If he doesn't report to you and isn't a close friend, stay out of it.
Work Ethics Question
- Thread starter throwittoblythe
- Start date
-
We Will Collective May Donor Drive - Last Day, Help Needed!
We're in the final hours of a critical push to signup donors for the May Donor Drive. Let your Cyclone friends know!
Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
If you're not in his reporting line, I suggest you stay away from this.
1. You're bound by the management/executive privilege - I don't think his manager would expect you to share the conversation with him in any shape or form.
2. I would struggle to think that this guy doesn't realize that his performance is not up to par. If he doesn't realize that, then it's too bad.
3. Anything you say can be construed as "pushing him out of the company" unofficially and could be viewed as illegal. You don't want to be accused as "forcing" someone out because his manager can deny this and you'll be in awkward position
1. You're bound by the management/executive privilege - I don't think his manager would expect you to share the conversation with him in any shape or form.
2. I would struggle to think that this guy doesn't realize that his performance is not up to par. If he doesn't realize that, then it's too bad.
3. Anything you say can be construed as "pushing him out of the company" unofficially and could be viewed as illegal. You don't want to be accused as "forcing" someone out because his manager can deny this and you'll be in awkward position
Or why did everyone in the office know I was going to be fired before I even knew I was struggling.
In re the bolded item -- if the supervisor "mentioned" something to me, I would not consider that confidential. If it was said during a specific employer-employee meeting for business purposes, that could be confidential. I understand not wanting to get crosswise with the boss, but a good boss would not talk about employee A to employee B if employee B is not part of the supervisory chain of employee A. At the very least, if I was employee B I would have asked said boss if he had talked with employee A.
If there is any way you can help him improve his job performance, like suggestions on how to do things, do that.
I guess I would feel kind of crappy working at a place that doesn’t inform struggling employees about their deficiencies and ways to improve before canning them. That’s on the management, not you.
I guess I would feel kind of crappy working at a place that doesn’t inform struggling employees about their deficiencies and ways to improve before canning them. That’s on the management, not you.
I only worked directly with 1 person in 7 years who got put on 1. He did my boss a favor and found a new job about a month before he was going to get the axe. The only other people I know let go were via layoffs and were mostly old guard types who were probably paid double what alot of younger engineers with the same role make just due to tenure but with meh performance.
The only way I would get involved is if it started affecting your work. If his performance was affecting yours or your team, I would be willing to go to your supervisor first and see if there are some potential coaching options (If you know he is struggling at something particular, maybe ask him to reach out to someone for guidance/help).
Otherwise, I would stay out of it. It is his manager's responsibility to deal with this.
Otherwise, I would stay out of it. It is his manager's responsibility to deal with this.
The place I was at basically used PIPs as a way to let you know far in advance you were about to get fired. In a group of about 50 people, I bet 4-6 people were on PIPs in my time there. None of them stayed. Most ended up leaving, but some did get let go.
They used it as a liability shield. We had one guy on my team that needed to be let go for ethics violations, but HR wouldn't approve it. "Just put him on a PIP for 3 weeks then fire him" was their response.
Yeah, PIP's are basically just CYA's for he company to use if you try and sue them. "We let the employee know their performance sucked, and we gave them a chance and they didn't improve enough," is basically what they are saying and putting the blame on the employee. Once your on a PIP, its just part of the process of firing you.
I think that's essentially the case here too. I've heard of other people from friends in different orgs and don't think I've ever actually heard of anyone specific staying. Essentially just how my boss explained it to me a few years ago when I got promoted to a manager.
I'd tell him.
I've worked at a couple places where I witnessed the management setup an employee like this to fail so they could justify firing them. In one case Management assigned a unique project to the poor performing employee, wouldn't let anyone else in the department answer any questions he had, because they knew he would fail. It was a ******** thing to do (I hate passive aggressiveness with a passion). So I flat out told the guy what was happening. He ended up getting let go. I gave him good references and he quickly got a new job.
Last edited:
Go to work early with a couple of boxes and a sign that says, “Good Luck in your future endeavors!” and put in his office/cubicle. If he doesn’t get the message, then he deserves to get fired.
Don't say anything to him. It is not your job, that is the job of his manager.
I was indirectly involved in a very similar situation. Due to an economic downturn, my company had to reduce 4 positions from a department. A co-manager became aware that one of his former employees was going to get fired. He wanted to be a nice guy and let his former employee know what was coming. Her position was eliminated and then he got fired for letting her know.
I think if you let your coworker know, you are putting your own position at risk. Shame on your manager for confiding in you and putting you in a tough position!
I was indirectly involved in a very similar situation. Due to an economic downturn, my company had to reduce 4 positions from a department. A co-manager became aware that one of his former employees was going to get fired. He wanted to be a nice guy and let his former employee know what was coming. Her position was eliminated and then he got fired for letting her know.
I think if you let your coworker know, you are putting your own position at risk. Shame on your manager for confiding in you and putting you in a tough position!
Gunner is the employee about to get shitcanned.
So this guy could be let go any day now and nobody in management has given him a performance review? Or the chance to improve or let him know what's expected of him to improve?
Sounds like a poorly ran company to me. I would loom elsewhere yourself.
Sounds like a poorly ran company to me. I would loom elsewhere yourself.
The, uhh, ethics of, uhh...business can be summarized in...yeah, uh, see ethics are uh...you know the thing about ethics ...AHHHHH!!!!
He did not. I'm also savvy enough not to just outright share this with my coworker.
If I did anything, it might be to nudge him toward looking for other jobs. Something benign like "man, it's a really hot market out there. I hear people are getting really good pay increases when they switch jobs."
I'm not going to outright tell the guy "yeah, I heard from so-and-so that they're gonna can you."
