Ready. Fire. Aim. Great people. Great services. A megalomaniac as a leader. That is Patient Care. Over 30 years I had worked for a number of managers at half a dozen companies but I had never worked for someone like Jane Cooper.
It was truly her way or the highway. In 7 months there were 25 people that were terminated or quit (mostly terminated) out of a workforce of less than 60 people. She would insult you in private or in front of other employees at a company meeting (as she did to me), it did not matter to her.
My first day on the job I was in a team meeting where she was discussing upselling a product. She noted that some were having greater success than others, and properly noted who was doing well. She also said that others, “who I will not name, are struggling, like ….”. I could not believe that after saying she wouldn’t name names, she named names! Way to motivate those folks instead of training and coaching. That was really my introduction to her management style.
There was not a Human Resource person at Patient Care, Jane Cooper hired and fired. Although the Employee Manual set forth a policy to use regarding disputes with your manager it said that HR was part of the process. But there was no HR to appeal to, there was only Jane Cooper.
She did hire a gentleman as a manager under her to manage the Account Managers. He lasted 30 days before he was terminated. Another Account Manager was there 5 weeks before being terminated. Another walked out and never came back, to her credit.
I endured personally comments like “that idea is stupid”, “you realize your job is at risk”, or, when discussing a communication plan for a client that I had no met, I was told that what I put together was “pathetic”. When I pointed out that it was hard to tell a client how to communicate our program to their employees without speaking to them she admitted, “You make a good point”.
She indicated in an email to staff regarding Salesforce training that several of us did not attend. Hard to do since I was at a client meeting in Florida. But the best was her telling me at the start of a one on one meeting, “Stop twitching, you’re making my eyes water”. Seeing that she knew my daughter had Parkinson’s Disease I found her remark not only confusing but totally repugnant. The only thing that kept me from walking out was my wife’s voice in my ear saying,” You can’t quit, you have to get fired so you can get unemployment”.
She eventually put me on a performance plan and said that I need to send a detailed email at the end of each day outlining what I did during the course of the day. I did that for 2 months and eventually the plan just went away, as the aforementioned Account Manager walked and she now apparently needed me. The day after putting me on the plan she remarked that she thought I would have been at my desk later than 4:30 the previous day given what we discussed. I pointed out that I did not take a lunch or breaks, and generally put in at least 9-10 hours a day. Her response? Silence as she walked away.
When I finally decided to leave and outlined my personal reasons for doing so, her only comment was, “This will really hurt us now”, since they were entering the busiest time of the year. No concern for me or my family, just the impact on her. When she sent staff an email saying I was leaving she said I was leaving to spend more time with my family. That was part of it but I finally decided that I had enough of her rude and insulting behavior.
Since Patient Care has apparently been acquired recently by DirectPath I hope that the new management makes changes and employees are able to do their jobs without being subjected to the abuses of the former regime.