Colleague posting inappropriate things on SM

[JanS17]

My (male) colleague has been posting things on social media essentially slagging off our (female) manager. Manager doesn’t have SM, but other colleagues are also friends with him and will be able to see what he’s posting.

Would I be unreasonable to report it to my manager, or should I keep my nose out and leave it alone?

The crux of getting involved would be the nature of the slagging off, for me.

If he's just moaning that she's bossy/unreasonable etc then I'd send a message saying you think he should be careful in case it gets back to her.

If the comments are personal, misogynistic, racist etc then I would absolutely report him.

Feeling complicit is not a nice feeling, OP. If he's being really out of order it's best to stand up to him.

She doesn't need to defend herself. He's complaining about an unnamed person in an unnamed company. Only the OP for some reason, knows who she is.

Aah, ok. Sorry, I missed that.
He's still out of order though, as presumably everyone knows who he's referring to anyway.

Stay well out of it and unfollow him. Anything else is just seeking drama.

Out of interest, would you report a female colleague posting about a male manager?

As someone suggested. Ask your union rep about the best way to handle it.

I wouldn't speak to this chap or say anything to him. Why tip him off? You don't owe him anything. I guarantee he will resent you telling him as he will feel its not your place and he can say what he likes etc. If he is disciplined later - he will blame you.

He sounds like a bit of a sh*t who could very well turn on you next, so let someone else do that! like HR or a more senior manager.

But I'd probably want my friend to know what was happening so she could defend herself. Hasn't he got anything better in his life to put on social media than thinly veiled complaints about his female boss.?

The other work colleagues will be able to identify her so what he is doing is very wrong and undermining her at work. Also, you mentioned he's been undermining the team dynamic too.

I still don't understand what this has to do with you/why you should be the one reporting this...

If the person is a close friend as well as a colleague then just speak to her in confidence about what you saw and she can then decide whether she wants to report this or not.

It will have more effect if it is the person named who report it.

But again this depends on whether she is directly named in the content that was posted or if the guy is just having a general moan about poor management...

What's he actually put on social media that you could specifically say was him slagging off his manager?

He's not named her or the company. If he's just having a moan about his boss at work, I wouldn't say anything. I wouldnt snitch on somebody so easily. If he is insulting her personally I would tell her, only because she's a friend, not on a professional level.

And this is why you keep work and private life separate especially on social media. It's incredibly foolish of him to be putting this stuff out there at the very least it will impact his relationship with your manager or worse it could be seen as in breach of employee guidelines.

Not unless I thought what he was saying was genuinely offensive.

But what has he actually said that's against the policy?

Like I said yesterday there's a massive difference between ,"I fucking hate working in the Oncology ward on days when Sarah is the duty supervisor because she's such a lazy bitch and never does any work" and "FFS why do I always come into a mountain of work when certain people are on shift?"

The former is 100% unacceptable as it explicitly mentions his workplace and the person he's talking about but the latter is less so as it doesn't mention either explicitly and is just a generic moan that you can't say is aimed at someone specific or about a specific incident.

“A burner account” 😆😆😆 I swear half of MN members watch way too many ITV dramas.

If he was a teacher, and his account was public he would be facing disciplinary for that. If it was private still likely disciplinary because friends know he's a teacher and slagging off a manager is unprofessional and 'bringing the profession into disrepute'. Even if it's on private and outside of the workplace.

Depends on your company's policies - if they have professional expectations then he's on very thin ice. I'd still report, especially if it's damaging the team dynamic.

We definitely need some more context here about what was being said.

Unless you are trying to get him sacked, reporting him won't improve the team dynamic. It will significantly worsen it.

Be a team player and have a word with your colleague. Tell him he is upsetting you and others and suggests he stops.

I don’t moan about work on social media because keeping my job is more important than venting spleen, however, I take a dim view of people who try and police others doing this.

I find managers that are “friends” with certain reports to be grossly unprofessional. Any bets that this poor bloke is having all the shitwork dumped on him while manager and her “friends” swan off for endless coffees. Also, bet he has the brunt of the “difficult conversations” when she wants to prove she’s doing her job.

Stay out of it. There's no need to involve yourself in any of this.

I once tagged a colleague in the comments on a meme about poor management.

Someone must have seen that tag as I was called in on the Monday by a Senior Manager who had no idea who SM works about "my posts on SM".

I said I hadn't posted anything and that I was willing to show my feeds as proof. They then said it was a post about poor management. I explained insert lessons about how SM works here. He just said again about my posts.

I said how do you know it is relevant to this workplace?? As me and my colleague had worked together at a different company prior. He then blustered and I said if you think it is relevant I suggest you speak to the manager you think it relates to rather than me and the conversation ended.

I am now more cautious about tagging people, so just send them the link instead!

I don't think any good can come of reporting it. Yes you're friendly with the manager but it won't improve team dynamics.

You dropped this 👑

I think you and the manager being friends and how you've admitted that affects your reaction is a much bigger problem than him venting on his private account tbh. Keep your nose out and worry more about being seen as unprofessional yourself.

So he doesn't actually name her, or where he works?
Do you actively dislike him as it looks like your hunting for reasons to get him into trouble? Although given the above can they?
Why have him on SM?

Because the colleague is being a shit. Seems to be that anyone with two working fingers goes on SM and says things that there is no way of knowing whether they're true or not.

If the followers or friends of the mouthy colleague all work for the same company and what's being said is malicious it's a form of bullying in a really underhand way.

I’m 99.9% sure I’m right on this. I bet he’s replaced the “team’s” previous whipping boy/girl