Nearly many marketing department employees claimed they had learned to anticipate their supervisor to chastise them next to their coworkers. Some mentioned they had encountered his rage in more unpleasant ways, such as being asked to get up and leave briefings on a single man’s word.
Chelsea F.C in distress due to Suicide and complaints
The stress took its toll. By last year, a number of Chelsea staff had gone on medical leave for weeks, if not months. According to one employee, at least ten staff employees — from a department of roughly 50 — had departed the club entirely. Then, in early January, a well known previous staff member committed suicide.
Although it is uncertain whether professional pressure was a factor, his death shocked Chelsea colleagues who had grown to see him as a friend and sounding board. Their shock and loss gave way to rage during chats at his funeral ceremony earlier this year.
Chelsea recruited a consultant this spring to undertake a “culture evaluation” of the marketing department in response to mounting internal pressure to address the issues. However, few employees were confident in the process: they were told that the assessment of their workplace would be conducted by the boss who they believed was to responsible for the majority of its issues.
It’s difficult to conceive of a major sports club where personnel have had to deal with the type of uncertainty that the Chelsea crew has had to deal with this year.
The club’s existence was flipped upside down in March, because when team’s longstanding owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, was penalized by the British government just as he revealed intention of selling the Premier League club. Until a certain process was completed, individuals working for Chelsea — from players and coaches to administrators and lower-level staff members — had to worry about how to accomplish their duties, if they would still be paid for them, as well as whether their employment would still exist just after new owner was secured.