Unhealthy work environment?
Looking for advice/insight/wondering what other’s have experienced.
My partner and I have been working at the same ranch every summer for the last 6 years. There is so much that we love about it, AND every year we see things that need to be improved but aren’t sure how to go about making those changes happen. Let me explain.
The owners are now in their 80’s and just amazing. They are the reason I keep returning. Due to their age, however, the manager and his wife have taken on more of the owner’s duties. We will call the John and Sally. John and Sally do so much for the ranch, they truly work their butts off. However, John and Sally frequently fight in front of staff. At the beginning of this season John started throwing things in a fit of rage in front of our brand new staff, scaring them all. Sally frequently speaks to John as if she were his defiant teenage daughter, which sends him off. It’s really awkward.
They also have two very young kids, a baby and a toddler, which they expect the staff to help babysit. The babysitting is not in any of our contracts, nor is it made clear that it is an expectation in interviews, and yet the kids will just be left by John and Sally sometimes for other staff to watch. Sally gets very upset when staff doesn’t offer to take the kids. I understand her frustration, I’m sure it’s hard as a mother, but seems an unfair expectation.
John and Sally also like to fly by the seat of their pants, so there’s never a set plan for the day or clear communication. This leads to a lot of frustration and conflict with staff.
To be honest, this stuff has been going on for years, to the point that I almost want to take any new staff aside at the beginning of the season and warn them about the chaos that is about to ensue. I have spoken to the owners about my concerns, but they are incredibly loyal to John and Sally and also feel that they don’t really have a say because they are trying to stay out of things. But all of the employees have come to my partner and I with these concerns, I think because we have been there for so many years, and all we can do is commiserate.
It is to the point that we are going to give them one more summer and then be done. But it feels a disservice to not make them aware of things they need to improve on.
Is this typical of all mom-and-pop seasonal jobs? Should we express our concerns? How do we go about it in a way that they won’t feel attacked?