I am a communication professional with many years’ experience in the international corporate world. I wrote for an audience of over 70,000 people, took part in international projects, won awards for teamwork and communication, and ended my career on a high while I was in a global role.

Last January, I started working for a charity; after an extenuating job search, I thought I had finally found the perfect place, the cause was great and the location perfect.

When I decided to move into the charity world, I had this idea that charity workers came with an innate set of values like respect, dignity, excellence and kindness, just to name a few.

Much to my regret, I soon realized that those values were not reflected on the daily actions of the management team.

After a couple of weeks, I knew the place was not for me: the CEO, who was sharing the open space with the rest of the staff, was unapproachable, hardly said hi, and never came back to me when I asked him 20 min to learn about the charity goals and strategy; my manager and her manager (yes, there was a very convoluted reporting line given that the we were only four in the team), did not seem to be on the same page for most of the time and gave me contradictory information on how to do my job, making me waste time. I had no formal training, no goals were set, and I was asked to learn based on other people’s previous works.

Staff meeting were tense, I could see the youngest colleagues being intimidated and the senior management being overpowering. There was bullying, public accusations to people not being able to do their job, and other petty and non-professional comments. We were asked to go to the office (and commute on the train) even during the Covid19 outbreak, and I had to put my foot down and say I was working from home.

After the lockdown, I realized that the role they hired me for was becoming redundant due to the remote working and inability to travel; but my manager asked me to work on different things, and I thought it was the right thing to be flexible, especially as we were trying to secure emergency funding. I had decided to keep going at least until the end of my probationary period, which was 6 months.

But this week, after the umpteenth episode of bullying, towards me this time, and a very petty tentative to put me down, I decided to hand in my resignation letter. The management said they felt sorry about my decision, I think it is what they wanted, and I felt manipulated. I feel relieved but, at the same time, very saddened. I had lots of nice messages from my colleagues who asked me why I was leaving so soon, but I thought it would not be professional to explain in detail.

I am now jobless during a pandemic, who knows how long it will take me to find another role?

Is there anyone else out there who think that charity workers should practice what they preach? Does anyone else have any similar experiences to share?