The benefit to being in Oklahoma is that American Fidelity can fire you for any reason except where protected under law with no explanation. It is a right to work state and you have no protection against it. In my time, I had no bad performance reviews, no verbal warnings, no write-ups (one regarding social media policy years ago but not related to reasons for being terminated), and no performance/improvement plan(s).
I was terminated for "inappropriate communication and disrespect for leadership" without any previous coaching or mentoring regarding the issue. American Fidelity's first value is being Always Fair. This is not the reality in many circumstances but I will only share my anecdote here.
I met with HR because I was concerned with my desire to ask a question. A great Place to Work survey returned with results that 5 of the lowest scores in the IT division were all related to management. For example, two of the statements were "Promotions go to those who best deserve them" and "Managers avoid playing favorites." I asked the following question, "What is the leadership team doing to address the 5 lowest scores on the Great Place to Work Survey..." then listed the 5 statements. HR said I had every right and incentive to ask that question as it directly related to me as a Colleague. Senior IT management not providing a response to any plans to address these statements on the survey and preference to silence Colleagues is very concerning. It shows a lack of accountability and leadership to address difficult conversations with direct feedback from your division.
HR approving the termination after approving it is dangerous. Nothing happens without HR involvement and the fact that there wasn't any conversations with HR, warnings, etc. is worrisome for existing and new Colleagues looking for a fair place to work.
Reasons 2 - 6 had no particular examples and HR would not provide them to me as I was no longer a Colleague and they were proprietary documents.
Reason 7: seemingly doesn't respond to or attempt to incorporate coaching provided to improve behavior and instead reacts to unprofessional ways in regards to coaching. I did not receive any coaching from my manager and admittedly is not “that kind of manager” at one point I had 1on1s with that a senior manager before I was told to "discontinue the 1on1s because I was not a leader anymore and needed to stop doing leadership things."
AF would rather have the business fail or on-board the new manager slower if it meant I could be micromanaged. It would be beneficial to those managers that management communicated decisions so the management team would not be so dysfunctional.
As a leader in the organization and my time as a Colleague facing support role, I maintained a positive reputation in other divisions, managers, and teams. I experienced many successes in my short career at American Fidelity and my termination was a shock to a majority of people. Managers in IT, IT Colleagues, and a hundred other Colleagues reached out to me in complete disbelief as I confirmed my displacement.
Lastly, when the unemployment office reached out to American Fidelity, they stated that there were no documented infractions and could not dispute the unemployment claim. In my experience, this is rare at American Fidelity to not fight against unemployment claims but they admitted they had nothing to stand on. Again, this is concerning for any potential candidates and current Colleagues in any role.
