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i've made a boo-boo at work.
i work at a site owned by company a
i work for company b, who are contracted by company a
company a provides the catering for the site, also contracted by company a
after many months of woeful dismal food from one employee of company c- who has received many written complaints and verbal warnings- i wrote an email of complaint to their boss. that should have been the end of it but i vented on facebook too. yes, i know. 😳
no company was named nor was any individual although the site was. i basically said the food on one particular night was "the worst i'd ever eaten" and "shit". people have accepted and agree with the content of the email I sent, but taken umbrage to the facebook thing.
should i start polishing up my cv?
The place where I used to work had a social media policy that made it clear that this sort of thing was a disciplinary offence. Do you have anything like that?
You've named the "site"..... but how generic was that description? Ie: was it "Newcastle" or the actual name of a depot or something?
actual name of worksite.
i don't remember any social media policy stuff but i'd be very surprised if there isn't one in place.
i've never had an disciplinary action in my working life, and my recent yearly performance review highlights my excellent knowledge and work ethics.
If it's your first ever brush with disciplinary action I'd be surprised if you'd get the sack. That said, a CV once-over wouldn't do it any harm!
Judging by the lack of capitals and punctuation in your post, you really should polish up your CV 🙂
Well - if you haven't signed anything about social media, they probably can't just sack you, particularly if you haven't mentioned either company by name.
However, you might get a warning I suppose. I would take that on the chin 🙂
I assume you have deleted said post? If you were really worried, you [i]could[/i] de-friend (albeit temporarily) colleagues to demonstrate demarkation between your work and "private" communication. Obviously it's a bit late for that, but it depends how worried you are about this escalating.
If you are to be disciplined they should have got you to sign a AUP (acceptable usage policy) or similar.
Good lesson learnt though ehh?
been having a look at company policies. there are some bits about not using bad language on social media, not being derogatory towards others, and not causing offense to or damaging relationships with a client or customer that i think is closest to what i've done. as i said i've not mentioned any company names, no individuals- although it's clear if you work here who i was talking about. like i mentioned in my first post, the individual in question is well known for their lack of effort and dismal food. it's made worse by the fact that they can actually cook well, and do so for maybe 1 or 2 meals after their latest bollocking but then slip back into the usual rubbish until the next time.
i've never had an disciplinary action in my working life, and my recent yearly performance review highlights my excellent knowledge and work ethics.
This should pull you through this trying time, best of luck.
Packed lunch?
That'll teach you for expressing an honest opinion. Didn't you know you're not allowed them.
Packed lunch?
Seems like a reasonable solution.
I got kind of 'done' recently, it's easier to maintain good relations after the event as I barely use the 'product' in question so have no real interaction with the relevant parties.
Shit food caused you distress that madeyou act irrationally, a number of complaints have not been acted upon. Go in on the offensive.
Facebook is SOCIAL media how would anyone at WORK know what you wriye on there?
Be nothing but apologetic, you weren't thinking clearly, frustrated and it was a stupid thing to do. It's a disciplinary offense but you won't get fired unless you show no remorse and can't guarentee it won't happen again. Top tip don't be friends on social media with people who will grass you up.
From the training I've had, then you appear to be on very dodgy ground. You don't need to name the company, if any association you have will be apparent.
Deleting after the event isn't going to help if they want to make an example of you.
They don't need a specific social media policy, there will no doubt be a clause in your contract about bringing the company into disrepute. Social media policies are becoming more common, but it just backs up what's already there.
Hopefully they will just rap your knuckles, but be prepared. In a union? Call them now. For any disciplinary proceedings, always take someone in with you.
When I was briefed on this sort of thing there were plenty of cases of dismissal used as examples.
Basically it boiled down to 'don't bad mouth your employer on any social media'.
By the way, this is also social media, so you need to think very carefully about what you say on here. Repeating what you said on Facebook on here is pretty much the same as putting it on Facebook in the first place
Good luck!
i haven't bad mouthed my employer, it's an individual from another company who is contracted to the same worksite as me by the worksite owner who are themselves another different company.
as far as being nothing but apologetic how does that tally with my official complaint about the individual? i guess it's a case of sticking by the sentiment, just not the means of delivery?
It won't change you complaint about the other person
There may, however, be a complaint about you now as well
What's done is done. You can't change that now, but I suggest you prepare to get some professional advise if the company want to go formal
Is your forum name also connected with the employer... ?
Facebook is SOCIAL media how would anyone at WORK know what you wriye on there?
I think you've misunderstood what social means in this context 🙂
Personally I think what you've said would be difficult to reasonably construe as bringing your company into disrepute. Youve not publicly attacked the company, employees, management, customers, products or services. I would think dismissal would be extreme and very challangeable.
However if you have someone gunning for you or an HR person trying to make a career statement out of your case reasonableness may go out the window. Hows your relationship with your boss? If it's good get them onside, if they value you this incident shouldn't warrant anything more than a quiet don't be a muppet in future.
It's a new high profile area for a lot of managers and some will over react. That said it's always worth thinking carefully about what you post anywhere in the internet, you can't retract and it can easily be taken out of context.
Not the best news but I have at least 3 friends/acquaintances that have been dismissed for facebook entries
It really is a minefield, I would go with the "didn't know about social media policy" if they pull one on you and say you will be more guarded in future about what you write
Depends on all sorts of factors but I would tend to assume that if they didn't want to sack you before this then they won't want to now.
You say 'people have taken umbrage'. Who are people?
Also you might want to consider a different user name on here? Just a thought.
Also, you can be apologetic about how you expressed your views without necessarily being apologetic for the content. And I'd be taking a packed lunch from now on if I where you. At least you know that it's only your wife and kids who've spat in it. 😀
My general rule of thumb is to assume that all your customers and your boss can see what you write on Facebook (Even though they probably can't). If you don't want them to see it, don't write it in the first place.
Did they give you social media training ? My wife's quasi employers ensure it is laid on thick very early on . I would go with apoligetic laced with sorry you did not train me better. From the perspective of knowing nothing I would say no way will they chose to lose a good employee over this . my quess is they have hauled the cook up over this and he has countered with look what the nasty man said on FB ,they now feel the need to do something to be seen to be fair but won't want to damage their core business over trivia.
Personally, I don't put anything on Facebook about work life*. Just not worth the potential hassle, I know two people who have lost their job due to interwebz postings.
* I did recently about a redundancy situation but no employer mentioned and post was benign.
Personally, I don't put anything on Facebook [strike]about work life[/strike]
Personally, I don't put anything on Facebook
Don't put anything on Facebook you wouldn't say face to face with your employer, mother, father, wife, friends, or in fact - anyone at all.
If you wouldn't say it out loud surrounded by all those people above, don't say it online - because it's the exact same thing! (and arguably more permanent)
^^ This.
I work on the basis never to post anything that you wouldn't say in front of a boss/client/or in punching distance.
We seem as a society to have fallen into a dangerous and slightly odd "need" to rant/vent online. And just as in real life, where throwing toys out the pram publicly would be frowned on, we're rightly seeing people saying enough is enough.
First rule of facebook. Don't have colleagues as friends.
You lose.
I'm sure you'll be fine. It sounds like the worst you've done is air some (slightly) dirty company washing in a semi-public forum. Sounds very much at the "minor" end of the scale. Just apologise and sound contrite. If you boss supports you anyway, and the food is indeed crap, then I'm sure you'll be OK.
How many meals is this 1 person cooking; is it just one chef for an entire site? I'm confused how you know the particular chef that cooked your meal in the canteen of a big site.
please friend me. i'd love you here more about lunches on facebook.
FFS
Top tip don't be friends on social media with people [s]who will grass you up[/s] you work with.
and
If you wouldn't say it out loud surrounded by all those people above, don't say it online
I'd go further than that and say if you wouldn't write it in the papers, don't write it online.
If you are the head chef there you've got a problem.
Check your company's disciplinary procedure. It should lay out the process and most likely it will set out what circumstances that dismissal without any prior warnings is an option. Usually that would be for either criminal acts or gross negligence only.
Given your clean record and that I reckon they'd be hard pressed to claim gross negligence, you're most likely to get a written warning at worst.
If they don't have a written procedure they'll be on very shaky ground.
OP considering you posted on FB you are now linking/commenting on here albeit without the company name discussing the situation on a public forum.
As others have said - don't mix social media and work. ever.
I don't have any work people as FB friends, and keep my posts about work to a minimum (usually just the odd check-in if i'm somewhere interesting, and never anything negative)
We've had social media awareness training at work, and Facebook is not worth loosing my job over.
I have lots of work friends/contacts on Facebook and use it quite extensively for networking etc. As long as you're not posting anything rude/unpleasant/offensive I don't really see the problem.
Do people hate their jobs so much they feel the need to vent on a regular basis, or is it that they regularly post embarrassing 'god i got really wasted and punched a horse at the weekend' updates?
I actually like the people I work with and do consider them friends.
Though I haven't "friended" every person at my place of work because they aren't friends.
larger companies are trawling the social media looking and use may different ways, your name being one and if using a works pc then its possible they know your passwords and all sites you are visiting and any other user names this may never be an issue till someone makes a complaint then 1 press of a button and all your history is clear to see.
i have a works phone/pda and they are very open with if you do not want us to know do not use this phone and it is scary the software avilable for them to use, they can remotely see my key stokes so if i say i did not do that the can play them back. scary on one had but also got me out of a few holes when accused of something i never did
moral of the story is never write anything on the internet you do not want someone to see as once sent it will be seen by everyone
It never fails to amaze me that companies would rather waste time and energy chasing a vociferous employee rather than tackling the issue(s) that are the cause of the dissent!
Suggest they fix the food problem and the employee causing it rather than chasing you.
if using a works pc then its possible they know your passwords and all sites you are visiting and any other user names this may never be an issue till someone makes a complaint then 1 press of a button and all your history is clear to see.
This is partly true. If they take on your username and password and access your personal data (eg facebook) then they'd be open to all sorts of privacy issues. They do however have the right to log your history and then review that if necessary, so long as they've told you they do that in their internet usage policy.
The best thing to do when you have a possible disciplinary about what you've posted on Facebook is to post about it on an even more open website.
hora - MemberOP considering you posted on FB you are now linking/commenting on here albeit without the company name discussing the situation on a public forum.
Yes, exactly what Hora said - discussing that you may be in the cack for posting work related stuff on public websites on another public website isn't really that bright is it 😆
i dont see the point of it other than posting rude/unpleasant/offensive material. its a good way to take the piss with mates you probably dont get to see that much. anyone posting serious stuff or inane nonsense get removed. i use an alias too. all the people that matter to me know who i am, all the nobs from other walks of life dont. if anyone at work asks if im on facebook its a swift 'no'. unless they have become a genuine friend of course.
absolutely no help there, sorry.
As others have said dont say anything on social media or E:mail, or anything written at all that you wouldnt like to see on the notice board.
Dont often agree with Grum but as he says if they didnt want to sack you before they are unlikely to now. If they did then you are a gonner and I cant help but see the irony in you posting here.
Anyway learn the lesson and I hope it works out for you.
Something I was told on the very first day of my first proper job:
"Never write anything down that you wouldn't be happy hearing read out in court"
I fail to see how this is any different from me posting on facebook that the sandwich shop down the road is crap. Appreciate that both companies are contracted by the same company but still? All you have done is posted a review?
Hypothetically speaking, I would suggest you get a union rep on standby. Some unions may hypothetically let you join in a sudden rush of panic and be happy to represent you.
Make sure that your hypothetical union rep is clued up about tbe disciplinary process. If any hypothetical sanctions are fair you can take it on the chin and learn from your hypothetical error. If the hypothetical sanctions are too hard, then the hypothetical union rep will be able to tie tbem up in knots to help you.
You may then want to hypothetically change your username on here so that any hypothetical cock up is harder to trace.
Hypothetically. 😳
Starting a public discussion on here about a potential disciplinary issue with your employer is not going to help you. I would ask the mods to delete this thread immediately.
You could claim your FB page was hacked and you never said that - if it isn't too late. Were you using a work computer or your own ?
This shouldn't be more than a warning - hardly gross misconduct.
I have been on the other side of these things in years past and the sensible people say nothing, and admit nothing that can't be verified.
"Never write anything down that you wouldn't be happy hearing read out in court"
While i agree..... Would it really bother you if "the cook here is crap" was read out in court.....
I agree with above , i also subscribe to - if i wouldnt tell the person face to face then it doesnt go on facebook....
Again id probably tell him his food was crap if it was bad enough i wrote on facebook about it,
I would have thought that unless alluding to a supplier and their subcontractors is specifically covered by the acceptable use / social media policy the grounds for a disciplinary are quite weak.
i haven't bad mouthed my employer, it's an individual from another company who is contracted to the same worksite as me by the worksite owner who are themselves another different company.
I'm failing to see what on earth it's got to do with your employer, then. Have you considered telling them to foxtrot oscar and if they don't want bad press then they should stop making shit food?
What stumpyjon said + your approach should be very apologetic, own up and say you wont do it again. But also in the same investigation (if it gets to that) say that the food really was inedible and you were very frustrated, as are many people, that the company is doing nothing about it. If you are employed by a contractor who owns said site they site owner may ask for you to be replaced by another contractor. Its likely to be disciplinary but dismissal will depend on contract and policies as previously said but unlikely if you are a permanent employee.
FB is a minefield, My Missus has gotten herself in trouble recently with our eldest's school over the most benign of FB posts (actually other people's misinterpretation and stupid responses)...
Most organisations are now very conscious of how their employees conduct themselves on FB or Twitter can be seen as a reflection of the organisation as a whole...
My employers seem to have recently lifted the block on FB, but there's no way I'll be using it from a work computer.
IMO, use FB to keep in touch with people, share the odd photo with friends or family maybe but Do not post opinions or say anything negative about anybody, you simply don't know which "Friend of a Friend" will share what you write with others, or how people may interpret / misunderstand what you write...
Nobody of any importance ever looks at STW so you can write what you like on here and you'll be golden...
I'd expect a moderate bollocking if I were you OP, but dismissal would be unlikely I'd have thought, and would probably not stand up at a tribunal...
Other than 'people' taking umbrage have you had anything official from HR? Or are you fretting on what might be?
You might be doing Porridge, new internet laws and all that rubbish, unless that was your initial complaint the breakfast was lousy.
You need to change your wall paper for starters
"Never write anything down that you wouldn't be happy hearing read out in court"
I just got bollocked for a court attendance note I have done on a moderately serious case. The offending phrase was " after two hours of the by now usual cluster **** the case was adjourned with no clear outcome cps do to "something" by next time." that note could conceivably be read out in open court if by me it will depend on the judge whether I chose to para phrase or read verbatim.
It is really good advise to assume all social media is published to your friends family current and future employers .
I just said on FB that I'm boycotting the cafe at work because the man who made my coffee was rude once too often! I haven't mentioned who I work for or what chain the cafe belongs to.
It's still a real grey area - some places contracts say you can't discuss anything about your work on social media - a blanket ban that's they know is almost impossible for their employees to follow but allows them to discipline you if they don't like what you've said.
If you haven't signed anything like that it's more vague - and a lot of it depends on your settings on FB - if your account is private and your posts cannot be seen by anyone who's not a friend of yours then they can't claim that you've made a statement about them in public - some places - typically the smaller ones can get all uppity when people bemoan their jobs on FB if they're 'friends' with their colleagues - but they can't ban anyone from moaning about work - everyone does it - the exception is if you're in a management role where you're meant to sing from the handbook a bit.
As for the OP - hasn't signed a non-social media contract, never been in trouble before - no way they'll claim gross misconduct for that!
I wonder if he got away with it?
well remembered cheesy..... would be interesting to know. I do a lot of work for a very large law firm and they are very strict on this sort of thing - plenty have lost their jobs as a result.
Shoot the messenger has always been company policy.
Why can't people follow these threads up dammit!
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Social media and work issues\ gripes can be a dodgy mix. Key thing to remember is its not like moaning to your mate(s) down the pub or on a ride. It's anything from putting a poster up to taking an add out in the national papers. It's also all down to privacy settings, and the common sense of your "friends" in thinking before they're electronically blabbing your gripes all over the net.
I had to have a quiet word with one of my workmates after an ill considered rant on social media. Basically if its about work and you wouldn't say it to a member of management, don't put it on the internet. A lot of this comes down to reputational management and the views of the business in protecting their image \ brand
Well, it seems the OP's gone AWOL, so I vote he was banged to rights and now 'sharing the soap' with big Vern in A wing