Would you report offensive message in a group work chat?

[ChilliPB]

As the title says really. A pretty offensive meme sent as ‘banter’ (not funny and genuinely offensive). It was sent in a group chat - a non-official WhatsApp chat with over 50 people, used for social chat. We have a separate more official group chat for work related stuff.

Options are to pick it up individually with the person (who I don’t know and have never met). Or flag direct to HR. Or flag up to HR but not disclose what was said or who said it and hope they could send a stern but general reminder about behaviour and conduct and the individual wouldn’t actually be identified.

Appreciate its a non-official chat but even so. Really likely to offend some of the members there and also it’s the sort of job where if it came out it would look awful, and I’m worried those that don’t report it could also be in trouble as complicit.

What would you do?!

Lots of employers have these behaviour codes- especially anything in the public sector.

My experience is with social work- this would definitely be an issue there.

My friend nearly lost her job for something done outside work, not with work colleagues, not with her name associated or identifying her employer- a daft prank in her head, bringing the LA into disrepute in their’s.

So people who report racism in the workplace are the ones who should leave rather than the racists?

It actually doesn't work like that. If the OP reported and then experienced harrassment and bullying from other staff members, those staff members would be the ones who could lose their jobs and rightly so.

I disagree. The meme in question may be offensive or it may not. That's irrelevant in my view.

The point is that the OP thinks it is offensive. She is the one that needs to act on this situation so it is her assessment that matters, and not the opinions of other random MNers.

If she deems the content of the post on a work chat to be hate speech, then she should absolutely report it in line with her workplace policy. If it is subsequently concluded that there is nothing wrong with the content of the post and that she has misjudged the situation, then no action will be taken.

Whether you or I might be offended by the post is irrelevant.

I was in the hairdresser’s chair yesterday when she talked about the shop owner next door and said some questionanable things. I’m in my 50s and she’s younger so was quite taken aback. I said ‘ I’m sorry, what do you mean?’ She quickly realised I wasn’t playing ball and corrected herself. You’ve got to call it out.

JFC - that's the way it should be. The person that reports racism should be the one to leave as they are a grass?? You value system is fucked up. I pity anyone who works with you.

I agree that you should be prepared to bring it up directly, but I also think that you should deal with racist incidents according to your workplace policy, which is almost certainly to report.

As someone with responsibility for workplace culture, I would absolutely want to know about this kind of stuff.

So people should be allowed to say just what they like, in case the (unlikely) consequences of calling them out on it lead to their suicide? That’s a very unhealthy dynamic to foster, and plumbs unfathomable depths of #bekind….

Regardless what the post is it is still a private group. Yes certain things are not allowed even in a private group but that is then a police matter I believe - so either this is a police matter or not , no HR.

I doubt it is a police issue as people have said the have seen this on other social media. I am dubious about labelling g thing phobic as that is an opinion

No but the first reaction shouldn't be quick go tell hr

It's a work chat between colleagues, not a private chat between friends. It's rather shocking that many people don't seem to realise that this is absolutely a work issue.

We're all big girls here. We can handle it.

You seem to be ignoring the fact that the vast majority of those killed or injured in this attack were members of Hezbollah, designated as terrorists by the UK government. Not quite the "innocent people" you call them.

If his job is at risk then that's his own fault. It's his actions. He's an adult if he wants to post something in a work chat he is accountable for every single word. It's not difficult to not post something.

interesting take. Is there a line at all for you? where is that line?

Prosecutions (including of police officers) would suggest that some "bantz" are not acceptable. And the chat could be deemed "work related" on account of the group only existing because those people work together.

There were children among the dead.

I'm assuming your work place has some kind of policy. Does it tell you what to do there?

So we can't understand that people are human and make mistakes and that's OK. Sometimes a quick private word is all that's needed

Exactly.

Even a blind man could see this outcome looming on the horizon. People have been sent to Coventry for a lot less than this.

Then Im sorry to say you have slopey-shouldered leadership where you work. DPA2018 ak GDPR is trotted out far too frequently for all sorts of spurious justifications. This isn't a privacy issue, in terms of Data Protection, misuse of a living human's personal data.

its about an employee's behaviour that can potentially be escalated to HR, should the OP choose to go down that route, because of Islamophobia in this case. It's about not turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to negative behaviour that needs to be called out.

Can’t you just say something on the chat? I don’t really get why people think HR will miraculously sort things out. It takes about a month for our HR team to get back to us and at least one of them is quite homophobic.

People ignoring racist content on social media and in the workplace is part of the problem. If his job is put at risk, he should have considered that before being so stupid as to post racist stuff on a work chat group.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves if it's offensive enough to be reported and acted on, then OP shouldn't be asking on here in the first place.

If it's not offensive enough to report then it should just be dealt with privately or ignored.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves
It is not a work chat. It's a WhatsApp group that has colleagues who happen to work together. Work doesn't own or sanction that , if we take the view it does then everyone who interacts with a colleague outside work could be told it works business.

No, there is no assumption of privacy when you send something to 50 people, many of whom you don’t know. Anyone could be on there and anything you publish could be reproduced anywhere any number of times.

Most work places have policies about behaviour in these sorts of groups- if that policy is broken it is an HR matter. Many things are ‘not allowed’ at work which aren’t illegal.

You don’t have a right not to be offended.