Work Performance Archives

From India: I work as a tutor and I have been given a set of students. However, suddenly I feel unwanted at work.

The lady who is my Senior comes on a part time basis and has some personal crisis. She lectures and does not do one to ones. Recently, she had an agreement with the management where she takes overall one to ones from students of other tutors including mine. Management said they approved because she is insecure and going through a difficult phase in her life. I accepted gracefully as I wanted to genuinely help her and felt that students would also benefit from having another eye looking over their work.

But, now I see my student attendance has turned low as the students go to her as she is more experienced (our culture is that age is respected and I am much younger than her). The management blames me for the low turnout and I found out that she prods on students to find out other tutor’s mistakes. She blows some issues out of proportion.

I do not blame the students as given the opportunity any one would complain – what I am worried is she sneaking up stories to my boss to create a bad impression. I have tried explaining my boss that the lower attendance is as the students attend one to ones with her without trying to make it as complaining – I mean who wants to go to two tutors for the same?

I have been working for almost 5 years when she maintained a low profile and I did not have any such issues. Now I am starting to question my ability to perform and feel a bit betrayed as she was my mentor and friend.

Recently, another colleague jabbed at me suggesting perhaps I am performing badly due to the seniority (I got a promotion a year ago and I know she is jealous). These make me really hurt and question my sanity when I have committed myself so much to help the students.

I am unable to leave the job immediately as I am planning to migrate and will be doing so in another 1 year. I do not want to go for another job for a short time as this will reflect badly on my CV. I feel really useless and depressed at times.

You do have my sympathy. At one time or another, most people have to deal with a poor work environment. At one time or another, most people go through a period of feeling unappreciated and unfairly treated. That doesn’t make it okay. I just want you to know that your situation isn’t as unusual as perhaps you think.

In your case, management is on that woman’s side, not yours. Chances are that things won’t change unless she does something that management finds upsetting.

Normally, I’d tell you to start looking for another job, but you made it clear that isn’t an option for you at this time. Therefore, I hope you can find a way to take this less personally and to separate your identity from that is going on at work. You are not your job. You are an intelligent, thoughtful person whose letter shows maturity and fairness. Furthermore, you have a history of being a successful tutor, which says to me that you are patient and skilled as a teacher. No one can take those attributes and skills away from you.

Even though you need to keep your present job, perhaps you can consider taking on some tutoring work privately or you can look for a part-time position with another company. Either one would help you financially and would give you another source of recommendations for when you move.

I wish you well,
Dr. Marie

Hi, lately I have been more and more concerned that I am a slow learner and get nervous socially especially in a new crowd of people. This year I started a new job and did not pass my 3 month probation, the reasons given were that I took a long time to get up to speed with the job and still continued to make errors, I work too slowly and am not cut out for sales. This did not come as a shock as I was told this 4 weeks in and that I needed to pick up the pace in order to pass. I came in to work early every day and stayed back late to ensure that I met sales targets and had extra time up my sleeve to check my work and correct any errors. However I still could not acheive as much in a day as my colleagues who did not stay back a second longer. The manager also said that I was very quiet and nobody would know I was in the office if I didn’t keep asking stupid questions all day. This is not an isolated incident as in the past I have had feedback from previous employers that I was below standard and took a long time to get the hang of things and can recall countless other failures in my life even though I tend to put more time and effort into tasks than others. Basically I am trying to find out if I have a learning issue or simply a low iq and how can I go about improving myself? I have been lucky enough to have gotten another job and would really like to stay, I am 4 months into a 6 month probation period and feedback so far has been mostly positive. However I do work longer hours than other people in my office and need to spend more time checking my work and have come accross quite a few errors. I am in sales once again and am down the bottom of the sales stats with other staff who are also new but I do realise my employers will expect my stats to rise in good time. Speaking of time, time management is a major issue for me and is something I have been researching trying different techniques to improve myself. Any advise you have would be much appreciated.

An important first step is to be evaluated to determine whether or not you have a learning disability. For many people, these evaluations take place when they are children but that is not the case for everyone. There are likely many adults struggling with unidentified learning disabilities.

I am not familiar with the disability services in your country. I would encourage you to investigate how you can receive a learning disability evaluation. Check with your local health department, hospital or the government personnel. They may be able to point you in the right direction.

In the United States, individuals with disabilities have certain rights that their employers, by law, have to provide. If it were determined that you have a disability, this would likely help your employer to better understand the difficulties you are facing with your job. It might also mean that your employer would have to alter the job requirements to accommodate your unique needs. This may translate into a job that is tailored to your personal needs and abilities.

Consider discussing your concerns with your employer. It might help to clarify any misunderstandings related to your work performance.

You also mentioned that you feel nervous in front of others. This anxiety may be contributing to problems at work. You may find it beneficial to see a therapist. Therapists are trained to teach people how to deal with anxiety and many other problems. In addition, the therapist might also help you to improve your time management and organizational skills. Gaining these skills would very likely improve your work performance. It might also increase your confidence level.

Below are links to two websites that provide resources for adults with disabilities. Some of the information provided on these websites are geared toward American citizens but there is general information that is universally applicable. I hope this helps. Please take care.

National Dissemination Center for Children With Disabilities

Learning Disabilities Association of America

Dr. Kristina Randle

Work Performance

I Feel Unwanted at Work

Learning Issue Affecting Work Performance