Would you whistle blow a friend?

[Chocofrolicky]

I'm friends with a work colleague outside of work. However, in work, she often breaks the rules and goes against procedures. She often thinks that she's better or knows more than our managers.

I know that she has broken a specific restriction several times and I believe that this could impact on the rest of us in the team as other clients could easily expect us to break the restriction for them too. It would be easy for her to be favourited or sought after for this "extra" offering which we are not supposed to offer our clients.

I've hinted that we're not supposed to be doing this, but she is ignorant of it and continues. If I were to confront her directly, she would be too arrogant to listen and would likely fall out with me.

Outside of work, I enjoy her company and speak to her regularly.

Do I blow the whistle on her?

I didn't, but profoundly disagreed with their actions and distanced myself from the friendship.

Personally, I wouldn’t.

No, it's just work! I'd probably have a word with her or distance myself a bit though.

I think it depends whether the work actions have safety implications: if they put people in danger, best to say something. If it's just about hoop jumping company procedure, then it's probably not worth it.

This would also be my attitude.

It doesn't put anyone in danger, but easily expands her clientele and progresses her scorecard ahead of the rest of the team, as a result, many of us would lose clientele which wouldn't look great.

I have whistle-blown a colleague, but I work in an extremely regulated industry that can cause public harm if we don't follow procedures.
She no longer speaks to me ,which is awkward as we are a small team.
What do your colleagues on your team think of her behaviour? Do they agree with you?

They don't know @WouldYouLikeYourMuffinButtered . I only know because she's been quite vocal to me about it outside of work. I think she's trying to get me to do the same thing but I won't. I imagine the primary risk is to herself, but there is definitely impact on our results and scorecards for the rest of us too.

if the odds were equal it would still give some the chance of being better than others ?

Don't think that your managers aren't onto her btw. Be careful of being seen as being her friend as you could be tainted with the same brush and seen as a trouble maker. I say this as a manager.

I wouldn't want to be friends with someone this selfish she would clearly throw you under a bus! Wouldn't want to make enemies though either so tread carefully.

IF you want to say something rather than naming names you could ask for a confidential chat and say you're not willing to name names but this is happening and please can managers put something in place to stop it being possible so it's fairer to everyone and doesn't impact on team morale.

She is throwing everyone into the bus and banging on to you about it outside work.

I'm struggling to see what kind of business you are in. What would be the consequences if you mention what was happening to your line manager? Would you be in trouble if your line manager knew that you knew but hadn't said anything?

What would whistle blowing look like in your company, a formal statement or verbally raising it with your line manager in private?

I'm inclined to say no, there are no safely issues here but it's not fair if she's doing something against the rules and you could lose pay/ recognition.

The idea of a verbal flag with no names seems a good compromise.

No I wouldn’t if there was no risk to anyone by her actions.
Protection for whistleblowers is practically zero. You will be marked as a trouble maker, which could do you more harm further in your career, then she is doing to you and the team now. Don’t be fooled by thinking anything is anonymous, 99.9% of the time management will figure out who wrote/said/did what or, because it’s anonymous, will just ignore it.

But I would start to distance myself from her as a friend, and refuse to discuss work outside of work.

Maybe I'm cynical but if it doesn't put anyone in danger or break any laws or professional regulations, then will management even give a shit?

If she's using a loophole to bring in more clients and more money for the business - will anyone really give a shit if you start snitching about rule-breaking?

I worked in a corporate environment for years and it could sometimes be pretty ruthless. Are you genuinely concerned about serious harm being caused? Or are you just pissed off that she's doing better than you by cheating the system?

If it's the former, then definitely blow the whistle.

If it's the latter then them's the breaks basically. She may get her comeuppance, she may not. Management may already know but are turning a blind eye because she's doing well. She obviously has more brass neck than you. Time will tell whether that will get her to the top or shown the door.