Bullying at work ....

NikNox

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone can help? My husband has worked for the same company for 6 years now. He is one of the hardest workers there, an internal sales executive but the product sells itself. He makes the company literally hundreds of thousands every year. The MD at the company has always been a bit spineless, but just recently they have hired a General Manager and a Production Manager, and things have changed. New policies have been introduced, which is no bad thing, but for some reason these Managers are both singling my husband out and are bullying him and harassing him, to such an extent that his health is deteriorating and it's clear they want him out. Before anyone says, yes he is searching for another job, but it's difficult in this climate, and it's actually a very well paid job. Our family circumstances have changed and we need the money, so a large drop in salary just wouldn't help us at all.

Examples of the bullying are ... calling him into the meeting room at least twice a week to have 'discussions' about things like his hair needing a cut, that they've noticed he hasn't bought a new pair of trousers for a couple of weeks, they don't like his west country accent and want him to have 'elocution' lessons and have told him to pay for this out of his own pocket, his car being a bit dirty and to get it cleaned as it's an embarassment in the company car park.

Now my husband is always smartly presented. He has 5 pairs of trousers he wears to work, loads of smart shirts etc., and always looks smart. Our car is only a year old, and is black so is sometimes a little grubby, but is never filthy. His hair is always short, but they also comment that it looks 'messy' (he has just had it cut No 2 all over!). As for the elocution lessons, well, that's just ridiculous as he cannot change his accent and does speak very well, and has been communicating well for the past 6 years with international clients with no-one ever complaining before! They told him he must book weekly lessons at the cost of £25 per lesson!!!!!

Last week he received a letter from them saying he was to attend a disciplinary meeting on Monday afternoon, as they suspected him of Gross Misconduct. They said they had been looking into his internet usage during company time and noticed that he uses it sporadically throughout the day. They said the meeting was to discuss either his instant dismissal or further action. He received that letter on Friday. All weekend he was wracking his brain to try and think about when he uses the internet. Now, everyone else in the company has had their computers upgraded with the latest software etc., to run faster and smoother. His hasn't been upgraded, and he is the only one. He has been using the same PC for 6 years. His computer is so slow at completing tasks, he's staring at the hourglass for at least 5 minutes waiting for tasks to complete. So, during that time he would click onto Stumbleupon briefly whilst waiting. He attended the Meeting on Monday and they demanded he explain why he was using the internet during the day. He told them it's because his computer is so slow, and that he only ever glances at SU during the times his computer is performing tasks. He said his computer is the only one that hasn't been upgraded, and is extremely slow. He asked them if there was a reduction in his workload, and they said 'well, that's what we can't work out, because you are still producing more work than anyone else'. So, where's the problem he asked. One of the Managers said he was happy to accept my husbands explanation as to his internet usage, but the other one said he thought my husband must be up to something to hide his real usage and said he was going to get the IT team to check his PC thoroughly to 'catch him out'. He told my husband that things aren't sorted yet as far as he's concerned, and to await further action.

Of course my husband has not been up to anything at all, he is a very conscientious hard worker, always has been.

This is clearly bullying. No-one else has had their computers checked for internet usage, only him. All of his colleagues use the internet in company time, Ebay, Facebook etc. He is being singled out and threatened with his job and he's done nothing wrong.

They also told him that they expect him to put in more hours, and to be in every day from 8 and to finish at 6-7pm (his contracted hours are 9-5). They accused him of being late every day, but he gets there at 8.45!!

What can he do? If he were to lodge a grievance it would be lodged with these 2 idiots!!! He had to leave yesterday as he suffers from IBS and had severe diarrhoea due to the stress. Oh, his Managers told him they don't believe he has IBS, and one of them said 'it isn't even a condition. My wife is a vet and I just phoned her to ask about it and she's never heard of it, so you've made that up'.

Advice please. Thank you.

ceridwen

Those comments they are making to him are just plain ridiculous - even if said in passing - but all the more so because he's being called in specially to hear them!!

Is he keeping a Diary of all these incidents of bullying? If not - he needs to start one.

Is there someone in charge of these unpleasant characters that he can appeal to?

Is he in a Union?

The one thing that does look clear is that it would be a waste of his time/energy/money to even try to comply with these ridiculous requests (accent/carwashing/etc) - as they will just keep thinking up more such daft comments - so he would be forever "falling over his feet" to comply with whatever they dream up next. So -- he needs to carry on trying to do his job as best he can - but ignore the "ridiculous comments scenario" they are putting him through.

Emmzi

Is he on reasonable terms with the MD?

Is he a member of a union?

Agree with Cerwiden, needs to start a diary.

wellused

This looks like a very worrying trend is emerging here, I'm afraid that I'm not qualified to give any direct advice about this situation other than to say it is important that your husband does something positive about this as soon as possible, he should not have to put up with this treatment and needs to seek professional advice. The directgov web site has advice on bullying at work.

Tiddlywinks

Firstly, I'd recommend you change your post to remove the specific reference to the work area of the company - it is so specific that it would not be difficult to ID it using a few Google searches.

Now back to the problem...

1. Does the company have a fair treatment / anti bullying policy? If so, your OH should consider reporting his concerns according to that policy.

2. Does the company have an Occupational Health Dept? Your OH could approach them about his IBS - if severe, it may be a condition covered by the Equalities Act.

3. Definitely keep a diary of events - include details of any witnesses, how it made the OH feel and any relevant events that led up to the incident.

4. Use email to record the unpleasant conversations / incidents by dressing them up as positive communications - for instance: "When we met yesterday, you suggested that my west country accent gave you cause for concern and asked me to consider elocution lessons. As you can imagine, this feedback caught me a little by surprise and I have given this matter some thought. To be honest, in my 6 years here I have had very positive results and built good relationships with customers so this is not something that has ever been mentioned in the past. Perhaps you could give me a little more detail as to the specific nature of your concern so that we might move forward on this as I am very keen to have this matter resolved. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards...".

Doing this in writing addressing each piece of feedback will get the matter on record - they can either ignore the message (which would look bad for the company if your OH refers to this in any future action he might take) or they might respond and then your OH has confirmation (or otherwise) of their concerns. Either way it goes from an unrecorded person to person conversation to part of the corporate record - get your OH to print off copies though (if he can do so discretely) as e-comms can be easily deleted.

Good luck.

ceridwen

Good post Tiddlywinks:T

Very good point re sending back an email EVERY time there is a "whinging little comment episode" asking very politely/in businesslike fashion for clarification/feedback. That suggested email of yours was well-worded:D

NikNox

Thanks everyone. He spoke to the MD today who told him to rise above it and said he doesn't have any issues and his job is safe. Which is good. But he shares an office with one of these people and today asked him for a copy of the company's grievance policy. He has been keeping a diary, and I said that he should ask for these meetings to be written up so he has a written record of the ridiculous things they have been picking him up on. Would dissing someone's accent come under discrimination?

Acc72

NikNox wrote: »

Thanks everyone. He spoke to the MD today who told him to rise above it and said he doesn't have any issues and his job is safe. Which is good.

But he shares an office with one of these people and today asked him for a copy of the company's grievance policy.

He has been keeping a diary, and I said that he should ask for these meetings to be written up so he has a written record of the ridiculous things they have been picking him up on.

Would dissing someone's accent come under discrimination?

Just a few comments :

This is a good opportunity to use the advice from Tiddlywinks ... "Dear MD, further to our discussion yesterday where we discussed etc. etc. ......"

Oh, and he should continue to keep a detailed diary.

Do not rely on conversations - these will be denied.

Do not rely on workmates to back him up - when push comes to shove this will not happen.

Also, with regards to the accent issue - he needs to be able to focus on what is important and not get bogged down or side tracked. Continue to keep records, but I am not sure if accents comes under race discrimination.

Also, he needs to over all bases - i.e. not using the work internet, not being late etc. etc. (even if other employees use the internet and are late).