Work issue - is this okay or not?

[YourAmberFish]

I work for a council but am contracted to work in a school so I have a council manager John and a school manager Tom. Tom has a line manager Alan.

I've worked in the school for 6 years and there are a lot of issues with bullying which I reported to Tom informally for years. Nothing was ever addressed. My council manager John has wanted to step in at times but I've said not to.

Last year the school discriminated against me due to a disability but I think it was through ignorance not malice and John and the council stepped in and said the school couldn't do that but I didn't make a formal complaint and all was relatively smoothed over.

Recently there has been another bullying incident and I reported this to Tom at the school and said I was putting my concerns in writing as a first step in case the situation escalated as it had in the past. I informed my council manager John but didn't want him involved at this stage.

Tom seemed to have been a bit spooked by the formal wording of my email and escalated it to his manager Alan. The matter was addressed and I was very happy that on this occasion, action was taken and as far as I was concerned, the matter was closed.

But then I found out that Alan had sent my email to John, my council manager and said blah, blah, blah, just letting you know we're taking this matter seriously and want to support YourAmberFish wellbeing. Alan also included a little dig at me sending emails out of hours.

The reasons I am upset by this is I wasn't asked if I wanted John to be involved or see my email so is that a breach of my confidentiality?

And I also don't believe for a minute that Alan really is concerned for my wellbeing as if he was, I think he'd approach me to tell me it was being taken seriously? Or at least include me in the email to John?

I am also bothered as Alan routinely ignores the emails he receives from his own staff about bullying and other issues so it all seems like an arse-covering exercise rather than any real concern or managerial oversight.

It doesn't align with my ethics if I'm given preferential treatment over his own staff just because he's frightened of an external HR team getting involved.

Or am I overthinking it?

There are 2 separate issues here.
but he was right to contact your line manager to tell him what action was being taken. (Aside from passive aggressive comments)

Thanks.

What do you feel are the 2 seperate issues?

And if right to contact my line manager, do you think I should have been included or at least informed?

It's the fact I wasn't that is bothering me, it's as if he thought John wouldn't tell me..

I think he was right to contact Alan as well. He was keeping them in the loop, perhaps presuming you had told them about your problems. He was probably covering his own back as well.

Maybe he doesn’t actually like receiving out if hours emails. If you send them not acting a response to working hours, fair enough, but not if you expect an immediate response.

Regarding not responding to
internal emails, that’s not your concern, unless your work covers these also.

I'm not sure why you have prevented your council manager from stepping in or why you didn't make it formal when not addressed. Have you followed you councils bullying/harassment policy?

I didn't even inform Alan, I didn't think he needed to be at this stage but Tom was spooked I think due to the formal language and my mentioning the bullying had been a problem before.

I don't expect anyone to reply to my emails out of hours, I've even got a 'my work day may be different to yours, don't think you have to reply if you're not working' thing on my email signature.

I sent it on a Sunday and Tom didn't see it till he started work on the Monday morning. Then took 4 days to reply saying what steps had been taken, which he'd already told me on the 'phone the week before he would do. But he has said that for 6 years and nothing was ever addressed so I sought advice from ACAS who said put it in writing so I did.

I am now, hence the putting it in writing and sounding 'formal'.

Edit - I didn't before because I like Tom and didn't want to cause him stress. Also have had a situation before in a different job where I was a whistle-blower and even though I was right and people lost their jobs, the process left me with a lot of with anxiety. It was quite traumatic.

You have been repeatedly bullied at work over several years, and nothing has been done. They should be taking this seriously. And as John seems the person most concerned for your wellbeing its good he was involved. I think you'd have a hard time arguing Alan was wrong to keep John in the loop over a serious allegation made by a member of his staff. And if John's involvement gets the bully dealt with then staff who don't have a John who may also be victims will benefit too, so there shouldn't be an ethical issue for you.

That's helpful thanks

There is part of me that thinks he's actually done me a favour (though I don't think that was his intention!) as he's involved John and now can't claim he didn't know. And it should leave Tom out of it who I do care about and don't want to stress because the bullies are all in his team and I know he doesn't know what to do and hasn't been supported for years.

This is not about your specific situation, it's about policies and protocols. He needed to show that the school folliw them.

Why are you do upset about it?

Because it was behind my back.

And because he isn't following them for his staff, I'm the only one who he is getting this attention.

Likely because he's concerned that an external HR dept will step in, not because of concern for my wellbeing and zero concern for his staff who are ignored.

Which demonstrates a lack of integrity and professionalism.

That bothers me hugely.

But you said he dealt with the personal issue and you were happy with the outcome.

Again, him reporting that the matter was sorted was not about you but probably meeting kpis etc..

Also, considering you involved your other boss before about issues with the school, it's not like he reported something you would not want reported.

You seem to be making a big deal of nothing.

To be honest, I wouldn't expect anything you put in a work email to be kept confidential. Don't put anything in an email that you wouldn't be happy for someone to forward.

"Which demonstrates a lack of integrity and professionalism."

Not really. It demonstrates that he understands workplace politics and social norms.

I respect your opinion. Thanks for your input.

He didn't actually deal with anything. Tom did. Tom just escalated it to him for his information as his line manager.

The only reason I had my council line manager and HR involved last year was because it was clear disability discrimination that the school needed to be told they could not do under the equality act.

I was advised at the time to make a complaint for disabilitiy discrimination but didn't as didn't want the stress or to cause stress for others

I regret that now.

I think you should have anticipated that any serious concerns raised in writing would inevitably be shared with your council line manager. I don't think that there was any need for them to inform you of this, as it was surely obvious that they would need to share this info.

Perhaps you're just very inexperienced and have no idea how things work, but if I'm totally honest, it seems to me that you're actively looking for reasons to be aggrieved here when there are none.

Only now...

After my line manager and HR stepped in last year after he discriminated against me because of my disability.

He wasn't concerned about my wellbeing then. Didn't even tell my employer before he tried it or respond to emails from my line manager and HR telling him he couldn't do that.

And like I said, ignores emails from his staff complaining about bullying.

The 'anonymous' staff survey last year, numerous people complained about bullying. He sent an email round saying this would be addressed in a whole school team meeting which never actually happened.

The school also had a terrible inspection. So that's another reason why he's trying to look good to outsiders.

You're getting way to involved here.

How he treats his staff is no concern of yours.

You've done your bit in raising the complaint, the managers are entitled to discuss it with each other as they see fit.

You can't really complain about someone doing the technically right thing this time (for whatever reason or motive), on the grounds that they should have done it before but didn't. That needed to be raised last time around.

As for the other people who have been ignored, they will need to take that up themselves.

What is the outcome you're looking for here?

So you're reacting to what he's done in the past rather than what he's doing now?

I can sort of see where you are coming from, but I think in this situation I would have told my council boss before sending the email to school boss, just so everyone knew everything. It sounds like council boss is a good support to you, and I find a supportive boss can be a great sounding board before taking an action. I understand why the school side included him, again to ensure everyone has all the information needed. It sucks they did that without you knowing, but you telling your other boss first would have pre-empted that situation.