Complaint Review: Unity World Headquarters / Charlotte Shelton

I have to agree with the last poster, As  business and and employer, they have been ignoring what they have for far too long.  Unity is a wonderful thing in principle, and has brought a great deal of wonderful things to the world. But it has a long history of interpersonal conflicts not being properly addressed. And the employment practices have been out of alignment with their principles for far too long. They simply shrug off thier responsibilites with Prayers for Divine Order (to use a Unity term) and assume they are in the clear morally and spiritually.  

So many people come to Unity expecting to find a place where thier contributions willl be appraciated, only to discover that it is no different than any corporation. This is rather naive, but it's hard to grasp how they can maintain thier policies towards employees and claim to be in alignment with thier spiritual values. In my experience, Costco does a better job of appreciating and supporting their employees that UV does. It's also much easier to live in accordance with Unity principles and values there than at UV in my opinion.  If anyone at Unity is reading this I hope they will consider the employment and business practices of Unity since the early 1980's and reflect on this.  The feel of corporation in disarray and distress was oftent more dominant than the spiritual vibe, and it is unsettling. 

And I also feel that the homophobia and vitriol in the original poster's complaint make it clear that they would be an unpleasant co-worker in any workplace. What few grains of truth they may have hit upon are irrelevant to their experience. I find it difficult to believe that they could conceal this animus in the workplace, let alone anywhere else.  I am not doubting that they felt unfairly treated. It's just that responding to injustice with personal attacks never solves anything.   I hope they find some kind of healing and peace. 

Like some of the other people responding to the claim, I'm puzzled by the accusations and wonder what the sexual preferences of the executives have to do with the matter at hand.

But what I can contribute is this: The organization has been all too willing to hack away at its workforce, and at the same time takes advantage of a loophole that allows it, as a nonprofit, to not pay unemployment benefits to the loyal employees it lays off. Even worse, when people are hired on no mention is made of this policy.

It's shameful, unethical and immoral. If management wonders why morale is so bad (in addition to the extra workload employees are having to shoulder due to the layoffs), it is because those who are left are in fear.

Managers give lots of lip service to valuing their employees' service, but as long as policies like this continue, their words mean squat. 

I'm a current UV employee and have seen several "bits" of information regarding Martha and Charlotte's l*****n love affair. Last year the two of them spent two weeks at a spa in Florida and shared the same room. When Martha showed the pictures, the room only had one bed and both spoke of how they "enjoyed" the jacuzzi tub which was located in their bathroom. Both continue traveling to places on the company dime.
I'm not sure where the last person got her facts concerning layoffs, Unity has now laid off a total of 375 people (one of which was my wife) and has replaced a couple positions with family members (ie, Charlottes daughter).

The board did not request the additional layoffs, it was Charlotte and the executive team who said they would take these measures in order to save their own jobs. I agree with what the previous person said regarding women in leadership, however it's not true here. Charlotte, Martha, Paula, Jan and Debbie have no clue on how to run an organization. None of them have the necessary credentials to run a not for profit religious organization?

Charles Fillmore is a wonderful man and I hope he continues to enjoy his golden years out at the village, but Rosemary, she's an evil wicked person who hides behind Unity. I have seen her in action and she is just as two faced as the others mentioned above.

I agree, Unity will be history by mid 2010. My prayer is for the good employees who are left and that they get out while they can. The rest of them can burn in hell.

a person's sexual preference should not be of anyone's concern to anyone except their romantic partner.

women tend to me more fiscally prudent than men anyway.

witness the wall street, usa financial institution meltdown how many women werein charge of that DEBACLE?

WE COULD USE A LOT MORE WOMEN IN BUSINESS!

this sounds like a downsized MALE employee --one who hates women.

he should have no trouble getting a job as a uniformed private security guard.

I don't know much about this.

I do know that my grandmother was the social secretary for a Mrs. Donald Alexander and her private secretary and personal assistant whose surname was WARREN and that's all we ever knew her by was given MILLIONS when Mrs. Alexander died and Warren was HUGE on Unity so she must have given some of it to Unity.

i am sorry to hear about this. i enjoyed reading the unity literature.

I am a current Unity Village employee who is not a participant in any aspect of the Unity faith, movement or religion. I simply work here (in a very non-administrative capacity), and while this report had some information that slightly resembled accuracy, it just wasn't enough to let it pass.

First, I don't know about Charlotte Shelton's or Martha Lynn's sexual preferences as they certainly aren't relevant to my work at Unity Village. I can't comment on this part of the report, though I can say that a request to "put them to sleep" seems a little extreme.

Second, let's look at this properly. Unity's financial troubles began over ten years ago, evidenced by the huge round of outsourcing that took place during that time. The administration was dominated, as it had been for Unity's entire history, by men. Poor decision after poor decision was made, implemented, and eventually scrapped. Money was squandered on an infinite number of fruitless projects.

This downfall didn't have anything to do with gender. It was just good old fashioned financial mismanagement.

As for Charles Fillmore and Rosemary Rhea, I've personally found them to be lovely people. Mr. Fillmore is elderly and not as actively involved in UV as he once was - he's served the village well for many years, and he's certainly entitled to a break now.

Rosemary Rhea is one of the most delightful, considerate women I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Again, I can't attest to her sexual orientation, but I don't know why it would have any bearing on her being at UV or not.

I don't believe either has any influence on the executive team or the board of directors at UV, so I'm having a hard time understanding why they were even mentioned here.

UV recently laid off 177 of 508 employees. This is slightly more than 1/3rd of the total - not 50% - and they're certainly not the only ones who are doing this. Every day another major company announces employee cutbacks, and most of these are for-profit organizations. UV relies on donations to keep itself afloat; donations that have dwindled to very little due to the global economic crisis.

The layoffs occurred in three rounds; first, an early retirement package was offered to eligible employees, next employees with questionable service records were terminated, and finally, a round of mandatory layoffs occurred this week that were ordered by the board of directors as additional cost-cutting measures. Sixty-six total employees were lost on the most recent round, the majority of them being "casual status" and not tenured.

No employee that I am aware of, at any time during any of these processes, were awarded raises or bonuses.

This doesn't mean that I don't have my own reservations about UV administration. For years, I've watched reorganization efforts that ended, quite simply, in more reorganization efforts. Productivity is low because departments are in a constant state of transition.

I've watched the board of directors and the executive team make decisions the way an eight-year-old suffering from attention deficit disorder chooses his toys for the afternoon. Plans are never implemented long enough to see even a modicum of success; they are scrapped in favor of "a better idea" or a more "strategic plan" before they have a chance to mature into fruition.

The cost UV has incurred in employee turnover as a result of constantly changing organizational structure is unbelievable. Add to that the payroll costs incurred moving employees' offices, desks and cubicles when departments are merged or disbanded (this duty falls to the Special Services department who are paid hourly). Each time a department is renamed or reorganized, new media is printed/created at considerable cost as well.

Several good ideas have ended in financial disaster at UV, including (but certainly not limited to) the recently built $9 million hotel and conference facility that very few people are even aware of; the recently remodeled bookstore-coffee-shop-visitor's-center that isn't yet able to support itself; random publishing ventures that typically cost much more than they bring in. I would love to blame someone like Charlotte Shelton for these problems, but the fact is they span several administrations - she just happens to be in charge right now.

I don't believe this administration is without its own faults, though. In my own personal opinion, UV has made it abundantly clear that it sees its loyal employees as disposable commodities, despite lip service to the contrary. While other companies are doing their utmost to limit employee layoffs, Unity turned to this option as an initial course of action.

Still, companies who have no choice in this area have made leaps and bounds by including their employees in the process - giving them a voice. Team members are offered options like job sharing, voluntary salary reductions, voluntary benefit reductions, and others.

UV took none of these options; they announced involuntary salary reductions across the board and cut one week of vacation time for all remaining UV employees. These are actions many employees would have graciously taken if given a choice; now they feel cheated and bitter.

After the layoff notifications were completed, the request was made to increase productivity and focus on moving ahead. While I haven't met anyone who specifically wishes failure on this amazing, historic place, I also don't know of anyone who is willing to double their work output for an employer who has so little concern for its human assets.

Failure is certainly imminent if Unity continues on its current path, no matter how dilligently they pray for abundance. I am usually a huge advocate for change, trying something new, growing and moving forward. However, Unity already has a good thing.

My personal belief is that Unity should focus on what it has, nurture it, take care of it, and advertise it the best they can. The "build it and they will come" attitude has only wasted precious resources, and it's not working. The new focus should be on what's here and what's to come - and the people are the ones that will facilitate it.