Association’s board to investigate allegations of bullying
Three Valleys’ Eastwood suspended
Three Valleys Housing chief executive Paul Eastwood has been suspended by the association’s board after allegations of staff bullying.
Mr Eastwood and Nasreen Hussain, TVH’s director of finance, were suspended last week after complaints were brought to the board’s attention at a meeting on Friday. Sources indicated that the allegations related to bullying in the organisation.
A spokesperson for the association said the step had been taken to enable a thorough investigation of management issues at the organisation.
Bob Hingston, chair of TVH, said: ‘We have a duty to deal with complaints when they are made and have acted quickly to begin a thorough investigation. These suspensions should, in no way, be seen as any admission of fault in respect of the individuals concerned.’
Mr Eastwood was previously called to a meeting at the Tenant Services Authority to discuss allegations and complaints, which led the regulator to request a governance review last year. The 5,800-home Derbyshire-based association was instructed by the TSA to commission a review of alleged high turnover of senior staff and board members (Inside Housing, 27 November).
Earlier this month, Inside Housing obtained the results of a survey in which 32 employees complained of a ‘bullying management culture’ at the company (Inside Housing, 8 January).
The TSA is liaising closely with the board of TVH regarding the issues. Following a board away day last weekend, the regulator revealed it will be meeting with Bob Hingston, chair of the association, shortly for an update on TVH’s long-term strategic direction and the outcome of its governance review.
A spokesperson for the TSA said it was looking into the situation and considering its response.
Three Valleys said there was no acting chief executive. It confirmed Greg Lomax, of independent consultancy Campbell Tickell, was providing additional management support.
Inside Housing was unable to reach Mr Eastwood or Ms Hussain at the time of going to press.
Mr Eastwood has since denied he was responsible for any bullying at Three Valleys. He said: ‘This was not true and no evidence was ever presented to support these allegations.’
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Readers' comments (14)
Byronboy | 29/01/2010 5:49 am
It is interesting to read that the Chair of TVH (Bob Hingston) believes that it is important for complaints such as these to be acted upon promptly. I can't help wondering why the Board, led by Bob Hingston, have not acted sooner than this.
Only seven days ago Mr Hingston made a very strong denial herein that no bullying was taking place at TVH and that staff were very happy to work there. To show a change of mind and heart so soon shows more than an element of naivety on the Chair's part, I think.
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kass | 29/01/2010 9:40 am
A poster, I do not remember his/her name, on another commentary about social landlords rot where I noted that it was only the tip of the iceberg,
insisted that I provide proofs of how rotten some social landlords are.
Then h/she got indignant - like so many so called social housing professional tend to do here when their sector is found corrupt - that I had no research to prove my allegations... etc. like I was the Daily Telegraph and not just a tenant with all the resources of a big organisations to expose all the sector corruption single handed...
Well, i do not need to do anhy research after all. Having seen enough evidence of the tip of the iceberg it looks like all the submerged social landlords rot is slowly coming up to light. And, yes, it is uglier than even I assumed it would be.
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pauline | 29/01/2010 5:16 pm
Excellant work...bullying must be stopped...ensure the staff are given counselling...what a shame for the staff there.
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Max Ahmed | 29/01/2010 8:14 pm
A very positive outcome for the staff at TVH and for the TSA who is beginning to demonstrate its muscle. Its a pity that it was silent when real regulation was required at Aldwyck and it chose not to talk to the management there or did it merely take Neil Hadden's word for it that it was "frivolous, vexatious and completely unfounded".
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Yul Brynner | 30/01/2010 10:51 am
Cases like this always interest me and the question is, can the Chief Executive be ignorant of the management culture within his own organisation or do they set the management agenda? Personally I've seen both situations but these issues should always be balanced against the view that many RSL's carry across staff who simply weren't asked to perform or indeed managed during the good old council days. Working for a 'lean' organisation such as an RSL, often means employees have to raise their game and this can come as a complete culture shock for these people. I've seen several situations where poorly performing staff have been reasonably and professionally managed but have claimed victimisation and bullying. Even cases were poorly performing groups of staff have conspired against management and claimed they were being bullied. This is a phenomena known as reverse bullying; its well recognised and I can assure you its out there and becoming a common problem for RSL management. Bullying is never acceptable in any form but we should be balanced in our views on this problem.
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kass | 30/01/2010 11:43 am
"Byronboy | Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:49 GMT
...To show a change of mind and heart so soon shows more than an element of naivety on the Chair's part, I think."
Naivety?... He should not be a Chair if he is that naive... It looks much more like an attempt at cover up or brushing off.
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Amber | 31/01/2010 7:28 pm
Kass, firstly, it was me that asked you the innocent question about what your other comment was based on. Secondly, I got 'indignant' because you spoke back to me quite rudely after I'd asked you a genuine question and was actually interested in your answer, which ended up being a personal attack on me instead. Thirdly, as I said to you at the time I'm not a housing professional.
Check your facts before you talk about previous conversations next time before attempting to rewrite history to suit your own arguments.
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karen | 01/02/2010 8:45 am
2 instances in an entire sector does not an entirely corrupt sector make.
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Andrea Rose | 01/02/2010 1:56 pm
I have read Yul Brynners, comments and I do agree with them to a degree. When it comes to the management of performance of staff who have never been managed before you can easily see why they use the bullying card. For years they have done exactly want they wanted to do. The mistake there managers make is developing too personal a relationship that the underperformer then takes advantage of. By the same measure a bullying manager tries to take over your life, just to see how far they can go even getting you do elements of their work.
So many managers, need to go through training themselves so there are able to provide clear objectives and development goals for their staff and also understand they need to be respectful and professional. They need to understand their area of business and provide that clarity within their teams and the organisation as a whole.
Some organisations do bring bullies in to manage underperforming staff, which is not the way to tackle their ways of working. What every the challenges everyone needs respect and a way out of necessary. There are consultants out there who take on these interim management posts that can come into your organisation and clean up. Use them.
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Yllek | 02/02/2010 10:23 am
There is certainly some justification for looking further into the role of the Chair at TVH. There is a wealth of symptoms that things were not going well with all tenants resigning from the Board on mass, high turnover of staff and a survey showing that most staff felt bullied. Did involved tenants at governance level also feel bullied? If they did what hopes are there for implementation of resident scrutiny and influence. This is essentially the whole Boards responsibility and suspending the CEO is no get of jail free card, or is it?
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