Another Kaiser Employee Treated Like Dirt
Kaiser Thrive Exposed just published the story of another employee horribly mistreated by Kaiser. Many of his experiences echo my own. He was trying to please erratic superiors during a probationary period. When the Kaiser managers decided to push him out, they developed phony documentation to make their actions look legal.

Similar to my case, Kaiser presented a set of rules for the employee to follow, but the employee was punished for following them. This is a way managers at Kaiser seize personal power: if they can punish an employee either for failing to follow rules or for following the rules, then the manager can do whatever they want on whim. This situation is extremely stressful for the employee, because it's impossible to make rational decisions. Employees can't read their manager's mind from moment to moment, and they don't know what secret rules the established group may be following. It's possible management wants to see the employees stand up against peer pressure and advocate for their patients. It's also possible management wants to see if the employee is "flexible" or savvy enough to pick up on the secret rules of the community - the pecking order, the politics, etc. There's just no way for the employee to tell, so from the employee's perspective the work environment is just random.

Also similar to my case, Kaiser cut off this employee in a way that made it difficult to find comparable work elsewhere. Because he was in a probabtionary period, Kaiser terminated him without reason - notice the stock phrase "not a good fit". Note also the retaliation of filing the "termination" with various professional boards - which looks to me like a direct result of the employee questioning the "reports" that were used against him.

This employee has had to pursue "dispute resolution" with Kaiser at his own expense (it's unclear how long this process has been dragging out - mine took seven months). Also similar to my case, Kaiser is not allowing him access to the evidence to make his case in a Hearing (if the pattern holds, Kaiser HR is busy destroying the evidence to cover for the managers). In other words, this employee is paying his own way for a Hearing that will only serve to create more documentation to uphold the decision some bad manager already made.

I'm glad the employee also points out his previous experience and the improved conditions of his current workplace. I think he has a point about Kaiser trying to prevent they people they discard from becoming their competition. I'm also glad that he's pointing out how the cavalier attitude of Kaiser manager's toward their organizations supposed policies and procedures ultimately sabotages the care being given to patients. I hope he makes it his life mission to give patients a better option than Kaiser.

It is however interesting that the CEO of the Northern California region, Robert Pearl, responded to this employee's letter after the employee had run into all the usual brick walls. No one at Kaiser ever responded to me. Maybe the one good thought here is that I made enough noise so Kaiser no longer thinks it can just flick people away like flies.

Update: Just found this blog with remarks on Kaiser Thrive. I don't run Kaiser Thrive, but I cheer it on every chance I get.