Society & Culture Potential HR issue at work

[Black Diamond]

Hi everyone

In our office we seem to have a fairly casual approach to sexual banter. Innuendo, entendre, it's all pretty much on and we have a good laugh. Even management gets in on it. However, we had a new woman join our team recently and I've noticed she seems uncomfortable with some of the talk.

These are the key points:

1. She's in her forties;
2. She's temporary (6 months perhaps) and has struggled to get a job for a while;
3. I don't like her and wouldn't care if she left;
4. My team leader and manager are great people and I'm very loyal to them both. On one hand I don't think they should have to bother with something like this, but on the other I don't want them to be blindsided if there are bigger consequences down the track;
5. Other than matters solely about safety and my pay, I despise HR;
6. I don't really want any of the conversation toned down.

Do I raise it with anybody?
Do I let her handle it?

What do you reckon?

 

[treefingers]

Is this you?

 

[Caesar]

I'd probably just give my team leader a heads up. That way he has the option to head it off, or at least won't be blindsided if it does eventuate into something down the track.

Other than that, seems a pretty clear case of 'not my problem'.

HR. Hardly Relevant.

 

[Chism]

I'd probably just give my team leader a heads up. That way he has the option to head it off, or at least won't be blindsided if it does eventuate into something down the track.

Other than that, seems a pretty clear case of 'not my problem'.

HR. Hardly Relevant.

Agree, give a heads up to the right people that have to deal with it in your department and then it becomes a YP ( Your problem ) not an MP ( My problem).

 

[Tiff]

We had a female sparky start who wreaked havoc. We weren't allowed to swear and had to remove all pictures of women around the workshop.

She had an agenda and it was a nightmare. She was dobbing in some of our most respected workers for the odd swear word slip up, and accused me and another guy of watching "hardcore pr0n" on our phones even though he was just showing me something on YouTube. It was chaos.

 

[Messenger]

I'd probably just give my team leader a heads up. That way he has the option to head it off, or at least won't be blindsided if it does eventuate into something down the track.

Other than that, seems a pretty clear case of 'not my problem'.

Good advice; it might be the internal culture to talk like that but if a complaint occurs, no one that matters will give a shit if she takes it over the head of your team leader. Risk management and arse covering.

HR. Hardly Relevant.

It's not considered relevant right up to point you wish your organisation took it seriously. Unfortunately a lot of HR departments have been reduced to glorified payroll offices.

 

[Stratton_Gun]

We had a female sparky start who wreaked havoc. We weren't allowed to swear and had to remove all pictures of women around the workshop.

She had an agenda and it was a nightmare. She was dobbing in some of our most respected workers for the odd swear word slip up, and accused me and another guy of watching "hardcore pr0n" on our phones even though he was just showing me something on YouTube. It was chaos.

My lecturer at uni was actually talking about something exactly like this. she was a professional and was called in to "mediate". being a woman i wasnt suprised which side she took. bitches be crazy

 

[Tiff]

My lecturer at uni was actually talking about something exactly like this. she was a professional and was called in to "mediate". being a woman i wasnt suprised which side she took. bitches be crazy

Yeah it's bullshit. I'm all for equal opportunity in my workplace. We have people of all walks of life in my workshop and some of the girls are up there with the best we have.

They need to understand though, that these trades have been a mans world for a hundered and fifty years or more, and should be respected.

Surely the times will change slowly, but walking in and trying to change the whole workplace in an instant, knowing you'll get away with it because you have a vagina, and that harassment laws exist, is a more disgraceful human act, than any of the light hearted workshop banter that goes on or a bloke having a picture of a nice looking female in a bikini.

Luckily our HR girls are pretty understanding and realized she was more trouble than what she's worth. But there's a lot of them out there and company's and their employers can get into deep deep trouble, over minuscule things.

 

[Smoooothy]

hr are only really relevant in massive organisations - and only just

where i work, we have an entire dept dedicated to OH&S. the most anal retentive people i've ever met. these guys get hot and heavy about oc health like i do watching dangerfield break 4 tackles and kick one from 60 out

 

[Hairy Lager]

Hi everyone

In our office we seem to have a fairly casual approach to sexual banter. Innuendo, entendre, it's all pretty much on and we have a good laugh. Even management gets in on it. However, we had a new woman join our team recently and I've noticed she seems uncomfortable with some of the talk.

These are the key points:

1. She's in her forties;
2. She's temporary (6 months perhaps) and has struggled to get a job for a while;
3. I don't like her and wouldn't care if she left;
4. My team leader and manager are great people and I'm very loyal to them both. On one hand I don't think they should have to bother with something like this, but on the other I don't want them to be blindsided if there are bigger consequences down the track;
5. Other than matters solely about safety and my pay, I despise HR;
6. I don't really want any of the conversation toned down.

Do I raise it with anybody?
Do I let her handle it?

What do you reckon?

You sound like the one with the problem, tread carefully with these matters. The new work place is a minefield.

 

[Tiff]

hr are only really relevant in massive organisations - and only just

where i work, we have an entire dept dedicated to OH&S. the most anal retentive people i've ever meant. these guys get hot and heavy about oc health like i do watching dangerfield break 4 tackles and kick one from 60 out

Yeah man, the head of our OH&S is almost evil. She's almost as powerful as the top dog for gods sake. She literally has the power to shut down operation at the click of a finger.

When I cut my hand and had to have an operation, doing the paperwork with her, discussing "how can WE prevent this from happening again Tiff?", whilst I'm in agony and doped up on painkillers was a nightmare.

If the GM walks through everyone goes on, business as usual, give him smile and a wave, if OH&S walks through everyone hides.

 

[nicky]

Hi everyone

In our office we seem to have a fairly casual approach to sexual banter. Innuendo, entendre, it's all pretty much on and we have a good laugh. Even management gets in on it. However, we had a new woman join our team recently and I've noticed she seems uncomfortable with some of the talk.

These are the key points:

1. She's in her forties;
2. She's temporary (6 months perhaps) and has struggled to get a job for a while;
3. I don't like her and wouldn't care if she left;
4. My team leader and manager are great people and I'm very loyal to them both. On one hand I don't think they should have to bother with something like this, but on the other I don't want them to be blindsided if there are bigger consequences down the track;
5. Other than matters solely about safety and my pay, I despise HR;
6. I don't really want any of the conversation toned down.

Do I raise it with anybody?
Do I let her handle it?

What do you reckon?

Yeah, I don't know how i feel about jokes at work. Don't get me wrong, I'm not uptight but i think that sometimes certain characters think a joke is funny when it isn't.

When i first joined my current company, a communication went out which introduced me using an incorrect name. Funny, innocent mistake and not a big deal.

6 months later and my boss was still calling me by that incorrect name. He wasn't being malicious, he was doing it to bond with me and thought I was laughing along with him.
I felt annoyed after the first month and by the sixth month it felt down right demeaning. I didn't do anything but this is a great example of how incredibly polarised jokes can be at work. I think 'teasing' someone at work, even when being obviously playful, is dangerous.

Most women will feel uncomfortable around men making sexist jokes in a work environment.

 

[WinmarToLockett]

your boss sounds like an arseh*le nicky.

on topic-

if your manager/tl/supervisor/whatevers are great", tell them to chat to your co workers and tell them to be on guard when the new girl is around. better than have her turn into a psychopath and cause a monumental headache for themselves.

they'll thank you for it.

 

[nicky]

your boss sounds like an arseh*le nicky.

He's errr difficult but he tries really hard so i just feel sorry for him.

 

[JuddsABlue]

I worked with a bloke called mark and one of our coworkers called him tim for 2 years

OPs office sounds awesome by the way, are you gonna try to tell us the christmas party isnt wild as ****?

 

[The Passenger]

how's it work these days?? if you own a small business, say 8-10 employees everyone gets along and has a laugh and it can get crude at time... someone comes in and tries to cut it all out, are you entitled to just get rid of them cause they don't fit in?? if it's you're business and you're the owner surely you have the final say in who and who doesn't work for you??

 

[fairdinkum]

I hope I have quit the piss by the time I begin my career in the corporate world.

Otherwise I won't make it past the first Christmas party.

Christ, I'd be lucky to make it to Christmas. Even if my first day was in November.

 

[Caesar]

At one firm I worked at we had a trainee hired two weeks before our Christmas party who got trashed during the pre-drinks, sent an email to everybody in the firm from someone's computer saying how much the guy loved the ****, then got thrown out of the venue for taking off his shirt and trying to do a striptease in front of the senior female partner.

Needless to say, I don't think he pursued a career in the industry.

 

[Thistle]

Strong avatar to thread content OP

 

[Smoooothy]

i once had a director who thought my name was john after working with him for 5 years (had contact with him atleast once a week too)

my names no where near john

 

[nicky]

At one firm I worked at we had a trainee hired two weeks before our Christmas party who got trashed during the pre-drinks, sent an email to everybody in the firm from someone's computer saying how much the guy loved the ****, then got thrown out of the venue for taking off his shirt and trying to do a striptease in front of the senior female partner.

Needless to say, I don't think he pursued a career in the industry.

Something similar happened to a friend's colleague, they're in advertising. The thing was when he wasn't on alcohol he was incredibly shy and unassuming. He was mortified by his behavior.

 

[The Passenger]

if you did something stupid on the piss early into your tenure at a workplace you could always just pull on the distressed face and see you only ever drink once a year or something and see how it goes... and then when you get on the piss every friday with them you could try and get a payout for turning you into an alcoholic, given they were of the assumption you didn't drink.... i can see certain people pulling this scam off

 

[Roobs321]

I think it comes down to professionalism. It's fair enough to expect some degree of professionalism from yourself when you go to work.

Light-hearted banter isnt too bad, but if it is unprofessional and obviously disturbing to fellow coworkers (even if they are new), tone it down a bit. ie. pictures of women in bikinis at work isnt professional.

When someone says someone else has an agenda and is trying to change everything to suit them, I think that is only actually true about 50% of the time. One person's 'agenda' is another person's equal rights in a lot of cases.

 

[SugarShane]

We had a female sparky start who wreaked havoc. We weren't allowed to swear and had to remove all pictures of women around the workshop.

She had an agenda and it was a nightmare. She was dobbing in some of our most respected workers for the odd swear word slip up, and accused me and another guy of watching "hardcore pr0n" on our phones even though he was just showing me something on YouTube. It was chaos.

Sounds like the type who is hopped up on the girl power agenda. Probably only became a sparky "to show the boys!"

 

[Smoooothy]

that raises another bugbear of mine

pictures of semi naked men in an office full of women are fine, but the minute i change my desktop picture to a good looking girl in a bikini, the same fat bitches rage..