Bullying and harassment

In October 2018, I was told by Content channel manager, Sam Taradash, that I was working much slower than my teammates. He suggested I undertake several weeks of extra activity doing an 'informal performance improvement plan' (IPIP).

Naturally, I was surprised to hear this. I had always thought that I'd be more-or-less the same standard as others. I'm some 20+ years older than my colleagues. Realistically, I expected to be a bit slower, but not that slow! I had over 20 years experience and skills in editing websites and content creation.

Nevertheless, I readily agreed to IPIP. It consisted of extra, targeted training and tasks to complete within a preset timescale. Unsurprisingly, I managed to complete these well and on schedule, although, the extra pressure wasn't easy at times. At the end of this period, I was told I was still underperforming. Sam wanted me to go on a formal performance improvement plan. I asked for exact details of my alleged underperformance. None were given.

In the absence of this information, I refused. Had I agreed to do a formal plan, I would be agreeing to take on micromanaged extra work and be spoken to and treated like a misbehaving junior school child or much worse. Bully behaviour is rife at Macmillan. As managers are the main proponents of bullying, it thrives unchecked. Macmillan's work culture encourages it. This was highlighted in a report by The Social Justice Collective, who investigated bullying at Macmillan.

Informal bullying?

Sam had already begun bullying me at the start of IPIP.  A Jekyll and Hyde behaviour pattern emerged. I was often told I was far worse than anyone else in the team. Small mistakes were magnified and I was made to feel as if I had caused major disasters. I was told by Sam that he had an anger management problem. Another regular occurrence was being told on a Friday evening that I had made lots of errors, then asked not to think or worry about it over the weekend. There were no other witnesses when Sam made these comments; team mates were not around. 

Work was allocated through a shared, online card system called 'Trello'. It was also used for project management and everyone's workload is visible to the team. I checked it and found that I had not fallen behind with any work assigned to me. Nor had I done previously.  Sam had a habit of saying inaccurate things, often lapsing into 'cartoon character behaviour and voices' when doing so. He was a consummate liar.

My contract was due to end in December 2018. I was told the month before by Sam that he was considering extending it, subject to a selection process. I told him that I was happy to go through whatever selection method was used. By the beginning of December, Sam told me that my contract had been extended by another 6 months. I didn't go through a selection process or interview. This was puzzling: first, an accusation of underperformance, then an extension of my contract.

This 'pleasant-one-day, aggressive-the-next' behaviour abated briefly when I suggested to Sam that I was being picked on by him. But it restarted soon. It happened during one-to-one meetings and others arranged to assess my progress. My refusal to follow a formal plan was met with continued threats of investigations and disciplinary hearings. Again, I refused to take part in any of these. My extended contract was due to end in June 2019. I reminded Sam and Macmillan's HR that I could take action against them under the current protection from harassment legislation, if these threats continued. 

Not managing...

Sam's line manager was Selina Corkery. I copied her into my email correspondence with Sam. She offered to have a chat with me as being someone "separate from the process." I wasn't sure what that meant. I can only hazard a guess that Selina meant she was outside the bullying activity. I politely declined her offer, stating that I will not tolerate aggressive, bullying behaviour from Sam or HR. It was clear that she had no influence whatsoever over Sam. He often mocked senior managers for their inability to make any key decisions. Either Selina was 'blissfully' unaware of it, or chose to ignore Sam's bullying behaviour. According to former teammate 'Lyndsey'*, Sam had clearly got away with being a bully before.

For refusing to be bullied or harassed according to Macmillan's policies, which cover up, encourage and protect bullies, my contract was terminated a few weeks early in May 2019. The same has happened to others who have challenged and stood up to management bullying. Currently, there is a large number of cases pending involving staff bullying at Macmillan cancer support. Read more: 'Toxic Culture and Lack of Transparency at Macmillan Cancer Support.'

* Some names have been changed.