Verbal warning?

[Doglover321]

I work for a childcare agency and cover at a wide range of different nurseries across the county. I had an awful bullying experience at this particular nursery recently (all the others have been lovely!), and decided to post about it ANONYMOUSLY on an Early Years Practitioners Facebook support group. I didn’t identify myself, the nursery, or anything else. I simply just said what happened.

It turns out that the manager of this nursery is a member of the group. She decided to call the agency and report my post. The agency have given me a verbal warning, as well as said I will no longer be placed at nurseries belonging to this chain - this is despite me having a really good experience at a different nursery belonging to this chain after this incident!!

Considering the post was anonymous and it might not have been me who made it (I told others about my bad day), do you think it’s a bit much from the agency?

They don’t seem to care about the bullying and have just said they can’t afford to lose work with this chain.

Can I clarify... You posted anonymously? Did you name the chain?

It’s an agency and presumably their clients can choose not to have you back for any reason. It’s not the agency that made the choice and they have done nothing wrong.

Didn’t name the chain. The manager must’ve just figured it out from the story I told which summed up exactly what happened

Personally I think it's unfair what happened to you yes

Can you not say it wasn't you?

The HR manager of the agency has made the choice

I have tried

They can choose not to take you on for whatever reason and tbh would you want to work there if your review is true anyway??

I have since worked at a different nursery belonging to this chain and had a very pleasant experience

Ah shame. I think the company is within in their rights to refuse to have you if you had a negative opinion of one of their branches

They don't want to risk losing their client. Seems fair enough

I'd deny it was me. Or they could prove it was me saying it I would claim it was about a different place.
They've no proof you slagged them off as you didn't use identifying factors. The owner reckoned she identified you, but so what? Just say you're mistaken.

I think you need to just accept it. I wouldn't write anything on Facebook about a workplace, I'd follow the correct channels instead.

For an anonymous post without naming them they have massively overreacted. I wonder if whistleblowing legislation protects you. Try ringing ACAS.

I feel sympathy for you OP and understand your frustration but did you report this to the nursery or the agency at the time or did you just take to social media straight away?
I think the agencies hands are a little tied here and it's hard for them to take any action about the allegation of bullying if it's only being reported to them on the back of a complaint.
In hindsight, you probably didn't deal with it in the best way

Clearly OP gave enough information that ID'd them and the location

It seems unfair but why didn't you report the bullying to your agency instead or the chain, the bullying may happen to someone else so needs addressing

Not even the company who has refused me. It’s the decision of the HR manager of my agency. Has got me thinking it’s a bit much when I had such a good subsequent experience at a different nursery belonging to the chain

Op, I'd see it as a blessing in disguise

If this manager has so much power that she can lean on the agency and intimidate them into removing you from the chain, then this manager can contact the other branches and badmouth you

I'd imagine you showing up snd experiencing hostility and comments at another branch

I can't stand bullies but it seems so many work in childcare. Just leave it and move on and don't sour your relationship with the agency x

I think it's fair enough they can't lose the contract

I completely agree with this.

You didn't give the agency or the nursery the opportunity to investigate. They could argue that you are an embittered ex employee trying to bring their good name into disrepute. From an outside perspective, it's easy to interpret your anonymous post this way. They knew it was you, they can rightly assume that others will identify which nursery you were referring to.

Who can blame them for reacting the way they have. And the agency gave no choice but to protect their own interests.

I don't disbelieve that you were bullied. But employee handbooks, whistleblowing policies etc are there to protect you. You should have followed procedure rather than publicly slating the nursery. You've shown a lack of professionalism which supports their refusal to have you work for them again.

But it's not too late to raise a grievance based on your allegation of bullying. It's likely that the Facebook post might give weight against you, but it's worth a try.

Similar happened to me, but the other way around, years ago.

A member of the team I was part of had an 'anonymous' blog where he would talk about things generally happening in our company: media announcements, new products etc. But also stuff happening in the team.

He posted stuff about me and a new role I had. Totally vague, no names, but obvious to anyone who knew us that it was him writing about me.

He was - rightly in my opinion - pulled up by top management and had a talking to. It left me feeling really uncomfortable in the work place and like I didn't want any interaction with him. It wasn't even negative what he wrote, just not common knowledge at that point.

I think it's absolutely fine for that nursery to not want you to work for them anymore. I wouldn't want to be working with you.

Yeah, that'll be convincing. "Sure, I complained in very similar language about the same incident, but that post wasnt me, honest."

This isn't a court of law. She can deny it all she wants. It doesn't matter. The chain can tell the agency not to send her again because they don't like her face. Or because they don't want agency staff whose birth months end in "er". The chain's business is far more important to the agency than OP is. It's a business to business contract, not employment.

It was foolish to complain about this publicly, even anonymously, as agency staff if you ever wanted to get work from this chain again, OP. But you did, and it blew up, and the bridges between you and this chain are now burned. End of story. You will have to make do with other work through the agency, or take a perm role somewhere.

Just to clarify I phoned and reported the awful shift to my manager before making the post. He didn’t even seem to care then really which is why I still felt like I needed to vent somewhere

Your manager doesn't care, the nursery manager doesn't care, maybe you'd be better finding a new agency.