We welcomed the news last week that the Victorian Parliament will soon enact laws that will expose workplace bullies to as much as 10-years jail. Referred to as “Brodie Panlock’s Law”, it is hoped that the new laws will act as a deterrent to would-be workplace bullies like those that so tormented poor Ms Panlock at a Melbournian cafe, causing the teenager to take her life in 2006.
The news got us thinking – who will be the first corporate workplace bully to face jail under the new laws? Could it be someone at a Big 4 Accounting Firm like Deloitte? If the following allegations are to be believed (NB – these are allegations, completely untested in court), and similar corporate behaviours are witnessed in the firm’s Melbourne office, some might say the firm could have a case to answer.
We sent the comment below in an email in unedited form to Alec Bachinsky (Deloitte National Head of HR), copying in senior Deloitte partners & staff Ali Bolbol, John Giannakopoulos, Adele Watson, Helen Hindmarch & Liz Malady, asking for reasons why we ought not publish the allegations in full. We received no response from Deloitte.
We reiterate, some/all of the allegations may be without merit – we are unable to test their veracity. Onto the various unproven allegations/rumours from our anonymous Deloitte spy:
Deloitte Tax Financial Services Group 1, led strongly by John Giannakopoulos & Adele Watson, has been at the mastery level for performance managing people. Their “partner” … has been … Helen Hindmarch… If I could have a dollar for every closed door (performance management) meeting between Helen & John and Helen & Adele, I would be a very (very) rich man…
Adele’s asset management senior, [Worker] was interestingly made redundant – only weeks after she lodged a formal complaint against John Giannakopoulos & the alleged bullying & performance management techniques of Helen Hindmarch supporting Adele Watson. [Worker]’s complaint was centred around a phone call that John made to her parents where he was pretending to be supportive during a 3 week period (during which John refused to let her come to work on the grounds that she was mentally unfit for work). Yes, that sounds supportive. But he lost the plot during the call & said that “she is on a program & she wont pass because she isn’t producing half as much as another manager. She will never get a reference.” John denies this statement was made [to Worker's parents]. No wonder – talk about a breach of confidentiality & privacy. Last time we checked [Worker] wasn’t a minor.Rumor has it that John lost the plot when her father (who knew of the bullying which was going on), said to John that “if it was me, I’d tell you to stick your job. But [Worker] is different and she wont say that.”
Here’s where it gets interesting. [Worker] has produced 3 statutory declarations outlining the details of this call and this statement by John… When HR investigated the complaint, they didn’t even ask to see the declarations. The HR person who investigated was (no surprises!) Helen Hindmarch’s boss, Liz Malady (what a surname!). Well, when Liz investigated she spoke to John & Adele & we are sure that no one from [Worker 10]’s side was contacted. How fair! Not!
It gets more interesting. Since Liz found that John hadn’t acted inappropriately, [Worker] escalated the complaint to Alec Bashinsky, the National Head of HR. Well he also spoke to Adele & John and found in agreement with Liz. [Worker] provided the statutory declarations to Alec Bashinsky and Alec found that “it is not my role to decide whose version is to be preferred.” Hhhmmm – two very conflicting views at the centre of the complaint and the National Head of HR doesn’t seem to be able to examine the evidence and decide who is telling the truth & who is lying….. Why would he? They may reveal that John was in the wrong & that would be bad for John & bad for Deloitte. So they “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. All is well in Group 1…
[Worker] was made redundant while on sick leave. She was notified when she returned to work 2 days later – on the floor, no privacy, no meeting room, she was denied a support person and her things were cleared out by Deloitte but some of her personal papers were never returned despite repeated requests. Everyone heard what went on and there are rumours that the whole conversation was taped by one clever person. We are still waiting for the tape to surface.
For those of you that are wondering, [Worker] produced 4 medical clearances to be allowed to get back to work. Three were from specialist psychiatrists & one from her general practitioner. That’s alot of clearances! Deloitte sure is covering its bare butt!
We understand a law suit is in progress and that [Worker] had kept all the written evidence against Deloitte at home – unlike her other personal effects, these papers didn’t go missing, thankfully for her.
We tend not to speculate on whether certain allegations published on our site are more “believable” than others. However, we have a copy of the following forwarded email (which we have edited) which was sent by Deloitte National Head of HR Alecc Bashinsky to [Worker ] on 11 April 2011:
—-Original Message—–
From: Bashinsky, Alec (AU – Sydney) [mailto:abashinsky@deloitte.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 11 April 2011 9:35 AM
To: [Worker]
Subject: Issues in the Tax Financial Services Group[Worker],
I have received the attached material from Firm Spy, which asked for our
comments before they consider whether to publish it. I can understand
why they brought the article to our attention, and I am grateful they
did.This material contains personal and sensitive information about you, as
well as about your confidential legal action. I am troubled by the
comments made about you, and about your colleagues and friends at
Deloitte, and I imagine that you will be, too. We would never want you,
as a former employee of Deloitte, to be spoken about in this way. The
comments appear to be made by an individual about you and other
individuals (and not simply Deloitte)…If you need our support to protect you against this faceless attack, or
if you would like us to communicate with Firm Spy to try to have the
article withdrawn, please let me know, and I will see what I can do.Regards
Alec
Alec Bashinsky
National Partner | People & Performance
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
We understand that Worker 10 has queried the following with Alec:
- What he is proposing to do about this matter (apart from any reply from [Worker]);
- Whether he has breached the confidentiality of other workers by sending the unedited email to [Worker];
- Whether he has sent the same unedited email to the other workers mentioned in the unedited email and hence possibly breached [Worker]’s confidentiality;
- [Worker] asked to see the full email instead of the truncated version sent by Alec.
We understand that to date Alec has not replied to [Worker].
The AFR interestingly pointed out (12/04) that there is no statutory defnition of “bullying”. Gaden’s Jane Seymour told the AFR:
The definition of bullying can be quite grey. Victoria has now made it a criminal offence, rather than just an OH&S matter. And yet there’s no legislated description of bullying. We only have guidelines put out by WorkCover in NSW and other relevant state and territory bodies as to what they consider it might be. Often in the workplace, one person’s reasonably management style might constitute unwarranted criticism and persecution… Corporate bullying tends to be far more psychological.
Do you think an alleged phone call by a corporate partner to a medically unwell worker’s father, where the partner allegedly stated “she wont pass, she wont get a reference”, constitutes unwarranted criticism? Do you think an HR manager’s alleged refusal to consider relevant materials in an internal investigation allegedly resulting in an employee’s redundancy (whilst on sick leave) constitutes persecution of the kind mentioned by the commentator quoted above?
Send the Firm Spy your news and views!
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DELOITTE HR TAKE NOTE: hearing anecdotes like this is precisely why I (and many others I know) rejected my grad offer from them.
No way I would risk working for a firm that has a shoddy reputation among students let alone the general market. Get your act together and resolve these issues or you risk serious damage to the firm at the betterment of a very small minority.
Good luck to whomever was the subject of this story, I wish them all the best in resolving this issue as quickly and cleanly as possible.
I knew this person….Adele was all over her for 12 months
I knew this person…Adele was all all over her for 12 months – besties. Then in the second year, we didnt see Adele speak to her ever again unless she was yelling at her. It was disturbing.
I no longer work at Deloitte but can confirm the simply appalling behaviour by partners in Financial Services Tax Group 1 when I was there. I worked for another part of Tax and everybody knew about it including their fellow partners. Why aren’t the other partners insisting that action is taken? Why doesn’t HR pull their finger out? I feel so sorry for this individual and cannot believe the cheek of Bashinksy offering to “save her” from firmspy…. too bad he wasn’t this interested earlier on. When I worked there I found it so upsetting that other partners – including mine – who were decent people didn’t speak up. Did they feel their equity bonus would be threatened for making waves? I still don’t understand it.
I accepted a grad offer at Deloitte. Maybe I’m biased, but I’m not sure one isolated incident can be used as evidence for a general problem at the firm. I accepted the offer knowing it was the only big 4 firm to be listed amongst the BRW top 20 places at which to work and having mates tell me that they enjoyed working there.
What’s written does not reflect well on the individuals involved, but I think given the legal background of most readers of this site, it’s pretty silly to hear one side’s submission and then enter into judgment! We don’t know about the conduct of the Worker leading up to these matters…
The court case will be a good judge of that!
The worker spoken about above was hired in early 2009 & was promoted – a material promotion, in Dec 2009. we saw her doing well, respected. we have seen the partner get chummy with a few people, very intense, then she turns on them, a PA, a Principal, another manager, all within the last few years…repeated pattern..always on a whim….its not an isolated incident of attempted performance management, everyone who works there sais that….i dont have their side of the story but its happened so many times i have my suspicions about the culture….but as long as “who cares” isnt in Group 1, you’ll will be fine. at least you can survive in the other groups….there is no need to worry.
I am glad that a “bystander” took the step to contest the truthfulness of this news. And it is great that someone is willing to stand up.
I work for one of the top accounting firms and I am too being bullied like this and I do not know what I can do….
I did consider talking to HR, but I know that if I do, I will simply end up like that deloitte worker.. i.e. made redundant…..
Reality is.. the HR works for the partner… they ACT for the firm cuz that’s who is paying their salary. I am disgusted by HR’s like that.. they are not doing their job properly.
When I had the meeting with the HR and the partner, I can see the HR shaking her head at thing’s the partner said……. btu did she dare to speak up? no.. when I tried to contest it, she would basically ask me to shut up! such cunts!
you have 3 options – stay & do nothing, stay & fight, leave. But in the mean time, check your firms policies & procedures….if you notice that HR isnt supposed to be in that meeting (unless YOU ask them to attend), then the partner has to conduct the meeting alone with you…also whether the policies often require the manager to conduct most of the performance meetings instead of the partner (except perhaps the final warning…which hopefully is way down the track…) – then the partner shouldnt be there – it’ll be just you & the manager….they will HATE doing this meeting alone but wont have a choice if u stand up for your rights….the policies may also allow you to invite a support person of your choosing…..they’ll hate it if you ask a junior colleague, cos their treatment will be visible – but its YOUR choice to waive your confidentiality (as long as you trust that person) take copious notes & type them up & send them back to partner – so there is a written record….anything he says out of line can be noted by you. Keep asking partner to slow down as you are writing. They cant stop this. make sure your minutes reflect your requests to slow down/ listen/write/understand…its a basic right…..If you feel really strong, bring a tape recorder, put it on the table & say – “you are more than welcome to download this on your PC at the end of the meeting”…their reactions to this will probably give you the will to keep fighting. PS: When HR was disagreeing to the partner you should have said “I notice you are shaking your head Ms X…why is that?. Do it politely & watch them squirm. The partner will be angry. Hopefully this reminds you of divide & conquer…
I think GES both Melbourne and Sydney have to be the worst for bullying and manipulation.. Agreed HR in this firm should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves
who are the GES culprits in Sydney? Coakley? who else? i still think NO ONE holds a candle to Tax group 1. HR’s efforts are TRULY TOTALLY & UTTERLY OUTSTANDING in this regard.
I remember she disappeared for at least a few weeks last year around July or August. There was no mention of extended sick leave & no mention of annual leave. Normally a message would go round when someone was away & it was sent by their manager or a partner. But she just wasnt there one day & one day turned into a few weeks. Very weird. When she appeared again – someone asked her if she was better & she said she was fine & wasnt on sick leave. Someone else later asked how her holiday was – she said she wasnt on leave & hadnt been on annual leave. I thought it was very strange. It makes sense now – she was forced away by the management & was trying to prove her fitness to come back to work. They didnt even let her keep her laptop while she was away. I saw them take it out of the locked drawer on her first day back.
who is worker 10
I knew this person pretty well. I saw the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) which Deloitte drafted and gave to her. She showed it to me. After 5 weeks on this PIP when she was being sidelined in her attempts to have the John G complaint dealt with, she asked Adele Watson when the catch up was going to be for the PIP. I saw the PIP & they wrote that monthly catch ups & feedback were part of the program. Deloitte hadnt even stuck to their own rules. She told me Adele fobbed her off. Then 2 days later, Helen Hindmarch in passing said that the PIP needed to be finalised. That it hadnt started yet as John & Adele hadnt signed off on it yet. She was spewing & rightly so. Another incident of Helen doing the dirty work for the partners. They were trying to re-write the PIP to make it harder for her to cope. I noticed that she was calling them on alot of their behaviour which happened to be contrary to what her PIP required her to do) – like John Yelling F, F, F, F, F out of his office one Monday morning and everyone heard it. Ali Bolbol was in there with him, the door was wide open – we joked that (since it was review time, around May) we hoped that Ali was having his review!!!! John also had yelled “malaka” from his office during work hours & heaps of people heard it. Adele was screaming at her & putting her down in front of everyone and it happened many times. So she was raising these incidences as inapropriate & claiming discrimination when she was being put on a PIP for far less than their bad behaviour. I think she won – they cancelled her PIP a week after she made the formal complaint against John. They said is was a gesture of goodwill. Is she the only person at Deloitte who has stood up for herself AND has had her PIP cancelled? Shameful behaviour by Deloitte.
Really? The GES partners seem ok to me.
It was around last August when John Giannakopoulos shouted at her to come into a meeting with no notice on a Monday afternoon. Then we didnt see her for 3 weeks – when she came back, i asked if she was better & she said she hadnt been sick. Also heard her say to someone else that she wasnt on leave. It makes sense that this was the time she was fighting to come back to work. No one arranged a proper out of office notice to go out, her clients would have been wondering what was going on. Doesnt sound very professional in fact sounds downright scary & bad behaviour by the big guys.
The Deloitte people tried to introduce this post as evidence mid way through the hearing in the above case. The judge swiftly disallowed it on the grounds that if it was truly important to their case, they would have introduced it when Alec Bashinsky received the email from firmspy & this was a reasonable time prior to the hearing (at least a week prior) It looks like the Deloitte side dont understand the rules of evidence & that trial by ambush hasnt been the way to do things for many years. Perhaps they missed that lecture at uni because they were busy bullying others. Stupid ignornant people!
Toward the end of the hearing (when it was obvious they werent going too well), the Deloitte barrister requested that his side give verbal evidence by calling John GIannakopoulos, Helen Hindmarch & Adele Watson. This would result in an extensive delay & the judge questioned it on the basis of what value they would add, given they had submitted detailed written statemements & had previously said they would not appear live. The Deloitte barrister said they would not be giving any new factual evidence, but wanted them present on the stand to show their human character & their compassion. It took a heartbeat for the judge to deny this request. At least the court system sounds fair, even if the Deloitte business world isnt. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of this one.
@ Jerry – you must be living under a rock not to have heard the stories about the GES partners…keep your ear to the ground and like someone said above – where there’s smoke there is fire. The HR function is non existent at Deloitte. Is Helen Hindmarch also responsible for GES HR? If she is, that would explain it….actually, Alec Bashinsky is responsible…so now it makes sense. those guys are untouchable. feel sorry for the workers….
IS THIS STORY FOR REAL? SOUNDS LIKE A TOXIC PLACE TO WORK. THEY MUST PAY WELL IF THE PEOPLE PUT UP WITH SO MUCH SHIT.
I don’t think it’s the pay. These kind of places make people lose their confidence – making them feel isolated and that they aren’t good enough to go anywhere else. Some people are just snobs though (and their own worst enemy), and will only ever work at the top 4. They think brand is more important than quality of life/happiness. This is why accounting and law firms get away with this kind of behavior.
I agree with you that people cling to the jobs in big firms due to prestige etc. but if the boss people commence treating someone “badly” which is the behaviour (I think) you call “lose confidence & feel isolated”…you dont last long – you have to go as it affects your whole being & sanity and physical health. Like the guy at Deloitte who John & Adele forced out in early 2009 after he had a nervous breakdown at their performance management hands…the ones allowed to stay are like “little clones” of the management – “yes” people & I dont think they are made to feel worthless…but how anyone can sleep at night knowing they are part of a team which treats people so badly is beyond me. Looks like the worker stuck it to them good also.