Sophia Panayiotou was very much in the picture at the start of the proceedings with me, but she soon evaporated into the background leaving all the grubby work to Malini Johnson. When I joined the company I was intrigued by the culture that even the most trivial of company wide communications (e.g. where not to park your car) was signed by the SVP (at least) of the responsible unit. But I am now even more intrigued that, when I was given days off for a public holiday the communication always came from Sophia but when I was given the rest of my life off, she delegated the task to Malini. Like Patrick Naef, Sophia was smart enough to know that my termination letter was going to be a millstone around the neck of whoever signed it and wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.
And just like Malini, Sophia Panayiotou knows Patrick Naef well enough to be aware that what he was doing to me was not right. She told me that “I just came back from holiday, I didn’t know there was even an issue” after the initial meeting (on 3 August 2010) and thus knew that Patrick was not telling the truth when claiming that he had been discussing removing me from my role ‘for a long time’ Yet, she rubber stamped and supported everything that Patrick said and gave her full support to my termination.
That meeting in August was an utter shambles and had no place in any organisation, let alone in one that aspires to be world class. In all, I was given four (vastly differing) objectives of the meeting. As is often the case with Patrick Naef’s meetings and initiatives, he made things up as he went along. The following day Patrick Naef blamed HR for the shambles. Far from it, Sophia and Malini were simply swept along by a tidal wave of confusion and misinformation, a speciality of Patrick Naef. But, as head of HR Business Support, Sophia should have taken control of things and stopped the nonsense. SVP’s are paid to do what is right.
And Sophia also had plenty of time to act subsequently, but she failed to do so. She had witnessed the confusion and the ever changing picture. She knew enough about Patrick’s track record to cast doubt over what he was saying. She knew that no discussion had ever taken place between me and anyone else on the topic prior to the (what turned out to be an irrevocable and unchallengeable) decision to terminate my contract being made. She knew that the reasons given to me for terminating my contract are totally untrue. As head of HRBS, she had a duty to ensure that company procedures were adhered to, that any charges made against me were checked for validity and that I was given the appropriate support. She did none of this.
She may have disappeared into the background and left Malini to be hung out to dry, but I hold Sophia Panayiotou responsible for what happened to me. Only she knows why she decided to abandon her responsibilities and turn her back on her profession.
