Exploitation in the Workplace

I’m seeing a lot of abuse in the workplace lately.  Not physical abuse, but more so worker exploitation.  I thought we got rid of this as a society in the early 1900s in our country, but I am seeing it more as a trend now in the workplace I recruit in.  

Here are just two examples in the past week:

I have a candidate who has been diligently working for the same independent insurance agency for 16 years.  She has risen from a receptionist to a customer service representative assisting on a book of personal lines accounts. 

She wants to be an account manager.

I was introduced to her two weeks ago and I was very impressed…young, very bright, and very engaging. 

During the Zoom interview I did with her, I found myself thinking, “Where have you been all these years…?”

She explained to me how she routinely works 60 hours per week cocooned in her cramped office doing the work of others who are mostly goofing off. I confirmed this with a carrier rep that knows her and this firm very well.

I presented this individual with an opportunity to take the next step as a personal lines account manager role and she was thrilled. 

Her motivation is not only to take the next step in her career, but that she has been covering for two other family members in the office this summer who have been mostly out on vacation in Europe. She is now doing the job of three people working long into the night and on weekends.  

Between taking care of her young child at home and working these crazy hours she simply doesn’t have the time to complete the requisite personality profiles and position profile assessments that are a required part of the interview process. 

She is emotionally worn out from balancing work with her personal life.

Late yesterday, she finally threw in the towel.  She withdrew from the interview process.  Too much work was piling up.

After offering much encouragement, there is nothing more I could do to help this individual.  Maybe revisit in the future? Back to the grindstone, I guess.

Yet another candidate I am working with has a different set of challenges.  She is also being grossly overworked, but is working with a national insurance broker that has this very strange non-compete agreement that prevents her from working for certain insurance competitors sharing the same carrier in her locality. 

With limited opportunity to make a career move in her region, she has little choice but to remain with this organization working crazy hours many times after dinner and on weekends on her laptop at home. 

With this strange restrictive covenant in her employment agreement, she feels chained to her desk without any options. 

I advised her to see legal advice to gain her freedom, but she doesn’t have the time nor the funds to do this.

Maybe I am a magnet for these sorts of unfortunate situations?  Maybe these are one in a million situations? I don’t know.  I can only hope so.

I welcome your continued comments and feedback.

Rob