"The fintech I worked for fired me while I was grieving"

I worked for a major UK fintech for over a year. It fired me over ‘poor performance,’ but the way it did so was deeply unfair.

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I had been struggling with a death in my family and health issues, as well as a time-consuming cross-country move. The day after I finished my move, my manager scheduled a one-on-one, where he said the whole team was not satisfied with my performance. I had no idea they had even been discussing me.

My manager was aware of my personal situation. He said, “we can only have empathy for a while. I do not want to threaten you, but if it is not going to change, I have to escalate it.” He also compared me to a colleague, saying he was the same level on paper but doing a much better job.

I worked hard to address my performance. In subsequent peer-performance reviews, I received predominantly positive feedback. However, I was not moved up to a higher performance bracket because my “colleagues believed I wasn’t working full hours and had a second job.” I wasn’t; I had a flexible working arrangement because I was learning to drive. My manager was aware of this, but chose to ignore it.

My manager said I would remain at my current performance level but, when I came back from a period of approved annual leave, I had actually gone down a rating in my absence. At my next one-on-one, the manager showed up with someone from HR, who told me my contract would be terminated. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to my colleagues.

I don’t think my performance was the issue. After all, I received 11 job offers after I left and have just finished my probation at a much better employer. Considering that someone joined the company in my old position almost immediately after I left, I think my manager was just trying to stab me in the back.

Dorian Volner is a pseudonym.

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