We were told during training that we would be granted our birthdays off from work, and this news was delivered as if it was a privilege and not the bare minimum that should be guaranteed to any employee of any organisation. However, when I tried to book off my own birthday over a month in advance, the request was denied with a brief note about the service being understaffed. This was very frustrating as it was stated in the contract that birthdays off would be guaranteed, and they made a special point of mentioning it right at the start, but I put in a new request for a later time to accommodate this. This request was also denied with no explanation, and this happened two or three more times. I had to reach out myself to senior staff members to ask why every holiday request was being denied outright with no communication, as it is important for morale in a stressful and emotionally draining job to know when you will next be permitted time off. I was eventually given the 'understaffed' excuse again, with no attempt made to check in with my wellbeing or explain why I was waiting over a week each time just to have my requests denied and an automatic email sent to my account to confirm this.
Opening hours were extended until 12 midnight every day of the year within a few weeks of my taking the position - this possibility was not mentioned at any point during the interview process and would definitely have impacted my willingness to accept the job. When I started, I was working until 8pm. Although it looks good to have those opening hours on your website as a boast, it always comes with overtired and underpaid staff. Working on a helpline is taxing even on a slow day, and with very poor financial compensation and an uphill struggle to get any holiday time booked off, there is no incentive in place for staff. The amount of people developing eating disorders and needing support continues to rise, especially now that government guidelines require that calorie counts be listed everywhere, but people working for organisations like Beat cannot deliver support in the quality or quantity required when they feel unsupported themselves.
The final nail in the coffin came when I made the mistake of messaging an apparently trustworthy colleague on Teams to ask if this was a bad patch and things were especially busy, and whether she usually felt valued as an employee (looking to be persuaded that the job was worth keeping, because I was enjoying the actual work and making a real difference for people in distress). Of course she COPY PASTED my messages to a supervisor, at which point they ambushed me with an on-camera meeting and read my private messages back to me, saying the points I was raising were incorrect (they weren't) and I was acting inappropriately and creating bad feeling. If the mere act of asking someone if they feel valued in their work makes them depressed and uncomfortable, that should be a sign to look at how your organisation is run, rather than to instruct people that they are no longer permitted to have private conversations with colleagues. It was such an odd situation that I can only conclude this person used me as a scapegoat to air their own grievances with senior staff without having to actually say the words themselves. When I first approached my colleague by saying ‘Would it be okay if I ask you a few questions about working at Beat?’ she responded ‘Sure thing lovely :)’ Apparently toxic behaviour and backstabbing are encouraged here. The only reason I approached that specific person in the first was because she had mentioned the exact same concerns in a team meeting. Anyway, because of that bizarre little episode, I got all the answers I was looking for about how Beat is run and I have since secured a different job with better pay and better hours. I can only imagine they are still understaffed and overburdened, because every time an intelligent and empathetic person joins the team they are driven out within a couple of months.
