Here is your monthly termination threat
OHSUs current strategy for cullling the budget of excess workers without paying for layoffs seems to be driving people away by lowering moral, and finding excuses for terminating people in loopholes in the contract and infractions that would normally be considered minor: normal human error that has no real dire consequence.
I am noticing that, approximately monthly now, we are getting buletins and reminders about various policies. that we have always gotten, but suddenly they all seem to have the line in them:
"If an employee does not respond to reasonable feedback and inaccuracies persist, progressive discipline-up to and including termination of employment-may result."
This sentence is not new. I've seen it on things before. What is new is that they are appearing on things that are not injurious to people or customer service, and the notices they are appearing on are vague . It is showing up on statements regarding dress codes, some of which are out of date. (Pantyhose, anyone?)
It is also showing up on convoluted, badly written, grammerically incorrect, difficult to understand statements about FMLA, which, when we ask for clarification, get "I'll get back to you" responses that are never followed up on. We even got one that said we can be terminated if our approved FMLA interfers with the smooth running of a department...hello?
And of course, being OHSU every message ends with something like this:
"I know you will embrace this responsibility with the same dedication you show in every aspect of your work for OHSU Healthcare."
Sorry, I only have so much dedication to spread around.