Having a small and diverse team seems great! You can get to know different cultures, make friends with people with different backgrounds and work closely together with the team. However, like probably almost everywhere, it’s impossible to work closely in peace without any drama or arguments - especially between coworkers. Every one of us has different opinions and experiences.
Speaking about that, one Reddit user shared a story from her team’s recent drama, asking for people’s advice online. So, it turns out that somebody from the very diverse and very small team keeps reporting everything that people say that isn’t politically correct to HR. The whole situation created tension in the office and made people confused.
More info: Reddit
If you are reporting anonymously, it doesn’t mean that nobody will find out about it, especially in a small team
Image credits: Austin Distel (not the actual photo)
Person shares that she works in a very diverse and small team, most of them have a good relationship but there are some who stir up trouble
Image credits: Andrii Barbarytskyi (not the actual photo)
However, they found out that somebody is reporting every thing that was said and wasn’t politically correct to HR
Image credits: Jopwell (not the actual photo)
These reports include things like the OP describing herself as a Jew, or discussion that Asian food sometimes is smelly
Image credits: u/BoronYttrium-
She shared that she probably knows who is making these reports, but it has created a lot of tension in the office and the team is lost as to what to do
Recently a Reddit user shared her story to one of the communities that specializes in work-related topics. She asked folks online for advice as someone in her team just keeps anonymously reporting everything that isn’t politically correct to HR. The post received a lot of attention and in just 2 days it collected almost 9K upvotes and 1K comments.
The author starts her story by sharing that her team is very diverse and very small. To be more specific, every person is either a different race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. And while most of the team have good relationships, there are some folks who tend to bring some trouble. However, the main issue started after someone decided to anonymously report everything that somebody says that isn’t politically correct to HR.
OP also shared some examples of the reports, which include a black girl saying her own hair was nappy during a team meeting, another person referring to herself as super gay in a side conversation, sharing that she is a Jew or even saying that Asian food is smelly sometimes.
The author adds that she may know who is the person behind these reports, but the main issue is that it causes so much tension in the office that the coworkers feel like they can’t talk about anything without offending this one person.
Community members shared suggestions on how to deal with this situation and discussed that probably this anonymous person is just trying to shush minorities. But as it turns out - that person is a Filipina. “I’d make a point of going silent any time they’re around. They walk into a room, silence. They walk by, silence. Nothing said in front of them that it’s directly work related,” one person wrote. “Repeatedly excluding or ignoring someone could be considered bullying, which could be a valid complaint for HR, so be careful with that approach,” another added.
Image credits: Sora Shimazaki (not the actual photo)
Moreover, Bored Panda got in touch with Jim Stroud, who has over a decade of experience in recruitment and sourcing and has consulted for companies such as Microsoft, Google, Siemens, and a host of startup companies. Additionally, Jim produces "The Recruiting Life" newsletter while being a frequent speaker on the future of work.
He kindly agreed to share his insights about how companies can promote an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing themselves, how to foster an inclusive workplace and how companies can establish and communicate policies that promote inclusivity.
So to begin with, in order to promote an environment where employees feel comfortable, Jim shares that it’s important to schedule listening sessions where employees can vent to someone in management about whatever bothers them. However, they will listen and offer no solutions and only after hearing everyone, management will consider policy and dictate that policy to HR to implement.
“If management makes themselves available in this way twice a year (or as needed) employees will feel that they are being heard by someone who can make things happen versus speaking to an HR gatekeeper more interested in maintaining a status quo than resolving conflict,” he notes.
Now, speaking about steps that employees can take to foster a more inclusive workplace culture despite not being in a leadership position, Jim shares that the first option may be to take communication classes in conflict resolution as that will educate you on how to deescalate situations no matter gender, race, or cultural background. Another way may be to learn about various cultures but also treat people as individuals.
And finally, we asked Jim how a company can establish and communicate policies that promote inclusivity and diversity and he emphasized that they can do so by promoting equal opportunity, not equal outcome, and rewarding based on merit.
“When advertising jobs, include diversity-based job boards. Give all of your workers the chance to upskill their knowledge and promote those who score the highest on blind tests. Include everyone in the race to the top and model that behavior at the management level then allow it to filter into all of your business processes,” he shares.
So, guys, what do you think about this story? What solution would you advise the author in this situation? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Redditors discussed the whole situation with the author and shared their suggestions
