6 Trial Lawyer • Summer 2022 By Mitra Shahri Brandon was surprised when he arrived at work one day to find his big office filled with hundreds of colorful balloons. It was his 10th year anniversary at Acme Corp. and all four departments, despite their years-long strained relationships with each other, had managed to team up for the first time to surprise and celebrate him. Brandon had joined the company as a warehouse worker and had worked his way up to director of sales. He was smart, dedicated and very charming. Although managers at Acme generally only socialized with other managers, he socialized with employees of all levels. In fact, Brandon was so well-liked and trusted by everyone that throughout the years, he had become the communication link between various departments and the management team. The internal strugggle Acme, a successful company that had been in business for 25 years, had great products, good customer service and above-average sales. Despite its external success and good reputation in the industry, Acme was on the verge of an implosion. The turnover rate at Acme was at its highest, over 50%, and the company struggled to hold on to its talent, despite the competitive salaries and benefits it offered. The culprit: Acme suffered from an extremely toxic workplace. At exit interviews, each departing employee blamed other employees as the reason for leaving. Employees at Acme were burned out, felt underappreciated and disliked each other. At any given time, about 20% of the employees were on sick or stress leave. There were always complaints that various employees of each department had it out for the employees of other departments.With investigation after investigation, Human Resources (HR) could never figure out who the responsible offenders were for creating such toxicity. Each time they thought they identified and eliminated the problem employee, nothing changed and at times it even got worse. Despite the company’s repeated efforts in bringing third-party professionals in to build comradery among its various departments, each department remained a stand-alone with little to no teamwork with others. Acme was losing millions of dollars in opportunity costs by slowly losing its market share. In fact, it had gotten so bad that without Brandon as the intermediary, no one was willing to deal with anyone from another department. Acme’s one-person HR department had grown to three persons in five years despite the number of employees in each department remaining the same. Even HR was having trouble keeping its talent because dealing with one drama after another required long hours and was exhausting. Brandon became the glue that kept HR connected to the employees. No one knew how to fix the problem other than getting Brandon involved. The management revered his talents and labeled him, “the employee whisperer.” Brandon loved his role as a mediator and did not seem to mind the extra work, long hours or the stress of dealing with complaining employees. In fact, he seemed to thrive in stress, chaos and turmoil. Mitra Shahri In the Workplace Toxic Employees At any given time, about 20% of the employees were on sick or stress leave.
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