It's been a difficult month for me, I don't remember if I mentioned that on this year I was going to be 5 years without a job. I was looking for a job all this time without any luck until I confirmed at the beginning of this year one of my greatness fears.
In Mexico there's something called "boletinar" that is basically a kind of "black list" that companies create, they add you to that list for several reasons, some of them are fair like being late many days, not doing your job, harassment to coworkers, etc. you get the idea. But they can also add you if they want making some shit about you because nobody cares enough to make sure you actually did what they put on that list. It's illegal but you know is Mexico it doesn't really matter if it's legal or not they just do as they please.
I went to the National secretary of employment to see if they can do something about it, mostly because I was going crazy with all that free time and my anxiety of not being able to be productive and the fact I actually felt like a loser were killing me. They send me to an employment fair at Honeywell. I did all the process and I succeeded even though at the middle i was going to quit because they did every step on the same day and I was feeling really anxious and my mind was paying me tricks but I was able to finish.
Long story short I started at the beginning of July, and I was really happy because they sell you the company is super friendly and a good work environment over all. They even tell you that they aren't like other companies that punish you if you go to HR and tell them something is happening ot that you aren't feeling "happy" at all. The first month was a blast with all the training and information, I was lucky to be on my onboarding with really nice people we all became kind of friend during this time and I was feeling great, happy and proud of myself for being productive again. Then the difficult times started, we didn't had the proper training to start with the job, by the way they never told me I was going to be working as in a "call center" , they told me I was going to be answering calls and giving support but in another way like I´ll have the devices on my hand or near me to perform a correct troubleshooting but that I also was going to have enough deep knowledge on the devices and I didn't.
On the friday before I started I didn't even have all the tools I was going to use, I didn't even have all the credentials to access some of the tools and I only had 4 hours of "shadowing" one of my colleagues to "learn" how to do everything. Anyway I managed to do everything as I was supposed to do it not excellent because there's a "learning curve" for all this but I managed in my own way to perform well. The problem started a day had a call from a customer that wasn't understanding what I was saying but in that moment I thought he was referring to my pronunciation or my accent not about what I was "literally saying", he hung me up and I got really nervous then he called back again and I was unlucky enough to take his call again, I transferred his call to a friend as he asked me and right after she answered he hung again so we deduced he didn't like to talk to Mexicans or to women but it wasn't our fault. My manager held on that call forever he told me I wasn't capable to solve the customers needs, he told me just for that call that I don't know "English" (but you can see I do) and he gave in really rude way an ultimatum. Since that day I couldn't perform correctly on my work, I was scared all the time to answer my calls, but even so I was able to get enough cases an calls to accomplish my metrics. In the meanwhile a coworker offered to gave me some lessons to help me improve my English and I accepted, I improved a lot but I still was struggling with confidence.
I asked for help to the English teacher they have at the Company and he told me that my English was almost "excellent" but that I lack confidence he told me he was going to help me with that, many people offered to help me and they did but there was another problem. My manager cambe back after a "furlough" and he was acting weird with me, we never had another 1 on 1 we spoke to each other because every time I asked for it not because he was willing to give positive feedback not even feedback at all. He also discouraged every attempt I did to improve the team's performance, I suggested many times solutions to keep our team on the top but every time he says "NO" or "how does that affect you?". He even said once on a tier meeting that he thinks my idea of congratulates everyone whenever they had positive feedback from customers was stupid, even though the other teams did it.
At the end on my last week I was on the top 3 from my tier, I was 2nd place but I was 1st place with the amount of positive surveys and feedback from customers, it didn't matter. I got an email from HR asking for a mandatory meeting and I dunno why but I already knew they weren't going to extend my contract and that that day was my last one. They weren't as friendly as they say on the first month, they are rude with you and they allow the supervisors to make you feel like shit if they want, a few weeks back I went to HR and talked to my HR specialist or something like that I don't remember the actual title but the HR person that is assigned to you for this matters. I told him what my supervisor did to me the way he delivered that "ultimatum" to me and everything he did like discouraging every idea I had or that time he told me that Honeywell's 8 behaviours are ok and I was doing ok but "please don't do further that we told you to do". So yeah basically they make you trust them on all that lies about being open to know about your needs or about any situation that is making you uncomfortable, also is a big lie they don't punish you I was isolated from most of my coworkers and my supervisor was making my life really hard on that days even though every time I told them I was struggling with getting calls but I wanted to improve and get over it, I asked many times for help to improve and managed on my own to kept my metrics on green.
My last day they treated me like shit as if I was some kind of delinquent or something. I arrived early that day and left my purse and stuff on my desk and went straight to HR, they locked me on an office with my supervisor and an HR employee to let me know Honeywell didn't want to continue they relationship with me due my lack on knowledge on the English language, I tried to defend myself and asked why do they use that as an excuse to finish my contract as it was obvious I do know English, I also pointed out what their English teacher said about me, they didn't listen they even said that their English teacher has no saying on me.....funny right?.
I wasn't allowed to collect my stuff they sent my supervisor for it, I wasn't able to say good bye either they accompanied me to the elevator and then straight to a lawyer to make sure I didn't sue them or something like that. In the meanwhile as we waited for my supervisor to bring my stuff I spoke with the HR guy and he took a look to my profile and my metrics and even him didn't understand why they were ending my contract I told him about my reunion with my HR specialist and everything that was happening between my supervisor and me, all the mean thing he said to me and every time he discouraged me. He told me he wasn't aware of anything and that he can't did anything at that point , the decision was made. My supervisor as the coward he is, ran away after leaving my stuff he never faced me at any time he was just asking over and over again "can I leave now"...... felt so angry and disappointed. I did my best to keep everything as they asked, but nobody helped me with my supervisor's arrogance and his bad vibes towards me.
I really liked Honeywell as a Company, I do want to believe all that stuff about their 8 behaviors is true and that they actually don't punish you if you go to HR and speak the truth to them but I do feel disappointed on the way I was mostly kicked out of Honeywell San Luis Potosí, Mexico. They have a lot of staff turnover and that's not good for any Company but they seem to don't care on investigating why people leave the Company after a few months. They don't seem to see that they're losing money training people that after a few months feel uncomfortable and just want to leave , you invested enough on training them just make sure to have a healthy environment to them and let them work on proper conditions that's all you need!!
I wish I could tell Darius Adamczyk President and CEO at Honeywell about this, because I still believe he's vision and "8 behaviours" are actually good but people aren't following any of them at least at Mexico.
