STORY 75

I worked for a very well known Department store chain in UK, on the buying team. The men used to rate their Top 5 women, including the male leaders. The business had a toxic ‘boys club’ culture. I had issues with my female boss which I felt were linked and she became jealous of whether we were in the ‘Top 5’ or not & ridiculous things like that. I was put on a PIP and I did everything they asked. I started to see HR, confidentially, fortnightly & they made a lot of notes. One day I got a call to come up to HR for a chat, one of the Directors was there, who I had worked with for years, he said this work environment can’t be nice for you, with your manager and you not getting along anymore. He pushed a letter and a settlement agreement to me including an NDA and said, leave now, don’t go back to your desk, you’ve got 3 days to respond. I said, this is ridiculous and so upsetting, I’ve been here for 4 years and I work hard. I have been seeing HR for months, the Head of HR was in the room and said ‘we have no record of that.’  I said, I got sexually assaulted on a work trip in HK and the guy texts me saying things like ‘I’m watching porn in my office, thinking about you, come see me.’  The Head of HR said ‘I think you need to grow up a little bit.’  And the meeting was over. I got £3k and it changed my career forever. I’ve since seen an anonymous Instagram page created for people to write about their experiences in the fashion world & I noticed this person and company were mentioned many times. It’s shocking, remembering it’s not even high fashion, just ‘Britain’s Favourite Department Store.’