mountainsoft
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
My wife has worked for the same local government organization for over 30 years. She has held multiple positions in various divisions and always gone above and beyond what was required. She often works through lunches, works late, never calls in sick, and rarely takes vacation days. She takes pride in her work, is always looking for ways to improve efficiency, is always friendly and supportive to her coworkers, and has devoted most of her life to that organization.
Sure, in 30 years she made a mistake or two, but it was simply brought to attention and everyone moved on. Live and learn.
However, over the last year or two the environment has really become toxic. Micromanaging, secrecy, personality conflicts, and favoritism have become the norm, seniority means nothing anymore. There have been multiple incidents over the last few years where employees retired early or were terminated after very minor accusations (many of which were not true).
Recently my wife accidentally shared information from a meeting with another coworker. The information wasn't anything sensitive or personal, it just wasn't public knowledge in the office yet. She was just trying to improve efficiency in the office and mentioned it without thinking. It was a minor slip up, but it's being blown all out of proportion. She was told to bring a union representative to meetings where she was accused of a "pattern" of violating policy (it supposedly happened one other time 10 years ago, but they couldn't agree on the incident), promoting poor morale in the office, and more. The alleged incident occurred back in April, but they've drug it out over months of meetings, beating her down and her calling me in tears each time. Now they've placed her on a six month probation with careful monitoring and the threat of demotion or termination. Of course, with no open position to demote to, the only real option would be termination if it came to that.
My first reaction is to get her out of there as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the reality is we're still four years from retiring and jobs paying anywhere close to what she is earning now are impossible to find. Being 50 years old with no college degree doesn't help in today's job market. I don't earn enough on my own to support us either. We're simply not in a financial position to retire now.
I'm really hoping this will just blow over and we can get through the next four years without more incidents. However, with the current environment and our financial situation I am a little nervous about what would happen if she is forced out.
Sure, in 30 years she made a mistake or two, but it was simply brought to attention and everyone moved on. Live and learn.
However, over the last year or two the environment has really become toxic. Micromanaging, secrecy, personality conflicts, and favoritism have become the norm, seniority means nothing anymore. There have been multiple incidents over the last few years where employees retired early or were terminated after very minor accusations (many of which were not true).
Recently my wife accidentally shared information from a meeting with another coworker. The information wasn't anything sensitive or personal, it just wasn't public knowledge in the office yet. She was just trying to improve efficiency in the office and mentioned it without thinking. It was a minor slip up, but it's being blown all out of proportion. She was told to bring a union representative to meetings where she was accused of a "pattern" of violating policy (it supposedly happened one other time 10 years ago, but they couldn't agree on the incident), promoting poor morale in the office, and more. The alleged incident occurred back in April, but they've drug it out over months of meetings, beating her down and her calling me in tears each time. Now they've placed her on a six month probation with careful monitoring and the threat of demotion or termination. Of course, with no open position to demote to, the only real option would be termination if it came to that.
My first reaction is to get her out of there as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the reality is we're still four years from retiring and jobs paying anywhere close to what she is earning now are impossible to find. Being 50 years old with no college degree doesn't help in today's job market. I don't earn enough on my own to support us either. We're simply not in a financial position to retire now.
I'm really hoping this will just blow over and we can get through the next four years without more incidents. However, with the current environment and our financial situation I am a little nervous about what would happen if she is forced out.
