Once upon a time i got fired….

I left a well-paid big brand to join a small business in the hopes of feeling like family.

Part of the deal was that my pay would be reviewed after 6 months instead of 12 due to the large salary drop I had taken to move.

My review arrives and I’m told I’m performing well! I’ve settled in quickly and things are going wonderfully! There was no mention of a pay review so after the meeting I plucked up the courage to remind them…..in case they forgot our agreement.

I’m invited to a meeting titled something like ‘salary discussion’ so my hopes are high and I’m proud of my bravery. It’s also Friday late afternoon and the next day I’m flying away for a holiday with some friends, so I’ve handed over my tasks, I’m in good spirits and ready for the fun times to roll in.

In that meeting…….I get fired!

I’m told to leave immediately. I’m told I’m lucky as I’ll get paid for the month but won’t need to work another minute. Funny that, given I was there because I wanted to…….work. Not working was not a reward, not working was exactly what I didn’t want. Feeling lucky was the last thing I was feeling!

I was broken, confused and crying on the street on a Friday evening in complete shock! I was just a few years into my career, had left a huge global brand to seek what I felt would be a more human environment. I had taken this risk at a time when my family were facing huge financial difficulties, I had put my trust into this company and I had no one to turn to.

This proved what I had heard before but didn’t want to believe…..in the workplace you are ‘just a number’. I didn’t want to believe this and even if I did, I always believed that this kind of thing would never happen to 'hard working me! I felt I only had one choice…. .to put my guard up, put on a brave face and treat every job I had after that as ‘just a job’. Working hard and smashing goals but also accepting calls from head hunters and moving often and fast for chunkier pay checks, more impressive brands and bigger roles. I was no longer looking for a family to join, I was looking for a temporary shelter that would fulfill my career needs. That experience changed me……it molded me into someone who mistrusted the workplace, fiercely protected my teams from danger and often lived in fight or flight mode.

The workplace does not need to be like this. In the same way that we wouldn’t want these experiences for our family, we should not want them for any other human being. There are far more humane ways we can deal with the challenges our businesses face, even if we need to make difficult decisions like these.

We’re now seeing a major shift in what is ‘acceptable’ in the workplace and how we can cultivate engagement, retention, and well-being by stepping into the experiences of others when we design, build and execute workplace process. I’m often surprised at how little I pushed back on this frankly inhumane experience. I believed (and was told) that this is just how business works! We’re now seeing that this behaviour does not match the times we live in and never should have!

Values such as empathy, authenticity and vulnerability are working their way into the workplace, taking leadership by the reigns, and cultivating a new way of being human. A new way that delivers the results our businesses are looking for.

Before you do something difficult (or easy), take just 5 minutes to step into the experience of the other side. Is there space for honestly and vulnerability, is there another way to do the same thing or deliver the same information in a more empathetic way?

You may feel you are too busy for these extra 5 minutes, but it could save someone a lifetime of question marks and maybe even save you a lifetime of guilt.