MARCUS EVANS Harrassment, lying, cheating, threatening, abusive, anti-semetic chicago, Illinois

For anyone looking to do business with Marcus Evans BE AWARE. I am a former employee and have decided to report my Director, Adela Ondruskova As well as her Director, (AND BOYFRIEND) Anthony Knox.  When I first left the company, I took the high road. I was speaking with a lawyer as well as the EEOC, but thought to myself, "You know what? Move on with your life." I got a better job, and thought I should leave well enough alone. When I submitted my resignation, Anthony informed me that I would be able to receive my final Sponsorship bonus for the event. But I just found out today that he "doesn't remember" that conversation and He doesn't owe me anything. chances are, his Girlfriend ran the event and received my bonus. So i'm done playing nice. Please read below- this was my final resignation letter. I think you all will understand why I left the awful company.

(Please note: since my resignation, I've found out that Anthony has been Demoted. Hilarious, but true.)

7/17/2009

To: Adela Ondruskova, Anthony Knox

CC: Adnan Quasi, Eric Jackson

Please consider this letter as my two-week notice. Unfortunately, this decision has been made after many realizations and the culmination of a number of situations that I have witnessed and been subject to for almost 3 years of employment. Some examples include, lying, verbal abuse, subjective measurement of producers, and favoritism towards office spouses/relationships. I will not even delve into the massive misappropriation of funds happening on the floor when receipts are not turned in to finance after events. That issue will be left up to the IRS to handle when they identify all of the falsified expense reports being submitted. Firstly, and my most vocal complaint, is the poor compensation for the work that we do. Every person in the office works 40 hours a week, and on numerous occasions have been forced to take work home with them (without overtime) in order to meet the stringent deadlines of the job. This would not be as bad, if we were properly compensated with a base pay that wasnt insulting to our abilities. But of course, on our first days, and on subsequent days after, when we were concerned with our income, our concerns are quelled with promises of high bonus potential, never to be fulfilled. In a slumping economy, where conference dollars are being slashed, marcus evans has not budged on their bonus structure. Furthermore, our financial success is based on the sales of incompetent sales teams that have a sky-high turnover rate. On many occasions, such as when I moved to Adelas team I was promised bigger bonuses, and better events. Looking back, I can see that these promises were made in an attempt to pacify my complaints about the interoffice relationship between my manager and his direct report (explained further down in this letter). I was also given the opportunity to produce 2 events that were the highest revenue- generating event in the past, which I was again promised to generate a high bonus. However, during my research (and current production under a different producer), many people mentioned that there was nothing new going on in the area, and the topic was dying, although I put together two great agendas, and ON TIME, my bonus was severely affected due to the lack of innovation of my manager. Also, producers are required to lie and cheat to leaders in various industries in order to coax them into speaking at our events, or add dollars to the board. Were told to tell industry professionals that some events are postponed- when generally there is no intent to run them again, however, saying so will cause issues for paying delegates who want their money back. And often times, when a product is identified as struggling, it will not be cancelled until a few short weeks prior to the events dates, in order to attempt to sell just a few more passes. Since all sales are non-refundable, the money stays with marcus evans, and the producer who has spent hours at work (and at home) is left with nothing to show, and no money in pocket. As of late, it has become very apparent that marcus evans management has no standardized metrics for performance.

After being an independent producer for 14 months, I have yet to receive a job description explaining what is expected of an independent on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis. Although I have been verbally told, it was never written down or explained done in a group setting with other independents present. What was told to one person may have been something completely different than another. Since no producers have any description or explanation of KPIs expected in writing, different standards are given to different producers, depending on personal feelings of the management. Recently, Adela and Anthony placed their subjective metrics on me during my annual appraisal. Although I will agree that the last two topics I was given took longer than is expected in the given production cycle, the previous months work were praised as highly productive. In February, I was granted Producer of the Month due to my high levels of productivity, and in April, my event was recognized as being the Third highest revenue-generating event. I find it odd that just a few months later I am reprimanded for lack of productivity as well as their claims that I was unmotivated. Although I was consistently one of the top producers on the floor in relation to call rates (generally always with at least 80 dials OR one hour talk time), Anthony still felt that I was unmotivated to do my job, and was not goal driven. Also on the review, Adela neglected to follow up with a sales manager who mentioned that I have a bad attitude. I feel that this is negligent on her part, particularly, because that information was included on an official internal document, with no reason or explanation what so ever. The fact that Anthony is the general manager of the office and Adela is his direct report ensures that any objectivity in situations is not possible should there be a disagreement with her. I would like to note that between May 18 and June 15 I was ONLY in the office for 11 days total due to vacation and travel to 2 events. Also, during the course of the time frame for which my review included I had a full week of Jury Duty as well as being out sick with Bronchitis for a week. Even when I was sick, I still came into the office, despite having a 2 hour and 20 minute commute round trip to deliver a sales brief and sponsorship brief, which ended up only taking an hour.

I believe that Adela is one of the most abusive, harassing, anti-Semitic, bad tempered managers that I have ever had the experience of working with. One of the more recent of these situations occurred on March 27, 2009, which resulted in me filing an official complaint with HR on Monday March 30, 2009. After attempting to speak with Adela about an item relating specifically to an event, she felt that I did not approach her in a proper way by politely asking if I could have a moment to speak with her. Since our production floor is an open working space, open conversations happen all day long, I was not under the impression that I was doing anything wrong by bring up a conference related issue. Adela then verbally accosted me in front of my colleagues, at which point, I told her I would be taking a sick day and left the office. Although Adela felt that she did not raise her voice- numerous people text me and e-mailed me because they did hear her, and wanted to ensure I was OK. As I left, I sent an e- mail to Anthony requesting a meeting with him. When I returned to the office on Monday, I immediately spoke with Eric Jackson about the situation and filed a formal complaint. He wanted me to continue with me meeting with Anthony, and use this experience as a litmus test to see if Anthony could be objective in solving particular issues with an employee and Adela. During my first meeting with him, he explained that he would like to sit down with Adela and I and act as an objective mediator for the situation. This of course is impossible due to the interoffice relationship between himself and Adela. It became quite clear to me during this mediation that there would be no positive result in the matter what so ever. Not only did Adela not apologize for being verbally abusive, but also I was reprimanded for taking a sick day and leaving the office. It was quite clear whose side he was taking, and it wasnt an objective view by any means. I wish I could say this was the only time in which Adela verbally accused me, but it was one of many. In fact in another instance when I told her that I would not allow her to continue to speak to me like a child, she said that she is the boss and can speak to her employees as such if she feels she is in the right.

Clearly, the laws in the United States prohibit such abuse, and its shocking to me that an organization that compensates its employees so poorly, that they wouldnt at least provide proper managerial training to ensure that their poor employees are at least well treated happy employees. In the end, nothing was done about this situation because of Adelas relationship with Anthony. Another rather uncomfortable situation of Adelas hair-trigger temper came about in a conversation she was having with another employee about good dates for an event in the September time frame. Adela then included me in the conversation asking if there were any Jewish Holidays that she should be aware of and avoid. I mentioned that in fact 2 of our most important Holidays were in September, and there were a lot of days she should avoid. Her response was You Jews, You have so many holidays every month, do these really matter? At that moment, I made a note to her that I did not appreciate her comment, and she spent 3 minutes telling me I was too sensitive, and I should take it as a joke. However, I did NOT see it as a joke, and certainly did not appreciate her making light of my religion. Further to the verbal abuse, preferential treatment to office spouses, and false income expectations, many of the communications that come straight from Anthony were done in poor taste (although clouded in good intent).

For instance: -----Original Message----- > From: Anthony Knox > Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 4:32 PM > To: Adela Ondruskova; Aliza Mor; Allison Kligman; Ana Bardelas; Angela Tedesco; Carlos Alvarez; courtneyf@marcusevansch.com; Deborah Gibson; Dennis Noonan; Heather McKenzie; Jackie Prado; January Heckman; Liz Kauder; Michael Bury; Paul Goodwin; shannonm@marcusevansch.com; Shree Rajadurai; Sunitha Vijiyasingam; Tatawan Plengsirivat > Subject: Anyone hear the weekend calling? > > All, > In recognition of Angelas birthday next week and as a brief farewell to Shannon to wish her on a way properly I will be buying a round or two of drinks (no more Aliza so dont get excited) in Amiras at 5pm sharp! 4.50pm we can leave in case any of you need to put war paint on, or have something more pressing to do! > > Hope to see you there, otherwise have a good weekend. I feel as this instance which was supposed to be done in jest is just low class, and unwarranted. I felt as if I was being made the butt of a joke that was not funny at all, and quite embarrassing. It must be said, that the inter-office relationships in the organization have affected me in many different ways. Although we were friends, Adela would speak about her personal relationship with Anthony, albeit in a friendly manner, during lunch, and these comments would affect the way in which I perceived him: her boyfriend, and the general manager of the office. At that point, although it was often times uncomfortable to hear her speak about their relationship, I dealt with it. However, after a while, my direct manger, Michael Bury became heavily involved with one of his direct reports January Heckman. On numerous occasions I spoke with him about how uncomfortable I was with their behavior at work. Once their relationship became more serious, she became bossy, loud and disruptive on a constant basis. When confronted with the issue would not address the cause for the tension on the team and would say that his personal life had no effect on his work life. However, Januarys assertive behavior over Michael became even more distracting, and I personally felt (and still feel) that because of their relationship January was given (and is still only given) annual events with significant sponsorship dollars already allocated to them. I also brought this up to Anthony, and the ultimate decision was for me to move to Adelas team in an effort to increase productivity & potential revenue as the lead point person for the now defunct Retail Financial Services sector. (Just another example of empty promises) To this day January still acts as a constant distraction to Michael as well as the production floor with her demands and abrasive phone conversations. Based on the sole metric that we have daily to measure ourselves on (daily call rates), January is consistently below the standard for what is expected of us. By looking at her call rates, one wonders how it is possible for her to get the required 40 research calls in with such low rates, yet somehow, during our Miami Incentive, she went from not being on the board at all, to competing for the lead. (I would like to note here that I was ALWAYS one of the front-runners of this competition based on productivity and event sales and evaluations. The incentive ended in June, and I was tied for second place behind the winner.) I have made mention on numerous occasions that I believe Januarys attitude is a serious problem, as well as the preferential treatment that Michael pays to her. He has a vested interest for her to succeed, since her income directly affects his life and their home together. A number of months ago, Adela sent an e- mail out to her entire team, which as she said was based on a memo that Anthony wrote. It appeared however, that Adela did not actually read the memo, which she sent out, and simply copy and pasted its contents for us to read. I am directly quoting from the e- mail originally sent on September 10, 2008: (Under the section of Team Motivation) ??We have some strong production talent on the floor and an experience group of CDs to lead the group. We now need to turn the screws a little and manage out the bottom 2-3 performers on a regular basis. To facilitate this we will commit to more consistent KPI reporting as well as greater accountability across the floor. We also need to ensure we are continually interviewing so that we can replace the worst performers across all divisions. Please also ensure all formal reviews are up to date within your divisions. If this is supposed to be motivation for us to be working hard, it was not taken that way by any means. This created a very hostile environment, especially because very shortly after 2 producers were let go. It is also my opinion that after an incidence that happened personally between Adela and I, she made the decision to manage me out. After filing my taxes, my accountant told me that I should run a credit report and ensure that anything not crucial to my financial standings be closed down and removed. After running a credit report, I realized that a T-Mobile account was on there, which I had assisted Adela with. When she first came to the states, she was unable to get a decent cell phone due to her lack of credit standings in the US. They offered her a pre-paid plan, unless someone could use their valid Social Security number to be the primary name on the account. Since I was with her, out of the kindness of my heart- I offered to help her. Almost 2 years later I realized that this was still on my account, and I wanted to take my name off as primary contact. from Aliza Mor to Adela Ondruskova date Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 3:58 PM subject Cell phone After having a conversation with my accountant, he has advised me that any accounts that are linked to my social security number that are not critical to my credit line should be closed. After having a credit report pulled your T- mobile account was on there, as we both know. I will need to take my ss# off. I've called T-mobile to get information on this, and they have assured me that there will be no interruption to your service. But you will be required to call in and confirm your information and set up account information under your name and credit. I will be calling either this afternoon or tomorrow to do that, but they will need you to call in afterwards in order to complete the transfer. 1-877-453-1304 I wanted to send you this e-mail before going ahead with the transfer.

 -----Original Message----- From: Adela Ondruskova Sent: Fri 3/27/2009 4:00 PM To: Aliza Mor Subject: RE: Cell phone Oh yes, I am sure your accountant advised you to do this. Feel free to do as you please. As you can see, her response is dripping in sarcasm, even after having allowed her to use my social security number for a long time. What happened next is what I feel began to put the nails in my coffin at marcus evans. Adela proceeded to call T- mobile and I then received this text message sent Saturday: March 28, 2009, 9:17am: Impossible to proceed with the change of responsibility. Im not entitled to take over a regular account and register it under my name. You have 2 options: 1) wait till August 30, 2009 and cancel the service without cancellation fee. 2) Cancel it immediately and pay $100 cancellation fee. Your call. Your money. Obviously, I was rather confused since I was assured by T- mobile that her service would not be interrupted, and I responded with my findings: Aliza: You need to get a flexpay account. You were not rejected for that. You declined. That is your only option. Adela: Im not going for flexpay account, it is not convenient when you travel abroad a lot as they can cut you off from the service any time if you exceed the limit. No need to worry, I will figure out something else shortly. Please Proceed with the existing account as per the options below depending on your preference. I completely understand. At that point I had the cell phone shut off- I felt as if I had no choice. Adela had refused her only option because it wasnt convenient for her, however she didnt think for a second about the inconvenience of having her cell phone on my Social Security number, or the inconvenience of me paying the $100 fee. After using someone for almost two years, most people would appreciate the initial effort, understand the situation, and simply make the changes. This was the absolute turning point. After this incident (which coincided with her verbal attack of me), Adela became even more hostile towards me, and began to make the working experience absolutely miserable for me. It seems as if all e-mail conversations between her and I always consisted of me defending my work, and her attacking it. There is an abrasive undertone to all of her communications, both verbal and written. I believe her intent was to set me up to be sure to fail and be dismissed, or make it miserable enough for me to quit. After this point the programs that Adela gave to me were doomed to fail. I do understand that it is the job of an independent producer to identify new topics in the industry; however, none of the topics I gave to Adela & Anthony were approved. Two (Enterprise Architecture and Master Data Management, which Adela wanted me to look into) were declined over because Anthony had skepticism about doing events in the IT area. Another was deemed not commercially viable (Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance). Ironically however, after I turned in Master Data Management to Adela, she conveniently gave the topic to a newer producer on her team. So, since the events I submitted were declined, Adela gave me events that were successful European events. There was zero research done for the American market on either of the events she gave me (Cash Recovery & Debt Collections, and Sales & Operations Planning), and I spent day after day hitting the phones trying to reach people to get to the bottom of an absolutely horrible event (I speak mostly of Cash Recovery).

It should be noted, that the Cash Recovery & Debt Collection conference was given to me in the depths of an economic meltdown, which shows that there was no consideration for the topicality of the event given current conditions. Whereas, my research has shown that Corporate Social Responsibility is in the up and up based on some of the things happening in the government, economy and environment. My hard research was basically swept under the table in order for me to attempt to tread water researching one of Adelas poorly constructed and thought out briefs. For an organization that prides itself on having the most up-to-date topics, Adela frequently hands over topics that are un- researched and un-produce able (I have only been given research done by her ONCE in my time on her team, and all links in the topic brief were European websites). Since our jobs are based on strict deadlines, handing me these terrible topics back to back was setting me up to fail. After my review, I was handed a written warning that said if I was even one day late on any deadline, it was grounds for another warning. In an economy that is absolutely slumping, and conference/travel the furthest thing from peoples minds, hitting every target, especially on poorly generated topics starts be very difficult. As a whole the conference Directors have a faulty perception of the industries needs. There is an obvious fabrication (tales of past successes) and theft of topics, which management is happy to take credit for (if it succeeds, but take zero accountability for its failure). I have seen ZERO intellectual pride OR Capability of either of the conference directors that I have worked under since I started at marcus evans. For this, and many more reasons, I am choosing to leave this organization. My final day will be July 31.