Page 224 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

Groups of employees will often choose to send many anonymous complaints to an inves-
tigative or shareholder body all at once. With each person writing an anonymous complaint
from his or her perspective, the hope of the group is that the recipient of these letters will under-
stand that the problem is very serious and affects many employees. The recipient will also
understand that the letters have been sent anonymously because there is fear about communi-
cating these things directly in the workplace. Any agency or entity that welcomes anonymous
complaints does so for a reason and knows why offering this option to employees is necessary.
Care must be taken when anonymous letters are sent to an individual or a group that does
not solicit such letters, such as a board of directors, board of trustees, or other shareholder or
stakeholder group. There may not be an understanding among those group members as to
why anonymous letters are being sent at all or why these issues are not just being handled
within the workplace. There may not be an effective response from such a group, as it is gen-
erally not their role to handle such matters and they don’t have a mechanism or process set
up to respond to getting anonymous letters. Therefore, again, this approach has some risks
and should only be used in the direst of circumstances when there are no other options.
Sending formal complaints to external agencies from individuals and groups may also
help, depending on what the issues are. The HR Tool entitled “Sample Letter (Nonanonymous
Version): Formal External Complaints,” on pages 219–220 can be sent with or without names
on it. However, if you do not put your name on it, it becomes difficult to include the first
important paragraph in which whistleblower protection and protection from retaliation is
requested.

ADDRESSING PERSONAL HABITS

Hygiene and grooming do matter. Sometimes there are people at work with whom you wish
you could talk directly about certain personal hygiene and grooming habits, but you don’t
dare do so. Sometimes, as an HR professional, you are called upon to do this often unpleas-
ant and uncomfortable task. Always consider the possibility of health and/or disability
issues before addressing a seeming appearance or hygiene (or performance) issue with an
employee. To be prudent, check with the Job Accommodation Network (http://www.jan.
wvu.edu/) first or call them to speak to a specialist.
There are various things that most people have to deal with in relation to their bodies
that are best done in the privacy of a restroom or at home. Be sure you’re doing them pri-
vately and/or at home.
An example is a lady who would sometimes floss her teeth in her office while sitting at
her desk, even though her position required that her door be open, as many employees had
to come see her for various reasons throughout the day. She would sometimes stop flossing
as soon as someone walked in, but she would sometimes continue flossing.
A second example is a man who picked his nose in the privacy of his own office, but,
again, there were many reasons for employees to come in and visit him. He had been caught
with his finger up his nose more than once, and there were now rumors spreading about his
personal habits, which made people wary of shaking his hand or borrowing pens and other
items from him.

CHAPTER 13 • Conflict Resolution 207