workplace help

jeffgeorge

Hi,

Just a random question and im unsure if im being unreasonable.

I work in a private care setting.

We had a member of staff who left on pretty bad terms, he didnt work his notice and failed to attend his pre-arranged shifts over festive period (leaving us short and unsafe on christmas day).

He is a really needy, attention seeking person. He is now working alone instead of in big team

He now has started phoning our care home asking about certain clients and staff ect. Rubbing other staffs nose in it, talking at length about his new job and the amazing money ect.

I dont think this is appropriate? If he wants to contact staff he can do that with their private numbers. He really shouldn't be ringing.


I think am I being petty whats the harm but then again has he got nothing better to do.

Can i email the staff and say avoid giving imformation to staff that no longer work for us, how can I word it?


Thanks and hope this is right place


xxxx

Reggie_Rebel

Anyone giving out information on clients and staff is breaking data protection law. Anyone found to be doing so may be subject to disciplinary action.

SueC_2

Unless you are a senior member of staff it is not your place to tell other employees what they can or can't do.

If you are senior, then go ahead (ensuring you keep within any internal procedures, guidelines etc).

If you are not senior, discuss your concerns with your boss and let them handle the situation. Regardless of their response / action with the rest of the team, if you are not comfortable speaking with the ex-employee, then you are perfectly within your rights not to.

jeffgeorge

SueC wrote: »

Unless you are a senior member of staff it is not your place to tell other employees what they can or can't do.

If you are senior, then go ahead (ensuring you keep within any internal procedures, guidelines etc).

If you are not senior, discuss your concerns with your boss and let them handle the situation. Regardless of their response / action with the rest of the team, if you are not comfortable speaking with the ex-employee, then you are perfectly within your rights not to.

im a senior worker so would be my place, hence why asking for advice. I also would tell other employees what to do if it contravened data protection which it has the more i think of it regardless of whether senior or nbot

DVardysShadow

There are 2 issues here

• Data protection
• Calling in to your place of work without good cause

I think that most staff would be aware of the Data Protection issue, so it is calling into your workplace without good cause which is the real issue. I think it is better to deal with the real issue rather than treat your staff as children and give them a fairy tale. So, a memo:

Recently <former staff member>, who no doubt many of you remember has been making telephone calls here of a general social nature. While we would not in general seek to sever links with former staff, I consider that the number of calls recently is excessive. I would ask colleagues who receive a call to the workplace or calls on personal mobiles during work hours to discourage <former employee> from making further calls into this workplace without good cause. I would also remind you to be on your guard in any calls to <workplace> to remember to protect the confidentialty of all information relating to staff and client

Anihilator

You should avoid referring to this gentleman at all and instead relate it to your current staff.

As per above

1) Data protection - remind staff that client details are strictly confidential and subject to legal protection. It is the case that even internally confidentiality needs to be respected. Anyone found to be breaching it will be subject to discliplinary action with dismissal a real and likely possibility

2) Personal calls at work - ensure it is known that these are strictly forbidden unless exceptional circumstances i.e sick family and that anyone found to be actively taking part in them will be discliplined.

If the person has no one to speak to he shouldnt need to call. Also look at blocking his number. If the behaviour continues it could then fall into harassment/nuisance and be reported to the police.

DVardysShadow

Anihilator wrote: »

You should avoid referring to this gentleman at all and instead relate it to your current staff.

As per above

1) Data protection - remind staff that client details are strictly confidential and subject to legal protection. It is the case that even internally confidentiality needs to be respected. Anyone found to be breaching it will be subject to discliplinary action with dismissal a real and likely possibility

2) Personal calls at work - ensure it is known that these are strictly forbidden unless exceptional circumstances i.e sick family and that anyone found to be actively taking part in them will be discliplined.

If the person has no one to speak to he shouldnt need to call. Also look at blocking his number. If the behaviour continues it could then fall into harassment/nuisance and be reported to the police.

Man, you are so far out of proportion and what you have written is just plain heavy handed

The staff are generally adults, so there is only a need for the gentlest reminder about confidentiality. On Personal Calls at work, well, as far as I can see, there is no complaint about outgoing calls, the problem is incoming. Only a fool would issue disciplinary threats about personal calls when the problem is not outgoing calls - why make your staff scared to answer the phone for fear it may be this person calling in?

Is there any evidence that he will continue to call to the extent of needing to block his number or to call the police? Perhaps you should have suggested hiring a hitman

SueC_2

jeffgeorge wrote: »

im a senior worker so would be my place, hence why asking for advice. I also would tell other employees what to do if it contravened data protection which it has the more i think of it regardless of whether senior or nbot

You obviously feel a bit out of your depth here, which is understandable. As can be seen from the range of replies here, the perception of he 'severity' of this situation can differ wildly from person to person, and undoubtedly the prescribed reaction to the situation would differ from organisation to organisation.

Is there anyone senior to you that you can approach for advice on the best way to handle this within your organisation?

Anihilator

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Man, you are so far out of proportion and what you have written is just plain heavy handed

The staff are generally adults, so there is only a need for the gentlest reminder about confidentiality. On Personal Calls at work, well, as far as I can see, there is no complaint about outgoing calls, the problem is incoming. Only a fool would issue disciplinary threats about personal calls when the problem is not outgoing calls - why make your staff scared to answer the phone for fear it may be this person calling in?

Is there any evidence that he will continue to call to the extent of needing to block his number or to call the police? Perhaps you should have suggested hiring a hitman

Um no it's not because if the OP doesnt ensure that the staff know not to do it when one does and they take action the employee will be on here and idiots like you will be telling them they are entitled to compensation for not being told.

OP needs to have meetings or at a meeting bring up the topics without names and ensure all staff know regarding DPA and also that they wont tolerate overusage of facilities for personal needs

Ensure its all minuted and people recorded as present.

Its then upto individual employees to take note. If they dont the OP has the grounds to take action.

As for the gentleman. If he insists on wasting the companies time and resources it will eventually be considered harassment

It must be nice in your world were people dont take the !!!! and are always innocent and do what they should when they should without any sort of management.

Lady007

I would advise your team not to take calls from this gentleman during working hours on the work phone unless it is work related - which the calls are'nt. Advise that when he calls he should be referred to a Senior who will advise him that as he does't work there anymore to stop calling. If they don't follow your rules then there iwould be a conduct issue to deal with.

Following on from this I agree there would be a Data Protection issue were they to divulge any info when talking to this man in their own time. A gentle reminder at this stage I think would suffice.

TM1976

Why make a general point instead of the point you actually want to make.

Tell your staff to tell him they are not allowed to talk to him if he calls, tell them to tell him you said it. Tell them if they want to talk to him they can give him their own number and do it on their own time.