Shall I whistle blow? Really down.

[wblower]

I have changed my name because I am so down and scared and embarassed about this.

I am a middle manager and it is my responsibility to shortlist for a job we recently advertised (we don't have an HR department). The closing date was Friday. On Friday morning, before the post, my line manager told me she'd done the shortlisting already. I said I would take a look once the last post had been.

When I looked I saw her decisions and largely agreed. The top boss then put pressure on me to make a decision in 10 minutes with her standing over me.

The top boss was asking my opinion, which I was trying to express, but she kept cutting me off, saying things like "too old" or "no, don't want a Spanish person," etc. I was really taken aback.

I also had a cv and email that had been sent on the offchance by a German lady. I had mentioned her several times to my line manager an each time got back a derogatory remark about Germans. This is the bit that really gets me. I have always hated the fact that racism against Germans seems to be socially acceptable.

Just after the terrible shortlisting event I mentioned something about the German lady to my line manager, got back the expected remark, and I lost my cool and made a cutting remark. I shouldn't have, I should have approached it in a much more grown up way, but I was so cross by then.

So the shortlisting for this post has been done
a) by the wrong person
b) with no reference to the person spec
c) in a hurry
d) with underlying racism, ageism etc.

Getting up this morning I have realised how much this is getting to me and I just don't want to go to work today. What should I do next? I am so worried.

[katierocket]

does the organisation you work for have an HR manager? if so, I would go and speak to them in confidence. if not, it's difficult isn't it because from what you're saying your line manager and the "top boss" think the same?

Is there anyone above the "top boss"? Is there anything else at work that is bothering you?

[serenequeen]

whlower, will try to have a think for you today and come up with some advice.

just wanted to say i sympathise and agree with you - i absolutely loathe and despise stupid anti-german comments...

[wblower]

Katierocket - wow you are a mind reader. Top Boss is the top, but there are others outside this body (sorry, don't want to give too much away) - there is a kind of overseeing body and a Board. But then that's quite big. Yes, both bosses do see eye to eye - and are involved in a relationship, and live together - just to make things worse. And yes, there were lots of things bothering me at work last week, mostly involving those two. They can be brilliant, but last week they were cr*p. So where does that leave me?

serenequeen, thank you very much. Who were you, by the way - I do know, but I forget (and I know that's hypocritical of me to ask right now!)

[sammac]

I used to work in HR and a similar thing happened to me., except my boss agreed with me and the top boss, not HR, over-ruled us both, and chose our third choice, for an in-house job. To be fair she was okay at the job, but I was never totally comfortable with her- and I was her direct boss.

Anyway, less than a year later, major redundancies including me- but guess who was kept on. No 3 choice. I knew something wasn't right and turns out lots of secret meetings going on away from work.

Here comes the best bit- me and the other two who worked for me took the company to industrial tribunal- and we all won!! Revenge was sweet.

At the tribunal I was slagged to bits, and was 7 months pregnant by then, which of course they knew nothing about. My lawyer kept asking for proof and they had none. as they had made it all up and were grasping at straws.

The result came in 2 days after giving birth to dd and I felt good.

Don't know why I've whittered on, didn't mean to, but I think what I'm trying to say that things get found out in the end, people above often are aware of things not being right but sometimes need a nudge to find out exactly what is going on. I wanted to be a horrible cow and tell this girl that we didn't want her, but never.

[katierocket]

there is a website that gives advice about whistleblowing www.pcaw.co.uk BUT it's not working this morning for some reason. will check back later. The reason i asked if something else was bothering you was becuase this one event didn't seem enough to make you not want to go to work (which BTW I understand).

still thinking.

[Marina]

Also pondering this one. Hopefully Sis might see this, or Meanmum while she is on mat leave. I know they are two of the Mumsnetters with HR/equal opps knowledge.
I think making just one cutting remark was incredibly grown-up, Wblower! I made a severe tactical error a few weeks ago by letting a male colleague know just what I thought of his assertion that it was his right to shout at people in the workplace because it was a cultural norm to do this in his home country. He's not my boss but is senior to me in the organisation...
Hope you get a good answer on this one. Their behaviour is despicable on so many levels.
Serenequeen is our very own bossykate, btw.

[wblower]

Ah, I can never keep up with name changes!

I feel better now I'm at work, but I fear that might be because I am just avoiding the issue (and because line manager is clearly too thick skinned to have noticed how I made a cutting remark!). Interviews later in the week - I don't want to think about it because the whole thing has such a bad taste!

[rsv1000r]

I have just read this thread and am appalled for you - this is a really horrible situation - particularly the racist remarks made about some applicants. Unless you really love your job perhaps you should think about applying somewhere else or another department where these sort of attitudes are not tolerated.

the organistion I work for thankfully have addressed situations like this through strict new recruitment policy and procedure, and although it can be a pain going through each application and scoring it against a set criteria it does avoid this situation and any decisions made are therefore defensible against any nasty allegations. Also shortlisting staff are not given details about race and age etc

The only thing you can hope for really is that one of the applicants asks for feedback about not receiving an interview - the applicant can make a complaint if they feel that their race has been a deciding factor.

[hatter]

I'm relatively new here and I think I'm only just cottoning on to what seems to be a bit of a name-changing game...am I the only one who stays the same? Anyway, what I wanted to say is that you can only really "whistle -blow" if other avenues have been exhausted - otherwise you risk being discredited yourself. It seems to me that there are two problems - firstly there's a failure by your bosses to do their jobs properly and in line with proper preceedures and secondly there is the fact that you have been personally offended by racist comments. Most big orgs should have procedures for handling both these things and you should try to find out what they are.

The other thing you could consider - especially if your org lacks clear policies in things like recruitment and/or racism - are you in a position to initiate a process that could end with some clear recruitment guidelines and procedures? Could you suggest that you think this is needed? That way you could maybe improve the situation without pointing any fingers? (though they'll probably know) ditto for guidelines on racism, overal conduct/respect in the workplace etc.

Or you could bow out....I think it takes a very special person and a lot of energy to really put their principles into practice.

[eddm]

Do try the Public Concern at Work website that katierocket posted, they are experts in whistleblowing and it is argely due to them that there is now legal protection for whistleblowers.
Did you keep notes of the incident? Always useful if anyone comes back at you if you raise this issue internally.
Also worth looking at the Commission for Racial Equality to see what there guidelines are on racial discrimination and recruitment.
HTH

[eddm]

that should be 'largely'. doh!