CONCERNS AMONGST BRITISH WORKERS THAT POOR TREATMENT WITHIN THE WORKPLACE IS BECOMING THE NORM.

By Craig Robert Churchill

It is a given that workplaces haven’t always had the best reputation when it comes to putting staffs needs first. However, with the pandemic crisis causing waves within employment it comes as no surprise that a high proportion of British workers agree that poor treatment is on the rise. In this article I look into several peoples experiences of poor treatment within their current and former workplaces to assess how their treatment has affected their abilities to carry out their jobs in such precarious circumstances. Nonetheless the experiences of those involved in this interview and the wider findings paint a bleak picture of the current state of British workplace morale.

There is nothing quite as quintessentially British than a stiff upper lip. In many areas of our day to day it is ingrained within us to accept the circumstances no matter how dire to remain tenacious. This sense of martyrdom although being admirable in some form or another is fundamentally flawed. The constant passivity of the British worker has led to a culture of poor treatment in our workplaces which is fueled by outdated, stubborn ideologies that in turn are keeping the British employee in a state of downtrodden uncertainty. No more is this apparent than in industries that have traditionally been viewed as low skilled i.e., Health and Social Care, Retail, Public Service, Construction and Domestic Work to name a few. Something the Covid crisis has shone light upon however, is that these “low skilled” industries are very much essential. The backbone of our society.

Why is it then that these very much essential industries have some of the lowest job satisfaction rates nationally (Hick and Lanau, 2017)? The cost of poor treatment in the workplace is tremendous, it infiltrates into areas of those effected lives in ways one would be surprised about. So much so,(Meekes, Hassink and Kalb, 2021) found that poor physical and mental health was rife within families where one or more parent worked in an “essential industry”. Similarly, findings have demonstrated that poor treatment within the workplace costs the tax payer in huge proportions, as it consequently leads to many employees having to leave work altogether due to ill health albeit physical and mental (Barry, 2020). As a matter of fact, recent research from national unions and employee compliance services indicate that within the last year complaints about poor treatment at work have increased tenfold. Unsafe working environments, pseudo disciplinary’s, bullying, and unrealistic expectations have as a result caused some of the lowest workplace morale in a lifetime. This is a travesty that needs action to improve.

Understandably there are certain industries that have been greater effected than others during this pandemic. Therefore, the types of poor treatment employees experience is going to be different across the board. For example, nurses working for the NHS are more likely to report poor treatment in terms of being overworked, lacking adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and dealing with the interpersonal colleague relationships that may be put under strain due to the current circumstances (Bimpong et al., 2020). In contrast, employees in Essential Retail are more likely to report cases of poor treatment because of disorganisation and chaotic shift patterns making it hard for them to plan ahead. Moreover, cases of poor treatment are not just restricted to workers in essential industries. As my investigative research discovered, those working from home are still having to deal with mounting workloads which include not only their own but those of other employees that have unfortunately been made redundant. As a result of this, those working in industries that have been effected by the lockdown restrictions such as employees in office roles have spoken about feeling a sense of “impostor syndrome”. Whereas, they are worried that any mistake, discrepancy or signal of job dissatisfaction could lead to them losing their employment either through a redundancy or dismissal. In other words, the economically precarious circumstance businesses have found themselves in, is creating a toxic culture of silencing employees into a keep calm and carry on mindset.

I have been overwhelmed with messages on social media relating to people feeling that they have been treated poorly at work. Likewise, conversations with friends, family and colleagues over the last several months have prompted me to delve deeper into the perspectives of workplace environments, cultures and the treatment of employees. With the intention of moving towards advocating for healthy working environments. I have managed to interview several people who were keen to share their negative experiences of their workplaces both past and present. I cannot say I am surprised by their answers. However, I am surprised by the similarities found in each of these case studies relating to the sheer lack of employer’s disregard and concern of employee welfare/wellbeing. It seems the same types of behaviour and situations are repeating themselves, suggesting that occurrences of poor treatment within the workplace is most definitely not few and far between, in fact it’s becoming the norm.

Throughout the last several years I have built up quite a network of people working in different sectors and this has helped me source a strong variety of interviewees willing to share their insights into the workplace. Using social media as well as known contacts who were kind enough to introduce me to other willing participants, has made the process of interviewing people far less challenging than I had originally anticipated. In total I have managed to arrange interviews with seven people through different socially distanced means such as telephone, online questionnaires and Zoom. This goes to show that despite the current lockdown restrictions making the idea of people connecting over a common cause more difficult, individuals are still eager to get their voices heard about their experiences of poor treatment within the workplace.

Upon analysing the research data and interview transcripts, I decided to narrow the original seven interviews down to four examples which I felt demonstrated a healthy representation of the average British worker. This goes without saying, all seven of my interviews were valid in their own rights and the ones not included still hold weight. But for the sake of making this article more concise and representative I have opted to only include the four following examples: A 39-year-old customer service representative, a 24-year-old ex-retail assistant, a 52-year-old railway worker and a 31-year-old care assistant.

The first person I interviewed was a 39 year old man who works as a customer service representative in the travel industry. A career that has been deeply affected by the pandemic.

What incidences of poor treatment in the workplace have you come into contact with?

“There have been two periods in the last year where I have had to work from home due to the travel restrictions set aside by the UK Government. Workload has increased to the point where I am not only supervising several other employees but trying to manage my own priorities, whilst dealing with a copious amount of travel refunds with particularly challenging customers. I definitely sense an atmosphere of just getting on with it, despite often feeling overwhelmed both at work and at home, which since the lockdown has become intertwined. I do not feel as though I am getting the support of my manager when it comes to dealing with the overwhelming volume of work. Its hard to get him to understand the pressure that I am under and make allowances to make my job a little less stressful.”

Have you always felt this way at work or do you feel as though this surge in responsibility has happened due in part to the restrictions set about because of the pandemic?

“More so because of the pandemic. Its part of my job as supervisor to be able to cope with stress, targets and challenging customers. However, the current climate has magnified these stressors to the point I am starting to feel burnt out.”

You mentioned that you didn’t feel as though management were giving you the support you needed to deal with the pressure you feel that you’re under. Again, has this happened due in part to the restrictions set about because of the pandemic?

Yes and no. I have always struggled to get the complete support of my manager even before Covid. Despite us having a good working relationship. However, the current situation the business finds itself in has not helped. I still feel as though I have been thrown in the deep end and seem to be taking on a lot more than I can chew. It’s a complicated situation because I am grateful that my manager believes me to be competent enough to handle these extra responsibilities, I just wish he’d be more receptive to assist me in executing them without me having to tell him.”

Would you agree that poor treatment in your workplace is something that you find hard to switch off from when you’re at home?

“Indeed, correct! The lines are now blurred as my workspace is my home. I find it difficult to switch off mentally once I finish. It always seems like there is something more to do even when I have spent a whole day doing stuff to alleviate my workload. I’m desperately trying to find ways to relax during these stressful times, whether that be through spending time with my partner and children, going for walks or the occasional drink here and there.”

What would you suggest your employer do to help deal with poor treatment?

“To be honest, I don’t see much that they are able to do in this current climate. Their hands are tied so to speak. I do not blame them for the increase in workload and responsibility nor do I believe it is their responsibility to help me when they are busy helping the company stay afloat. However, I would like my manager to take more initiative when it comes to his staff who may be struggling. We shouldn’t always have to come to him, sometimes it would be nice if he were able read in between the lines and realise himself that we are finding the increased pressure challenging to manage.”

Interviewee two is a 24 year old woman who is currently unemployed but was working for a non-essential retail outlet up until the end of last year. Her experiences of poor treatment in the workplace make the previous example seem like utopia. Nonetheless, each experience holds valuable learning curves and goes back to the prior outlined point that traditionally low skilled employment seems to be the industry that deals with an over proportioned amount of employee dissatisfaction and cases of poor treatment within the workplace.

Can you describe any incidences of poor treatment in the workplace that you have directly come across?

“Where do I begin? My previous employer was dreadful. In fact, it’s hard for me not to mention who they are because I would like nothing more than to bring justice to that place. With the amount of staff members they treated diabolically they deserve to be named a shamed.”

I proceeded to remind the interviewee the importance of keeping names of workplaces to a minimum. I made it clear to her that the intention of this article is not to name and shame employers but to shed light on examples where employees have been treated poorly by their workplaces. Hearing her story, it is clear that she is finding it difficult to separate the emotion that is seeping out of her voice and the words that she is saying. I understand her struggles but for the interest of the movement we have to keep names out of the articles. Red faced, she apologised to which I quickly reminded her there was no need. She then proceeded.

“There were so many incidences at that place I honestly don’t know where to start.”

Okay. How about you start by focusing on one particular incident of poor treatment and we can go from there.

“Sure. I like 30 others were employed on temporary 8 hour contracts. This wasn’t ideal for me but at the time I was unemployed and had rent to pay so was not really in a position to negotiate. By the first week it was mentioned to us that at some point we would have to work 12 hour days for two weeks, with one day off per week which apparently is completely legal despite sounding crazy. This was in September 2020 and although we were not in a full lockdown it was still being encouraged to follow social distancing practices such as wearing masks etc. However, there were no social distancing policies nor was there any guidelines that made wearing masks mandatory inside. I felt unsafe and tried to vocalise this with one manager who spent more time making me feel as if I was a burden instead of hearing out my concerns. So, I decided for the security of my job to keep my mouth shut.”

Would you be able to give another example of where you were treated poorly at this workplace?

“The inconsistency of the rota made it difficult to plan anything outside of work. I never knew what days I could be working so couldn’t commit to any plans with my family and friends. For example, I might have been scheduled to work for 20 hours over 3 days but frequently it would change so I’d be working almost 40 hours per week on every day of the week. There was no point attempting to ask managers to change these shifts because they’d assume that you were not committed to the job and guilt trip you into having to work. There was never any rest bite because you never knew what to expect, I never managed to feel the end of week feeling because it seemed to be I was working all the time. One time in particular I had just completed a 12 hour shift, seven to seven and as we were about to leave my manager would not let us. She made a group of us take stock of the shelves only to be put back purely for the sake of wasting our time. I think they were trying to play games with us, to show how much power they had over a majority young staff force who were in situations where they had no choice but to work there because the job market is so bad right now.”

You mentioned that you left the job at the end of last year, how did that transpire?

“They fired the majority of us two days after the 3rd national lockdown was announced. This was only 3 weeks after a group of employees caught Covid and were treated with suspicion instead of compassion. Them sacking us came out of the blue because despite only being a temporary contract they led us to believe that most of us would be kept on. I think the whole way they planned it was completely shameful. Too let us go just before Christmas was ruthless, despite the amount of rubbish we’d put up with. I guess this goes to show how dispensable we were to them.”

Has your experience of poor treatment at this workplace effected your current experiences?

“I believe so. I haven’t been able to find other work since leaving here. My confidence has been effected to the point that I worry that the same thing might happen if I get another job in the same industry. I’m claiming Universal Credit which is not covering all of my financial responsibilities and I often find my self worrying about money.”

What would you suggest that this employer could have done to improve the treatment of their staff?

“Actually treat us as human beings instead of commodities just here to do a job and go home. Time and time again, they proved to us that they were not interested in our concerns and worries about safety and poor treatment. If they’d shown me some respect and value throughout my time there I’d feel less hard done by the fact they fired us because of the lockdown restrictions.”

The next interviewee is a 52 year old male who works in the Railway Industry. Classed as an essential worker, this man has continually been working throughout the last year. He’s been working at this particular job for the past 11 years.

Can you describe of any incidences of poor treatment in the workplace that you have directly come across?

“There have been many throughout the years. The majority of these incidences involve the way that management communicate with the general staff. We’re spoken too in the most condescending and belittling ways and are expected to just deal with it. I would even go as far to say that some of these cases are borderline bullying.”

Borderline bullying is quite a bold statement. If you don’t mind could you be more specific with an example?

“several years ago, I decided to join the trade union associated with the rail industry. I thought it would be worth giving it a try as I had been an employee here for quite some time and had noticed that certain things such as stagnant wages, poor treatment, unsocial shift patterns were causing problems with how I viewed my employer. One particular manager caught wind that I had joined the union and took a disliking to that. Their behaviour changed towards me and I felt as if it was as a direct result to me joining the trade union. I started to get given really undesirable shifts and noticed that my holiday requests kept getting rejected despite me following the protocol. When I confronted this manager based on my concerns it was completely denied. It was hard for me to prove that this change in treatment was as a direct result of my enrollment onto the union so I did not feel as though I could take my concerns elsewhere.”

Do you feel that this kind of poor treatment has gotten worse since the pandemic?

“Yes. Not only are we now dealing with more restrictions that we are expected to enforce onto the public but our managers expectations of us have risen. We are expected not to make a fuss about the shifts we are given even when they seem unfair. Covid legislation has meant we are walking around with masks on all day which is understandable but makes communicating with the public more difficult. There seems to be no support from our managers who fail to make any attempts of trying to sympathise with the general team. In addition to all of this our salary has been frozen and doesn’t look as if its going to rise anytime soon despite us working harder than we ever have done.”

What would you suggest management do to improve the treatment of the general staff?

“Stop this culture of bullying which I feel is rife here. They know its happening because several staff members have left because of it, yet they keep choosing to turn a blind eye. Accept and embrace the trade union which is here to help all of us achieve better working environments and stop condemning those that chose to join. Offer more sympathy to the staff knowing how hard the Covid restrictions has made our job now. Finally management need to really start organising the rosters to better suit the needs of the employees. I don’t think they realise how hard its been for us to schedule our lives around constantly changing and unsociable hours.. Or perhaps they do but like everything else chose to ignore it.”

Interviewee four is a 31 year old woman who works as a care assistant in a privately run elderly care home. Like the previous interviewee this woman is deemed an essential worker and has been continuously working throughout the pandemic. Although tremendously busy this lady was very keen to offer her time towards being a part of this article. Like me, she is passionate about finding solutions to workplace mistreatment and advocating for better working environments.

Have you come across any incidences of workplace mistreatment?

“At this particular job I’ve been treated very well. However, I’ve had previous jobs in the same sector where I’ve had very poor treatment.”

Could you give some examples of poor treatment that you have experienced in your other jobs?

“We were supposed to work a four day on four day off shift schedule because of the nature of the job involving 12 hour shifts. This very rarely came about and more often than the company would probably like to admit we as a team worked sometimes 7 days a week with perhaps two days off the following week but not on consecutive days. For example, one day off on the Monday and another on Thursday. When we mentioned this to management, they would always try to explain how the home was seriously short staffed and it was our duty to help the company out, even if that meant working very long hours for days at a time. If you understand the nature of this type of work you’d realise how difficult it is to maintain a good sense of work life balance.”

How was being overworked and understaffed effecting your life outside of work?

“Drastically so. I have a young family and my partner also works full time. It was difficult to arrange childcare and maintain the housework. All these factors were making me incredibly stressed, but I felt as if there was no other alternative because I needed to earn a living for my families sake.”

Have there been any other occurrences of poor treatment?

“I’m afraid so. At my previous employer, the management lacked the experience to organise the staff effectively. It was a real toxic environment and certain individuals were allowed to get away with things such as missing days, coming in late, slacking etc. Whereas other staff were called up on the smallest things. I guess it really depended on if you got on well with management. Cliques were allowed to form, and it felt like the workforce were divided. This created tensions amongst the general staff and probably effected our job performance as there was a certain level of apathy present, which you can imagine in a care environment isn’t the most suitable atmosphere to have.”

What would you suggest management do to improve the treatment of employees at this particular workplace?

“Follow the procedure that’s been put in place to make sure the level of support of all staff members is being made a priority. This means sticking to the four day on four day off schedule. If a lack of staff is the reason management cannot stick to this type of shift pattern, then it’s their duty to hire more care staff. Also, I would advise the higher ups to employ managers who were capable of uniting the workforce instead of practicing favouritism which only goes to divide it. Better treated staff make for better treated patients.”

Finally, in your experience do you think the pandemic has made poor treatment of employees more apparent?

“Personally for me the care home I’m working at now and have been all throughout the pandemic is superb. Despite the covid crisis making our work so much more challenging not to mention frightening, I feel the staff and management at my current place are handling things the best they can. I think it really depends on who you have managing an organisation. All it takes is one bad seed to create a really unpleasant environment that leads to poor treatment. I would not be surprised if other care staff from different employers would agree that the Covid crisis has made workplace conditions worse than they were before but if you have a good team of dedicated staff who are being treated right by their employer then generally it makes for better treatment across an organisation.”

The several interviews I conducted for this article have touched me tremendously. Not only have all of the examples displayed incidences of poor treatment within the workplace but I am blown away by the level of bravery these employees have displayed to get their voices heard. Its not easy to come forward and raise the concerns of how one is being treated in the workplace. However, what my findings highlighted is one of the major issues facing British employees in today's climate is the culture of silence and the desired martyrdom that employers expect from their staff. It begs the question as to why we have allowed this keep calm and carry on attitude to thrive despite knowing how much employers behaviour is effecting the workforce. Another key demonstration these findings have displayed is the sad fact that many workers feel as if their positions are dispensable. There will always be someone else to fill the vacancy and this very ideology is undermining the pride that people should have for their work regardless of their job title and skill level. Society should be applauding those who chose to work especially those who are working on the front line albeit essential or key. It’s a complete disgrace that instead employers are taking advantage of the precarious climate and exploiting their staff, practically bleeding them dry of any morale they have left to keep calm and carry on which is ironic in itself.

Despite this, some of those I interviewed understood that employers are under increasing pressure to keep their businesses afloat and may be accepting declining treatment because of this. Nonetheless this seems to be more apparent in white collar jobs such as office roles where job satisfaction levels are higher than the national average. Furthermore, those in these types of roles generally get paid more than employees in essential industries thus may have a higher tolerance to poorer treatment because there is a greater financial incentive to keep the stiff upper lip attitude. I think it is important to point out that not everyone’s experiences of the workplace are necessarily going to be viewed as negative, even in certain industries where poor treatment seems to be rife. However, the overwhelming plethora of research and my findings from this interview are definitely showing a trend of increasing poor workplace treatment across the board. Likewise, the pandemic has magnified certain issues employees are dealing with at work which may or may not have inspired workers to speak up.

All in all, if there is anything that we can take away with us today is that the passivity and compliance of downtrodden British workers needs to end. If the employers are time and time again choosing to ignore the problems of low job satisfaction, poor treatment and toxic work environments then we as the employee must take action. Power to the people, power to the worker. Unified in our response to tackle this growing problem, the British worker must reclaim some of their power back. Together we are stronger.

End of article.

Bibliography

Barry, J.A., 2020. Job satisfaction, relationship, stability, and valuing one’s health are the strongest predictors of men’s mental well-being. Psychreg Journal of Psychology.

Bimpong, K.A.A., Khan, A., Slight, R., Tolley, C.L. and Slight, S.P., 2020. Relationship between labour force satisfaction, wages and retention within the UK National Health Service: a systematic review of the literature. BMJ open, 10(7), p.e034919.

Hick, R. and Lanau, A., 2017. In-work poverty in the UK: Problem, policy analysis and platform for action.

Meekes, J., Hassink, W. and Kalb, G., 2021. Essential Work and Emergency Childcare: Identifying Gender Differences in COVID-19 Effects on Labour Demand and Supply.