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At the time, I was a graduate. I was studying an illustration degree. I was actually working at my university where I would assist with recruitment. When I graduated, because of the circumstances relating to the pandemic, it was so difficult for me to find a job that related to my degree. I had to go on universal credit. And in my case as well, because I have autism, I needed to find a job that suited my needs. This is Bully.
Bully lives in the UK, where universal credit is a government benefit for low income and unemployed individuals. She says she was reluctant to apply for the benefits because the system is known to place job candidates in places that don't properly suit them. However, she applied and was placed for an interview at a company that provided staffing at care homes at a rate of about $10.50 per hour. I did my interview. I didn't really see any red flags and I asked as many questions as I could.
And everything did seem okay. So I was offered this job. I remember signing my employment contract. I had to get a DBS check to see if I had any criminal convictions. My employer was supposed to cover the cost of the DBS, which from what I recall was 65 pounds. And they kept sort of backtracking telling me that my work coach at the job center had to cover the costs, even though the employer themselves were supposed to do so.
Most typically the employer's responsibility to cover the cost of a background check, as it's part of their due diligence when evaluating candidates. But this company, they couldn't care less about maintaining basic professional standards. Passing the expense on to potential hires was just the first red flag. Once hired, Bully quickly noticed a disturbing pattern of the company cutting essential costs, leaving the business barely functional.
The owners were obsessed with doing everything on the cheap and it came at a heavy price. Bully and her colleagues were buried under the unmanageable workload with nowhere near the resources they needed to do their jobs properly. My name's Carly and this is Toxic Workplace, a podcast that gives a platform to those who have survived highly toxic work experiences, only to come out with newfound wisdom and a renewed sense of self. A Toxic Workplace is more than just the daily grind.
It's a soul-crushing experience that will chip away at your sanity until you're about to lose your mind. It's an abusive relationship that's hard to leave and the longer you stay, the more you lose sight of who you set out to be. So basically the initial job was for me to go into a care home. So it wouldn't be in people's actual homes. You'd basically be placed in a care home for 12-hour shifts. On each floor, you would have a certain amount of service users that you would have to take care of.
So you would basically have one person taking care of, say, 8 to 10 service users because the thing with the care sector in particular is that you have a lot of short staffing. You don't really have enough staff for every service user, so you kind of have to mentally time yourself. So if, say, for example, you're doing a morning shift and you're going into the service user's rooms to sort of check on them, give them their breakfast, wash, etc., you would have like 15 minutes per service user.
So you would have to mentally time yourself before moving on to the next person because, like I said, the care sector was heavily short staffed. I actually ended up working in the main office as an admin assistant because the previous admin assistant, who was also a kick-start candidate like myself, left after a couple of months. And at the time, there was only one person who was my senior colleague doing all of the admin work.
So the primary responsibilities involved recruiting staff for work in the care homes, doing the onboarding process, and also making sure that all the compliance files were up to date. Even though I did have previous experience, I didn't really get a lot of training for the admin role itself. And I remember on the first day as well, I was just sort of placed on a desk and expected to just get the hang of things very quickly.
And management were hardly present in the office, so they were often out on holidays and such. We were a very small team. So for such a small team, it was like we were doing the work of more than four people at a time. It was like management would push a lot of responsibilities onto myself and my colleagues. We also had to manage different groups of staff.
So I was having to sort of try to get work for kick-start candidates like myself and then my former colleague was also having to try to get work for a group of permanent staff that came from Bangladesh. This company was taking full advantage of bully and the other employees by piling them with an endless workload and virtually no support from management.
Bulley and the other administrative staff had several years of experience working in administration, yet they were all paid minimum wage, which was the same hourly wage paid to the care home staff who didn't have any experience and less responsibilities. It was just too much, especially for minimum wage. When it came to money, management had a habit of pocketing money from their own staff. They used to overcharge for DBS certificates and trainings.
So if a member of staff joined the company, they had to pay £65 out of their own pocket for an enhanced DBS. And then they also had to pay for their own training courses because we used to assign mandatory trainings for free, but then management had an issue with that because they were saying that it was a waste of money.
So they started charging their own staff and I remember so many times staff would tell either myself or one of my colleagues that they couldn't afford to pay for a DBS or their own trainings. At times as well, there were issues where staff were hardly getting paid on time. So we used to get paid every fortnight.
And I remember on a regular basis, staff would be calling either myself or one of my colleagues in the admin team complaining about not getting paid on time or not getting their pay slips. We couldn't really do anything because as admin, we had no control over the payroll system. Only the accounts manager did. Cutting back on certain expenses is understandable, but employee training and onboarding should never be one of them.
If an employer calls training materials a waste of money, it's a clear indicator that they don't value their people. But this company went a step further, charging new hires for both background checks and training materials. Then, to top it off, employees didn't even get paid on time, a blatant red flag that signals both financial instability and a lack of respect for paying what should be the company's top priority, wages.
This clear, this company had zero regard for taking care of their staff, which played out negatively in every aspect of the business. I also remember I had my own issues when it came to my pension because I had more than a year's worth of pension contributions missing and had to report my employer for that. And my former pension providers had to send letters five times to me telling me that my employer was not contributing into my pension on time.
And every time these letters were sent, I was forwarding them and I was given a message from the accounts manager to say that my pension was being paid into. And when I checked it every month, it was delayed from July 2022 until the month I left the job. I was at a point where I had to report them to ACAS because that was more than a year's worth of contributions missing.
And when it came to the cash that staff would give us for DBS and training payments as well, management would often use that cash to buy stuff for themselves, even though it was supposed to be petty cash for the office if we ran out of amenities or supplies, or they would use the cash to go on holidays because my managers used to take regular amounts of time off to go on holidays.
And every time there was an issue that involved them, it was like myself and my colleagues had to basically pick up the slot and deal with their problems. Bully told me that the managers of this company were also the owners. And these owners weren't just cutting corners, they were slicing right through any semblance of decency.
Imagine being told you have to pay for your own background check and training materials as a new hire only to later find out that the money didn't even stay with the company. Instead, it went straight into petty cash, which the managers shamelessly dipped into for their own personal spending and even funded their holidays. Meanwhile, essential expenses like contributing to Bully's pension are delayed, adding insult to injury.
It's a classic case of greed and exploitation, squeezing every penny out of employees, cutting costs on their well-being, and using it to live lavishly at their expense. These managers weren't just cheap. They're parasitic, profiting off their staff's backs while providing little in return. This isn't just poor management, it's financial abuse. We also had inspections taking place, and those were some of the most stressful experiences I've had in this job.
So I remember we had a CQC inspection take place in the main office, and I had a day off because it was my mum's birthday. And I remember my senior colleague called me saying that I had to come in to help the team prepare for the inspection. And I mentioned that I had a day off, and my manager was the one that requested for me to come in.
And I did at the time because my main concern was my colleagues, as of course I had a good rapport with them, and they had a good rapport with me because we had a great team dynamic where we would try our best to help each other. And I remember coming in and we spent like a whole day preparing for the inspection, which was the next day because at the time there was a server crash and my manager supported living home.
So more than two years worth of work was just gone, and my managers were there as well doing some preparation. And I remember I was just trying my best to do my portion of the workload. And I didn't have any breaks, I barely ate anything, and even my other colleagues were really tired as well. I mean, one of them stayed until I believe 11, 12 at night. And I remember with myself, I went into the toilets and I was crying on the phone to my arm because I was stressed about all this work.
And it got to a point where I just couldn't do anymore. And even the next day, myself and my colleagues had to come in early to do more preparation, even though the inspection was that specific day. And it was just so stressful. It was one of the worst experiences I had. We would always like cover for each other where we could. So someone was sick or something, someone would come in early, and then we would all do the same, and we would all try to divide our workload as best as we could.
Because when it comes to teamwork, I'm one of those people that will try to help others as much as I can if they're struggling, especially if they have so much workload. And when I was going through stressful times, they would often ask me, can I take some of this workload off you so that you don't have all this pressure because I was always the type of person that would take on so much. Woolie's colleagues were her saving grace at this workplace.
They supported and trusted each other, making the days a bit more tolerable. Anyone who's been in this kind of situation and had a friend by their side knows just how much it can save your sanity. It's a true blessing. Woolie's connections can create a small refuge amidst the chaos, offering moments of laughter or relief when things get tough. But even with good work friendships, the toxicity of management still prevailed and started to seep into Woolie's life outside of work.
There was a huge lack of work-life balance because if you were sick or on annual leave or your shift was finished, management in particular would have this habit of calling you outside of working hours to come in. And there were multiple instances where I would get calls on WhatsApp and text from management expecting me to do last-minute work.
I mean, I even had that experience when I was away for two weeks out of my home country due to the fact that one of my family members passed away after being murdered. And I remember the accounts manager texting me on WhatsApp asking about crime scenes. Even though I mentioned way in advance that I was going to be out of the country. The constant phone calls out of my working hours just added to the stress.
And I was told that in relation to the phone calls, every company is like that and that every company has pressure and that I have to learn how to deal with it. But then there was that part of me as well that was kind of thinking, you know, maybe this is normal because even my other colleagues had similar experiences, especially when it came to being called out of shift. I just assumed at the time, okay, maybe this is normal in this particular workplace.
It's not uncommon for people to gaslight themselves into believing something their employer says, even when deep down they know it's not right. In Bully's case, she was told it was standard practice for the workplace to call outside of working hours. Although she initially felt uneasy about it, seeing her colleagues subjected to the same treatment made her question her own instincts.
Over time, she convinced herself it was just part of the job normalizing something she knew was an invasion of her personal time. This self gaslighting can happen when we try to align ourselves with the values or culture of a company, even if it means ignoring the red flags. There was a period where my managers were looking for a deputy manager for their supported living home.
They actually couldn't find anybody because the salary they offered was a 21 to 25k salary which falls either within minimum wage, if you look at hourly rates or below minimum wage. My managers were looking for someone that had at least two years of experience, as well as an MVQ level five in health and social care and a business management degree, as well as knowledge of liaising with external organizations and health care professionals.
And myself and my former colleague had to spend most of our time looking through CVs every single day whilst handling all of our primary duties, dealing with emails, dealing with phone calls. So every time a manager came into the office, they would always ask us how many CVs did we get. So we were using free trials for software like CV library and read because management did not want to pay for the service. So they would constantly get us to call the representatives to ask about free trial.
They just did not want to pay for the services, so we would have to use as many free trials on as many different platforms as possible. When we would call the candidates to tell them about the job, every time the subject of salary came up, they did not want to take the role because a lot of deputy managers, at least in the UK, would get 30k minimum before tax. And I knew from the beginning that there was no way somebody was going to take that role. There was no way.
One of my senior colleagues mentioned not to call any candidates that wanted 50k and that was because management would not be willing to pay somebody that much for a senior role. So to summarize, they wanted a experienced candidate but on the cheap. The salary range this company was offering was well below the market standards for this type of role, especially considering the various qualifications they required.
An NVQ level 5 is designed for people who are already managing teams and handling big responsibilities at a senior level. So expecting someone with that kind of expertise and experience to accept such a low salary is just unrealistic. No wonder they couldn't fill the position. It's pretty clear that they were trying to get top tier talent for bargain prices, which just goes to show how little they valued the expertise they claimed to need. But the salary issue was just the tip of the iceberg.
The company's lack of compliance with basic industry regulations was a much bigger problem. They had bully and the other admin staff forging documents for compliance purposes. They were willing to bend the rules to keep things running, even if it meant crossing some serious lines. I do remember one of my managers getting me to forge documentation to send to the care homes. So one of the care homes that we liaise with needed urgent cover. So the staff didn't have the DBS yet.
So we had a couple of new starters coming in to register with us. They didn't really have all their compliance documents. They didn't have the DBS check done. And my operations manager actually told me to put a fake DBS number in the staff profiles which were sent to the care homes. So they would sort of skirt around in any way they could in order to get the cover. It was just a lot of dodgy practice.
And even when it came to inspections, there were a couple of instances where management would have a go at us for not getting all the files fully compliant even though we were doing so much work as is. And at one point they were saying that they didn't care how things were done. They just needed the compliance done. So they would get us to fake training certificates to make it look like staff members completed all their trainings even though they didn't.
In some cases we were sending these documents to the care homes and I knew that it was dodgy practice but I guess I didn't really question it considering that there was that part of me that was afraid of questioning management at the time. So I was just kind of thinking in my head, this just does not feel right.
There were a couple of instances where you had staff that had no care home experience going into the homes and the most they would get in terms of face to face training was like a three day induction. If there was an instance where you said you never worked in a care home to any of the other experienced members of staff, you would just be sent home. And then of course the care home managers would complain to us and that person couldn't not do any work.
In the case of management they just obviously didn't care. It was like oh we're just going to send whoever. In a rush to fill the positions, management at this company took shortcuts that put residents of the care homes lives at risk. The care home assistants play a crucial role in providing support for health related issues including medication management and mental health care. So proper training is absolutely essential.
By forging training documents and lying about staff qualifications, they were effectively gambling with the well-being of vulnerable residents. Some of these staff members weren't trained at all and were explicitly told not to disclose their lack of experience. This kind of negligence is not just unethical, it's downright dangerous. It creates a hazardous environment for the people in the care homes who rely on these assistance for their health and safety.
Such actions are not only detrimental to the residents but also reflect an awful disregard for the standards and ethics that should govern care in this industry. The dodgy practices of this company didn't stop there. They sought to benefit from the Kickstart scheme which provides government funding to help employers create job placements for young people.
However, they hired these young staff members solely to cash in on the financial support which covers wages and national insurance contributions instead of providing them with meaningful work and proper training. They gave these Kickstart employees menial tasks or didn't give them any real responsibilities at all. This approach not only exploited the scheme for financial gain but also treated the Kickstart members as less than, undermining their potential and contributions.
It was a troubling way to operate. Clearly, they were trying to prioritize profit over the development and well-being of these young people who were just trying to gain valuable experience and a foothold in the workforce. Management were getting money from the visa sponsorships and with Kickstart, they were getting money from the government to cover the employee costs as part of the scheme as well even though half the time they didn't give them any work.
And then of course, when it came to terminating the Kickstart candidates contracts, I remember a lot of them were emailing and calling asking why their contracts were terminated. I felt responsible even though it was management that was like pushing myself and also my former colleague to do all this. So it was like every time there was an issue, the admin department was constantly taking the brunt of everything. My managers were not present in the office most of the time.
They were often on holidays. It was almost as if myself and my colleagues were just constantly fending for ourselves. It was just the way management ran the company. It was just really insane. And another thing when it came to staffing was that after December 2022, the care homes we liaised with were pretty much outsourcing their work to their own agency staff. So they didn't really have a need for the staff in the company anymore.
And even so, my managers were constantly pushing myself and my colleagues to still recruit even though there was no point and every time we had staff calling asking us about shifts, we would have to tell them that we did not know when work was going to be given because as admin, we had no control over the rotor.
It was the team leaders and the deputy manager dealing with the rotor and they were the ones pushing to give people inductions, but again, like us, the team leader and the deputy manager were somewhat overworked by managers, constantly pushing and pushing for us to get all these staff members work, even though there was no work available. When management isn't actively engaged in the daily operations of the business, they become increasingly distanced and disconnected from its realities.
It's nearly impossible to effectively manage an operation when you're spending most of your time vacationing, creating a complete breakdown in leadership and communication about what's actually happening inside the business. This lack of involvement sent a clear message. Management didn't care. And that attitude permeated the workplace culture.
Slowly and her colleagues found themselves without proper guidance and the little direction they did receive often felt nonsensical in practice, especially as the demand for their care home services began to diminish. This disconnection fostered a toxic environment where the staff felt unsupported and undervalued, leading to frustration and a sense of hopelessness as they tried to navigate an increasingly challenging situation. There wasn't really any real progression either.
So it was like once you got a specific role, you were kind of stuck in it. So you couldn't really work your way up. You were just kind of remaining stagnant in a certain role. That was something that really bothered me because I got to a point where after about one and a half years, I just checked out and just didn't really care as much because I was being overworked. I was being underpaid. I was becoming stressed and the strength only increased when my colleagues left.
I was practically the only senior admin remaining. One of my former colleagues who changed jobs was replaced with one of the permanent staff who was getting paid more than myself or my senior and they had no admin experience. Management expected me to train them.
So aside from doing my regular duties, I was training this person who had zero admin experience and every time I tried delegating duties, management would pass them back to me and their excuse was that the new admin did not know what to do. So they didn't know how to do emails, they didn't know how to do phone calls, they didn't know how to do pretty much anything.
And even with compliance, which was the only task management gave to them, my managers, they would complain to me saying, oh, they didn't know how to do compliance. They had no idea and it just kind of made me think, why are you hiring someone that doesn't know what to do? But then again, at the time, they had no shifts in the care homes.
So it was like, if they didn't have shifts in the care homes, they would be switched to admin because if there were positions available, instead of hiring someone qualified, you just bring one of the permanent staff members because it's cheaper to do so and you don't have to pay a qualified admin. So I was practically doing the work of three to four people whilst training somebody. So it was like I was kind of on my own.
Getting an overworked employee to train a new hire, especially one who's earning more despite lacking experience, creates a host of issues. Not only does it lead to employee burnout, but it also undermines team morale as staff feel undervalued and unsupported. In the long run, this can result in high turnover rates, increased recruitment costs, and a loss of institutional knowledge as this company was already seeing.
Good management should provide employee well-being and foster an environment where team members feel valued and equipped to succeed. By failing to do so, management not only jeopardizes the efficiency of their operations, but also tarnishes the company's reputation, which obviously this company had no concern for. With such an overwhelming workload, Bully started to realize that staying in such a toxic environment was no longer an option for her future.
Whenever my managers went in, I would mostly be using my time at work to send applications for any other job I could find relating to admin, as I did have the extra experience. And I was using whatever crime offer had left to go to job interviews. And I went to a job interview for the current job that I'm in now, which is a receptionist role with a local council, which has better pay, better benefits, and a proper work-life balance.
So I remember going to that interview and I first heard about this job through a family friend who works in the same department as me. So I applied for the job and I went to my interview after work. And then a couple of days after the interview, I found out that I got the job. It was really great because I commenced myself that by the end of 2023, I was going to be in another job because I just couldn't see myself staying in my previous role. It was too stressful. The pay was just awful.
The amount of work I was doing was too much for minimum wage. And there was no progression. I just couldn't take it anymore. And even my mum and my aunt were telling me to quit. But the reason I didn't was because I needed a source of income. And at least if I was still employed, it would be a bit easier to apply for jobs and go to interviews just because you don't know how long it can take to find another role.
And even now I look back and I think to myself that I have a lot of resilience for staying in a job like that for two and a half years. Bullie endured this awful workplace for two and a half years, navigating a heavy workload while pushing through bouts of depression and overwhelming stress caused from this workplace. As someone with autism, she faced additional challenges in this toxic environment that often felt isolating and confusing.
Despite this, she found a way to persevere, drawing on her inner strength to manage the daily difficulties. It wasn't easy, but those experiences forced her to learn and build confidence and resilience in ways she never expected and helped her find a job where she was valued. And I think especially because I have autism, it's kind of amazing that I've managed to hold down a job for that long because where I'm from, you don't have a lot of autistic people in employment at all.
They're either underemployed, self-employed or unemployed because you don't have that support. And the fact that I've managed to stay in a job for that long is just, it just shows in terms of my resilience. I was just really lucky that I found my current job last year. I was just so lucky because I was at a point where I just needed to get out of my previous job.
And once I went through the process of getting my new job sorted out, by the time it came to the references and I sent my reference information over, I emailed my managers to say that a reference is going to be coming through for a new job.
And I pretty much told them the following week that I was going to be leaving and I put in a two weeks notice and technically my notice period was supposed to be four weeks but I put in two weeks because I needed a two week break before starting my new job so I could walk in refresh. And surprisingly enough, they actually were okay with that and I actually did get a good reference because nobody could really question my work ethic. That was one thing.
No one could say anything bad about my work ethic. And I think even now there's parts of me that's trying to come out of that toxic workplace mentality in my current job because a lot of the benefits that I have in my current job, I never had in my previous role. And because I'm in a council job, there's more opportunity for progression. So even though I'm working as a receptionist, I don't have to stay in that particular role.
I've been doing some talks with the clinical team lately about my experiences with autism and I'm soon going to be doing another talk and contributing to some neurodiversity training and that's something I've never experienced where I worked before. So it's like learning about all these benefits is just certain things are so strange to me because I'm thinking to myself I've never had this before. And even though the days where I come home and I'm a bit tired or something, I'm not stressed.
And one thing I've noticed is I'm not really taking my work home with me. Like one thing I've noticed is as I'm off or my shift is done or I'm sick, no one contacts me about work because I have a separate work laptop with my work email and phone attached to it. So if I'm away for whatever reason, I can put my out of office on. So people know that I'm away and that when I come back, I can deal with queries.
And it's just refreshing knowing that I have days off when nobody is contacting me about work because I've never had that. And I think with my experience in particular, I mainly wanted to like share it with autistic people as well as younger people because they're more susceptible to exploitation in toxic workplaces and it's really frustrating because you have certain behaviors that are normalized.
And it's like you just begin to question what is going on around you and whether anything is making sense. And although you know it isn't, there's that part of you that just thinks maybe all this is normal, especially if you've never worked before.
One thing I think I would say is if you are in a position where you're struggling in a toxic workplace, the best thing to do is to just think of an exit strategy as soon as possible and to also remind yourself that your health and well-being will always come first over any job. Bully's story is a testament to the power of resilience and self-discovery. Despite facing the overwhelming challenges of a toxic work environment, she emerged stronger and more confident in her abilities.
Her story reminds us that even in the toughest of situations, we can find the strength to push through and learn valuable lessons about ourselves. As Bully said, it's essential to prioritize your well-being. It's also important to watch for red flags and be wary of shady business practices that can undermine your value. Recognizing when it's time to move on to better opportunities is crucial for personal growth.
Remember, the toughest experiences can lead to the greatest growth, and sometimes it's the struggle that helps us uncover our true potential. So always believe in yourself and trust that brighter days are ahead. Time on Toxic Workplace. I think the job description said that you would be working with sex offenders in a facility, but I didn't know exactly what kind of facility it was.
So when I finally got there, it was really daunting to see the barbed wire, and then they have to click you into each individual door. So it was a prison. So all these men that were there, they already served their time, but due to psychological evaluation and the sexual offenses that they committed, they had to go to this place in order to be reformed.