Former alderman Sanneke Vermeulen feels heard by the investigation into the management culture at the municipality of Roosendaal. The research report presented on Wednesday evening shows that a large proportion of employees experience an unsafe working atmosphere. Vermeulen stepped up last year after bullying and exclusion. “I sacrificed my dream job to get this to light.”
Vermeulen is doing well, after she boarded a year ago as alderman of the municipality of Roosendaal. “It feels a bit double,” she says. “That this research was needed is of course painful, but on the other hand I feel recognition for what I stepped on. It is now black and white now.”
The former alderman regularly had to deal with bullying behavior, gossip and exclusion at the municipality. “It went from intimidation to exclude and look away. People did not dare say anything because they were afraid that something would happen to themselves.”
Vermeulen has been visually impaired from her birth. “There were times when I was bullied by this handicap. Something that you can’t do anything about. That makes it so frustrating.”
Read also
She is still behind her decision to ring the bell. “I have been in a poisonous culture for two years. The step to bring that out is very difficult and demands a lot of you. I doubted it, until I heard from other employees that they also ended up in unsafe situations and suffered from bullying behavior. Then I thought: this really is not possible. I don’t have to deal with people here.”
A survey was conducted for the investigation, in which about half of all employees participated. A third of the employees of the municipality of Roosendaal have to deal with undesirable behavior. Many people had to deal with mental and physical complaints, lengthy outages or even left the organization.
“It’s much deeper and is more than I expected.”
“The numbers don’t lie,” says Vermeulen. “It is very shocking that there are still people who feel unsafe.” That is a confirmation for her at the same time. “It shows that this is a much broader story than just mine. It is much deeper and is more than I expected.”
She thinks a lot has to be done to change the management culture in Roosendaal. “Sixty percent of the respondents indicate that they have been dealing with unsafe situations. Five percent did not dare to report when they saw it happen to others. That indicates what culture is now there. I am really confident that mayor Mark Buijs can bring this to a successful conclusion. But it will be a long way.”
“I sacrificed my dream job to bring this to light.”
She received many responses after the report came out. “For many people it is now clearer why I stepped on. I sacrificed my dream job to reveal this. I am proud of that afterwards. At least I didn’t do it for nothing.”
The chapter can now be closed as far as Vermeulen is concerned. “We are now a year later and everything is being brought again by what it says in the research. I have had a lot of problems with it, but I have to continue. I hope I can look ahead again.”
