Wendy's Story
Wendy had a vision to work in the healthcare field servicing vulnerable populations in their homes. At her job, Wendy got along with several supervisors before a new one was hired. At first, she got along with this new supervisor. However, after six months, the relationship drastically changed.
Wendy and her colleague, who was twenty years younger and inexperienced, met with their supervisor separately to discuss their work performances. The supervisor told both that they were not doing their tasks properly. While the younger worker received encouragement and support from her supervisor, Wendy did not. Wendy's supervisor verbally attacked her for not following her directions and demanded to know what her problem was. Wendy said she was sorry for not following her instructions. However, the supervisor persisted in her attack by demanding that Wendy repeat her instructions back to her for understanding her job tasks. Wendy reluctantly complied with her supervisor's request but told her that she disagreed with how she was being treated by her supervisor. Her supervisor accused her of being disrespectful toward her and said she would have to meet with her director to discuss her behaviors.
Wendy contacted the director to report that her supervisor was treating her unfairly. The director was more concerned with how Wendy allegedly disrespected her supervisor than listening to her concerns. Two weeks later, the director and supervisor met with Wendy to discuss her work performance. The Human Resource Director attended the meeting and gave Wendy a written warning. After Wendy pleaded her case to the HR Director about how she was treated by her supervisor, the HR Director brushed away her concerns and told her to do her job.
For the next four weeks, Wendy endured verbal and email attacks on her work performance by her supervisor. A month later, Wendy met with her supervisor, the director, and the Human Resource Director for another meeting. This time, Wendy was terminated for poor work performance.
Despite receiving unemployment insurance, Wendy was not able to find a high enough paying job to support her family. Currently, Wendy is working in another field with low pay and lack of opportunities for advancement. While Wendy looked for sustainable work, her credit scores plummeted, and her debts increased due to not being able to pay her bills. A complaint is currently being investigated by the Mass Commission Against Discrimination for age discrimination.
The lesson of this story is "someone wins, someone loses" when workplace bullying occurs.