Gentle reminder to watch what we write when we are tired and annoyed!

New Zealand: A nursing director who wrote “capability to get alongside idiots” in a job description to her boss has been awarded $15,000 after a review disadvantaged her at work.

Under the field ‘what do you consider are the key skills required for your position?’ the nursing director ‘tolerance, vision, a strong nursing identity, capability to get alongside idiots’. She said she filled in the form late at night and didn’t intend on that line being included in the final copy.

The performance appraisal resulted in her being subject to a review, known as a 360 degree feedback review.   She was then faced with the prospect of up to 80 people giving anonymous feedback about her, knowing that the manager believed that she was a poor performer in respect of her interpersonal relationships.

“No fair and reasonable employer could have gone down such a route in all the circumstances,” the Authority hearing her case said in his decision.

The decision was taken that the nurse had suffered a “palpable sense of humiliation” and loss of dignity, and the Board were ordered to pay her $15,000 as reparation.