DEAR ERIC: I work at a small bank with nine coworkers, including myself. We have a dilemma going on in the office. The president and his assistant are sleeping together. They were caught on video after hours in the office. They also rush a few of us out of the office at the end of the day and stay back to do who knows what.
They have been confronted by one coworker to stop doing their mess in the office and that everyone, with the exception of one person who was just hired, knows what they’re doing. They also take multi-hour lunch breaks every day.
The problem is the other coworkers are salaried, with the exception of one, and some are taking advantage of work hours. They’re always leaving early by one hour or coming in late and the president doesn’t say anything because he’s afraid of them going to HR and letting them know what he has done. This leaves some of the other employees, who don’t abuse their time, reeling and wanting to go to HR, but it would probably shut the whole office down because no one here is capable of taking over.
So, are we just out of luck, or do we say something?
– Helpless
DEAR HELPLESS: You
have
to say something to HR. This is a mess and the mess – not the whistleblowing – is endangering your job and your customers’ well-being. Human Resources is not going to shut down your office. However, it may become necessary for the president to be replaced. If that’s the case, there are people who are trained as interim or crisis leaders who can step in and help right the ship.
Being a part of a small office can sometimes make it harder to call out bad behavior because there’s a fear of being labeled “not a team player” or creating huge waves in a small pond. But the waves are already there. The workplace is toxic. The president of your bank is clearly not exercising good judgment. What you need is someone or something that will calm the seas. That’s where HR can step in.
(Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at
or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on
Instagram
and sign up for his weekly newsletter at
rericthomas.com
.)
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