Conflict
In my last position I served as the Fitness Director of three corporate fitness facilities in downtown Washington, DC. I reported to an Account Executive who served as the liaison between myself and staff and the respective property managers and our corporate office. The most memorable conflict that I encountered was a case of “he said, she said” concerning proper documentation for a new hire. Following the standard new hire process I was awaiting word from the corporate HR department regarding the employees’ background check information before scheduling the employee for her shift. After speaking with my Account Executive and an employee of the HR department to get permission to have the new hire begin work two days before her background check information was received, and having permission granted, I then received a phone call from the HR manager informing me that I was to be written up for not following company protocol and waiting for the background information to be received. I explained that both my AE and the HR department gave me verbal permission, I was informed that unless I had written documentation to support my assertion that I was in the wrong. In the end, I was written up; I spoke to both my AE and the HR rep that gave me permission but following the “ruling” of the HR manager, neither of them came to my defense nor backed the true accounts. What I learned from this was a) effective communication is vital and b) to always have written proof of
