#WorkplaceAccountability #Discrimination #Harassment
Hey everyone, I wanted to start a discussion on a recent trend I’ve noticed in my field. 🤔
I work in a substance abuse/mental health rehab facility where we hire a lot of individuals in recovery. Lately, I’ve seen a rise in employees claiming discrimination or harassment when they are being held accountable for their job performance. 📈
Here’s an example: I had a mediation between two employees – one was annoyed with the other and gave attitude, leading to a harassment grievance. It turned out the issue stemmed from miscommunication regarding communication methods. 🤦♂️
I’m curious if others in different industries are experiencing a similar pattern, or if it’s specific to the field I’m in. 🤔
Some possible solutions could include:
– Providing clear communication guidelines to all employees
– Offering conflict resolution training
– Fostering a culture of accountability and respect in the workplace
What are your thoughts on this issue? Have you encountered similar situations in your workplace? Let’s discuss! 💬 #WorkplaceCulture #ProfessionalDevelopment
Hey there,
I work in an HR consulting firm with small to medium sized orgs in every industry you can think of (kind of) lol. I would say this is a trend (lack of accountability/ retaliation and non cooperation in accommodation even) ESP post Covid. I feel every one’s mental health at all levels of organizations has people surviving, exhausted from change, struggling with a housing crisis, affording groceries and more intolerant of others than before with way more diversity than we’ve ever seen.
I see executives exhibit the behaviour you describe in government or policing and I also see it in non profits and startups at entry level positions.
We offer mediation, investigation etc. and some people just flat out refuse, like “ what?, don’t you want your job?” The outcome is a stress leave and eventually we don’t see them return majority of times.
I think the fact that you are dealing with a vulnerable population on top of this puts you probably at the higher end of the spectrum on frequency of seeing this so, to me it makes sense, unfortunately.
Yep, totally normal unfortunately. I’d say probably ~85+% of discrimination issues I see are just total fabrications, are actually just people who are not fully functioning adults.
Americans are really stressed out right now, and of the ways that’s manifesting is through employee relations. The amount of employees with poor coping skills, conspiratorial thinking, and inability to be accountable is sky high after the pandemic.
Omg! Can I just say, I work in the same exact industry as you and I feel like you just described a typical day for me. I have been racking my brain the past few months thinking has everyone gone mad? Do I work with children? Am I just getting burnt out?
I hate to say it but I feel like it comes with territory of our industry – when you hire a bunch of people in recovery, some freshly in recovery, you end of with employees who are still trying to navigate emotions and life maturely. Unfortunately, we end up seeing the worst of people at times.
Stay strong. If you ever want to vent to someone who can relate, feel free to DM me!
I’ve seen it way more in the last 3 to 5 years for sure.
Where I do see it improve it where managers spend more time on clearer expectations from day 1. I see a number of “claims” like this where managers end up micromanaging 1 out of a team of 10.
They’re not skilled in it, particularly in giving clear feedback and directions, and get frustrated that the 9 people don’t need that level of clarity.
So it builds and builds and then they have to make a big change in expectations, employee feels it’s all of a sudden, and some jump go works like harrassment, discrimination, or retaliation.
If I could offer a suggestion, and admittedly I’m not in your industry, but I used to perform “limited inquiries” into EEO complaints (including complaints that were in no way related to EEO laws)
I always told the aggrieved during our initial meeting, contacting me is the first step in many towards attempting to resolve a conflict. There are many avenues we have, meditation, me presenting what you would like to the GM, dropping the complaint or at the end of the process, you filing a formal complaint with the EEOC.
First things I need to know is what you want resolved, what your ideal resolution is, and to also let you know that just because a complaint is filed doesn’t mean it’s going to be substantiated, also this does not mean you can act up. Filing a complaint doesn’t keep you from getting written up for other issues.
I am not in ER capacity. Instead, I’m on the back end with HRIS. Your experience with the front end EE makes total sense to me, and I would say you are feeling a country wide phenomenon. It’s a circle of really hard situations that are landing on HR.
The complete lack of manager bandwidth, in my experience, to take in all the training and coaching opportunities from our HRBPs. Reading SOPs on how to manage ee Lifecycle events and more self-education/developmentoptions. Leads me to believe that they are ineffectively running 1:1s and team meetings. This leads to a lack of follow-up with performance issues. Managers also don’t seem equipped to really talk about how personal situations are leading to problems at work. Our HRBPs are Great, but they can’t help support the employee if they aren’t informed of the situation.
The lack of true people managers helps to create these escalated and dramatic ER cases. Everyone wants to be a leader, but thinks People Managing is HR’s job.
I feel your frustration. I think People teams around the globe are feeling the squeeze.
I ask them to explain how it is discrimination/harassment. Then repeat it back. So your manager asked you to be on time, because you have been late 7 out of the last 10 shifts. Did I get that correct? (usually when you say it back like they are 5 they pick up what you are laying down) Then I explain that it is the managers job to manage the team.
It’s the industry you’re in. I have friends in the mental health and rehab fields, and this has been an issue in those areas forever. You’ve got a highly vulnerable population without much experience in the workplace or ability to handle stress and with a lot of therapy speak in their vocabulary. Most people have a coping mechanism, but when you’re an addict, your main coping mechanism is gone and you haven’t learned to replace it yet. So they spiral out a lot more and don’t know what to do.