Worst Professional Experience of My Life
Pros
The cafeteria staff were very kind.
Cons
Disturbing business practice: They terminated me, and tried to tell me that I resigned. Erratic decision making: Management rescinded my work-from-home status without justification, despite not having any negative marks on my record or performance. Discrimination: Management had very different expectations of me than of the other remote employees. Two years into the arrangement, they suddenly expected me to travel 16 hours, round trip, on my own dime, to conduct simple hour-long tasks in-office. Dishonesty: Management told me that all of the remote employees were expected to meet these expectations, naming one remote employee in particular. So, I went and spoke to said remote employee who confirmed that there is no expectation of them traveling to the office whatsoever. Poor leadership: Almost every leader I encountered at UL was the antithesis of a leader. Most were weak, indecisive, lacked social skills, irresponsible, dishonest, manipulative, erratic, failed to own their failures, and didn't know the first thing about what it means to be a team. My "management" once instructed me to send a blank excel sheet to a client/VP so they could "at least see that we were thinking of him." At the subsequent meeting, said VP remarked, "I’m not sure why the [expletive deleted] you would send me a blank excel sheet. I’m not sure what good that does me.” Though my management was present at this meeting, Management failed to speak up and own this foolish order. So, I apologized, to the client myself. Which brings me to the next con... Lack of support: Management appeared to set me up for failure in multiple instances, and when the chance to support me presented itself, they failed to do so. From what I saw, management had zero interest in supporting any of its staff; A complaint I heard from staff members daily. Abuse of power: Management kept changing what the "expectations" of me were, until they were unconscionable, then gave me a life-altering ultimatum: move or leave. Zero comradery: There is a complete lack of team mentality at UL. It's constant finger pointing and "us versus them" thinking. UL versus the client, Lab Staff versus Engineering, Engineers versus Management, Engineering versus Sales, etc. Everywhere else I've worked since I was 15 years old, there was a sense of comradery and togetherness. There is none of that here. Misery and stress: Everyone I met there seemed miserable and stressed. I rarely saw a smile, or heard laughter. Only constant complaints of being too stressed. There appeared to be a direct correlation between misery level and amount of years spent working at UL. I've watched many new employees come in bright-eyed and ready to conquer the world (heck, I was one of them) and walk out defeated and depressed. You've been warned. The full story of my termination: Two plus years I'd been working fully remote (as was the rest of the engineering staff) when new management started asking me questions like "Do you have anything in writing that says you're allowed to work remote from another state?" Of course I did. So, I sent management the email my previous management had written, which stated, "[date] [my name] was approved to work remotely from [state] moving forward." "Is this all you have?" Management asked. Odd response, in my opinion. Management then told me that they would have to start "reviewing" my remote working arrangement. Management stated that we needed to ensure that I wasn’t a “burden to the rest of the team.” I have never felt like less of a team, than my time spent at UL. On a real team, there is no burden. It is the Leader’s responsibility to be sure of that. Twenty days later, Management told me that I would have to start “traveling to the office for client visits and trainings”, and that they were going to start sending samples to my house for construction reviews, “as we are doing with [another out-of-state employee]," they said. Well I called the other remote employee who confirmed that UL had never once sent her a sample for a construction review. Two days later, my supervisor called me and said, “I was going to send you a document today to sign that says you have to travel to the office for client visits, trainings, and construction reviews." I assumed Management misspoke when they said I would be asked to travel for construction reviews. So, I asked, “What happened to the option of sending samples to me for construction reviews as we do with [other out-of-state employee]?” To which Management replied, “Um, we’re not doing that anymore.” This is a blatant abuse of authority. Management kept changing his “expectations” of me day-to-day, without explanation. Every material change in my working conditions that you made was a life-altering inconvenience, considering that it would be a 16 hour round-trip for me to conduct a construction review, which is approximately one hour worth of work. Anyway, Management said that they were not sending me this document (that says I have to travel to the office for client visits, trainings, and construction reviews) to sign, as they had “just found out” that I was a “salary non-exempt employee”, meaning that UL would cover my travel expenses. Not wanted to cover my travel expenses, they said they would have to “figure this out” and “get back” to me by the end of the day because they would hate to have me wait or to have to “go into the weekend without answers.” I didn't hear a word from him for six days. Then, Management called me and said, ”So I’ll jump right into it, you are a non-exempt employee, meaning you are hourly. non-exempt means travel would be paid and travel expenses would be charged back to UL. UL is unable to pay those expense. That being said, your approval for remote work is being rescinded. We’re going to give you 2 weeks to decide if you plan to move to Northbrook or if we are to go a different path of parting ways.” Thirteen days later I sent management an email which stated, “To resolve this simply ... I’m willing to change my non-exempt status to exempt, or sign documentation that states I will be responsible for all travel expenses related to client visits, mandatory in-person trainings, and construction reviews, per your request.” That day, HR chimed in with, “we are not able to change your status from non-exempt to exempt.” I’ve talked to several other HR Personal that strongly disagree, but finding ways to keep me aboard certainly wasn’t in UL's agenda. The following day, I sent an email which brought my boss's blatant discrimination to light, proving Management lied about [the other out-of-state employee], and that his newly invented expectations of me were only expected of me, and no one else. The following day, Management emailed, “We understand per your email below that you are choosing not to return to the Northbrook office. We will consider this your voluntary resignation.” That same day, I responded, “Let me be clear, I am not voluntarily resigning.” To which Management replied, “we can consider this your resignation... Today will be considered your last day of actively working.” Shortly after, my access was shut off, and I no longer worked for UL LLC. Certainly the most unjust and appalling experience of my professional life. Every material change in my working conditions that Management made was a life-altering inconvenience to me, and there was no room for compromise. This erratic and inconsistent decision making, which directly impacts my career, my family, and the lifestyle I’ve built around them has fostered an uneasy, hopeless, and untrusting work environment. Complete absence of leadership skills. This has been a clear abuse of power by an erratic, inconsistent, unfair, unjust, dishonest, and incompetent individual; the antithesis of a leader. Management never once discussed resolution. Instead, Management kept altering what his “expectations” of me were until these expectations were unconscionable. Then Management gave me a life-altering ultimatum: Move 600 miles (neglecting to mention, discuss, or consider the family reasons for which I was originally granted my remote work status), or lose your job. Looking to work at UL? Look elsewhere. There are plenty of companies out there that treat their employees well. I've worked for many of them. UL is not one of them. Again, you have been warned.
