IPHI absolutely lacks any level of self awareness, flexibility, or compassion. I can only illustrate this with concrete examples.
Inevitably as we approach the end of May 2021, a need for a reduction in workforce arose as cases declined. What follows is the way IPHI chose to respond to this - an event that they knew would eventually happen over one year in advance.
One morning, staff supervisors and managers were all met with 8 security guards patrolling our floor at 9am rather than the norm, which is 1 guard who sits downstairs. Staff at all levels requested clarification due to concerns about a possible security threat that we were not aware of and no further information was provided. At 10:15, staff were directed to join an all staff meeting at 10:30. Here I will note that this was the first and only IPHI staff meeting we have ever been invited to.
In this meeting, the CEO of IPHI spoke for 15 minutes about how great this pandemic has been for his personal career and his organization. He and others smiled and laughed while talking about how some staff might be ‘relieved’ to hear that, effective that day, 30% of staff would be fired. He speculated that we must be ‘tired’ and ‘grateful’ to be dismissed. The meeting ended, and over the course of three full business days, staff either got an email saying they were being retained - or got an email saying they had one hour to vacate the building. Those who were fired were escorted out CLOSELY by security. The rest of us were expected to return to work immediately. Some people were forgotten and had to sit alone in their office while the rest of their team packed up, until management remembered they exist and went to fire them in person.
Some other concerning things I have witnessed over several months:
- Leadership only wearing masks when other “important” people are around
- Talented and tenured staff being fired over small availability changes (in a department that is staffed 365 days per year)
- Staff unexpectedly reduced from 40 hours to 32 hours, new staff later hired to work 40 hours before offering those shifts to “full time” (but >40hr) staff
- Zero actual support from anyone who works at IPHI regarding concerns regarding 1. Safety and sanitation of worksite 2. General information regarding employment 3. Conduct concerns. IPHI signs my checks but other than that I am lucky to hear from them in any capacity.
- New staff are hired without even knowing the address (or potential addresses) they may work at. You are not told until the end of week 3 of training - which is one business day before you must report there. If you call and email IPHI headquarters (to attempt to understand *where* you will work before accepting the offer, you will not receive a response)
Overall, IPHI treats its contract employees as 100% disposable. It is clear they care more about convenience than compassion. It is also clear that IPHI is in this response for notoriety and money - which, while my intention is not to be petty, truly must have been needed. I have spent time and effort trying to understand what exactly IPHI does.. since they act too busy to support their COVID response staff (and because I genuinely do care to understand who I work for) .. and truly I have yet to find any concrete contribution or project led by IPHI that has benefited the health of people in the DMV.
While the COVID response is a unique situation I truly believe that any company that would rip away 100 people’s income *and* health insurance with one hour notice during a pandemic is one that will never treat any employee with respect and care regardless of the time or context. Avoid these folks who don’t even pretend to care for the people *actually* responding to the pandemic while they collect that good County money and relax at home - where they’ve been since March 2020.
