a job when you already have a job.