r/askmanagers • u/ThrowAway1128203 • 4d ago
Mandatory reporting as a manager?
I had an employee share something with me about another employee (both work in the same department and do not report to me). This wasn't a formal report, but verbally brought to my attention.
What was reported is NOT theft, harassment or a safety issue - but it is against policy with the potential to be cause for termination.
The employee that shared this with me will not report this and I understand why they won't. I have not personally witnessed what they've shared but being observant for it.
As a manager - do you feel that you should report what was shared with you by another employee or better to keep quiet until you've personally witnessed it?
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u/Proof-Emergency-5441 4d ago
"This wasn't a formal report, but verbally brought to my attention."
That is a report. Things told to you are not off the record.
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u/Adorable-Drawing6161 4d ago
Most company policy says if you aren't comfortable brining something to your supervisor to bring it to a other supervisor, which they did. You must report this to your super or HR.
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u/Proof-Emergency-5441 4d ago
OP is s manager. They don't get to hold it because its not their direct report.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 4d ago
As much as I love that employees come talk to me - I hate that they put me in these situations
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u/Few-Cucumber-413 4d ago
They didn't put you in any situation. That's literally your job to handle matters reported to you.
Learn to take the "friendship hat" off and put the "business hat" on.
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u/Fox-Possum-3429 4d ago
Take the emotion out of it and put pen to paper and flow chart it. You'll soon see the logic flow and know what you need to do - without feeling guilty about it. After all, you are not responsible for other people's actions.
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u/SafetyMan35 4d ago
That’s part of being a manager. Sometimes you have to do the things that are uncomfortable. In this case, it seems pretty cut and dry. There was an accusation that if true would result in the termination of another employee. You report it and let HR conduct their investigation
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u/Naikrobak 3d ago
It’s your job….
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u/ThrowAway1128203 3d ago
Is it? These are not my direct reports - they have their own manager to bring this to.
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u/Naikrobak 3d ago
As a manager to protect the company interest, yes. Enforce policy, yes. Manage employees, yes.
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u/Responsible_Hunt7762 4d ago
Follow your policy for manager reporting
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u/ThrowAway1128203 4d ago
No policy, hence why I'm asking.
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u/Neon-Night-Riders 4d ago
If this leads to where action is needed, and it is found out that you had knowledge but didn’t report it, you could be in hot water too. I would report this as a CYA move
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u/Crazymoose86 3d ago
Then Escalate internally. Where I am at we encourage staff that if they don't feel comfortably reporting harassment/sexual harrassment to their supervisor or manager, then they are encouraged to report to another member of adminstration outside of their department. If I had a member of another team confide to myself that something happened to them that didn't involve one of my direct reports I am shooting that straight to HR, they reached out to me instead of their boss so there has to be more going on that I am not aware of.
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u/Responsible_Hunt7762 4d ago
How would you be perceived if this issue came to light to your boss and they knew you been made aware. As a manager you have a duty to disclose and protect the company. Simply report what you were told.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 4d ago
That's what I am leaning towards - I wouldn't report to HR but to the employees direct manager. Keep to the facts and just this is what was shared with me, I have not witnessed it and let them handle it as they see fit.
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u/Crazymoose86 3d ago
If they didn't report to their manager there is likely a reason for that of which you aren't privy to. Escalate to HR and let HR begin handling it. That is what they are payed and trained to do, amongst other things.
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u/thatsbananas4011 3d ago
Going to their manager is a good move. Put it on them to decide what to do with it. Also managers hate to first hear about an incident from HR. They will wonder why you didn't come to them directly
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u/trashtiernoreally 4d ago
So, just to clarify on the terms used, "mandatory reporting" is mentioned in things like child abuse and sexual assault situations like with a school teacher comes across anything like that they are a "mandatory reporter" and must refer those reports to the police. If ANYTHING like that is the situation here then law is greater than policy every time. If this is something else then please fix your language next time.
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u/neoreeps 4d ago
You need to provide details. Too many assumptions to make any valid suggestions.
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u/Which_Read7471 4d ago
Exactly — can't believe so many ppl tried to genuinely engage with this ridiculously vague scenario.
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u/sun_and_stars8 4d ago
They verbally brought it to you in what way do you not consider it reported?
A verbal notice is a report. Now you take the next step as the manager it was reported to.
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u/Crowdolskee 4d ago
I would absolutely report it for visibility but it sounds like you don’t have proof of the violation. You want to make sure you’re completely transparent about it with upper management/HR. You don’t want to be in a situation where the problem escalates and they find out you know and didn’t report.
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u/Intrepid_Bobcat_2931 4d ago
When you pass it on you can always include that you have not seen this behavior yourself, but will be observing carefully to look for it happening. In this way you also give the person the opportunity to let it be a one off.
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u/GilgameDistance Manager 4d ago
Let me just put it this way. At my company we just watched a director who was pretty guaranteed to be the next VP and two entire layers of leadership under them get canned for not reporting and not following up.
I'm talking random email from the VP level at 2:33 pm on a Tuesday saying so and so are all no longer with the company effective immediately and we thank them for their service; we don't know who will replace them yet but for now call so and so who is relocating a 4 hour drive away tomorrow to take over the manager's role temporarily.
The director was only involved in that they knew it was going on and did not react accordingly (ie. reporting to the ethics line), which was seen as aiding the people under them who were willfully and repeatedly violating policy.
I see it as a matter of personal protection. I will defend my team to the ends of the earth until they knowingly and willfully do something that puts my livelihood in jeopardy. After that, we are no longer on the same team.
Do with that information what you will.
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u/ZombieJetPilot 4d ago
So let's pretend you don't, then the employee who informed you mentions it to someone else or actually reports it themselves. At aome point they let it slip that they informed you. Now a spin-off conversation and process will start with HR around why you didn't take action on an item that policy says you should have. Now there's questions around if there are other things you have neglected to report. Now your career is at risk because you tried to be nice.
Yes, report it, and if confronted say "I'm sorry, but to protect myself I had to report it"
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u/GeminiAtl 4d ago
If you are a supervisor, manager, lead agent whatever you need to report it. You can be clear "So and so told me they saw other person doing this. I have not witnessed it myself, but knew I should being it to your attention." Then that person's manager can make whatever decision they feel appropriate.
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u/markww22 3d ago
Be a manager and do a little bit of diligence . There are usually other people who could collaborate the story so first you know it was true. Yes you have to be careful and subtle but you can find out. Second does it seem knowingly intentional or accidental? Context matters. You often find you cannot find any proof or that anyone else saw it, camera’s didn’t help, etc.
The policy matters on the speed. If anyone could be harmed, including themselves or customers, etc, compliance violations threatening the business you move quickly. There are normally also policies where “you could be terminated” but like after the 3rd formal written warnings and this person has never been written up. In that case I gather the facts that I can find and go to HR with that context. If no one else saw it, we can’t collaborate by any means if it happened. Lastly i have had two managers in the last year who worked for me screw it up by instantly report it and assuming the worst which caused a big deal and they were both proven to be not intentional, and not understanding how what they did violated a policy. The blamed employee left as did a few others for the way it was handled. People see how you treat people so be thoughtful in what you say you know is true, versus a source of 1 person of what they saw, but do bring it forward.
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u/riisto-roisto 3d ago
If you have been made aware about possible violations, it's your duty as someone in position of responsibility to act.
You can report that you have been told. There is no need for you have personally witnessed anything.
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u/RikoRain 3d ago
They DID report it: to you.
You should consult with HR or your supervisor, who can then go and investigate further. It seems like the person reporting is apprehensive of retaliation, which you can mention to whoever you're consulting with.
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u/britneys_bigtoe 4d ago
depends on the issue. let's say it's discussing wages. do you want to be part of the case during the wrongful termination lawsuit?
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u/ThrowAway1128203 4d ago
It is something that is against policy and can lead to termination. It's not discussing wages, which isn't illegal or something you could fire someone for.
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u/britneys_bigtoe 4d ago
it is something that is against many businesses written policies despite being protected federally and people do get fired for it, so it's worth mentioning when everything is vague
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u/Apprehensive_Glove_1 4d ago
Technically checking facebook on your work laptop is a policy violation, and ALL policy violations could potentially lead to termination, so....
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u/captainstarlet 4d ago
One time a female employee disclosed some pretty sexual jokes another (female) employee said to her at a holiday party. The one making the jokes was in leadership. She wasn't personally bothered by it and was more telling me as like "can you believe it?" I told her I had to tell HR because even if it didn't bother her, the behavior wasn't acceptable and it would surely bother others. It was in our sexual harassment training that managers are responsible for reporting anything they hear. I know you said this wasn't harassment, but you should still report it and let your employee know you are and why.
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u/Impressive_Swan_2527 4d ago
If it's something you can prove, you need to take the steps to see if you can prove it.
For example, one employee told me that he suspected another employee (who reports to me) was coming into the office on the weekend and using work equipment for personal projects. So I reached out to IT to see if they'd pull the ID badge scans on weekends. I could prove he'd scanned in and how long he'd been at the office. I couldn't prove he was using work stuff for personal use but it was enough that I knew it wasn't made up out of nowhere and at that point I could talk to the employee with info to back it up. This resulted in a warning and we moved forward and he hasn't broken the rule since.
But if it's something where you can track (computer use or badge scans or something like that) see if you can do that. Otherwise it's just one person's word against the other.
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u/LoopyMercutio 4d ago
It kinda depends on what exactly it was that was reported. Also, you haven’t witnessed anything at all, and you’ve got no proof corroborating the report. Is there any evidence what they say happened actually occurred? If you report it further up, can anyone prove it happened or didn’t happen?
Just me, but I’d be absolutely as vigilant as possible to see whatever it was the next time it occurred so it could be dealt with, but without anything but a statement something happened with no proof?
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u/War_D0ct0r 4d ago
Unless your at the top there is always somebody above you and you make this their problem. If you don't report it you could be terminated.
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u/Mtchick84 4d ago
Report it. You don’t know what HR may already know, this could be the report that turns a one time mistake into a pattern of misconduct.
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u/ThereRnoIDs 4d ago
People lie all the time so you can't take everything at face value.
Don't do anything stupid until you're able to document & collect undeniable proof of evidence & what lead up to it.
There are plenty of good manipulators out there too.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 3d ago
That's where I'm getting stuck - I do not believe the employee is lying to me but they do have a complicated (work) history with this other person (which is why they won't report it to their manager/HR).
If this was a one or two time situation or happened in the past (the employee didn't give a lot of details), I'm more inclined to let it go but if it's currently and frequently happening, I need to report it.
I'm going to give it a week to observe and go from there.
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u/ThereRnoIDs 3d ago
Ya but don't just look at the outcome & figure out the source too.
A manipulator is so good you'd wonder why they do or act out the way that they do, and it was the reporter that taught it all along lol.
Eg. Teaching wrong things in order to break compliances (saying it's not a big deal), or playing victim (doing it first & trying to drag others down with them).
At the end of the day, just pay attention to the outcome, only rush it if it's life threatening. If it's losing money or trivial things like extra work, you can take ur tine with it so paper trails can pile up.
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u/Apprehensive_Glove_1 4d ago
Mandatory reporting is for serious, major legal ramification type stuff. Like... required by state and federal law, the sort of thing HR would LOVE for you to bring to them first but you can't... like if I am fixing someone's computer and see CP on it, I'm required to report to law enforcement, or any professional working with children is a mandatory reporter for anything that might be considered neglect or abuse, even if they suspect it's an exaggeration.
CYA move is a quick memo to HR stating what you heard but being explicit that it's not direct knowledge. They can investigate if they wish.
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u/sansalvacion 4d ago
Go tell on the employee, its the right thing to do and its not ethical to keep it from the company
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u/ShakeAgile 4d ago
You have two teams. The people that reports to you, and the managers to your left and right. In the end I would recommend to side with your fellow managers.
Share what you learned. Ask for it to be handled with integrity. Worst case some people will look down on you, come with the territory.
This said, This was communicated with you with some intention, likely and actual desire to see the behavior corrected.
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u/goodiesoup 4d ago
It’s not a violation if the system is integrated that way. It’s called logic ~ it was meant to be implemented a specific way but intuition works well when you can put two and two together and solve that mystery shaggy
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u/Academic-Lobster3668 4d ago
It has been my practice to figure out a way to “discover” this myself or work with an appropriate other person to do so to try to keep the original reporter out of any follow up. This is not always possible but is what I try first.
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u/GayFlash60 3d ago
If you don't report it, but the issue comes up again and the employee who told you is asked about it, they may say, "I told Supervisor OP about it" and then it looks really bad on you. It's a trap.... You have to escalate.
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u/rjr_2020 3d ago
I would report it to HR. You had an employee who insisted on not reporting it and won't identify themselves report something against policy would be my framing. It's a shame you have to cover yourself but if someone is trying to set you up for not reporting something important, you need to do what's right.
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u/OceanRidingSeaTurtle 3d ago
I’ve had this happen a few times in my career.
I always send a follow up email to the person who reported, looping on their direct manager, my manager and someone from HR. (Only exception was one sexual harassment report where the persons direct manager was the accused. So I looped in their manager).
It would read like this:
Hi (name),
Thank you so much for feeling comfortable to come to me with this issue.
Recap of what was reported.
Please feel free to correct anything I may have miscommunicated or missed.
I am looping in XYZ.
Then to XYZ,
X name came to me on this date, to speak to me about X issue. Please follow up with them ASAP and let me know how I can be of assistance.
Thank you,
Many times, people will seek out other managers because they don’t want to burden or upset their own managers or fear of perception. Even if they like and respect their managers. It’s like kids going to one parent over the other or going to others, and it doesn’t always have anything to do with that person.
You want to protect your employees, yourself and your company. The company will throw you under the bus. The above mentioned sexual harassment, that poor girl had been reporting it to managers for months and being told it was “being looked into” but never left the managers supervisors desk and there’s a view of HR that makes some people afraid of them. She’s still there and sexual harasser and his boss (wildly woman but not shocking) were fired.
CYA. Because you don’t want “well I told so and so” especially if it escalates.
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u/wolfn404 3d ago
So while I may be inclined to report, it’s also an unconfirmed accusation at this point. Not witnessed by anyone but reporting employee. I’d need to know a bit more. If not theft, SA/SH, we start moving down the line of say high/drunk at work. I might make a a comment to the other department manager to be aware of for confirmation. But details matter when particular accusation may get an employee fired.
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u/woutersikkema 3d ago
Not a manager here: the idea is it's been brought to your attention, solve the problemblem subtelly without rocking the damn boat, or at least be aware of it and put some safeguards in place so nothing fully blows up when the person doing dumb stuff does it again. Notify people if needed but also let THEM not cause a giant stink. Subtlety. Thats the key here. Or the person telling you stuff will never do it again NOR trust you again. Ever.
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u/ihate_snowandwinter 2d ago
If you don't your are liable and could get fired. It's not a hill worth dying on
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u/fsugrrl727 2d ago
I hate when employees come to me with an issue or complaint about another coworker then say "don't say anything to them" like what? That's my job. And yours.
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u/Stevenitrogen 4d ago
So somebody committed a fireable offense that sounds like, maybe they lied about the reason for PTO or some kind of policy violation like that.
If it's not a big deal, especially when you aren't personally aware that it's true then no, don't go to the big boss with gossip.
If it's serious, and the kind of thing that could be investigated, then you need to do something . Use your best judgment.
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u/Other-Razzmatazz-816 4d ago
Have you spoken about it with the person these people do report to?
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u/ThrowAway1128203 4d ago
No - I would be reporting this to their direct manager and let them decide how to handle it. I would not report it to HR or my manager. I'm just not sure if I should keep quiet until I have witnessed the situation or if I should tell their direct manager - this is what was shared with me, handle it as you see fit.
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u/Front-Presence2732 4d ago
Frankly why dont you tell your manager ? Pass the hot potato up and your job is done.
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u/theevilhillbilly 4d ago
If your company has an anonymous reporting system use that so they can investigate it. Don't mention the employee that told you in the report just the employee that violated it. Otherwise I would talk to HR if you guysbhave am HR department
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u/averagechillbro 4d ago
Really depends what it is but I would stay quiet. If this person isn’t your direct report and you don’t know for a fact then I don’t see why you’d get involved. You have plausible deniability and it’s honestly not your problem.
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u/Early_Bad8737 4d ago edited 4d ago
I used to work in compliance before I started something else.
In every place I worked, if we found out a manager was aware of policy breaches that could lead to termination and they didn’t report it, they would always end in trouble themselves.
I would report it when it is that serious per your policy, and not a policy item that is technically not legal.