Bullied out of job at charity- how do I stop this happening to anyone else?

[LexLex]

I've name-changed for this as so identifying. I worked for a local charity for three years. Loved so much about the work. CEO of the charity is also CEO of another organisation doing the same work in a neighbouring area. CEO is a known bully- a number of staff have left over the years because of this; and all staff have witnessed bullying behaviour, but there is such a climate of fear. The CEO has been in post over 20 years.

In January this year, I criticised a decision made by the CEO to a colleague I trusted, who I didn't know then is very close to the CEO. I can only think that this marked me out as the next bullying target.

Over the next few months, a number of pretexts were used to strip me of my duties. This came from the CEO and the colleague I had trusted, who was in a senior role to me but was not my line manager. No performance issues were noted and there were no disciplinary proceedings- in fact there was no paper trail at all, because the CEO is too experienced a bully to leave a paper trail. For example, CEO called me into a meeting informally, and halfway through it became a de facto disciplinary meeting. I had nobody with me, and as the meeting took place before office hours there were no colleagues I could call in. I never received any notes from this meeting. My line manager did not stand up to the CEO. She has now left because of the CEO's behaviour. When she was leaving she privately told me that she was unhappy she had had to participate in bullying me.

Unable to stand it any longer, I handed in my notice in mid-August. In mid-September, with eight days left of my notice period, the CEO decided to use gardening leave as a punishment (there is no gardening leave clause in my contract), and with no notice, confiscated my keys and marched me out of the office. I had done nothing wrong, and that ending to a job I had really enjoyed stung a lot. I was not able to hand things over to my colleagues, my email box was locked down and I was not able to attend big meeting of professionals I was due to chair the following week, or even tell the attendees I wouldn't be there. Even now I have no idea if there is an out of office message on my mailbox- the password was changed and colleagues instructed not to try and access it.

I asked advice from my union before handing in my notice, and they were very gloomy about anything good coming of any claim for constructive dismissal as a) I had resigned, and b) there was little paper trail. They also were not hopeful that a grievance would be effective, as though it would be seen by the board of trustees, they are all either close friends of the CEO or are swayed by the CEO, and they would never dissent. This week I have seen a solicitor, who basically said the same things as the union.

So a) it seems there's no redress for me, and b) the CEO will, I am sure, soon be selecting the next bullying target. This is the way it works in that organisation- bullying targets are stripped of responsibilities until they quit. There is never a paper trail.

There is an umbrella body that oversees the charity's work, but judging by a recent visit by them to the office, they are scared of the CEO too (their representative needed to meet the CEO on their visit but was really obviously trying to avoid it). I checked the Charity Commission website, and it seems their standards are more to do with misconduct than bullying, so I don't think they are a good organisation to whistleblow to. So where do I go to use my experience to stop this awful bully?

You can't. Are there trustees of the charity? I had the same and submitted 15 pages of evidence of them bullying vulnerable people to the trustees, and nothing happened until 9 months later when they finally ousted her.

Would any other victims of the CEO's bullying be interested in coming forward jointly with you or at leats backing up any complaint you made to your union or a solicitor with their own testimonies of similar tactics (no paper tral etc.) Might have more clout.

Thanks for your responses. Alternative, yes there is a board of trustees, but they are all either old friends of the CEO or too scared to dissent. As the CEO has been in post 20+ years, everything is set up how she wants it. I have spoken to the last person to be bullied out, who left in March, and she wrote to the board and received no response.

My colleagues all witnessed the way I was treated, but for sure they would be in the firing line if they corroborated what I said as the CEO is so keen on reprisals. I do have a colleague who has left who would be willing to back me up.

Some people have suggested going to media, and lots of colleagues have endorsed that idea as they could corroborate anonymously, but short of cold calling journalists I don't know how to go about that.

I would walk away and thank your lucky stars you've escaped. It sounds a toxic and oppressive regime.

Have you managed to find new employment. I would first and foremost concentrate on that.

Imagine yourself a year from now consumed with anger trying to get justice, but with no job because you've had to pour all your energies into that worthy but futile cause. The remaining employees know full well what they're up against, it's their choice whether to stay or go.

As for going to the Press, I wouldn't touch them with a 10ft barge pole. They're disingenuous and dishonest in the extreme and could end up being your worst enemy.

You just need to move on. Ultimately, criticising the CEO to someone senior behind their back is not a professional thing to do and it backfired on you.

There is no excuse for bullying, but when you are dealing with someone like this, the last thing you want to do is exactly what you did.

As others have said, you had a lucky escape. Hopefully you'll find another job bringing the same satisfaction without the worry of being bullied but remember that if you have something to say about someone, say it to them directly. You can never know who you can trust.

I left my job recently due to the behaviour of my line manager which was bordering on bullying. This was also a charity, one that is frequently in the public domain. Can you leave a review on the Glassdoors site or write to the charity's HR dept if they have one ?

I wish this surprised me but it really doesn't.
I work in a small charity and I totally see how it could happen here.
It doesn't at the moment as the CEO is brilliant and really does have her finger on every pulse BUT she is in such a position of power that if she wanted to use it against someone she really could.

I worked for years at a very small charity.
There were favourites who were part of an inner clique, used to socialise and sit together.

On my final day a colleague disclosed she’d been carrying her notice around in her bag for months, feeling bullied
Three years on , she’s still there.
Get out and look forward, these sorts of places don’t change

If you haven't got the evidence to go for constructive dismissal, then I think you'd be on very shaky ground trying to involve the media.

Just walk away, and make a fresh start.

Leave a review on the glassdoors site, but otherwise you can't do anything. You need evidence i.e. a paper trail, and you don't have one. So it would just end up being your word against hers.

More funders are asking charities about turnover in staff to try and identify issues like this.
And just be glad you are out.

I think you've had a lucky escape too, but it's difficult to shake off the effects of bullying. Not really what you're after but it's anti-bullying month in the USA this month and anti-bullying week in the UK next month so bullying in the workplace is getting some attention. Maybe you could contribute what happened to you in written form somewhere - it may help others in the long run and it's a good outlet for the frustration. Not enough is said about adult bullying in any form and there is no legislation in place to prevent it in the workplace.

The charity I worked for ( a large one) had a comprehensive anti-bullying policy and was constantly telling their employees that team leaders were being mental health trained and that there was help available yet their Glassdoors reviews are full of claims of people being bullied out of the charity and the work place environment causing them mental health problems ! I'm not sure whether the charity commission does have any way of investigating these types of allegations.

The charity commission is not there to investigate claims of bullying, just as companies house does not investigate claims of bullying in companies. The charity commission is there to make sure charities are running legally and to tell them about good practice. So charities commission cares about fraud.

And the charities commission has had massive cuts to their budgets so struggle to fulfil their legal responsibilities. They do not have the capacity to do extra stuff.

I saw an employment solicitor and initially raised a grievance in relation to how I’d been treated, but decided really, what was the point of the added stress?
It was such a small place, I knew I couldn’t carry on working there.

The reply I got contained outright lies from 2 people. Time to leave.

You can't. Same thing happened to me. My union rep said charity cases were the worst and had some of the most evil bullying.

Move on, live your life to the full. I thought I was in the job I'd have til I'd retire - turns out I'm now much much happier and have 2 jobs which are far better paid with much nicer colleagues.

I should have left that job years ago.

There is nothing you can do. Sadly this is standard practice in the charity sector. CEOs have far too much power and trustees will do anything to avoid upsetting their cushy number.
Has the charity agreed a reference with you? Don't waste anymore energy on this, put it behind you.

I wish I’d left my Charity job years earlier.
I’m interested in posters expressing that charities have a reputation for bad bullying.
My experience is that are a law unto themselves.
Certainly the trustees where I worked were all volunteers, I felt they weren’t really interested in hearing problems and just wanted to protect the status quo.

Anyone been bullied out of a large cancer charity that are often in the media ?

If the charity is big enough you could tip if off to media.. however you need to be careful as you may have signed a no disrepute type clause. If your union and solicitors said there isnt much id be inclined to believe them.

Thanks all for your responses. It is so frustrating when all I am trying to do is stop others going through this. You are wise in your advice though- how sad that this has been the experience of so many of us working in the charity sector. My previous job was with a much larger organisation which has an awful reputation for bullying and bad management, although I wasn't bullied there.

It is so frustrating when all I am trying to do is stop others going through this.

Whilst it is a noble wish to prevent others from experiencing what you did, the best approach for your own mental health is self-care and rebuilding your work life so you can get back to some quality of life, which has been robbed of you.

Forget trying to 'boil an ocean', all manner of malpractices happen in every sector, some of it is just whitewashed a bit better! Unfortunately it's a singlehanded crusade you'll never win...

I worked for a Charity for 1 year - Never again. Staff were miserable, and bullied. I stood up for myself well enough but really, life's too short to be in an oppressive work atmosphere and have to expend energy defending myself against it so I got a long term agency contract and went.

Whilst at Uni I worked part-time for a black taxi firm, charities had accounts there. Charity CEO's were so arrogant when they phoned for a taxi to take them 5 minutes down the road that we'd all roll eyes.

Leave a Glass Door review OP and just be glad you got out.

You can't. Unfortunately you have no evidence and your word against the word of a well liked and well respected CEO will mean nothing.

As pp have said leave a glassdoor review, learn the lesson to be careful who you speak to with regards to criticism/negativity about others in the workplace and concentrate on dealing with what has happened to you.