For my last decade at Amway, I managed people. At different times I oversaw staff in charge of public relations, editorial, advertising, sponsorships, and digital marketing. When overseeing Public Relations and Editorial before 2008, I was managing 16 staff members. Over the years, I hired more than a dozen staff members and inherited numerous other staff through management shifts. In fact, with only a few exceptions, all remain with Amway as productive contributors. Also, many of the interns I brought to Amway and trained were officially hired into other areas of the company. I took great pride in the work I personally executed and directed, but I also loved working with people and helping them to achieve their personal goals and overcome obstacles to their success.
I always felt that the appreciation, respect, compassion and friendship I showed for my staff members was reciprocated. I don’t think they viewed me as a “soft” boss as much as a patient, caring counselor. The thing I miss most about Amway, nearly six months after leaving, are the close bonds I enjoyed with the individuals I managed. The good thing is that they remain friends and I still talk and get together often with a number of them.
Certainly there were some stressful times where I had to coach individuals experiencing conflicts. There were times I had to ask employees to step up and become more engaged in their work, and there were instances where I coached “life balance” for individuals who were close to burning out. I had the joy of delivering some outstanding reviews, and the less pleasant task of delivering less-than-favorable reviews. I even had to let a few employees go, either for performance issues or as a result of restructurings. The joys of a successful team generating outstanding work far outweighed those more difficult situations, however.
With responsibilities for managing people and for crisis communication, I was horrified to read the accountof Kay Morris-Robertson, a former executive at Westfield Holdings in Los Angeles. Jonathan Bernstein, a crisis communications friend and consultant we used at Amway, recently wrote about Ms. Morris-Robertson’s situation. A successful performer for her company, she suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following the tragic death of her husband from cardiac arrest. He died in her arms on a sailboat during a fun outing. Months after his death, Ms. Morris-Robertson was diagnosed with PTSD by her primary physician and placed on medications. This followed a fainting spell at work. She reported her diagnosis to her supervisor and subsequently asked for help doing her job while dealing with her condition.
Instead, the supervisor allegedly pushed her harder to meet deadlines, only exacerbating her condition. She asked for but was not granted unpaid leave. She wasn’t informed that of what she was entitled to under the California Family Rights Act. Her supervisor informed her that her job was in jeopardy due to the time she had missed. And finally, when she visited the office en route to an appointment with a PTSD specialist, her supervisor called 911 to have her picked up as a “threat to herself and others.” When the city-assigned doctor determined she was not a threat, the supervisor selectively provided emails she had written to co-workers that resulted in an 8-day lockdown. When she finally was released, she quit her job.
Of course, now there’s a lawsuit and Westfield faces reputation damages and negative publicity. It’s difficult to know if the supervisor over-reacted to the emails Ms. Morris-Robertson had sent to her co-workers, but he certainly didn’t help her situation by providing a caring ear and demonstrating concern for the employee first, the job second.
Having worked at a company that was at times unfairly criticized, I am willing to provide some opportunity to Westfield to explain its actions. The suit was filed a month ago and is quite accessible via Google searches. I’m not seeing any Westfield responses to this issue, which is just poor crisis communications on their part.
I expect that Mr. Morris-Robertson may have been acting erratic — but for heaven’s sake, Westfield was informed she had PTSD! Had I been told that about one of my employees, that person would have received so much support and counsel and help! Instead of granting unpaid leave or ensuring she got the help she needed, it appears Westfield pushed her harder at her job, threatened dismissal, and then ensured she was locked up “because she was a threat.” She may well have been, but it doesn’t seem like they were a part of the solution as much as they were part of the problem.
It will be interesting to see how this one turns out. It will be interesting to see Westfield’s response to the situation. This is a cautionary tale for employers on how to treat employees who have been strong performers but have suffered tragedies in their lives. Failure to demonstrate compassion and understanding is a quick way to lose productive workers and earn reputation issues. Care might cost some work days and services, but is far cheaper than a bad reputation and the training costs for new employees.
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Dan on 03.06.2010
Great article, Robyn! Every employer should listen to Rich’s 3 A’s.