Urgent Help/Advice - School/UNISON

[Mr.G]

Hi All

 

I work in a fairly Large Comprehensive School, have done for the last 4.5 years. Started as their only Technician on a less than admirable salary, now i'm the ICT Manager and have my own Technician. Still not paid fairly IMO of course. Due to the Exhausting and overly demanding volume of work here there was no choice but to employ a Technician, however, the Technician only works part time. 8:30 - 1:30. An the work set is more than enough to ensure "busy" days. I am the direct line manager for my technician and am therefore responsible for setting work out and training of. I know that most of you do the same job, i just want to paint you a picture of my position here.

 

I'm responisible for everything IT based here, infrastructure, servers, cabling....you name it and i have to do it.

 

My problem stems from the School asking/forcing me to implement Exchange Server for over 1300 users. Now i'm not "pretending" to know all there is to know about Exchange Server but i'm fairly up to speed with how much work it takes to implement such a thing and whats involved in the management. I don't do anything half "assed" and would always do things thoroughly. I know you can throw and Exchange box in and just get it "working", but to do the job properly i believe takes more than that. Security precautions, message filtering, virus scanning and disk quotation are just "some" of the things that spring to the front of my thoughts.

 

Now I've looked for Exchange Administrator Jobs across the net and have found that £30K salaries are in place for such a position. There is obviously a reason for this!! Plus these Admins are only doing "one" job day in day out. How am i expected to do all this and my job too???

 

I've taken on "huge" amounts of responsibility during my time here for no extra salary increase with the hope that i will be "rewarded". Lol, guess i was wrong. The school now think that Exchange Server is part of my job description. I have had 1 meeting with the School Manager to discuss this but i was left confused and have now sought Unison advice, they back my position and have said it is not part of my job description and that it is an extra duty which would demand more responsibility and extra time would have to be allocated outside of my "normal" job to properly manage and implement the system. I wrote a letter to the school explaining that i would not take on this extra responsibility with no course of re-numeration or even a job evaluation, just as the union told me to.

 

I have since received a letter from the School keeping with their original story that it is part of my job description. I now have to see my Unison representative and start the process of pleading my case. To say this has caused me stress would be an understatement. I feel pressured in work and it is beginning to affect my health. Tension headaches etc. Lets get one thing straight though, i'm no wimp and will not be pushed over a barrel. But as we all know schools are weird places to work at times due to the politics and sheer volumes of different stresses put upon you.

 

So i'm asking advice here! What would you do? Just give in and do it? Or fight your corner and make a point, which could cause you more hassle?

 

I'm going to speak to my Union in person this evening hopefully, taking all documents with me. I'm not looking forward to coming into work everyday like i used to. I Used to enjoy my job. I wont discuss my current salary but mentioning the 30K Exchange Administrator - I'll tell you it's a "LOT" less.

 

I look forward to any response from anyone who can relate to this or who can give any advice.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mr.G

[Mr.G]

Anyone??

[Geoff]

Have you considered asking for some exchange training?

[wesleyw]

I'd fight my corner.

 

However does your contract state after the usual list of jobs you are expected to do ... and anything else deemed appropriate by the head, deputy or SLT? or something to that effect? I know mine does, well it syas something about other projects or tasks.

 

 

Wes

[witch]

I think I would fight it out

Yes, contracts do tend to say that you can do anything else they deem appropriate, but if your level of work/supervision etc has increased dramatically already with no increased salary then the school has already crossed the boundary of what is sensible.

If Unison think you have a case, I would go with them

Get a list of the things involved in installing exchange server and the jobs to maintain it.

Also list all the extra things you have taken on since you started there - after all, if you now manage a technician that is a big 'extra' and should be rewarded as such.

Perhaps a two pronged attack - on the one hand, Exchange is a huge extra, and on the other, you are not being paid as a Network manager whic is what you are. If you can't get them one way, get them the other.

Try not to give up - I know it is hard but this is what schools rely on so that they do not have to sort out their pay etc

Good luck!

 

Sarah

[alan-d]

I see your point in wanting a pay rise for the job you do, but to be honest, once Exchange is in place within a school there is no real difference to maintaining other servers, as far as time is concerned, within a school environment anyway.

 

You don't mention your pay scale, but I'd suggest you compromise part way, because there is no way you will get 30K just for looking after an Exchange box in a school.

 

The best way forward would be to carry out a time/job evaluation for your post and approach the management again.

[elsiegee40]

I would stick to your guns for a Job evaluation... there is a limit to how much you can actually do under the "anything else that management request" get-out clause.

 

I wouldn't pin your hopes on the 30K - schools are notoriously bad payers. however, you should be able to get you job description to more accurately reflect your job... hopefully the pay will follow.

 

The way your SMT are seeing it: Exchange is software they want and your job is to install and support software they want... as such they may have an argument that it is included in your contract.

 

Good luck

 

Lin

[pallen]

The problem is that if people dont know enough about IT, then they could request you install and look after anything. I am in a similar situation here were more and more software is requested with no extra change in contract status (or pay)

 

However it needs to be made clear that the management of ANY extra software needs to be included in your contract unless the management of other things are being removed.

 

I have started refusing to look after software if it is not reflected in my pay/contract. It may not cause you much extra work (after initial setting up) but ultimately it will be you who is responsible if anything goes wrong. This should be reflected in your contract and I would stick to your guns.

[MkII]

In my part of Wales we're doing a county wide Job Evaluation, I would imagine that your area should be doing this too.

 

In my county there are comparable jobs in the County Councils dedicated IT Department, so we're measured against them.

 

It's not acceptable for you to be asked to do anything just because your profession is IT. You must be suitably qualified, so insist on that before you accept any responsibility, and the re-grading process is there if you're not offered the accompanying remuneration.

[Mr.G]

Thanks for all your comments, they really do mean a lot as i feel like i'm fighting a loosing battle sometimes, it's good to know others opinions. Seems like there are others who experience the same.

 

Exchange Training would be a good idea yes, but why should i take on the responsibility of another "full time" job while doing one already? It's one thing installing/configuring an exchange server but another managing it when it goes completely wrong.

 

The ownership will be put to me and i will be the one under pressure to get it back up and running.

 

My JD does say "Anything the Head Teacher sees as Reasonable". Is another full time job reasonable? I think not, the Union have backed me and have already told me to say i'm not under obligation under my JD to carry out the work. If they thought that i would have to then they wouldn't have backed me in the first instance.

 

30K...well i'm not asking for that. Nowhere near, I'm on Scale 5 Point 23. Not sure if its the same scale as you guys all have but it equates to under 20K.

 

I've explained what it involves, but obviously they don't see that it falls out of my JD.

[MkII]

You could suggest an alternative supplier: MCW in Wrexham will support if for you on an annual contract. Call out is usually about £800 per day.

[ninjabeaver]

Fight it all the way. If not, you set yourself a precedent for any other "job" they deem to be under your jurisdiction and you will have no case to fight in the future. Use Unison to the full as well. When they get their teeth in they don't let go.

 

I totally understand that you are not fighting for more money, but trying to defend yourself from even more pressure from the job. Good. Just about all ICT Technicians / Managers etc will be in your boat at some point in their education careers.

 

If possible, and not adding too much to your workload, perhaps a full documentation of what you went through and how it was handled would be worth posting for reference for others at some point.

 

Good Luck.

[Mr.G]

Yea i've been thinking the same. If i don't fight it then i'm open to anything else they may suggest. I'm just waiting on that call now from the Union. Hope they ring soon.

 

When the case is over i'll post up anything i can to help others who might need the same advice. I really hope nobody else has to go through this as its not a very nice position to be in.

 

Hope i have some fight left in me thats all!

 

Mr.G

[plexer]

I asked our LEA HR department about what the any other duties could entail and it's obvisouly duties that relate to your post however they have to be reasonable demands.

 

Ben

[Mr.G]

Thanks for all your advice and help. It is appreciated, very much. I've now had a meeting date scheduled for Thursday Morning 9am. Informed the School Manager that the Union is coming in too.

 

The School Manager said that if i'm not going to Implement it then they wouldn't be purchasing the Server. lol, tell me something i didn't know!

 

I hope the Union will back me 100% on this now as i've started the ball rolling.

 

Mr.G

[witch]

Good news about your meeting but I still think that if I have got it right, and you are now Network manager with management responsibilities with no more pay, then this also needs to be fought!

[john]

I look after exchang and TBH once its running its self caring, it looks after itself, you just keep an eye on the logs etc, I maybe look at the actual box once a week, postmaster inbox daily and eventlogs every other day, and they are normally fine, clearly if I see a problem then I will dig deeper, but they normally run fine once going.

[starscream]

I got picked to do a job evaluation and to be honest it was a right mess. Bascally they have set criteria for your job and you tell them if you do it or not. They did not allow me to tell them the extra jobs and responsibilities I have because my job title is Technician. Now I do a hell of a lot more than what a technician does and an IT Technician is usually someone who works in a team of other IT support people so their job is much more centre of the line and directed to technical support stuff. Being a technician is about 10% of my job. I do so many other things it is unreal but they did not allow me to list these as my job is listed as technician. The idea behind a job evaluation is that you dont get a pay rise, they look at the role as a whole and decide is all technicians in your LEA etc are going to get a rise. So I need to get my job description changed. Problem then is I will have more responsibilities on paper and same pay!

[Roberto]

I'd certainly support the need for training having your job re-assessed and I definitely support you wanting to be paid what you're worth but running an Exchange server isn't a full time job in most places unless they have very large and very specialised deployment. At the end of the day it's just another email server.

[Roberto]

I got picked to do a job evaluation and to be honest it was a right mess. Bascally they have set criteria for your job and you tell them if you do it or not. They did not allow me to tell them the extra jobs and responsibilities I have because my job title is Technician. Now I do a hell of a lot more than what a technician does and an IT Technician is usually someone who works in a team of other IT support people so their job is much more centre of the line and directed to technical support stuff. Being a technician is about 10% of my job. I do so many other things it is unreal but they did not allow me to list these as my job is listed as technician. The idea behind a job evaluation is that you dont get a pay rise, they look at the role as a whole and decide is all technicians in your LEA etc are going to get a rise. So I need to get my job description changed. Problem then is I will have more responsibilities on paper and same pay!

 

Perhaps the obvious answer here is to turn this on its head and only do what is currently listed as a responsibility for your job title?

[pallen]

I'm guessing this is more the straw that borke the camals back? People seem to be saying that adding an exchange server is not a full time job, but I'm guessing that there have been many jobs that have been added over time, under the guise of "it's software so you support it". I would suggest that you write everything you do down, compare it with your job spec and flag any areas that are vastly outdated. This may help those that are less IT literate understand what it is you do.

 

If you have progressed from Technician to Network Manager you should have had a new contract. It sounds like this has never been addressed and more work has just been added.

[Mr.G]

Hi all.

 

Overwhelming support from you guys! Can't thank you enough for all your positive replies.

 

It is and has been a very hard position to hold, with just myself here for the best part of 4 years. We have circa 400 hosts here over 2 networks with 9 servers which are accessed by segmented VLAN over a Gigabit full fibre backbone. All of the work here has been done by myself. Spent loads on a site wide HP procurve solution. CISCO was to expensive.

 

The thing is, this job has always been a 2 person job, realisation from SLT has only happened recently and to be truthful it has been a long time coming. As i've already said, loads of responsibility has been added to my JD with no renumeration. I have been a "YES" man since i started here and the staff here have become complaicant with that.

 

Now though, the fact that i will not take on MORE resposibility is causing me problems. I have had an updated JD given/writen out, which i agreed to and signed. But nowhere on that JD does it mention Exchange, it is regardless of the fact it may not be a "WHOLE" load of work, the simple outline here is that it is additional work and responsibility for me and me alone. When "anything" goes wrong with "any" IT related equipment it is me that is called on. Even plugging in a projector if the staff don't know how - LOL. It will be the same for the exchange box. It will also be heavily used and relied on.

 

The fact that i have a part time technician to help/support me is neither here nor there. It doesn't alieviate my workload, just adds to it, as there is one more thing to manage. Not that i am complaining of course. I am very grateful to my technician for the help/support provided as for too long have i been running around without my head attached lol.

 

It is the principal of the additional items being added onto my JD and self worth that is paramount here, not the case of "just another e-mail server". We don't have e-mail facilities here for pupils or teachers, just admin staff. Pupils/teachers currently use hotmail accounts etc to access mail. If i take this lying down then whatever happens i'll continue to be put upon. I have to set guidelines and boundries to where i will be pushed.

 

I've almost completed my CCNA and have far too much resposibility to just sit there on a less than mediocre salary. Fair is fair! Or isn't it??

 

Mr.G

[Roberto]

It is the principal of the additional items being added onto my JD and self worth that is paramount here, not the case of "just another e-mail server". We don't have e-mail facilities here for pupils or teachers, just admin staff. Pupils/teachers currently use hotmail accounts etc to access mail. If i take this lying down then whatever happens i'll continue to be put upon. I have to set guidelines and boundries to where i will be pushed.

 

Right. Adding site-wide email for all staff and students is a big issue that will certainly add to your department workload, and your overall responsibility however it is managed.

 

This is important and the angle that I would attack from, I wouldn't rattle on about how it's exchange server and you saw a job advert for a full-time exchange admin once and it said the salary was.... The platform is irrelevant, the work is what is important. If your school hired a full-time minibus driver here they'd be focusing on the amount and type of driving involved, not on whether or not the vehicle came from Ford or Vauxhall.

 

I've almost completed my CCNA and have far too much resposibility to just sit there on a less than mediocre salary. Fair is fair! Or isn't it??

 

Absolutely. You have the right to fair compensation for your qualifications, abilities and experience. Sadly, your employer is not obliged to be the one who gives you what you deserve (I'm diplomatically reaching for 'your boss may be an idiot' here), so you should pursue this but you might also have to be prepared to find the only way to get the salary you deserve for the work you're doing is to move on.

 

You might find searching public sector trade rags or online public sector jobs, and the like, find some comparable jobs to yours with a more suitable salary and use this as evidence that you deserve that rise.

 

And good luck. I know my replies probably sound a bit biting and cynical (I prefer to think of myself as 'experienced' but still) but I really hope you can get that fair day's pay for your fair day's work that we all deserve, but these are questions / attitudes you will have to answer to get that payrise.

[Mr.G]

Thanks Roberto,

 

Another constructive post. I'm feeling confident now that Thursdays meeting with the Union will sort out any missunderstandings i may have about my job and what i should or shouldn't be doing.

 

I'll let you all know how i get on an if successful with my regrade or "case" i'll make a walkthrough of what i did to tackle a tricky situation, hopefully then that will help others who may be in my position in the future!

 

Thanks once again,

 

Mr.G

[john]

...If your school hired a full-time minibus driver here they'd be focusing on the amount and type of driving involved, not on whether or not the vehicle came from Ford or Vauxhall.

Clearly you haven't worked in my school, as that is an issue in my place! Whoever thought (AKA SMT) that we would be fine with a minibus that has 16 seats and is 4.5m long instead of the old one that had 16 seats and was near enough 7m long clearly couldn't spot that there will be a compromise here! AKA you cannot take 6th formers in it and forget taking the cricket team or hockey team in it as you cannot get all the kids in and the padding in with them in the new one as its lost 2.5 meters or so in length I tell thee never let SMT buy a vehicle as they will get it wrong!