Manager Behavior Issue

I have a manager that appears to be making a hostile workplace environment.  Looking for best options to handle this as it's a small location with total of 5 employees including the manager in question.

Our employee states a list of what she deems as inappropriate but states other employees that have witnessed this behavior will not back her up due to being afraid they'll be fired by this manager.  

I am located in another location and due to current COVID19 situation unable to travel there.  Best advice? 

Thanks - Penny

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    • Lisa Wade
    • Lisa_Wade
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Penny -- Ugh this is tricky, isn't it?  There are a lot of things to consider, of course - not the least of which is the nature of the complaint, any legal/safety/risk concerns involved, and what the employee and you have already tried to do to deal with the issue.  If it is a high risk issue that represents a significant safety, legal or financial risk for the employee or your organization, it will be important to get advice from your legal counsel.  If it doesn't appear to rise to that level, the next thing that comes to mind is if your organization has any policies, guidelines or processes in place to deal with this kind of thing -- harassment processes, employee relations complaints, issue resolution processes, etc.  If none of these apply, my suggestion is to document the complaint and have a conversation with the manager about it to get their perspective.  In the best of all worlds, the manager will want to rectify the problem immediately and repair the relationship with the employee.  Whatever the manager's reaction I would make sure there is a plan developed to correct the issue and document that, as well - including any needed follow up with the employee and the manager's own manager and time frame for revisiting the issue to see the results.  

    I hope this is helpful -- good luck!

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      • Penny G
      • HR Manager
      • Penny_G
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Lisa Wade this is exactly course of action I thought about.  Thank you for feedback.

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  • I agree with Lisa's advice wholeheartedly. In addition, you may want to consider some online training to augment your conversation/coaching. We recently had a couple of clients who have employees with anger issues. They were assigned a set of courses to help them deal with their anger, while they received coaching from the HR manager. The content of the courses was woven into the coaching. So far, so good. I can help you with the online courses, if this is a path you choose.

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    • Jim Diebold
    • Providing Clarity through Collaboration
    • Jim_Diebold
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Penny, given the time of your post, hopefully you are in the process of addressing. If not totally there yet, TriEQ (DiSC, Driving Forces with EQ) may be beneficial for the leader (and you and the team) to realize the behaviors being exhibited. DiSC with Driving Forces may be beneficial for the team so they better understand the Why and How of their actions. But it really helps the leader understand how to communicate with the team.

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