Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

sending an email to everyone on a team where your blaming one person is unpleasant, nasty and bullying

102 replies

iwanttowalkoutofwork · 27/03/2015 09:26

So this morning I got into work to find an email along the lines of

"Please all can you make sure you give all the information needed so avoid problems like below:"

Below was a link to a peice of work I did that had some knock on (minor) affects and had my name plastered all over it.

Firstly I could of given more detailed notes for the file that might have prevented it but to send an email to everyone pointing out my mistake has really upset me. The person that did this email has a much easier job than me, doesn't have to write anything - just review other people's work to tell them of mistakes. I'm not perfect I make mistakes , but I'm not in a serious job where anyone's life is at stake. Its just a clothes shop!

Aibu to be upset by this? I want to just forward it to my manager and to say I find it not productive to blame one person and highlight their minor mistake to everyone.

OP posts:
BeetlebumShesAGun · 27/03/2015 21:19

Moustache that was also my first thought on reading Disappointed's post! KH is amongst us Wink

OP, it was not on of them to this, raise it with your manager, lead with "I realise I made a mistake and I take responsibility for it. However..."

SwirlyThingAlert · 28/03/2015 13:07

Sorry, nothing to do with the thread but love there's a MickeyFartPants nn on here! Grin

"Ugh, it's Mickey Fart Pants! Who invited HIM along?! Grin

GiddyOnZackHunt · 28/03/2015 13:30

I was the manager in this situation. One of my team was named as the scapegoat on a project by the manager of another team in a mail sent to a range of managers. It was a grossly unfair accusation.
I called the other manager to discuss what had actually gone wrong and secured an apology sent to the original mailing list. We also agreed a revised procedure in order to avoid a repeat bungle.

borisgudanov · 28/03/2015 14:14

Disappointed (Have written this on my phone from the toilet, if that helps anything.)

Well it certainly explains why you're posting such shite. HTH.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/03/2015 14:20

Can we leave off Disappointed now? I'm sure we've all posted something in haste before or that makes us look a tit and it not nice that people are coming on just to have a pop at one poster who is not even the op. It makes you look a nasty arse at worst and unoriginal at best.

As for the Xenia comment that's just daft. She might hold some erm, interesting opinions about women and work but I bet at work and the kind of firms she works in proactive, robust and effective HR is the order of the day.

AuntieDee · 28/03/2015 14:38

If he didn't name you then it is appropriate, if he did then it's bullying. Sometimes things need to go beyond a 'quiet word' and memos formally passed. This done to prevent it escalating to disciplinaries. You can't just pull one person up for it, you have to make it clear that it is behaviour that wouldn't be tolerated by anyone - that way it isn't harassment.

If it is a persistent error that keeps happening then your boss is right to address it

Golferman · 28/03/2015 15:10

Ah, Disappointed, a consultant. One of those people you give your watch to and they tell you the time...........

Effendi · 28/03/2015 15:11

This happens a lot where I work. A round robin email is sent to everyone rather than the person in question being spoken to in private. But we all know who it is about.

Recently my manager had cause to speak to me about something she wasn't happy about regarding my work. I thought it was sorted but the next day she brought it up in a team meeting. She didn't name names but the circumstances and timing meant that everyone knew it was me. Totally unnecessary and incredibly shaming. I was very upset.

mickeyfartpants · 28/03/2015 16:24

swirlythingalert

Thanks for the appreciation Grin

"Oh great, stuck in a truck with two GIRLS!"

saveforthat · 28/03/2015 16:37

Just wanted to tell dissapointed you dont use a comma before or after and. So you make mistakes too

PigletJohn · 28/03/2015 16:50

Dispute over use of the Oxford comma is unresolved at the highest levels of pedantry.

Andylion · 28/03/2015 17:17

This happens a lot where I work. A round robin email is sent to everyone rather than the person in question being spoken to in private. But we all know who it is about.

This used to happen at my work too. It meant that my former manager never had to speak directly to the problem employee which meant he, the employee, was in blissful ignorance/denial and the issues was never resolved.

Andylion · 28/03/2015 17:19

The person that did this email has a much easier job than me, doesn't have to write anything - just review other people's work to tell them of mistakes.

OP, is there a procedure in place for him to inform people of their mistakes? Is a group email the way it is normally done?

AuntieDee · 28/03/2015 17:39

In my place of work these types of communications are being used to separate the wheat from the chaff. Some people just have no work ethic and despite having numerous 'quiet chats' just continue to carry on as they were. By formally putting it in writing and applying it to all the workforce, when someone refused to behave in an acceptable manner, there is a paper trail to back up the reason for asking for this.

It is so hard to dismiss someone for incompetence. It took 7 years in my workplace once.

Instead of bitching about the email, have a look at your work. You say 9/10 your work is good. So 10% of it isn't - this really isn't acceptable. I'd hate to work with someone who thought it was.

The moral of the story is to check you work and do a proper job in the first place. Everyone makes the odd mistake but from your own admissions, it seems you make an awful lot....

fascicle · 28/03/2015 18:32

AuntieDee
The moral of the story is to check you work and do a proper job in the first place.
Grin

I agree with the OP. The e-mail is not productive because as far as the OP is concerned, its intention (avoiding errors) has been lost and she is focusing, naturally, on what she sees as an inappropriate and unjust method of negative feedback, indirectly aimed at her.

Personally I think that any feedback on errors made should be delivered constructively and directly to the person concerned, preferably face to face, or at least by telephone. Certainly not in the presence of an 'audience'. There would be other, better, ways of communicating the message of the e-mail to a wider audience without (indirectly) pointing blame at one individual.

CaptainRex · 28/03/2015 19:06

I used to work in a similar situation, a coworker used to spend all their checking peoples work for mistakes but never actually doing anything themselves. Every tiny mistake (and we are talking pointing anything from a incorrect font size upwards) was emailed to me and our manager. They waited until the manager was on maternity leave to haul me into a disciplinary for a major mistake, as everyone took her word without checking any facts. In the meeting I was able to prove how wrong this was and she knew it in advance but wanted me to suffer. But nothing really changed. At this point I started job hunting and 6 months later left, but not before they made her my manager despite my complaints. The company suffered many redundancies after I left and this girl was left being the only one to do the actual work then it was discovered she was worse than useless and now needs micromanaging to get anything done.

Moral, if the company wont listen to your comments and support you, then find a company that will.

CaptainRex · 28/03/2015 19:07

Oh and I must point out the girl pointing out my mistakes was sitting next to me but always emailed every mistake rather than talk to my face

ljwales · 29/03/2015 09:10

That's rubbish about being difficult to sack people! Big companies do it daily and when ever they think they can't make more money out of someone. If you have been an employee less than two years you have zero rights. I was made unemployed a week after coming back from being signed off for two weeks and sacked, couldn't risk the small redundancy money to take it up legally. Had been at the company for 6 years.

Everyone makes mistakes, sounds like this other guy is someone who has to review work. If people never made mistakes we wouldn't ever have to bother with testing or reviewing!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/03/2015 14:29

Is it difficult to sack workers?

It all depends on the culture of the organisation. The law applies to all employers but some ignore it or push what they can do legally to the absolute limit. Some are unionised and some aren't. Some managers loathe confrontation and let people get away with murder.

I worked in a company many years ago where poor performance was not tolerated because it was a small company and there was no capacity to carry a passenger. We all had to earn our keep. A couple of my colleagues were asked to leave and disappeared immediately. I assume they were paid off but we never saw them again.

In very large organisations, especially in the public sector, it's often different. Procedures to follow, and it can all take a long time. Very unpleasant for all concerned, however it pans out.

fascicle · 29/03/2015 15:37

The procedures should be the same, regardless of business size (i.e. giving the individual the opportunity and support to improve, before resorting to the disciplinary procedure if underperformance continues).

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/03/2015 18:30

Yes, they should, but how often does that actually happen? I was a school governor once in a school with a very forceful HT. He had the support of the LEA and Ofsted. He decided that certain members of staff were no good. He went through the process so that they would have had no case in law but it was pretty clear from the moment he started using the capability procedures that they were never going to improve to his standards. As far as I can recall, they all left before it got to the point that the LEA would have been asked to terminate their employment for lack of capacity. Grim stuff.

Tanith · 29/03/2015 19:24

I've said before that I don't mind having my grammar mistakes corrected on here because I'm well aware my education was not what it ought to have been.

However, I always appreciate those posters who kindly and tactfully pick up on the phrase or word I've erroneously used and repeat it correctly in their posts.

There's no shaming, no humiliation and my English is improved.

The Grammar Police would do well to take note.

Tanith · 29/03/2015 19:25

Op, YANBU by the way.

fascicle · 29/03/2015 19:44

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Your headteacher example - presumably other teachers were already reaching the standards he set for the underperforming teachers? Or was it a timescale issue - unrealistic period of time for the increase in performance? You say the headteacher was forceful, but did any of the governers point out that his expectations were unreasonable?

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 29/03/2015 19:50

It was complex, fascicle, and if anybody set their mind to it I'd be easily identifiable here, so I don't think I should say any more. All a very long time ago now. Should have been tackled years and years earlier.