'This isn't working' - podcast on activist staff

[GCburneraccount]

I found this an interesting discussion, and quite raw.
A few years back I was targeted by activists at work and eventually left after an unpleasant year. Think I'll need to listen again with a clearer head.
I'd be interested what anyone else who has found themselves the wrong side of the 'be kind' lot at work makes of their discussion.

It’s a superb series generally. Highly recommend it. Loads to listen in the back catalogue. Really sensible stuff.

I’d be interested to know how the membership of UNISON has faired since the refusal to support the Darlington Nurses and the very casual lack of understanding of the Sandie Peggie case by Andrea Egan the new UNISON General Secretary. Hopefully she is massively pro biological women and determines to ensure the rights that have been fought for by our ancestors are protected.

Last sentence is laced with sarcasm.

I had an awful experience with activist staff in my workplace. It was to do with race than gender and it triggered a whole load of buried childhood trauma about being mixed race - though, according to those white activists, I'm not supposed to call myself that (there was an approved term that I forget, but which has no doubt been superseded now). I had some health problems anyway at the time but that episode was the trigger for me taking three months off sick. These people are fucking dangerous and they're given endless resources and platforms and promotions by employers.

Sorry to hear that @GCAcademic. I hope you are doing better now. My case was minor in the scheme of things but I still cant believe how deep it hit, and still does.

Listening again I recognised these ideas:
-Activist groups concentrate the activists and make their ideas more extreme
-The people who want to report you to mum for using the wrong words / millennial narcissists
-Strivers

But in my case there weren't really ringleaders - more a group of young and naive strivers who thought they were doing the right thing and were indulged by weak leaders who didnt realise things were going wrong, then were too scared to sort it out.
I don't think for them it came from sadistic pleasure or wanting power. They won't escalate and become criminal. I think they will move on and grow up and eventually realise it wasn't their finest hour.

I'm also not sure about his idea on bringing in anti-intimidation policy. I'm definitely cynical, but I think you need to be very clued up to avoid things like this being used as another weapon by the activists.

@GCAcademic i'm sure I remember talking to you about this before, I was under a different name though

I think you and I are both old enough to remember when race wasn't such a thing at work. Now suddenly we've got people making us feel uncomfortable because we don't fit into whatever "non-white" box they want us to fit into. And they think they're being non-racist. It's insane.

And contributes a lot to the state of things now IMHO.

I'm also not sure about his idea on bringing in anti-intimidation policy. I'm definitely cynical, but I think you need to be very clued up to avoid things like this being used as another weapon by the activists.

I think that can often be a problem. Although - in my experience most workplaces do have some sort of policy against bullying or intimidation. I was thinking when he was talking about that, what workplace officially is ok with intimidation?

More often the issue is that they don't or won't recognise it when it is happening.

Agree with all of that @TempestTost. Workplaces should have generic equality, conduct and grievance policies. Assuming these are in place then I disagree with him that extra policy would help with activist staff - I think its the duty of orgs to use their existing policies appropriately.

I've become very suspicious of 'extra' or more specific policies. I think it can be a sign they are being used for activism.

The problems for me started when I started asking questions about new policy that seemed to me to veer into activism (I had 10 years experience on SLT so had seen enough to have valid concerns, knew it was my duty to raise them and thought my record would protect me - hollow laugh). This set the activists against me, and you are correct - the org failed/refused to recognise what was happening and allowed the activists to use the grievance process against me rather than recognising they were the ones behaving inappropriately. Eventually they did, and after I left actioned all the points I'd raised in the first place, but far too late.

I've not finished listening to it yet, but some of the activist employees described sound very familiar. Not in in immediate team, thankfully, but there are definitely these types in the wider public sector org that I work for.