The "toxic" culture at Lost Dogs Home is accused of massive resignations of members of the board of directors, exodus of staff

published

29 November 2018 06:16:29

The donors of Lost Dogs Home in Melbourne are threatening to exclude the institution from their wills, while the management of this 106-year-old charity is causing growing concern.

Judy Holding donates hundreds of dollars a month to the lost dogs house and has designated her as the beneficiary of her estate.

But she added that growing concerns about the management of the organization and the lack of communication on the part of the management had forced her to reconsider her support.

"Unless they start to be more open about what they are doing and what their plans are, I will not give them any more donations," she said.

"I will certainly get them out of my control."

In recent years, Lost Dogs Home staff have experienced a significant staff turnover, with nine general managers, mbadive resignations of board members and an exodus from the entire management team.

The ABC has spoken to dozens of former executives and employees of Lost Dogs Home who describe it as a "toxic" workplace, charged with intimidation, harbadment, unsafe work practices and mismanagement.

None were ready to be identified.

Current staff said they feared being punished for speaking in public, while former staff members signed non-disparagement clauses in their severance pay.

A former executive director told ABC that the house had a "culture of systemic intimidation" [that] never seems to have changed. "

"Animals … never seem to be the center," they said.

"The welfare of animals suffers"

Current staff and former staff members told ABC that waves of quits from veterinary staff and behavioral specialists had left Lost Dogs Home staff.

"People are quitting because of their low morale and workload," an employee told ABC.

"Our name is so confusing that it is now difficult to find replacements."

In November, a survey of United Voice union staff revealed that over the last year, more than half of Lost Dogs Home employees had taken time off from work-related stress, citing Anxiety, depression and anger.

An animal handler stated that veterinary personnel "must continually perform dangerous and dangerous surgeries" on animals.

On one occasion, a veterinarian was forced to perform surgery on a dangerous, unmuzzled dog that was launched against a staff member.

"Animal welfare suffers from mismanagement," another staff member told ABC.

"We can not cure animals to reduce suffering because we have lost our veterinary behavior specialist.

"Kennel teams and admissions staff have to work overtime because of the shortage of staff.

"The risk of biting is greatly increased due to fatigue.

"Staff feel sick to come to work because of stress."

The organization's board also experienced a high turnover rate. The seven-member Board of Directors has 14 new directors over the past three years. Six have resigned this year alone.

The documents visible on ABC that indicate that Lost Dogs Home has spent more than a million dollars in payments, as well as legal and consulting fees for staff who resigned or were removed from office.

Lost Dogs Home has been in turmoil since at least 2015, when the board sacked longtime general manager Graeme Smith and operations manager Sue Conroy.

Since then, the turnover of management staff has been constant.

In 2016, Anne King, finance manager at the time, and another senior employee brought allegations of intimidation and misconduct before the Fair Labor Commission. Both were paid and left the organization.

& # 39; I just watch it go down & # 39;

Members attempted to remove Prue Gillies to the chairmanship of a hot annual general meeting in 2016, but were surprised when several board directors produced hundreds of proxy votes for new members who had registered a few days before the meeting.

Angry members accused the council of piling up its members and called on Gillies to step down from the presidency. However, the election has been ratified.

The CBA may also reveal that, in the year prior to the meeting, the Board had received a consultant report recommending that Ms. Gillies be removed from her position as Chairman within a few months and that new directors are recruited.

This report has never been made public.

A second report on workplace culture at Lost Dogs Home did not recommend that the board chair frame her "interpersonal communication style."

For long time supporters of Lost Dogs Home, like Ms. Holding, the turmoil in a charity that she loves is heartbreaking.

"I'm watching the track go down, it's really painful," she said.

"You hear nothing but a little newsletter from time to time, which repeats the same story.It is such a change that in the past, a much more open organization."

Ms. Gillies will run for the presidency of Lost Dogs Home at tonight's Annual General Meeting.

The ABC has asked for an answer to the lost dogs house.

Topics:

corporate governance,

animal wellbeing,

melbourne-3000

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