I recently came across a question which exposed a recurring problem in many organizations – management protecting top producers who bully other employees or push them around. The belief is maybe that’s what it takes to succeed in this competitive business world.
This approach is asking for disaster. Companies that are aware of such a situation and ignore, bury, or deny it, are exposing themselves to significant risks down the road. Hopefully they saved some of the dollars that their “breadwinner” generated to buy an EPLI policy for the inevitable lawsuit.
Consider this letter:
“I work in retail sales. My coworkers and I feel harassed every day by the senior salesperson, who is the top salesperson and feels she is untouchable. In fact, she almost is, because our manager won’t correct her even though we have complained about her misbehavior several times. This salesperson threatens and, harasses us, and jeopardizes and poaches our sales, leaving us miserable and stressed. She wants all the sales to herself and will retaliate when she can’t have her way. She has made the workplace hostile. Although we have complained about her in our annual self-assessments/reviews, we haven’t had a response from corporate. Now we all are planning to send a letter straight to corporate HR. Is this the right thing to do, or is there a better option? Of course, we’re a bit nervous that we could jeopardize our employment, because corporate might side with her as the top seller. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.”
What would you advise this person to do?
