Eight-year former employee’s account. 1) not long after hire (initially as a contractor), certain senior IT staff members made it known they were not there to support me 2) slow motion culture 3) poor business acumen - people “too busy” to return emails, etc… 4) biases against being a contractor was detected after initial hire including operationally impactful biases towards the equipment (by brand name) I was hired to support. 5) black-balled by top agency management and some staff (assumably) because I worked remotely when they came on board. 6) reported a verbal confrontation with an irate staff member to HR - received no response.
Note: The COVID pandemic, management changes, and budget cuts certainly may have played a role in the following: After the pandemic remote work cycle: I gave two-week notice with plans to move out of state (for marital) and was offered a three-month, out-of-state work-from-home employment extension which was extended indefinitely for about two years but when a change in top management occurred, I was suddenly given an ultimatum to return to work on premises within two weeks (then one month) to keep my job due to the new top leadership’s “remote work philosophy change”. So I lost my job within just over a year of qualifying for state pension. The fact that I was offered extended remote employment (twice) AND given the option to return to employment (at least and albeit haphazardly) speaks to my value to the agency (or should have). I think more time and consideration could have been extended given the work history and overall contributions to the agency but at the same time (and in hindsight and in all “fairness”), the same thing was happening all over the country.
