How duty of silence led to fear among I&IC staff and breach of trust with rector

Good Morning,

In response to the inventory, Tim has asked me to send you the following:

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The Executive Board wants to emphasise again that confidentiality about this issue is essential. The I&IC MT members have been informed by the Executive Board that should the confidentiality be breached, that measures will be taken regarding employment. We trust in your discretion.

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Best regards and happy holidays.

Fifteen staff members of the Innovation & Impact Centre received this message in their inbox on Friday 22 December 2023. Sender: Carin van der Hor, the external Confidential Advisor of TU Delft. In the months leading up to this, all 15 had reported concerns about incidents in their department to her. Van der Hor summarised their complaints in a report that she presented to the Executive Board and Human Resources.  When the Executive Board asks her to pass on the above message, she is obliged to do so. The Executive Board does not know the people who filed the complaints. Van der Hor says that it is usual for a confidential advisor to send a message like this. After all, there is no other way for the organisation to reach anonymous complainants and she believes that communications between both sides must remain open. So Van der Hor copied the rules about the duty of confidentiality and pressed the send button. What the reporters should do with this message they do not know, but they draw the conclusion that they should keep quiet.

‘Why did I turn up?’

All 15 complainants filed complaints to Van der Hor about the new Director of I&IC independently of each other. They had already received a summary of Van der Hor’s report, but on 22 December they received an unwelcome surprise. The unclear situation in which they were working; the lack of direction; supervisors who looked worse and worse and were often ill were all connected to the duty of confidentiality.

Wild speculation

The subject of that duty of confidentiality is the Director. The lack of communication had caused the wildest speculations about him to circulate for months. Hardly surprising as from the start when he was appointed, hardly anyone was aware of what he was doing. He was absent regularly and since November 2023, has not appeared in the office at all. Nobody is saying what the situation is. Since autumn, everyone has had to act as if he would turn up to appointments, but these were always cancelled at the last minute. I&IC works intensively with external contacts [/cheerup_read_more] The Innovation & Impact Center brings in major collaborative contracts with external parties. , which makes these last-minute cancellations even more unworkable. The external contacts regularly as I&IC staff what the point was of turning up. The staff are unable to answer this question.

Christmas holidays

The date on which the above message was sent, 22 December 2023, is salient. It is just before the Christmas holidays. It is exactly one year after the Inspectorate of Education called on TU Delft employees to report to them if they have experienced undesirable behaviour on the shop floor. At the time, the date was a source of much irritation to the Executive Board. The timing would ruin the Christmas parties and holidays of TU Delft employees. This led to the Executive Board making that Thursday, 22 December 2022 a point of criticism. But one year later, on 22 December 2023, one day before the Christmas holidays, the complainants to the confidential advisor receive the email that they view as a threat. If their supervisors threaten dismissal if they open their mouths, what will happen?

Smartwatch

To understand how it could get this far, we need to go back to April 2023. The new Director of I&IC begins. The Executive Board is ‘pleased with his appointment’ and says that ‘We have every confidence that under his leadership I&IC can strengthen our current alliances and initiate new ones’. The director too is looking forward to it. But doubts quickly arise in I&IC about his performance. People do not see him actually working. Discussions and meetings almost always cover personal subjects, and he constantly looks at his smartwatch.

The staff see practical problems piling up

Not everyone interprets these examples in the same way though. While one person sees a lack of direction, vision and clarity, another gives the newcomer the benefit of the doubt and does not find it unpleasant that he approves every proposal. And then there are the people who do not notice the worries. About 170 people work at I&IC, and a lot of them do not have to deal with the Director directly.

No for an answer

For those that do, the surprise and dissatisfaction about the Director’s performance grows every week. Several people first try to discuss this with him. Without effect. They then turn to Rector Tim van der Hagen and the Director of Human Resources Annemieke Zonneveld, but again get no for an answer.

In the meantime, staff members see that the practical problems are piling up, but what exactly is going wrong is not clear. Some blame their own supervisors as they either avoid the questions or give meaningless answers. This is leading to a shared frustration, irritation and anger. Staff members do not feel that they are being taken seriously.

It was only at an I&IC staff meeting on 7 March 2024 that they understood that their supervisors are in an impossible situation. More than a week previously, on 27 February, the staff of I&IC, just like everyone at TU Delft, received a brief Executive Board message. In the message, the Executive Board thanked the Director for his services and announced his departure which would take effect on 1 June 2024. In the same message, after less than one year at TU Delft, the Director stated that he had decided that the time had come for ‘a new direction’ in his career that would match his ‘long term goals and aspirations’. The Executive Board wrote that it ‘regretted’ this decision, but that it ‘respected’ it.

Disbelief

The Executive Board message raised countless questions among staff members. On 7 March 2024, they were given ample opportunity to ask the Management Team questions. At least this was what was stated on the invitation to the staff meeting. Yet again, there were no answers. The employees were told that they should look to the future. Something snapped for some of them. After months of frustration and rising tension about the lack of communication and decisiveness, people burst into tears. One of the complainants to the Confidential Advisor could not take it anymore and said that MT members had imposed a duty of confidentiality on pain of dismissal.

The substance of the Inspectorate of Education report is suddenly painfully recognisable

The message blew people hit the attendants hard. Disbelief ruled. Not even one week previously, on 1 March, just like the whole of the Netherlands, the people present read that the Inspectorate of Education accused TU Delft of mismanagement up to the highest level for not arranging proper working conditions for its employees. The substance of the report is suddenly made painfully recognisable The mood changes. The MT members get support and sympathy. After so many months the frustration is no longer directed at them but at the layer above them: the Executive Board and the HR Department. They were the ones, after all, who imposed the duty of confidentiality.

At that point, by far most of the staff members do not know that 15 colleagues had filed complaints at the Confidential Advisor, who issued a report to the Executive Board and HR on this in October 2023. The report led to an independent external investigation into the performance of the I&IC Director. This is often done if a confidential advisor issues a serious warning (see point 3.3 in the 2022 Confidential Advisors annual report [in Dutch]).

Nagging insecurity

Both investigation reports are confidential. However, several people involved confirm that both investigations – that of the confidential advisor and that of the external firm – arrived at negative conclusions. Two sources share the terms in the report by the confidential advisor with Delta. In the case of the Director, there would have been inappropriate behaviour, mismatch, managerial bullying, integrity issues and unprofessional behaviour.

From November 2023 onwards, the Director did not appear in the office anymore.

While the investigations into the performance of the ever more frequently absent Director for months are ongoing, the I&IC staff hear nothing. The 15 people who filed complaints to Van der Hor, the Confidential Advisor, also do not know what is going on after her report is issued. From November 2023 onwards, the Director did not appear in the office anymore, even though he will continue to sign documents from a distance until deep in 2024. As it is not clear for everyone that he is and will continue signing documents, this is sometimes causing delays. At the top of the Executive Board’s message about the departure of the Director is a statement that he will remain in service until 1 June 2024. The nagging insecurity among those involved will only come to an end on 25 March when they will receive a brief confirmation that an interim Director will take office three days later.

Invitation

The effects of the complete lack of certainty has been building up among I&IC staff for months. They are not content with the meager explanations given to them at the March 7 staff meeting. After the heavy and emotional meeting, a group of 11 staff members gets together and talks about what they can do. They decide to ask Rector Van der Hagen and HR Director Zonneveld for an explanation.

On 11 March they email Van der Hagen and Zonneveld on behalf of a group of 87 staff members. They write: ‘A lot of colleagues were affected by the situation and many of us became very emotional at the meeting. As I&IC staff members, we are very concerned. The lack of communication, explanation, clarity and transparency is having a major impact on our work. […] In connection of an open culture in which everyone can feel seen and heard, we would appreciate it if you – the supervisor of our soon to be former Director – would enter into a conversation with us, give us the opportunity to have our questions answered, and address our concerns.’ Van der Hagen and Zonneveld agree to meet with them on 21 March.

Confidentiality breached

They miss the opportunity to return peace to I&IC, writes I&IC staff member Jan Schiereck on 22 March in a letter to the editor in Delta. A report of the meeting, an enclosed email – both in the possession of Delta – and several people present confirm that impression. More about the report below.

First, the way in which the meeting came about as this too seems to be a cause of dissatisfaction. This was explicitly stated in the meeting and thus was known to all those present. It concerned the role of the ombudsperson for staff, Birgitte Peters. She was requested by two staff members – as appears from her own response below this article – to think about how the discussion between the I&IC staff members on the one side and Van der Hagen and Zonneveld on the other, could best be arranged.

Apologies

To their utter surprise, the ombuds functionary breaches the confidentiality in her communication. She puts both staff members among the recipients of an email to Van der Hagen and Zonneveld, while she had explicitly stated that she would handle their contact information confidentially. Delta has access to the email and the email exchange that ensued, in which the ombuds functionary expresses her apologies.

In that email exchange, the ombuds functionary advises Van der Hagen and Zonneveld against holding a big staff meeting in which they would both have to answer questions on the spot, but to meet in a smaller committee. The two staff members do not agree to this. After all, Van der Hagen and Zonneveld had already agreed to a meeting with all I&IC staff members. Furthermore, the ombuds functionary suggests to hold the smaller meeting on the same day and at the same time as the big meeting. Despite this, Van der Hagen responds quickly and enthusiastically to the advice of the ombuds functionary, writing that he would be pleased to follow it.

Torn apart and exhausted

After sending a resolutely rejecting email to the involved staff members, he turns around. As agreed, he and Zonneveld would come to the large meeting as agreed. It was a difficult hour. Breaks had to be taken several times as the emotions escalated. People were angry or cried.

In the report of the meeting, one staff member first described the atmosphere at I&IC. ‘I see people walking around who are literally bent double under the problems they face. Supervisors who feel torn apart and are exhausted.’

‘Many people have deep wounds which will not heal without help’

It also says: ‘We are not getting any information, no answers to questions about what we need to communicate to our contacts, be they internal, external, the municipality etc. This also affects our credibility and reputation. We are utterly ashamed. It now appears that there will be an interim manager (as can be read above in this article, the announcement about the interim director was issued four days after the staff meeting on 25 March, Eds.). About this too there is no centrally coordinated, clear communication from the Executive Board. The Executive Board has put a lot of energy into a 172 page response to the Inspectorate of Education report, which is even larger than the report itself. We received a five line email about the departure of our Director. What a stark contrast.’

Dozens of questions

And, ‘Our collective experience is that the legal procedures and the amount of the buyout is more important than the well-being of 170 staff members in our department. We have dozens of questions and do not feel heard or taken seriously as intelligent and driven professionals. The conditions which would allow us to carry out our work well are lacking. People leave, get ill or even worse. Talented and very much appreciated staff members leave – and they even feel guilty that they leave their colleagues behind to pick up the pieces … As a group, the I&IC has felt abandoned and neglected for a long time.’

The organisers of the meeting on 21 March sent their report to the Executive Board, the HR Director, and the Works Council on 21 March. The accompanying email states that the I&IC staff members ‘are completely willing to work on a healing process and are looking to the future’. ‘However, we are disappointed to see that this is left to us. Many people have deep wounds which will not heal without help. An interim Director with a wide and complex area of work cannot do this alone. The Executive Board and HR are thus essential.’

Exactly the same the next time

Van der Hagen responds by saying that he ‘understands the anger in the hall and is affected by the story’. What then follows is hard to swallow for many of those present, it appears from the report and from discussions that Delta had with various attendees. The Rector says that he and HR were not able to act otherwise, that confidentiality is the top priority, and that should a similar case arise again, it would be dealt with in the same way. He concludes that the handling of the situation in this way ‘worked’, which Zonneveld agrees with. Further, both say that MT members could have shared information.

How they could have done this while they were being threatened with dismissal if they infringed the duty of confidentiality imposed on them is not clear. Later, Van der Hagen and Zonneveld confirm that the MT members cannot be accused of anything.

Staff members request apologies, which as yet have not been given

From the report, the accompanying email and the discussions with those involved, it appears that many staff members are not at all ready to look to the future, as the Executive Board would like. All those involved speak of a lack of confidence in the Executive Board, the HR Service and the Ombudsman. Staff members say that in the light of everything that has happened, they have absolutely no idea where they should report an incident of transgressive behaviour. They ask for apologies for the everything that has happened. These have as yet not been forthcoming.

To the Inspectorate again

The I&IC story illustrates the Inspectorate of Education’s conclusion that the care for staff members at TU Delft is not in order. This is the reason that at least two people involved have filed new reports at the Inspectorate. Through a spokesperson the Inspectorate said that for reasons of confidentiality, they cannot confirm this. But the spokesperson also says that a case that reflects what the Inspectorate has determined could be used in the follow-up investigation that they will carry out at TU Delft.

With the cooperation of Annebelle de Bruijn