work mobbing

[retirednow]

just feel terrible, my colleague who has been hardworking and loyal for 3 years was humiliated and accused of being a gossip during a staff meeting yesterday, he had no idea this was coming but the staff knew in advance that there was going 'to be an argument'. the manager kept on at him, accusing him of gossip but didn't want to know how the gossip started or acknowledge that most of the staff gossip and backbite, including the manager and his son who also works there. he didn't stand a chance so got upset and angry and resigned. surely the manager could have spoken to him in private instead of gathering an audience of 8 people who had nothing to do with it and just sat there with nothing to say. this is not the first person this has happened to, if the manager or his son don't like someone they exaggerate anything they do and they end up resigning, it seems to happen to people who are good at their jobs and have the guts to stand up to the manager or his son who both took part in some racist bullying which was going on but all the staff involved just stuck together. i worry about my colleague and want to get in touch but guess he is probably mistrustful of us now.

That is appalling and if nothing else is bullying. Yes, the manager was wrong to raise this as an issue in front of everybody else and should have established the facts before throwing wild accusations around in front of other people.

Does this company have a HR team? Could this not be reported to them?

It sounds like the management needs investigating and the member of staff in question would be within their rights to take this further if racial intent was part of this.

Yes, I doubt the colleague in question would want to talk to anybody as probably doesn't know who to trust.

I was once invited to a meeting along with colleagues for the sole purpose of talking about a member of staff who wasn't there. Some people did have something they wanted to say. I made a pint of saying I didn't understand what we were doing and that genuinely I didn't have any problem with this member of staff and mentioned the genuinely true positive features. Turns out the person had done something wrong and they were looking to compile more evidence. Poor way of doing it and I lost respect for the key players of that meeting.

If nothing else I guess you could show solidarity and support by dropping your colleague an email or card to wish him well for the future, saying how nice it was to work with them and that if ever they needed a personal character reference (not aligned to the company) you'd be happy to help.

I would find it difficult to work for a company that treated it's staff like that!

Sounds like he will be better off out of it!

I wonder if the people in the meeting are astute enough to realise they could be next?!

thanks everyone. the racist bullying was a separate issue, it was done online about someone who since left who I don't think ever knew about the online comments but did feel bullied at work. The manager, a senior member of staff, the son and his friend took part, it upset my colleague and he spoke to the staff involved, their behaviour towards him changed after that, not so friendly or helpful. It never got reported to HR by anyone which a few of us feel bad about now.
A lot of staff there take part in a bit of gossip so I don't know why he was singled out, it does seem really unfair, unprofessional and double-standards. I have sent a msg to him just to say hello but don't know if he will ever reply.