AHS Employee Complaint - Over Landmark Seminars Sparks Review

AHS Employee Complaint - Over Landmark Seminars Sparks ReviewPublic Interest Commissioner will look into complaint over controversial LandmarkEducation trainingAlberta’s Public Interest Commissioner is reviewing a complaint against Alberta HealthServices related to a controversial American personal development training company,CBC News has learned.Ted Miles, the office’s director, said an Alberta Health Services (AHS) employee, on Sept.18, alleged that paying for 40 AHS staff to take personal development training providedby the Landmark Education Corp. represented “gross mismanagement of funds.” Theallegation has not been proven.Miles said the details of the complaint are “remarkably similar” to the informationcontained in a CBC News story published Wednesday. It revealed that AHS allowedLandmark to operate within its Information Technology department for more than ayear despite several serious complaints from AHS employees.Landmark has been widely criticized for employing high-pressure recruitment tactics,intense psychological methods, and a conformist ideology.

Internal AHS documents, obtained by CBC News through freedom of information, detailseveral complaints to human resources from employees who felt pressured, evenharassed, to attend Landmark seminars as well as to reveal personal details of their livesat training seminars and staff meetings.Despite this, the documents appear to show AHS did little to investigate the complaintsor the company and instead facilitated Landmark’s operations within the department.The documents show AHS paid nearly $650 each for as many as 50 of its IT “executivesand directors” to attend Landmark seminars, some even after HR staff identified seriouspotential problems.Alberta Health Services staff pressured to attend controversial seminars“This could be seen as a form of harassment and a violation of their privacy,” an HRadvisor wrote. “Employees may feel afraid to refuse to do this in fear of beingostracized, disciplined or even terminated.”Miles said AHS told the commissioner earlier this month it had already investigatedcomplaints related to Landmark. But Miles said they will review the AHS investigation tosee if the concerns of the whistleblower have been addressed.“We’re now waiting for them to formally advise us what they intend to do,” he said,adding that he will be asking AHS to provide him with the same documents provided toCBC News.Miles said the commissioner is also considering whether an investigation is warrantedinto the health and safety of individuals within AHS who may have been affected in anyway by Landmark training or the pressure to take that training.Alberta Health Services apologizesIn a statement issued to CBC News Wednesday, AHS communications vice-presidentColleen Turner acknowledged AHS should never have allowed a situation to develop inwhich employees felt pressured to attend Landmark seminars.“This should never have happened,” Turner said. “It was unacceptable, and weapologize to any staff members who felt pressured in any way into participating in thiskind of training.

“Under no circumstances should our staff ever feel pressured into participating in thiskind of training or course,” Turner said. “And, it is completely inappropriate for staff topressure others.”Turner said after AHS received complaints about Landmark, it took them seriously andinvestigated, but their own internal documents appear to contradict that statement.Turner also said the individuals who were involved in the facilitation of this particularstaff training are no longer with AHS.The internal AHS documents show the Landmark program was brought into the ITdepartment by contractor Kevin Brown, who subsequently became an IT manager.Brown declined an interview but he confirmed he left AHS in April 2012.The documents show Brown was allowed to use internal AHS email to recruit forLandmark, and AHS office space to hold free introductory sessions, at which employeeswere encouraged to attend Landmark Forum seminars which cost nearly $650.Landmark spokeswoman Deb Beroset told CBC News no one who attends their trainingseminars is pressured to disclose personal details.Beroset also said the company is endorsed by top American psychologists, and she saidit has provided training at thousands of corporations around the world, includingReebok and Apple.