Low level bullying (part 1)

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Breakdown

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Shock resignation

 Sue looks up from checking the payroll in astonishment!  “Leaving? Why? You got another job?” Ed shakes his head, quietly places his resignation letter on the desk and leaves the room.

Sue immediately tells the Chief Executive of Millcaster Aid to Africa. Mercedes is shocked: “Ed leaving? No!”

Mercedes rings Ed and asks him to come and see her. As soon as he comes in, she says “I’m really sorry you’ve resigned. What will we do without you? Where’s this come from Ed?” 

Gradually with some coaxing, Ed relaxes a little and admits he’s leaving because of Jocelyn, the new Director of Fundraising: “I know it sounds stupid, but she picks on me in meetings, makes sarcastic comments about my contribution – or 'lack of contribution' she calls it. I know I’m not that fast but I’m careful and I like to make sure things get done properly. Not good enough obviously...” 

His voice trails off and he looks very upset. “It's bad enough to get an email saying these things but she copied the last one to the rest of the department.”

Mercedes is alarmed and deeply upset but tries to appear calm. “Have you said anything to her?” she asks. Ed looks up: “You’re just like my partner – that’s just what he says – she’s a bully, stand up to her. But I can’t say anything – I know she’ll snap at me and call me pathetic.” He pauses. "And it’ll just get worse. I dread coming to work and team meeting days.”

Alarm bells

Sitting there, Mercedes feels numb and reflects on what she’s heard. A voice in her head is telling her that this isn’t a total surprise. “OK, OK,” she says to herself, “but if we don’t meet our fundraising target, how are we going to open the farm in Masero this year? And the trustees think Jocelyn is a gift from heaven!”. 

Mercedes asks Ed to forward copies of emails he’s received from Jocelyn and takes them and her personnel file home to think it over. What is it with Jocelyn? Such a great fundraiser: she seems to have a good idea every day! That contract she’s negotiated with ReadyBix to give them 1p for every pack sold is fantastic.   Regular unrestricted income!

“Yes...but...what about those arguments Sue said she’d heard about? And didn’t I pick up someone saying something about Jocelyn once? She’s been a bit snappy sometimes at senior management team meetings but nothing you could really challenge. I just thought we needed smartening up a bit. Ed’s lovely but he can take forever to get things done! I'd had better have a word with Iphigenia.” 

“There’s something I thought I should alert you to,” Mercedes says to her Chair, Iphigenia. They talk it through. “I want to know a bit more about Jocelyn” says Iphigenia. “I think you should get hold of her last employer as soon as you can and find out what she was like there. If Jocelyn is upsetting staff – and I don’t want to call it bullying yet – we’ve got to tackle it.”

Back at Ed’s house, his partner is in high spirits. Ed’s text: “Have packed it in. Open the red” was great news! Now they can go to Africa for a good long time and perhaps find some volunteering work there.

The next day

Mercedes picks up the phone, rings Jocelyn’s previous employer and says “I have to ask you some questions about Jocelyn”. Was that a sharp intake of breath at the end of the line?

Mercedes asks about her performance in her previous role. All seemed fine. “So how did she work with her team?” she asks finally. Her heart sinks as she listens. It seems that 'low level bullying' is Jocelyn’s management style. “We had to ask her to leave in the end. It was just awful. She’s a brilliant fundraiser bursting with fresh ideas. The problem was...people. She just couldn’t work with a team and alienated almost everyone. I got on fine with her but she was so impatient with the junior staff. We finally got a complaint about how she’d spoken to someone at an event – it was overheard by one of the sponsors - and it brought it all to a head”.

“So what about the reference you gave us? That was fine – it was good in fact”.

The Chief Executive admitted he had agreed the wording with their lawyers as being factually correct. Jocelyn had signed a compromise agreement and they were obliged to keep the facts of her departure confidential. “You know what it’s like. You sign an agreement and have to agree the reference. There was nothing untrue in what we said. It was more what we didn’t say”.  

“Hmm...” muttered Mercedes putting down the phone “great solidarity in the sector...so what do I do now?”

Have your say

• If you were Mercedes, what would you do next?
• Can Jocelyn be managed or trained out of her bullying behaviour?
• Is Ed being bullied or is he being over sensitive to Jocelyn's no-nonsense ways?
• What is more important - a happy team or excellent fundraising?
• If you have been in a similar situation, how did you deal with it?

Have your say on the Millcaster Tales forum.

Other episodes

Find out what happens next in part 2.

Catch up with past episodes.