To report my colleague to management for unprofessional behaviour ?

[SunConure]

So there have been redundancies in our department and also redeployments to lower grades. It’s been a stressful process but I recently found out I have kept my job. Unfortunately the person doing a similar job at the same grade has not kept hers. Perhaps naively, I tried to help her in various ways, we even discussed a job share. Now I find out from various colleagues that, on more than one occasion, she is going around telling all and sundry that I did not deserve to get the job as “she doesn’t know anything about
science” and “her research is not aligned to what the department wants” and “she shouldn’t even be in our team”. It’s making other colleagues uncomfortable to have to listen to this and one or two asked her to stop. AIBU to report her to management and ask them to deal with it? I could ignore it but the way she is trying to undermine me makes me think it needs nipping in the bud right now and also that management should know about it so they maybe think twice about redeploying her. She is always nice to my face and she doesn’t yet realise I know about how she’s behaving. I could bring it up with her but I know from experience she will deny,
minimise and pretend it was not as bad as it actually is.

You get to keep your job, she will lose her's, so she will leave the organisation at some stage soon.

how you respond to her behaviour will live on after she has left. Ignore, be resilient, get on with your job and you'll be seen as the right choice to keep your job . Make formal complaints, and making yourself the centre of a drama for what, someone saying some stupid unqualified things about you, and it won't look good.

That isn't what is happening. The colleagues are making the OP aware of the unprofessional behaviour. The OP is here for advise. The only one doing any slagging off is the focus of the OP.
OP I agree to speak to her directly.

Come on op she is having a terrible time.

Don’t kick her whilst she is down.

just leave it well alone. People will know the truth.

redundancies do weird things to people and organisation.

@adragoncalledaudrey that was at an earlier stage when I still thought she was my friend! She turned down the jobshare as she was convinced I would be the one to get made redundant

Hearsay is generally not admissible in criminal law other than in some exceptional cases. It is admissible in civil law and in an employment tribunal.

I agree with @Soontobe60. having a negative opinion on a colleague’s work is not inherently unkind or unprofessional. Maybe she genuinely believes your work projects aren’t valuable to the department. Maybe she’s just (understandably) bitter she hasn’t kept her job. Either way, she isn’t actually slagging you off. She’s saying she doesn’t think there’s value in your work, she isn’t personally insulting you. She’s entitled to her opinion. And you and your other colleagues are no better all gossiping about her. PS random strangers on the internet don’t owe you kindness.

This is excellent advice.
I experienced severe bullying and harassment in my last role that started out like this. Trying to deal with the person 1:1 led to an escalation and the person accused me of bullying her. She was also in her twenties/early 30s, so everything got framed as me being a middle aged woman who was jealous of her. The people who told.me what she'd been saying, refused to back me up, and I had no documentation to fall back on as I'd raised it "informally" to line manager who suddenly had amnesia about the many convos. Never underestimate how toxic rejected ppl can becime, and how useless most managers are. Protect yourself now. The offer of a job share will be interpreted as a lack of confidence/ability on your part, if you're not careful.

Yes you should book a meeting a HR and ask for it to go on the record. Partly because she's behaving badly and partly because you need this recorded in case some of the mud she is flinging at you starts to stick.

If you've hear it from several sources you know to be reliable then it's reasonable to assume it is true.

You could confront her direct but as she's a peer who's being demoted rather than a ongoing peer or a direct report I wouldn't - it's a sensitive time for the company, leave it to HR.

@thesealion let’s agree to differ on this because we seem to be worlds apart on what constitutes kind or civilised behaviour online and in the workplace

Is she not leaving anyway? If so, I wouldn’t care I mean!

People having negative opinions about your work or even you as a person is not unkind or uncivilised. I seriously doubt that you have positive and supportive opinions about everyone or everything.

@Twoboysandabengalmost likely she will be redeployed at a lower grade in the same team .

@thesealion as I said let’s agree to differ on this as we clearly have very different opinions on what constitutes kind or professional behaviour online and in the workplace so no point continuing thank you

You posted in AIBU so must be aware not all replies will be what you want to hear.

I think I'd be adult about it and speak to her in front of witnesses, rather than run to management at this stage.

I’m finding some responses on here rather odd. Yes this is totally unprofessional and yes it is workplace bullying, irrespective of your relative situations. You need to speak to HR and put a marker down asap. Make notes of all conversations etc where this has been reported to you. This is your professional reputation being questioned and her reasons for doing so may just be bitterness etc, but that doesn’t detract from the potential damage. Deal with it in a professional unemotional way when you deal with HR. She is also damaging the reputation of whatever organisation you work for so they should take this seriously. Good luck OP.

@Locutus2000 there is a difference between people giving honest fair feedback and people telling me what has happened (unprofessional behaviour) didn’t happen.

@soddingspiderseason me too. There seem to be people trying to convince me that what’s happening is not actually unprofessional. I think they are just bored and want an argument rather than wanting to be helpful. My question was whether to go to HR or not. Not a discussion about whether or not this is an issue. Clearly it is an issue for me

The next person that tells you simply reply “what other people think of me is non of my business”. This isn’t about you. But curious as to why you felt you had to try and get her a job/ suggest a job share. That’s really odd and I’d be exploring why that was your thought process. No good deed goes unpunished is another true saying!

I was in the exact same situation without the redeployment, I was employed to do a job after a previous person sidelined into something else.
She spent all the time when I first started saying I didn’t do the job as well as she had done etc
I heard it from several different people who had told her to stop or bring it up with our line manager (who had no issue with my work at all)
I confronted her in a ‘I know I’m new to my role so I may be missing the odd thing, however I’ve heard that you don’t think I’m doing at all well.
I’ve asked our line manager for feedback and they’re happy with everything so I was just wondering if you could clarify what it is you did differently so I don’t continue to miss it’
She was totally taken by surprised, blustered and said that she hadn’t said anything. I just breezily said that I must have got the wrong end of the stick and would let manager know there wasn’t a problem.
After that she stopped, sometimes by letting them know you’re aware, even if they deny doing it, it’s enough for them to pack it in. I would mention it to your manager/HR just incase she tries to turn things around before you say anything though.

@TorroFerney i guess I was trying to be helpful as I’m close to retirement anyway so it would have solved the problem. This was suggested at an earlier stage and she rejected the idea as she was sure that she not me would keep the job

Do not confront her. It is unprofessional. You have had nothing said directly to you only what others have told you. Given her reported behaviour behind your back, how do you think she will react if you ask her? Couldn't think of anything worse in terms of being unprofessional and confrontational. It will blow up and who do you think will come off badly? Can of worms. You say you trust these people telling you, why have they not gone to management and reported her?

Wait , let her continue, you keep on being professional. She will out herself eventually possibly when the new job is offered to her. You have got the job, why are you so bothered about her reaction? Could the offer be withdrawn? If so be very careful.
She has shown who she is, bank that information.

@lessglittermoremud thanks very helpful

this

Agreed.