Approaching the "Code of Conduct" at our next meeting, in front of everyone, so I'm heard!

[vaporleak]

I'm a manager at a company where a dagger in your back is the norm, and salacious rumors run rampant. I'm a strong person and have heard it all about me before, but this isn't about me, it's about my employees. Recently I found out that throughout the office (mostly including upper management), a piece of gossip was claiming that an employee of mine was on METH. This is unacceptable to me because the girl comes in, does her job, and leaves. God, I'm shaking just typing this, I'm so mad.

 

I'm protective of all the people on my team because as a boss, not only is it my job, it's my instinct. The girl I am speaking of was interrogated, and when asked to do a drug test, openly offered to do it because she had nothing to hide. What makes it worse is that she has an alcoholic mother and won't even drink a beer (I've known this forever but never felt it appropriate to share with others). HR made her write and sign a statement during the interrogation, and I have no idea what she wrote out of fear, therefore damaging her record. I'm infuriated!!!

 

I want to "professionally" slap these incompetent pigs in the face, especially because they are "upper management", and they need to realize that DEFAMATION is illegal. We have weekly meetings, and I feel the need to publicly humiliate them in front of our co-workers and peers by printing out copies of our "Code Of Conduct", pass it out, and couple it with a pre-written speech about how we need to treat this as a place of employment and guard our words, because lets face it, the average employee should feel safe coming to work. Even I feel like I put my boxing gloves on when I walk through the door everyday. This is insane and wrong, I need to change things with their very own rules. We are creating a hostile work environment, I need to speak up right? Need advice.

[lavenderdove]

No, I'm sorry, you need to let your HR department handle this...

 

I understand your desire to protect your employees, BUT this is a business and you're not their mother. You're young enough that you haven't been thru all the things that can happen to a boss who has a crusading streak...

 

I've defended employees to the hilt only to discover they were lying to me and doing drugs. There is no way you can verify it is true or not, and it is not your role to do so, that belongs to HR.

 

One other thing you need to remember is that a business is a business and your job as a manager is to ensure productivity in your department and not to get into pissing contents with upper management because you're mad at them. You can and will go down if you go against upper management. Corporations are modeled after military organizations, where your job is to carry out mangement's goals, not fight against them or spank them when you think they've been 'bad'. If you do, you'll find yourself pushed out.

 

If you hate the politics of that particular company, then you should look for a job elsewhere where the culture is less annoying. Once you leave, your satisfaction can be hiring your former team away from your current company. So if you want to do some REAL good for your team, you won't antagonize upper management and get yourself removed from your job or fired. You can and should look for another job if you hate this company's culture.

 

I'm sorry, i'd like to tell you otherwise, but that is the way business politics work.

[vaporleak]

Corporations are modeled after military organizations, where your job is to carry out mangement's goals, not fight against them or spank them when you think they've been 'bad'.

 

Yet code of conduct is put in place for a reason, from a management standpoint. They wouldn't implement this if it wasn't a legal obligation, and as far as a legal situation... one has occurred. Slander is a fireable offense, and I'm not a corporate W***E to the point where I let innocent people burn while upper management "thrives"... well, lets face it, they aren't doing that well in this economy. I really don't care who I piss off, I'm capable of finding another job. My job is to do the right thing. The right thing is to blow the whistle. Right?

[lavenderdove]

Then what you do is report to HR that you think those other people are violating a code of conduct.

 

And be very careful about accusing someone else of slander, or those people could accuse YOU of slander.

 

So if you must, tell HR that you think the charges were unfounded and based on gossip/slander and violated the code of conduct. Then back away and let HR handle it.

 

Remember, an organization is not a 'moral' institution and the reason they have codes of conduct is for legal protection FOR THEMSELVES. They aren't there to enforce 'justice' because they are not a court of law.

 

If the woman feels she's got a good case for slander, then it is up to her to take it to a court of law, NOT up to you. But slander is only enforceable if she can prove economic harm from it, i.e., that she lost her job because of it. If she didn't lose her job or get demoted due to the slander, then nothing much happens. At most they may get barred from repeating the allegations. But if your company has investigated it and done nothing to harm the employee, most likely those making the allegations have been instructed not to repeat them since the investigation is complete.

 

You also have to take into account that an HR dept. is there to support the goals of the company, and one of the primary goals is protecting themselves and carrying out the goals of their management. Unless there is clear evidence of criminal wrongdoing, they will support the management in cases where it is one person's word against anothers.

 

And they ARE legally required to investigate any violations such as drug use, so they were not wrong to investigate this case if it was reported to them. So they have an absolute right to interrogate her, regardless of who said that about her.

 

So if you think the fault was with the people making the allegations, and that those people violated a WRITTEN code of conduct, then you can report them. But don't expect them to take your side. Most likely they will then be looking for the first opportunity to unload you (layoffs etc.) if they see you as a moral crusader who interferes with normal HR investigation process by trying to take sides or slander the upper management (yes, they can accuse you of that if you can't prove that the upper management had no malicious intent in reporting what they thought might be a drug problem).

 

I'm sorry, but corporate environments are quite politic and there is always trouble/gossip like this. If you really don't like seeing this kind of thing, perhaps you aren't cut out for management in an organization (especially larger ones) and might consider finding a different career, or looking hard for a company that has a strong reputation for treating their employees with kid gloves.

[IntotheWild]

 

And they ARE legally required to investigate any violations such as drug use, so they were not wrong to investigate this case if it was reported to them. So they have an absolute right to interrogate her, regardless of who said that about her.

 

 

That's interesting.

 

To the OP: Perhaps spread some gossip that the interrogators are drug users or child pornographers. By law, I guess they'll have to be investigated.