Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

CA-00001491-001

15/12/2015

I worked for The Respondent for nearly 10 years. I started off on reception in 2005 and moved to the Admin team as training coordinator in 2009. In about July 2013 their head office in UK took us over, and my management changed. My manager and my team were now all based in the UK. My role was looking after customers training bookings when customers booked through our sales team, updating training schedule 3 months in advance, etc. All of this was working out fine and I continued my role in the Dublin office until I was contacted in October 2014 and was told by my manager that I would now need to get up to speed quickly with the UK Admin side as one of the admin girls in the UK was going on maternity leave and I would have to take over her calls also. I was now taking UK calls as well as Ireland calls and admin, but whilst taking calls and admin mail box I had one of my colleagues in the UK logged on to my PC and listening to my calls. I knew this was happening as it was supposed to be part of my training so I went with it but after two months I thought this was unnecessary as I was feeling very uncomfortable as the feedback I was getting was always very negative, I said to my manager a few times that I would perform better if I was left to my own devices and phone through to my team if I was stuck on anything. They did allow this some of the time but then went back to listening in on my calls again and logged on to my PC. I felt I was being put under extreme pressure to get up to speed as I was constantly being told I was not at their level. I never had any critique on my work before now. Even though I was taking on this new role, my contract never changed. In November 2014 I had to travel to the UK for 6 training days and I was told that having a UK colleague logged onto my PC and listening to my calls would also be part of my training. All my calls and everything I did on my PC was monitored and reported on and Alison my manager would call and criticize it every week. I felt that I was being singled out and the weekly calls were so negative that my confidence was being affected and I felt that nothing I did was good enough. They asked me to do daily schedules of my work and send them to her and she would again slate all my work. I felt that they were bullying me into preforming better. As it was a new role I felt that they should have been more understanding and when I complained of the pressure they should have been of more assistance instead of constantly monitoring. On the 12 December 2014 I asked to reschedule a training day in the UK as I could not go due to family commitments. My manager was not pleased with this and said that she would have to clear it with higher management. Again I felt that she was singling me out and making me feel incompetent and made me feel that I wasn’t good enough or not putting in enough effort, which was totally untrue and the pressure was really getting to me. On 9th of January 2015 my manager came over from the UK and slated me saying I wasn't performing properly and that the information was dripping down from higher management, I listened to a few of the calls I took with her that she had recorded, yes I did agree that it took me a bit of time to get the correct information for the customer, but I always apologized to customer or internal people if I had kept them on a call for too long, she then discussed putting me on a performance plan which I got very upset about as there was never a problem with my work in the nearly 10 years I was in the company. When I reiterated that I would work better if left to my own devices, my supervisor told me to "leave X out of this" and that it was nothing to do with her that it was coming from higher management. I felt that no matter what I did they would find a fault in it. She told me that I was no longer selling manuals that I needed to get up to the UK standard or else I would be put on a performance plan. I had to leave the meeting and go for a cup of tea as I got extremely upset and as my confidence was in taters I felt that it was an ambush over my work and nothing I did would have been good enough. I then went out sick for 7 weeks with work related stress I broke down crying in front of my doctor. I was put on xanex for panic attacks and antidepressants. I was told by my manager to call every Thursday to keep her updated on my leave. I felt that these calls were making me more anxious as they were very patronizing on the phone and made me feel uncomfortable and I would get worked up before having to make the call as I knew she would be rude and condescending. From the calls I felt that she thought I was making it up and that my anxiety was my own fault and she was never remorseful nor did she take it seriously. On the 06 February 2015 I had a 40 minute consultation on the phone from the company doctor and a 4 page report came back from the doctor, this was company policy. On the 27 February 2015 my own doctor advised me to return to work as I was becoming more agitated the longer I put off the return. On the 02 March 2015 I did return to work, on my return I had to fill out a stress form and my manager discussed with me that she would be taking a step back in managing me due to doctor’s report stating her style of management was causing my anxiety. My manager only barely took a step back; she quickly became involved again even though the other manager was supposed to have taken me on. The new manager, was lovely very approachable and gave praise when I was doing well and advised on areas where I struggled on which was great, and I felt my confidence got better and I was more positive even though they were still monitoring my calls and PC and the daily reports still needed to be put through to my manager, I felt the feedback was more understanding and I was getting more of a positive reaction. My supervisor was on annual leave during this time that my manager took over. When she returned the negativity returned and even though she had said she was taking a step back I feel that the only time she did was when she was on annual leave and they made out that it was due to the report. I found my manager's advice changed with me over the phone when my supervisor came back on board. On 23 March 2015 I was put on a performance improvement plan which was monitored by both of them. Once again all the negativity returned and no encouragement or assistance was given which knocked my confidence again. I now had all three of the UK staff listening to my calls and monitoring them and logging onto my PC. They were constantly criticizing my work, saying my calls were not good enough. They took me off emails to concentrate on just taking UK calls. They told me to stop taking Irish calls and to just concentrate on UK. They did not allow me to assist anyone in the Dublin office. I was told that they were not on my team. I felt isolated as I had worked with the people in the Dublin office for nearly ten years and when they asked for assistance I felt terrible telling them that I was not able to assist them due to my new role. I found the performance improvement plan extremely stressful as it was all three of them monitoring me and critiquing my work. Nothing I did was good enough. I was constantly slated and they became obsessed with me reaching a target on my calls. They reduced my workload in order to do it and I felt very incompetent and I felt that I was being pushed and pushed, but nothing I did was good enough. They extended the plan more and more, I felt that it was never going to end and they were trying to break me. I was being threatened with a disciplinary warning if my performance didn’t improve. My supervisor was constantly nit-picking on stuff and telling me that if it didn’t get better the plan would be extended again. I felt my work wasn’t as bad as she was making out, that delaying customers to get the correct answer shouldn’t be negative as long as the call was dealt with. In June 2015 I had a meeting with management they again slated my work, gave little praise. On 19 June 2015 after the plan ended my manager told me I was 85% there that there were only a few minor details to be ironed out but that she was doing well. On the 23 June, the interim manager said he was coming over from the UK in July to discuss disciplinary he said although it says disciplinary on the letter he said it would be verbal warning or no more than a discussion as there was just a little piece of my performance that I needed to work on. I felt it was getting a bit much, that the monitoring was getting out of control. It seemed I wasn’t able to do anything right. The figures they were coming up with were over the top and I wasn’t able to cope with all three of the UK staff constantly onto me about every little thing I was doing wrong. My manager said that we would discuss it all in the meeting on Thursday the 25th June 2015 and re-iterated that the letter isn’t what it seems and that it would only be giving verbal warning. That I needed to improve on minor things at this stage. Straight after my call with my manager I received a disciplinary letter from HR by hand. I got really upset. I was shocked at the wording and cried at my desk after reading it. I felt that it was the last straw. I really felt I was been pushed out of my job, there was nothing more I could do. I was fighting a losing battle and I had no alternative but to hand in my notice. I was forced out of a job I had been in for nearly ten years, there was no complaints until my supervisor became my manger. I couldn't take the criticism anymore so I handed in my notice on the 23 June as I didn't want to be humiliated at the meeting with my manager, as he had a member of the Dublin team named to attend the meeting also. I was so stressed at the contents in the disciplinary letter I knew I would not be able to continue the way I was. The letter also stated that should nothing be resolved it may result in dismissal. I felt that they wanted me out no matter what I did. My supervisor called me the next day, she never tried to resolve matters nor did she ask me to stay. She informed me of the handover and that was it. I really feel that I was completely undermined over a sustained period and ultimately I was forced out by my employer and left with no alternative but to resign and hand in my notice.