At the end of January, Olaf Thommessen (54) announced that he was resigning as CEO of SMB Norway after five years of service.
– I have always said that it would take two parliamentary elections to establish SMB Norway as a real political player. Now we’re there. Then my project in SMB Norway is completed, and it is time for other forces to take over, the then top manager stated in a press release.
In connection with the departure, Thommessen received great honor for his work and his efforts in the business organization. He himself used the opportunity to applaud his “dedicated and skilled employees”.
Thommessen has sold the luxury home
– Harassment
Now, however, write Today’s business that not everything should have been as idyllic behind closed doors. Just after the New Year, the board of SMB Norway received a notice from four employees, including members of Thommessen’s own management team.
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In advancet, as Børsen has seen, It is alleged that the 54-year-old had a behavior towards SME employees “characterized by a very harassing and bullying tone”.
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It is further stated that Thommessen has told “very inappropriate jokes that often have a clear / sexual or discriminatory undertone”.
According to the whistleblowers, the leadership style was discussed with the main character himself several times – without this leading to a change.
A few weeks after the notice was sent, Thommessen resigned as CEO.
SMB Norway’s chairman of the board, Ove Bjørn Olsen, tells Børsen that the notice triggered a process that led to Thommessen himself choosing to resign his position.
– Good follow-up
Transfer Børsen Olaf Thommessen rejects several of the allegations. He says that there has been an open line with several channels where employees have been able to give feedback, without any dissatisfaction being expressed.
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– I was brought in to reorganize and optimize the association. Change management is not a popularity contest for anyone; I knew that this also applied to me, says Thommessen.
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He points out that he has experience from similar processes, and that as a leader you have to endure personal characteristics.
– Therefore, it was important to me that the employees received good follow-up internally and by external organizational consultants and psychologists. Both for their own part, so that they felt that they had someone who took care of the significance the changes would have for them personally, and for the organization, because in that way we would be able to pick up reactions and dissatisfaction along the way. I implemented this because I wanted a culture where it was easy to tell, Thommessen writes in an e-mail to Børsen.
Salary jump: NOK 5 million
– Black campaign
– That is why I am in principle happy that employees are now expressing their opinion. However, it is both worrying and sad that none of these things came up in the regular employee interviews or not even in conversations with consultants and organizational psychologists, whose task was precisely to uncover such matters, he emphasizes.
Furthermore, Thommessen expresses that he is exposed to a smear campaign from anonymous sources who have wanted to move the process to the media.
– It would make sense, if they made solid claims and (or) we had not had a device to handle such things, but both in the content and handling there are so many untruths and logical flaws that the whole smear campaign falls into spells. This is not my personal opinion alone, but also the external actors who have worked for the employees and the board. The allegations in the report were therefore easily refuted, he says.
Bleeding: – Been beaten for too long
– Very serious
Ove Bjørn Olsen, chairman of the board of SMB Norway, confirms to Børsen that they received a notice in January.
