The Worst Few Weeks of my Life - Editorial & Production Assistant Samedan Employee Review

Thank you for the feedback – we have addressed some of your comments below. It’s a shame things didn’t work out but we hope you learned a lot during your brief stay with us - and we wish you the best of luck in your future career. It is nice to hear you enjoyed working with the other editors and editorial staff. They are a friendly and welcoming group, most of whom started as recent graduates like yourself and I’m sure they will be pleased with your comment. We believe our senior managers are well qualified for their roles as they have a combined experience of over 100 years in the publishing industry. Despite having a small team, we have multiple brands and operate across several offices. The senior management divide their time between these locations and are often out at external meetings. It’s simply not possible to be in all places at once – but as you know we do have various chat / virtual meeting systems which we use to communicate when we are not in the office. We are a friendly bunch and anyone can get in contact with us at any time. 75% of our employees are female (including the editorial manager) and three of the four director level positions are held by women. We have a diverse range of staff across the business, all of whom are valued members of the team. When we hire recent graduates, we give them the opportunity to learn and develop their skills in a publishing role. Unfortunately, despite training and support a small number, such as yourself, do not complete their probationary period and move on to a permanent role. The majority of staff are hybrid working but we do like graduates to come in to the office full time to begin with, as it is essential they integrate with the various team members and learn how the business works and what is expected of them. This was made clear to you during the interview process as was the hybrid working arrangement. We never ask anyone to come and work in the office when they are ill. As we explained to you several times – if you are too ill to come in to the office we would prefer you took the time to rest and fully recover rather than working remotely and potentially prolonging your illness. We prefer not to work in departmental silos, instead working in teams across publishing brands with editorial, sales, production and events working together to produce great products that drive our business forward resulting in success for everyone. It is difficult to ask someone to leave after a short period of time and we understand you would rather have passed your probation and moved on to a permanent role with us. We know it’s not the outcome you wanted and it’s not the outcome we wanted when we hired you - but as we felt we had exhausted the remedial actions open to us, we could no longer see any viable alternative. We do wish you well and we’re sure you will find another role that suits you in the future.