Sports and Social Committee Volunteering

CBCB2

Hi,

I am a volunteer on our company's sports and social committee. I am currently treasurer.

At the weekend we organised a charity event. It was a 5k walk from the plant and returning to the plant. All had been cleared by management. It was raising money for a local charity. We had put up posters in the charity & other local businesses.

In order to attract more people I emailed details to the local newspaper and it was included in the town notes section of the paper (so half a paragraph amongst the other local events). This was published on the Thursday evening.

When we arrived on Saturday morning, management had changed their mind. They had phoned the supervisor who was to have the keys and told him there was to be no access to the plant except to use the toilets & all non sports and social committee members had to be accompanied to the toilets. We were not even granted car park access.

None of the committee were contacted we were given a message that management were not happy about the mention in the paper

We had to facilitate the walk outdoors, we had organised refreshments after so we had to have these at tables outside. We had no chairs so all the walkers sat on crates. We were only allowed to use a small area beside the bins.

Quite frankly it was embarrassing. Thankfully the weather held up and some people didn't even realise that it wasn't supposed to be outside. People did seem to enjoy and we raised a fair amount of money.

This morning we have been told that we will be spoken to later and it is likely that they will take disciplinary action.

I was just wondering does anyone know if they can take disciplinary action against us? We all volunteer on the committee, it is not part of our job.

All we have signed is that we will abide by the Sports and Social club rules (we have not signed anything different from the members). There is nothing in the rules that says we are not permitted to contact the media. Also, there is nothing to say we must consult with management before making any decisions.

All of the management team are in the Sports and Social club but not one of them is on the committee. But it was open to anyone to volunteer so there was nothing to stop them. They all chose not to.

Does anyone have any advice? I've never been in any bother in any job in my life, I don't know what to do! :eek:

Thanks!

tatli_lokma

just to play devils advocate, the only possible reason I can think of that they refused to allow entry to the building to non-members is perhaps is it due to insurance?

Pretty crappy thing to do during a charity event IMO, and if they did want to pull the plug/make changes/ provide you with do's and don'ts they should have done so with more notice and more clarity as to what the reasoning was.

If there will be disciplinary repercussions, I would strongly recommend asking a union rep to accompany you if you have one. If not, meet up before hand, decide what you think is fair, and your explanations. Nominate one person as the spokesperson. Have another make notes of the whole thing. Don't committ to anything initially, just listen to what they have to say and then take time to discuss it between you before responding.

CBCB2

Thanks,

But as the treasurer I had already gotten the Financial Controller to contact the Insurance company. It was covered for no additional charge. The school that was the beneficiary from the event had been given posters and management were aware of that. So it was already open to the public at large.

The local hospital and running clubs had been given posters too which management knew. So it didn't really change the boundaries.

The ad in the paper did not result in one additional person being there anyway. Anyone that was there would have been there anyway.

Yes we really should have had more notice if there were concerns. Had we known that using the Plant was such an issue we would have arranged to start at a local hotel & have the reception there after!

Thanks for the advice. I rang citizen's advice all they could say on the phone was it was a grey area as we were volunteering and it was on our own time and is not related to our job. He recommended I bring our handbook to their solicitor in the office in town. So I'm going to try to set up a meeting today.

Thanks again for the response,

Nody

You contacted the press and spoke with the press on behalf of the company (even if it was as Sports committee that committe is there through the company and by extension represents the company); yes that's a serious issue in most companies and there tend to be a policy around it which usually consists of "You don't speak to the press under any circumstances related to the company and send everything to person X".

CBCB2

There is 3 lines to that effect in the company handbook given to me when I started over 2 years ago. It took me quite some time to find it this morning.

There is nothing in the club rules saying that committee actions need to be communicated to management.

Yeah I get that we made a mistake we have apologised for that. We genuinely were unaware that there was a mention of it in the handbook. It's not like we gave them bad press or it resulted in any trouble. It was a charity event!!

CBCB2

Also there is nothing in the Sports and Social club form that I signed to state that actions taken while a member of the club can be subject to disciplinary action.

Nody

CBCB2 wrote: »

Also there is nothing in the Sports and Social club form that I signed to state that actions taken while a member of the club can be subject to disciplinary action.

Do you think if you came in drunk after work and ran a truck through the office building it would be ok because it was not stated in the handbook you'd be held responsible outside your working hours?

You're in a disciplinary because you broke company policy; the fact you did it during Sports & Social club activity does not matter. You'd have the same issue if you contacted the press after leaving work for the day to tell them about the new machine you installed and how much it saved the enviroment by reduced paper usage. Company policy says "Don't speak to the press"; you spoke to the press and hence the disciplinary hearing. The reason for it may be used as arguments for the reason of the break/reducing the severity but it does not change that you broke the policy (note I'm assuming based on your previous post that there is a policy along the lines I've stated earlier).

CBCB2

There's a bit of a difference between that and advertising a charity event. It wasn't like it was a deliberate act to ruin the company name.

Yeah that's fine, that's your opinion. I am still going to check with the solicitor in the citizen's advice office.

Nody

You should always do that (if everyone told you "don't worry, everything's fine" as well as we're all only internet personalities with out any real way to back up or claims of experience/knowledge) but do make sure to bring up the company policy regarding communication with the press when you do to give them the full set of information available. I'm not trying to give you a hard time I promise but I know were your management team is coming from. A company policy is not something you can disregard because you think you're doing it for the good of the company or because it will not harm the company.

I'll give you an example, in my current work we have a social webpage policy where if we're to comment on our/competitors products we need to state our affilition with our company when doing so. Now this is a policy that obviously is aimed for outside work hours as well but it's done to protect the company for being accused of underhand tactics of talking down/up theirs/our products (among other things). If I break this policy and it's found out I will face a meeting with my direct boss (and possibly disciplinary depending on the severity of the comments / circumstances) for breaking the policy even if it was done outside work hours. Why? Because the company policy is still in effect because it relates to work related actions.

CBCB2

I know, I'm sorry I do appreciate the response. I know you were only answering what I asked.

It's all just been a bit hard to take that's all. I have an impeccable record up to now. And I just feel it has been blown all out of proportion.

I understand that a company needs to have policies otherwise chaos would ensue. It was an honest mistake I genuinely was not aware of the policy. I've apologised, I can't take it back. But I won't do it again. I just don't feel the punishment does not warrant the crime. It feels a bit extreme for a first time offence.

I just don't like my character being called into question and being told I should have known better. Well I didn't and I can't change that.

So I'm just a bit defensive at the minute. Thanks for all your help.

Shelflife

cbcb2
I cant see what the fuss is all about. the social committee organise an event for a local charity and the company get a name check in the local papers, wheres the harm in that?

Its good publicity and does no harm.

I can understand where they were reluctant to let people wander around the plant but the use of toilets and i presume a canteen would be covered under their public liability insurance anyway.

someone has got the wrong end of the story here, cant see any way that discliplinary procedings are in order here at all.

As a business man id be delighted to be associated with a local fundraising event that cost me little or nothing.

CBCB2

Yeah that's my biggest problem I don't understand all the fuss. Maybe I should have known better than to put it in the paper without asking but there was no harm done. And is there really any need for all this bad feeling and negative atmosphere?

Personally, I think this may be an exercise in putting us in our place. We aren't management and we're being reminded of that. I still don't think disciplinary is appropriate. We haven't been told if that is the route yet. They are to get back to us, so I'd say they're investigating if they can too. I am waiting on an appointment with the Citizen's advice solicitor. I just hope they get back to me soon.

Yes I had got the FC to check the insurance. All was covered.

I would have thought so too, plus it was in the local town paper. So circularisation wouldn't be very large.

tatli_lokma

could by any chance, the company have some sort of relationship with a specific charity? if so, and you held an event to raise money for another charity, and this was in the papers, they could be breaking an agreement with their approved charity.
For eg, some companies dedicate a certain charity as their chosen charity...the result of this relationship is the charity gets funding and sponsorship and the company gets promotion and advertising, and in some cases tax breaks. If such a relationship exists, then you openly promoting an association with another charity could cause a problem.

It is not so likely, but I am just trying to think why it would be such a big deal, as opposed to a rap on the knuckles, don't do it again sort of thing.

CBCB2

Thanks Ted,

But no it's not that. I know what you mean, like Tesco's charity of the year or whatever. It's not that, we don't have a charity we contribute to or represent.

It was management selected the charity. It's local special needs school located within a mile of the premises, and advertised in the local paper. So that's why I don't get all the fuss. Plus it was the Sports & Social club not the company who ran the event.

The company gets many requests for charity donations and makes an average of one a month (I keep the cheques so I see them going through). So unless they are worried the requests will increase now.

But even if that is what it is it wasn't said to us. And again I think the reaction is a bit extreme. I've been told by management they will speak to us on Monday. So hopefully I hear back from Citizen's advice before then. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes.

Thanks for all the help.