… which were never explained to me, by the way.
I don’t want to get into too many details in the off chance someone from work is on Reddit, but I work at a public radio station. I was a print reporter before that. When I was hired I was assured that the transition is challenging but that I would have time to learn and get support.
Except, that never happened. Despite my requests to shadow people as the made mixes, no one ever taught me how to properly make a mix, or a radio story. I learned on my own with a few tips here and there. Learning how to voice tracks was distilled to 5 hours with a vocal coach and encouragement to listen to the radio to learn how other reporters speak.
My 3 months review was positive. Last week, I was told I don’t do enough and that my work isn’t high enough quality, two things no one had ever told me before. Now I’m on a performance improvement plan that states at the end that I “may” be terminated if I don’t meet their goals. When I brought up that I was confused by this and had sought help prior, I was met with blank stares.
I really don’t understand why management sets people up to fail. The whiplash of never hearing a bad word and then to be hit with disciplinary action has left me anxious and fearful when I come to work. It’s also reminded me of something I already knew: that management is petty, uninterested in growing talent and will blame you for not meeting goals that were not outlined.
Edit: My company has a 6-month probationary period, which my editors want to extend by 3 months. I spoke to my union president, who promised to make my case to HR when he received the plan, which is some thing that they are required to give to the union before it is formally put in place, but he did say there’s nothing he can do for me if they choose to terminate me for any reason in the interim.