Suzie Cheikho, a 38-year-old work-from-home (WFH) employee, recently revealed that she was fired from Insurance Australia Group after 18 years of service. The firing followed a formal warning regarding her performance and output in November 2022. However, it is the performance evaluation process that has attracted significant public attention.
Ms Cheikho was subjected to a performance improvement plan, during which her computer activity, including keyboard strokes, was monitored for 49 working days between October and December, as per news.com.au. She was fired on February 20 for not meeting deadlines, missing meetings, and failing to complete important tasks. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) learned that she often did not work her scheduled hours, would come to work late and finish early on many days. There were even days when she did not work at all, according to her online activity.
According to the FWC ruling, Ms Cheikho attended one Microsoft Teams meeting with her manager concerning her performance, with the word "F**k" written across her hand.
During a formal meeting regarding the review, Ms Cheikho said that she does “not believe for a minute" that the data was correct. However, she failed to provide any evidence proving otherwise. "I mean, I may go to the shops from time to time, but that is not for the entire day. I need to take some time to consider this and I will put forward a response," she informed her managers, as per the FWC findings.
In a written response, she claimed to “have been going through a lot of personal issues which has caused a decline in my mental health, and unfortunately, I believe it has affected my performance and my work.” She mentioned having "a few things going on" due to an injury. She claimed that she notified managers via Teams message about medical appointments and pledged to "make up the time afterwards."
A month later, Ms Cheikho claimed that the company had a "premeditated plan to remove her from the business and that she was targeted due to her mental health issues."
Now, Ms Cheikho says that she is dependent on welfare support and has received her final payment from the company recently. Her situation has unexpectedly brought attention to her online presence. She is now kind of a micro-influencer, with nearly 8000 followers on TikTok.
“I make a small percentage of money off TikTok - just enough to cover my bills,” she told the outlet. “It's all to do with my mental health, you see. I'm an advocate because of the mental health issues I have suffered, so I raise awareness by talking about it on ‘lives.'”
Now, she fears the possibility of never being hired again. “It's embarrassing that this story has gone viral - nobody is going to hire me,” she told the Daily Mail. “In 18 years of work there, I only ever got one warning,” she added.