With apologies to Hal Briston, who managed to screw up royally a few weeks ago, it’s now my turn.
I royally and truly fucked up at work. Without getting into specifics, it was my fault, it is irreversible, and management is currently talking to HR. I manage a number of different projects, and one of them fell through the cracks. I discovered it 24 hours after I could have completely salvaged the situation without anyone in the world being the wiser (not that I would have screwed anything up at that point - it was literally 24 hours between “Munch is doing a great job” to “Munch fucked up”).
Upon discovery, I owned up to it immediately. I went into emergency mode, and contacted everyone I needed to in order to see if the situation could be fixed. But at the end of the day, I screwed up, and the project was completely lost. It affects an outside organization, and it’s not fair to them. I feel like a complete incompetent, and since I have been scrambling to get every single other thing that I do under control so that it doesn’t come anywhere close to what happened.
If I were fired tomorrow, it would be justified. And that scares the ever-living shit out of me. It was my fault - which makes me ineligible for unemployment. I don’t have a ton of savings, so there’s not much of a cushion to fall back on.
So - the advice portion of the thread: What do I do at work? I’ve tossed around the idea of sending out an e-mail to the three supervisors above me who are, this week, determining my fate; laying out what I did wrong, what led to this, what I plan to do, and show how well I understand how deeply this affects not only our organization, but the outside organization we work with (and the people they serve). Would that help? Would that be a terrible idea since it’s a document that all but seals my fate in front of an unemployment commission?
I’m not looking for pity, just any advice that people may have.
I think you’ve already done the most important thing - owned up to the issue.
The question will be, whether this is a one time thing - do you have a good reputation at your company? If so, the three supervisors may be trying to figure out how to save your ass - if the outside client is looking for someone to hang.
I think the e-mail is a good idea, but, I would definately emphasis what your plans are for correcting the situation, and ensuring that it does not happen again.
Good Luck!!
I’d think that an otherwise-valued staff member who made one screw-up like this ought to at worst be put on some sort of probation. They’ve presumably invested quite a bit in you at this point and it would be self-destructive to drop you for one mistake, however bad (short of causing death or injury of course).
But without knowing your corporate culture at all it’s hard to judge what advice to give. My instinct would be to go ahead with your full and frank confession, although perhaps better in a face-to-face meeting than by email. If you can extract anything positive from the occurrence that would help your case a lot. Show that you’ve learnt a hard lesson, you understand the impact on your organisation and the external one and on the individuals involved. Give no excuses.
Not necessarily. In my state, an employee that is fired for cause is still eligible for unemployment unless the employer can prove misconduct. Making a really huge mistake probably doesn’t meet the definition of misconduct unless there’s evidence of intent, or violation of written policy…something like that. Your state may have different laws, of course.
I’m not so sure that something so concrete would be a good idea. I’m thinking of something a little more vague, asking for their input, might be better - get them invested in your future. After all, they are your supervisors and your failure is theirs too: they failed of supervision to spot that you screwed up. Try to turn the situation from ‘Munch fucked up’ to ‘Yes, Munch fucked up, but in doing so, he’s taught us a valuable lesson.’
Maybe both, start by asking, then say what you’ve already figured out, end asking for their opinion again. I assume you know whether your corporate culture is the kind where it’s best to go for email or for face-time and, if it’s email, how long.
If you are going to create a document – and I think it might be a good idea to do so – focus on the steps you have taken and will take to 1) make it right again and 2) make sure it never happens again. If you can bring in a new client or project to offset the loss of revenue from the project you screwed up, be sure to mention that. If you can’t, then lay out your plan to show what steps you’ll take to prevent a similar situation in the future.
When I was a manager, I hated it when my staff made a problem for me to fix. I was very much inclined to cut people a break or give them another chance if they could A) fix it and/or B) lay out a plan or implement a quality assurance procedure that would prevent the problem from happening again. Bonus points for developing a QA process that would work for everyone on your team/department/whatever.
Whatever you do, don’t fall on your own sword and be a martyr and act so contrite that you’re practically begging HR to fire you. Show how conscientious you are and how hard you’re willing to work to un-do whatever damage has been done and your value to the company will offset the one mistake.