Work disciplinary issue need help!

[Mumratheevergiving]

I'm CEO of a national organisation and we're going through a tricky period at work One of my managers has broken the workplace rules but I like him and want him to stay. Unfortunately the rest of the workforce have caught on and are feeling a bit miffed. He told them what he's done but explained he didn't really break the rules as they would have done as he has a copy of the loophole regulations that most staff don't. He didn't bother to offer an apology as he ranks higher than them in the organisation. Now some of them are calling for him to be sacked, I'm not sure what to do, I think I might just wait and see how many staff are upset and let that decide it? I really can't see any other course of action.

Why don't you arrange a press conference type event where the coworkers can put across their questions, and this person can uuummm and aaaahhh their way through it? Also advise they use "with due respect" as this will definitely help.

Good idea, do you think if he puts across enough of the minutiae they might forget about the big problem and he can stay on? I really don't know how I'd manage without his herculean efforts, the rest of my workforce just aren't as special as him!

Oh God, now other members of staff are resigning over it, this really is a mess!

I'd look at what your peers in other organisations would do.

For example at Keir Starmer's launch for his leadership campaign, he said:

"I never turn on my staff and you should never turn on your staff."

Does that help?

That does help, blind faith in staff is my kind of management!

Could you maybe get him to take you for a drive to some woods to explain his short sightedness in addressing this issue? I've heard this often helps.

How many of these pretend threads are there going to be?

Come up with a catchy three word slogan- it doesn't have to make sense or anything.

I think, as the person ultimately accountable, you need to get up on stage and tell the other employees flat that this guy has done nothing wrong and if they'd used their common sense they would've done exactly the same.

Then in the following breath explain how you want them all to throw their kids out of their homes too. Good news being that if they do they can pop to Bluewater after the drop off.

You're the CEO of a national organisation, and you're asking Mumsnet what to do?

Yes, I'll tell my other workers they can go shopping, they'll like that and won't be so fed up!

Chatwoo, this is exactly the difficulty I face, he's my most trusted staff member, if I don't have him to make my decisions for me I'll be really stuck.

Why do the minions even know? It’s your job to mitigate

Fabby I did tell the others that I vouch for him and explained that he’d told me he’d done nothing wrong but they didn’t seem to think that was enough?

Boris is that you?

Maybe you could pacify the disgruntled by offering them an all expenses paid sight test complete with woodland adventure and visit to a castle?

Floppy good idea as I think they’ve been a bit cheesed off staying in their own locality so a trip out to a castle should cheer them up, they could maybe save it for a treat on their birthday!

You're the CEO of a national organisation, and you're asking Mumsnet what to do?

@chatwoo if you turn on the news for a minute, it might clarify matters...

A birthday treat sounds like a great idea, hopefully it won't be marred by worrying about returning to the office as nobody else can do their job in their absence.

To be fair to Chatwoo I’m also slightly surprised at finding myself in such a position of authority

I say old boy, you do seem to have found yourself in a bit of a sticky wicket.

I very much doubt any lasting damage will be done. Just brazen it out, stick to your story and it will all work itself out, old chap. Just put on your best 'I'm a jolly good chap' act and people will buy it. They have so far!

Thanks Change, I am starting to feel a bit more confident, I find that if I just ignore the sound of the rest of the workers I can get back to walking the dog running the organisation. It makes it a lot easier as the employee in question is happy to work 16hour days, remarkable really that he has the time to be such a superlative Dad too! Wish the rest of my workforce were as proactive as him, then imagine where we would be!

@ JesusInTheCabbageVan
My response wasn't supposed to be serious but I made the error of not including the raised eyebrow emoji or any other appropriate sarcasm indicator... Oh for the edit function!

I'm not in the UK, but we do get your news here still