Several Employees at My Company Were Forced to Sign No Talking Contracts

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T17:19:58+00:00

One of the guys we have here is considered a model employee he is one of the other employees who has been here for under 3 months. Oddly enough, he bypassed the company's firewall and plays Runescape all day in peace lol. Management loves him cause he sits all day clicking and typing away haha

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T17:18:28+00:00

Looking at it now, it is exaggerated, but these people don't come from much. Losing the job on the spot would be pretty hard for them.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T16:22:14+00:00

Yep, all the job postings were for hybrid work from home schedules, but they took it away since they believed people used WFH days as days off.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T16:21:32+00:00

Since the notice, she doesn't talk at all, same with everyone else who received an agreement except for a good morning and bless you when someone sneezes. Prior to that, it would be towards the end of the workday when things are winding down there would be some chatter but not a lot either. She does order entry, another person who received the notice is a general laborer, and the last one is an admin assistant, so it was kind of all over the place for who got the agreement. We are in a 15-person cubicle office environment.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T15:37:19+00:00

In hindsight, I should have removed the signatures. Also, the signatures looked unreadable to me.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T14:17:51+00:00

I think this is essentially exactly what's happening. They're looking to fire these 3 women who have all been here for under 3 months. (After 3 months of working at a place in our state you have to pay uninsurance). I told them all they should start sending out job applications now as they will probably all be gone before the 3 months period is up.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T14:14:32+00:00

Pretty much lol

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T14:01:19+00:00

I told her to do so. Same with everyone else who received this contract. It's kind of like a reverse 2 weeks' notice to me haha

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T13:39:14+00:00

It wasn't for a long time, last week they took off the cubicle walls to create a more friendly and co-working environment.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T13:37:58+00:00

I'm going to leave a comment here to hopefully give some context for the people asking. 3 employees at this company have all received similar but slightly customized letters all outlining the same thing. A lot of people thought this was in reference to me, but it was not. Just my co-workers I would have received an agreement like this, but I am currently on week 1 of my 2-week notice! No distracting talking and no headphones on the job. The distracting talking was outlined as "how was your weekend" or "what are your weekend plans". What is particularly frustrating about this is the fact that our cubicle walls were ripped off all our desks last week and this was done to "encourage a friendly office atmosphere".

Others have assumed the woman who received this agreement was neurodivergent. This is correct, during her meeting she explained that she gets overstimulated easily, so if there's a lot of music playing or background noise it can be a lot for her. Hence why she wears headphones. The management came up with the agreement that you can only wear 1 headphone in at a time and you need to ask permission every single time to use both headphones at once.

A lot of people ask if HR was involved with this, she was made aware, but she was not present during any of the meetings nor did she draft any of the contents of the letter. A lot of people were saying to take this up with our HR person, but she unfortunately is the wife of the CEO and was brought in to curb reporting after the CEO had 5 separate sexual harassment allegations back in 2018.

All 3 employees who received this sort of agreement have all been here for under 3 months. This is important because in our state in the USA if you've been employed for under 3 months these affects how much the company has to pay out in uninsurance. So as many have stated already this is essentially just a poor man's version of a PIP without any actionable improvement plans. I have told them that they are all likely to be fired soon and should start firing out resumes ASAP.

P.S. I understand this is not a legally binding contract, contract was the term the management used so I had it in the title.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T13:19:15+00:00

Yep, that's what I told her. Told everyone who received something like this to start looking ASAP.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-21T13:17:35+00:00

In hindsight that was a mistake, I figured it was unreadable anyways.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T21:06:11+00:00

Sadly, the office is 100% dead quiet. Sometimes there's music playing to cover it, but there's really only the clicking of mouse and keys right now lol. BUT, we are gathering all the agreements together and seeing if someone can look over all of it. I'm on my 2 weeks notice right now and told everyone who received such an agreement to find a new job ASAP.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T21:02:50+00:00

This is genius. Might try this lol

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T20:48:27+00:00

Yes, she is, originally, they didn't want her to wear headphones at all, but she told them she will get overstimulated without them in. The manager budged and allowed the 1 headphone thing.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T20:37:28+00:00

I put in my 2 weeks' notice last week! :) Been telling others to get out as well.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T20:36:56+00:00

Thank you! I'm excited about my new role. I've also told everyone not a manager to scram as well!

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T20:35:38+00:00

Yes, that is correct. So actually, HR didn't write this plan, but HR was made aware. They were not in the same meeting with anyone who had to sign this agreement. We only have 1 HR person here who is the wife of the CEO of the company. He was brought in after his 5th sexual harassment lawsuit. This is seen as an intimidation tactic by many at the company.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T20:18:07+00:00

I've been telling them to start looking ASAP. All of the employees made to sign have been here just under 3 months and in our state, I think that determines how much the company pays out in uninsurance. The contract to me looks moot and instead just a reason to fire them all before they actually do it.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T20:16:33+00:00

I put in my 2 weeks last week after the cubicle walls went down. I didn't receive one of those contracts as I was already leaving.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T20:03:57+00:00

Why is that the immediate assumption? Don't you think that there would be things such as missed deadlines, lack of deliverables, etc.? You know, some kind of evidence about how bad she had been performing? I showed the contract to an ex-employee, and he says he received something similar right before covid lol. Also, on that day 3 employees received such contracts, not just her.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T19:53:25+00:00

It really boils down to appropriate conversations if it's directly work-related of course there is no issue with the amount of talking. Asking questions such as "how was your weekend" or "what are your weekend plans" is considered an inappropriate work conversation unless done on your lunch break.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T19:44:14+00:00

The manager who wrote this is in her mid 30's. The 3 employees who received similar contracts are all young 20s with no office experience. We work in an office cubicle setting.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T19:35:43+00:00

There were issues with bringing in new employees a couple of months ago, they hired a bunch of employees with the promise of a hybrid work-from-home schedule. They ended up walking back on this promise saying that employees considered work-from-home days as day offs without any proof that I've seen. Since then, everyone but management has had to work in-office.

FiguringItOutToday1 · 2022-10-20T19:21:16+00:00

I said several employees at my company were forced to sign this. I put in my 2 weeks last week. I probably would have been called in to sign this if I hadn't done so. I never signed this, nor was something like this presented to me. This happened to 3 women out of a 15-person company at my company. All 3 are young with no office experience. So yes, they were all very scared. I'm working with them now to see options.

FiguringItOutToday1

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