Is this a form of bullying?

CandyButcher

Hello all this is my first time in a situation like this, I had a phone call from my manager stating another colleague is complaining about me a long time to him, mostly exaggerated petty complaints, taking few minutes extra on breaks etc..

Now the thing that made me livid was that he emailed the manager stating two other colleagues are fed up with me too, my manager forwarded the email to the colleagues in which they denied. The guy who is **** stirring was angry at my manager for forwarding them the email (meaning he’s obviously being untrue)

This guy is constantly **** stirring and trying to sour my name and reputation out of jealousy of my good working relationship with the manager

The good thing is thankfully my manager trust me an knows I work hard and the guy (**** stirrer) also has a problem woth the manager and argues with him a lot.

The manager told me to not say anything about the email that he is trying in the background to get rid of this guy or sort him out some how (move to a different site)

I want to hope he does not get away with this carry on and will leave it to my manager. But after a period of time nothing has been able to be done about it, can I go to HR about this false email and start a grievance? I just dont wan to let him away with this as he is dangerous and could cause future trouble

Your manager is extraordinarily incompetent.

I'm not sure that this counts as bullying but it certainly seems like a campaign against you

dubrov

The complaining guy doesn't sound great but it is extremely unprofessional of your manager to forward it on to other people and then to you.

The place sounds like a mess

GingerLily

If you go to HR your manager is going to be in a lot more trouble than the sh*tst*rrer, your manager has handled this very poorly and shouldn't be passing around information like that, especially saying they're trying to get rid of this person.

osarusan

If you go to HR, your manager will be in trouble of their own for the way they have handled things and shared emails and told you they are trying to get rid of him.

If you are confident that your manager is on your side in this, I'd wait a little longer and see can they sort it out, or at least let them you know that you are considering going to HR, so your manager can tidy things up as best they can first.

screamer

Your manager should not be a manager full stop, awful incompetence and lack of confidentiality from him/ her. Being honest, colleagues love to bitch about each other in one to ones, but if you confront them, they will deny saying anything.
Is the info they provided about you true? I’m busy environments where there’s pressure it’s amazing how taking a few too many breaks grate on the nerves of your coworkers. Maybe sit down and really take the emotion out of it, and coldly assess what they’ve reported. Do you have some things that you need to change?
As for getting rid of a **** stirrer, with a manager that incompetent I wouldn’t hold my breath, and he/she could be playing you all off against one another. Such are office politics
BTW grievances can go both ways and if HR finds against your claim you can end up with the sanction. It’s not something I’d do lightly on a personal level, so make sure you think it through well.

Tork

GingerLily wrote: »

If you go to HR your manager is going to be in a lot more trouble than the sh*tst*rrer, your manager has handled this very poorly and shouldn't be passing around information like that, especially saying they're trying to get rid of this person.

This ^^. I'm a bit shocked that your manager went about handling this issue in the way he did. He couldn't have handled it any worse if he tried. I bet he knows this now and will be trying to save his own ass. This ass saving may involve you in some way. So if I was in your shoes, I'd be keeping my nose clean and staying out of this.

HildaOgdenx

Tork wrote: »

This ^^. I'm a bit shocked that your manager went about handling this issue in the way he did. He couldn't have handled it any worse if he tried. I bet he knows this now and will be trying to save his own ass. This ass saving may involve you in some way. So if I was in your shoes, I'd be keeping my nose clean and staying out of this.

Agreed. Your manager has gone about this completely the wrong way and very unprofessionally. Firstly by sending on that email and then in his comments to you. He has set himself up for a whole lot of trouble if HR gets involved.

I would let the hare sit, for the time being, if I were you. Watch your back in terms of the criticisms that have been made e.g. make sure you stick to the correct time for breaks and so on.

As pp said, there's no guarantee that the manager can be trusted and is not playing you off against one another. Especially if he realises what a mess he has created.

cloudatlas

I would take this very seriously, this sounds like defamation of character not only to your boss but now this rumour has been spread to other employees. I'm fairly sure this violates Equality Diversity and Inclusion policy.

You literally have them over a barrel if you want to make a case for defamation here. The burden of proof would be on them to prove what this colleague has said is true.

I'd most definitely inform your manager that you consider this to be defamation of character that your reputation is under attack and that if this isn't satisfactorily resolved you are going to report this to H.R. No half measures.

Edit: You have an email as proof of these accusations, that sets you up nicely to make life difficult for your accuser, they are extremely foolish to have put anything in writing and in my opinion they should be made to feel foolish.

I am me123

I've been in your exact situation before at work, with a colleague who actually started in the job after me but was in a supervisory role..
Personally, a good manager (well in my view) should not pay much heed to tittle tattle they hear from staff about their colleagues, e.g. bad mouthing, etc. without any solid proof that what they are being told is true. A colleague could easily decide they dont like someone & set out to make their life a misery. Just sounds very unprofessional to heed gossip from a managers point of view.

GingerLily

I am me123 wrote: »

I've been in your exact situation before at work, with a colleague who actually started in the job before me but was in a supervisory role..
Personally, a good manager (well in my view) should not pay much heed to tittle tattle they hear from staff about their colleagues, e.g. bad mouthing, etc. without any solid proof that what they are being told is true. A colleague could easily decide they dont like someone & set out to make their life a misery. Just sounds very unprofessional to heed gossip from a managers point of view.

I don't agree, a good manager shouldn't just ignore it, they should should challenge it and put a stop to it, to protect the victim of the gossip.

After a few warnings or after a serious incident the manager themselves should be talking to HR to get advice on what to do next.

The manager in this situation is not only turning a blind eye to gossip and bad mouthing but actively participating, it's shocking.

Tork

The manager's piss poor handling of this means the **** stirrer now has him over a barrel. If they try to move him or get rid of him, he has the evidence in his back pocket.

bertiebomber

Middle management is the curse of the working environment. Mediocre folk who will never make it rely on bullying others to feel good about themselves. Go to HR complain and let them deal with the managers incompetence they promoted him and its down to them .

CandyButcher

Tork wrote: »

The manager's piss poor handling of this means the **** stirrer now has him over a barrel. If they try to move him or get rid of him, he has the evidence in his back pocket.

No evidence. I haven’t opened my mouth yet. The manager told me in confidence about this email and ensured me he’s trying to deal with for me to sit tight.

Yes he’s handled it bad hes new to the role but deep down he dosent like this toxicity in the team and I dont want to get the manager in trouble either if I go to hr about this email I heard from my manager

Tork

Emails are evidence though. Your manager forwarded the (confidential) email to your colleagues and the **** stirrer knows about it. If your organisation has any half decent It system in place these emails will be backed up on a server somewhere. They can't be disappeared.

CandyButcher

Tork wrote: »

Emails are evidence though. Your manager forwarded the (confidential) email to your colleagues and the **** stirrer knows about it. If your organisation has any half decent It system in place these emails will be backed up on a server somewhere. They can't be disappeared.

Wasn’t he not right to ask the other about it to see if they are for real and if he's telling the truth??? The fact they disagreed with the the email shows he was right to show them what was being said about me to prove he was **** stirring.

I hope this dosent put the manager in a bad place in HRs eyes giving the **** stirrer the upper hand thats all I need

Tork

No, he should not have forwarded the email to these colleagues. That's the rock he may perish on if this ever gets to HR. I wouldn't be surprised if the sh*t stirrer takes matters into his own hands and goes to them himself. These sorts of matters should be handled discreetly - your manager used a foghorn.

What he should have done was approach this as a neutral fact finder. He should have quietly observed your behaviour to see if the complaints held water. Then come straight to you and said there had been a complaint made against you. No names mentioned, even though you'd have worked out who it was anyway. You being honest and saying you had been taking longer breaks etc and vowed to change your ways would have helped enormously here here. Then all he would have been able to say the issue had been dealt with. I'm sure there are other ways to deal with a problem like this but I'm pretty sure forwarding confidential emails to others who aren't involved isn't in any rulebook. I'm sure the colleagues who've been brought into this aren't too happy with your manager either.