The NEW NORM

As noted in the previous chapter, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation released its report about the inappropriate workplace actions of former Q host Jian Ghomeshi, it announced the firing of two senior managers. Without knowing all the details, the CBC felt these two executive directors knew enough that they should have done something about Ghomeshi’s behaviour.

However, with a daily audience of three million, an aging demographic group of listeners and budget cuts galore, people will put up with a lot of “stuff.” After all, who wants to kill the “star” goose that lays the golden eggs? And Jian Ghomeshi was considered a big star, at least by Canadian standards.

Now let’s compare that star power to Jeremy Clarkson, former host of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s motoring show Top Gear. Apparently every episode attracted 350 million viewers around the world with hosts Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, making that show the biggest money maker for the commercial arm of Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC. 

Using cars as the subject matter, these hosts travelled all over the world, telling stories and interviewing celebrities with their cars.

Of the three, the biggest star was Clarkson, who had a special flair for being controversial, as well as unconventional. His behaviour included destroying many cars, such as a Maserati and a Porsche.

It seems that just like Canada’s Jian Ghomeshi, Jeremy Clarkson was used to getting his own way. After all, between his wildly popular Top Gear, his weekly columns in British newspapers and other revenues, he reportedly made more than £14 million in 2014. That’s a lot of power, especially when you consider what a public following he has.

However, on March 25, 2015 the BBC announced that Jeremy Clarkson’s contract would not be renewed – basically he was fired. He had been warned previously about his behaviour, but the final straw came when Clarkson attacked one of the show’s producers, Oisin Tymon, who was sent to the hospital for a bloody nose and split lip.

It seems Mr. Tymon brought the attack on himself when he had the nerve to tell Clarkson that he could not have an order of steak and fries after a night’s work on the show because the hotel stopped serving hot food at that late hour. The physical assault came after Clarkson attacked Tymon with extreme verbal abuse.

Shortly after it was announced that Clarkson’s contract had ended, the other two co-hosts of Top Gear resigned. Of course, it didn’t take long for all three to find another very lucrative program with Amazon Prime to compete with Top Gear. Money talks, and in fact it usually screams.

Perhaps if Mr. Clarkson had taken my Respectful Workplace online course, he would have learned that “star power” or not, you can’t be a violent bully at work, nor can you be part of a toxic workplace. People will get caught for psychological harassment in the workplace.

Plenty of people are more than happy to cash in on the bad behaviour of celebrities. For example, in late November, 2015, the hotel where the assault against Tymon took place – the Simonstone Hall hotel in Hawes, North Yorkshire – put up a plaque with the inscription “Here lies the BBC career of Jeremy Clarkson. Who had a fracas on this spot 4th March 2015. The rest is legend.”

One of their guests anonymously donated the plaque, and the hotel’s Facebook announced that the hotel was happy to display it.

Hence, BBC management, even with the threat of a lawsuit from Tymon, must have been tempted to ask Jeremy Clarkson to “kiss and make up,” perhaps buy Tymon and the rest of the crew a nice gift basket and carry on with a very winning and lucrative television formula. 

However, that kind of response would indicate that money can buy everything, including free passes to abuse and assault of employees. Tony Hall, BBC’s director-general (CEO), broke the news and was quoted as saying, “For me, a line has been crossed. There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank or public relations and commercial considerations.”

Jeremy Clarkson

Richard Hammond — James May

Tony Hall, BBC’s director-general

The OLD NORM

• knows that money and power will rule the day, manners and personal safety be damned.
• will allow top performers an enormous amount of latitude, including abuse and assault.
• doesn’t care how other employees feel when a top performer or “star” treats them as though they are servants, to be abused.
• will be heard saying something like, “Don’t mind him, he just got up on the wrong side of the bed…Just stay away from him today.”



The NEW NORM

• talks about respect for everyone at work and means everyone.
• knows that a true “star” performer will respond humbly even with power and money threatening to go to his head.
• expects the entry level employee and the highest level employee to apologize if they have made a mistake.
• knows there is lots of money to be made when you’ve got a good idea and good people who treat each other well.

01

Take a stand. How else do we get to the New Norm if we don’t apply the rules equally? There are plenty of reasons to treat people differently, such as higher pay for better skills. However, when it comes to bad behaviour there should be no room for different treatment. And when it comes to verbal abuse and assault, there’s certainly no reason.

02

Set out expectations from the start. Do employers have to tell their employees not to hit or abuse one another? There are certain things that are a given and shouldn’t be at the top of their orientation meeting. However, employers can spell out their desire for a truly respectful workplace and at the first sign of disrespectful behaviour, be clear about consequences. This may be where supervisors have to be clear that even “performers” or “stars” will be treated with the same expectations.

03

Money isn’t everything. I’m not sure in our material world that we can actually believe that. But whether there’s a chance of losing profits, or a chance of losing budgeted money (in the public sector or a non-profit workplace), you still have to stand up to abusive people. Otherwise, all the policies about harassment and ethics are for nothing. 

“I read the book while sitting in the living room with my husband. The poor man is dying to read it as soon as it's available. I must have gasped a lot."

Deb Stewart

Manitoba nurse