HR complaint advice

[beyoncesback]

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• My manager doesn’t like me
• He treats people disrespectfully
• 2 people placed a grievance against him for race/sex discrimination
• I have been asked to give a formal witness statement to another manager

My “statement” is that I saw him treat these people badly, I don’t know if it’s discrimination per se as he’s not pleasant to everyone.

but if I give a truthful statement, I feel like he will retaliate against me ie counter complaint.

how do I politically navigate this mess? he’s a success story for the department & one of the complainants has already left. I feel like it’s just a performative investigation

You will be protected from victimisation as part of giving evidence. Your evidence could also contribute to them taking action against him, which without, the situation is more than likely to continue.

You can ask to have your evidence kept confidentially, but in my experience, anon witness statements are hugely useful. The person cant reasonably be expected to defend themselves against it when they don't know who it is and the investigator will likely question it's legitimacy.

I think it's worth clarifying with the organisation when they'd accept your legitimate evidence as anonymous, and if not, ask what protections are in place for you. Is he facing dismissal, or will this only ever end up with a warning (which means he'll remain employed)?

Aren't* hugely useful, sorry!

Just tell the truth. Be honest and straightforward. No elaboration.

As pp says you will be protected from victimisation.

If this happened do the right thing please. Bad things happen when good people do nothing.

Just keep your responses factual. Say what you saw and don't put any personal judgements in it.

Is he facing dismissal, or will this only ever end up with a warning (which means he'll remain employed)?

HR shouldn't be sharing that information with the OP . Nor should they be telling him who said what as part of the investigation - He doesn't need to know who said it to be able to defend himself .
You absolutely should have protection OP. If there is any retaliation, you go straight to HR.

I think the only thing you can do is be honest and factual and ideally stick to situations where there are witnesses. Eg dont say he is always grumpy, say he ignored people or shouted one word answers at them. Dont say he was racist, but say you heard him using language such as 'x'. So it looks like you're sticking to the facts rather than your opinion. You can also maybe ask to put it on record that you would not have complained you are purely saying this as you have been required to give evidence, or something?

When you say 'he's a success story for the department', I assume you mean he performs well in terms of what is needed is his actual job (i.e. makes a lot of sales, has ideas that boost your organisation's prospects, or is technically outstanding at something). The thing is, if he bullies people, makes people leave, and gives the organisation headache or even a bad reputation externally for how it treats its staff, that success story starts to be diluted quite a bit and he becomes a liability.

I think your only option here is to tell the truth.

When we have difficult people a bit like this in our organisation, we don't necessarily get rid of them straight away, but we might move them to a role where they don't have line reports and have minimal impact on an actual team dynamic.

HR are of course doing this to protect the organisation, but if it starts to become an ongoing issue, he becomes the bigger risk that is potentially not worth taking, so your contribution here might well help them to build a picture of the issues he creates.

Sorry, but in a not dissimilar situation, I was given no help from HR. Vile CEO and his sidekick wanted rid of certain people so managed them out via their pal in the tiny HR department. Several of us tried really hard to stand up for ourselves but couldn't take any more and left, with the sound of heir cheering in our heads. Not sure what kind of work place you are in, but I have no faith in HR if they are groomed to believe CEO/Manager is good; staff are bad.

In most private sector employers, the HR function is driven by the leadership team- so in my experience. if they value this manager, they will downplay or discourage his conduct. Be truthful but also be cautious as often stuff will be fed back even though this is really unprofessional

You simply stick to the facts and tell them what you witnessed and the language that this person used.

It is up to them to then decide whether the person was being discriminatory.

I think you will find the organisation won't want to stand for very long by a manager when several people are reporting them.

Funnily enough we’re in public sector but there’s definitely still aspects of protecting higher ups! Thanks for your great advice

If you do give a statement focus on specific behaviours rather than character traits. Use examples and stick to the facts. For example, instead of saying that he’s racist or a bully, say something like, “He called xxx and xxx” or “He shouted at xxx in from of the whole team, calling them a useless xxx”. If you can remember dates/times/context so much the better. It is not your job to make the judgement. It is your job to provide compelling evidence so that the people who make the decisions can do so in light of the best available evidence. Keep it simple. Keep it factual. Keep it specific. Keep it honest and impartial. I used to be a workplace investigator and the best interviewees were the ones who tried to be fair and present the whole picture. It’s even worth acknowledging good points as it makes it clear you don’t have an axe to grind.