I started a new job 6 months ago.
It's a very intense job, parts of it are really difficult due to the nature of the people we work with (ex-offenders).
Overall it's a rewarding job but it's no picnic.
Because it's a very on-the-job job colleagues don't see all that much of each other, this means that we don't have that many team meetings and everyone has their own ways of working.
There are also lots of new team members.
All of this inevitably means that mistakes are sometimes made - not serious mistakes, but little things like a certain form should have been filled out and someone forgot or someone forgot/didn't do X or Y new thing because they weren't at the meeting where everyone agreed that was how it was going to be done from now on.
Ok. So everyone is generally lovely and very supportive. But there's one member of staff who is always slagging off other people. Whenever I'm near her she's moaning that someone has or hasn't done some thing - usually something that actually a lot of people aren't aware is a 'new' thing.
Now I accept that a lot of this comes from poor communication from management but she is so very quick to point the finger of blame at colleagues and criticise people behind their backs (then keeps her mouth shut to their faces).
I think it's highly unprofessional and creates and atmosphere where people are afraid to ask for help or advice, afraid to seek help when they've made a small mistake and it just makes for a horrible environment when you're second guessing yourself in case she's found some ammunition.
She's been there forever, though, she's very 'inner circle'. However, I've had a titful of it and I'm bordering on speaking to management about it. I've never, ever been in a situation like this in a workplace before but it's really getting me down and I don't see why we should have to put up with someone consistently tearing down other staff, particularly when we do a really difficult job in tough circumstances.
Am I over reacting or should I say something?