Have I behaved badly

[mimp]

I work for a small company think 5-6 staff. Director has been off for a couple of weeks. Business is slow at the moment. One of the guys just sat around for the two weeks and one day I caught him fast asleep. He didn't even try to look for work do those odd jobs that never get done.
Director is back work still slow and I knew he had to think about letting a couple of people go I told him about this staff member. I feel awful and I don't know why I did it but his behaviour just astonished me. The lack of any effect! He will be let go this week or next I have been told. Feel guilty but it's a bit late for that. I actually think I am a bitch. AIBU ...what would you have done?

You are a Queen sized Butch and I really do hope Karma finds you out soon.
You do not work with person, either in the same location or the same job, yet it seems you have a lot of time to find out what he does and how other people feel about him - have you not get any other work to do than gossip about other people.
If you were unhappy you should have gone straight to his line manager, to go over their heads and grass him up to the Director is a grade one hateful move.
Still I assume people will be also marking your card by your behaviour.

mimp, you didn't actually do anything wrong but quite honestly, I wouldn't have done that and I doubt many would. If it was a matter of life and death that would be different but this wasn't.

However it sounds as though the right person is going to be given the push so try not to think any more about it. He may do better somewhere else.

If such a situation arises again, speak to the person about it before reporting them, give them a chance to shape up.

YANBU. Too many lazy fuckers out there expecting the rest of us to carry them on our backs. If he was an otherwise good employee, he wouldn’t have been let go.

Interesting and harsh comments. My role has recently involved me having to cut costs everywhere! It's not been easy trying to cut overheads to save jobs. It's hard to swallow that sort of attitude when you are trying to save jobs. We are that close to the wire TBH.
I wanted to save everyone's job and the worst bit is one guy who has been let go is a great worker.That was nothing to do with me. Director's choice.

Well if you hadn't done it, YOU might have been the one let go! But as several people have said, I'm betting the Director already knew. What kind of idiot sleeps on the job in an office anyway? No self-respect obviously.

3 out of 10 people think you should not have said anything...amazing, does that mean they think his behaviour was acceptable?? If you can't work properly unless supervised you deserve what you get.

It sounds like you pointed out one more thing this person was not doing.
It's a small company, struggling to keep going, the boss should be told about lazy workers in this situation. Line manager should have done it really, but was covering for him.
Should we not whistleblow on lazy or incompetent colleagues if it really warrants it?

Quite a few people are foaming at the mouth on this thread 😂 I wonder how would they like to be the ones running a struggling small business and yet still having to pay members of staff who don’t pull their weight because other people are too scared of speaking up just in case they are considered a bitch.

I used to work with someone who would sit and read the paper every day. YANBU.

It's not been easy trying to cut overheads to save jobs

I believe you, and knowing this was going on he must have been mad to make the choices he did ... but they were choices and now he's facing the consequences of them

Hopefully, in his next job, he'll make better ones

@mimp I'd spend your time looking for another job, sounds like the place you work is going down the pan anyway, so you could be in the same position as him soon.

That wasn't your place, if he goes I hope you do too.

This was scumbag behaviour. If his job role has no bearing over yours, why on earth did you feel the need to ‘snitch’, hopefully you lose your job too!.

I have no idea why anyone would think you unreasonable. It is u reasonable to go to work and sleep. It is reasonable to report what workers do. Why would you say nothing and potentially watch someone better let go first, just what a struggling company needs some incompetent and lazy fool.

Are some people really ok with colleagues sleeping at work? Odd.

You weren’t a bitch, I think you were fully justified in telling the director. Like a PP said, what if a hardworking colleague had been let go. Sleeping beauty doesn’t deserve the job.

I'm surprised that some pp's have said that in his position they'd have no motivation to do any work either. Surely being paid a day's salary is motivation enough to do a day's work!

It sounds like you work in a completely different role and there was no reason for you to get involved. I'd think really badly of someone who deliberately went out of their way to lose someone their job.

I may also have voted wrongly. Not sure. DH worked for a small business for many years. When they went through rough patches, people lost their jobs. The company simply couldn't afford to keep employees who didn't pull their weight. It would be awful if one of the good workers who was keeping the company going lost their jobs instead of one of the slackers, as that puts everyone else's jobs at risk. For that reason YANBU to tell your director. And it isn't being a bitch. It is trying to safeguard the jobs of everyone else still working there.

Your Director would have been in a position of having to choose someone. It is your business if hard working colleagues (maybe even you) are let go while someone who isn't pulling their weight is kept. How would the Director know unless someone told? I'm sure you feel bad, you're only human, but better he went than a conscientious and hard working person.

I wouldn't have done that personally but your choice.

It is up to his line manager to sort it not you. That post does make you sound even more unreasonable as you interfered in something nothing to do with you

This. I would never do that in a million years, even if it was to save my own job - which it clearly wasn't in your case.

You're not a bitch. If a man in a senior role caught another employee not working during his boss's absence and even sleeping, and reported that back he wouldn't be a bitch.

I'm sure you'd regret it if you'd said nothing and someone who actually did their job was let go instead. I think you did the right thing.

I have to wonder - if the sleeping employee was a woman, would the vote have gone differently? AIBU is riddled with poorblokeitis...

It's funny @BrendasUmbrella because if it was a man I would have done the same as the OP, but if it was a woman I would have thought twice, if she had kids or other caring responsibilities anyway. Yeah I know I know, men can also look after elderly relatives or be the go-to parent for non sleeping children, I've just never met any that are.