Monday, November 06, 2006

You have to listen to this - Click here

If you want an example of the men/women divide that still exists in business in 2006 click here - 'BRMB Breakfast Best Of' is the heading you need.

You will hear the story of Helen, a member of staff and how she is treated by her male boss called Alistair. This taped phone call was featured live on local radio BRMB in Birmingham on Friday last week. It is hard to believe this is a conversation in 2006 and sounds more like the 1940’s.


To bypass the first nine minutes of the clip, click 'download' and move the slider on the player to the 9-minute mark.

Any manager acting this way in 2006 should hang their head in shame.

One of many questions I have is; - Would he have spoken the same way to a man dealing with the same issues Helen was raising?

This phone call illustrates what I have always said - that staff are much more in touch with reality than some managers. It also provides more evidence that some managers just do not and will never 'get it.'

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite something, Trevor. I can't say from listening to Alistair whether it's a man/woman (i.e., sexist) thing or he is just wholesale insensitive, period. It almost sounds as if he could have a similar conversation with any employee, regardless of sex. I suspect he has been wanting to get rid of Helen for some time. This may be a convenient excuse.

BTW - one way of bypassing the first nine minutes of the clip is to download and move the slider on the player to the 9-minute mark.

Trevor Gay said...

Hi Dick - hope you are well.

Thanks for that - I did wonder if he is just insensitive regardless of gender. I suspect he has no insight about how hew comes across but there are a few comments that I feel are definitely things he would not have said to a man. After I did this posting I discovered the ‘slider bar’ on download option so thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Hello Dick, you may be interested to know that Helen was interviewed on the radio yesterday. Apparently the MD of the company got to hear of it - he asked Helen not to leave the company. There were rumours that Alistair had been suspended.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Annie. Well, maybe there is some justice in this after all. If the company has any concern for its public image at all, they would certainly want to make these moves. I would also like to think they would also do it because it's the "right thing".

In my career, I have endeavored to promote the interests of my employees - sometimes to excess and to the detriment of my own situation. This is not by choice or any form of political correctness - it is simply because I cannot bring myself to do it any other way. I guess I feel it is a certain kind of responsibility and trust that I cannot break. I have been on the receiving end of bad bosses, as well - and would never want to see myself as a perpetrator of such abuse.

Trevor Gay said...

More power to you Dick - I believe my style is the same as yours. In the 35 years I worked in healthcare as a manager I was often accused of being ‘too loyal’ to staff at the front line. I could never understand that criticism. I never saw any other option than loyalty to anyone I managed. I always found I got back even more loyalty. It is a ‘no brainer’ as far as I am concerned. Hopefully justice will be done in this case.

Trevor Gay said...

Thanks Dave - sounds like fairness came through in the end. It is unfortunate that these sort of plonkers are still around in 2006!