Talking to HR on tues--how to prepare?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure about your future at this company now. You're going to be branded as a problem child. They may not fire you, but what you did is going to hold you back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I work at a consulting company that has a very hostile environment. Sexiest, homophobic, raceist. When they sent out a global employee survey I unloaded and put my name on it. They now want to sit down w me on Tuesday. I am talking to an employment lawyer tomorrow and I have gotten my finances in order to quit quickly. Should I tell them I have consulted a lawyer? I am very nervous. Any advice on what to say/ not say? Should I lay it out? Not in the business of getting litigious but I am pissed as hell.


What are you mad about? That they contacted you or the environment? Isn't them contacting you what you wanted since you gave them your name and detailed a list of complaints?

To answer your attorney question, sure, tell them. If they are as big as you say they are they won't bat an eye. Hopefully they conduct an thorough investigation and address the issues you raised. But it seems like instead of worrying about lawyering up, you should think about what your point is in raising these issues. Your later posts speak to liking the company in general. If you want them to address the issues and you want to be reassigned, tell them that.

That's not how HR works. They are there to protect the company. They will have two to three HR people and maybe a lawyer in the meeting(vs you by yourself). The meet is most likely to see their exposure and how to reduce it. Learn from this and never sign something like that ever...don't even fill it out. It's not done for the employees. What did your lawyer say? He should give you some phases that will scare the crap out of them.

FYI - discuss this situation with your lawyer and what you should say and do. My instinct would to very politely decline the meeting after walking in the room by pointing out that you didn't realize you need to bring representation with you.

[Anonymous]

career suicide

[Anonymous]

Before you posted, did you have solid examples of items that you were referring to or were you just generalizing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's not how HR works. They are there to protect the company. They will have two to three HR people and maybe a lawyer in the meeting(vs you by yourself). The meet is most likely to see their exposure and how to reduce it. Learn from this and never sign something like that ever...don't even fill it out. It's not done for the employees. What did your lawyer say? He should give you some phases that will scare the crap out of them.

This

HR is not there to protect you but to protect the company. Your complaints are relevant only to the extent they have potential exposure.

I would say your days at the company are numbered. This is not to say you will be fired but when the opportunity presents itself - eg a reduction in work force for budgetary reasons - you will more than likely be terminated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I'm interviewing actively but hoping to stay bc the company at large (50+ offices globally) is great and also I need the income. I'm very interested to hear how other people have dealt w this type of thing and if I should actually think about legal action or if that would truly ruin my reputation in a sort of small community. Should I tell hr I have contacted a lawyer?

You're saying this company is "great." The company you slammed in writing for being homophobic, racist and sexist? You aren't making sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I'm interviewing actively but hoping to stay bc the company at large (50+ offices globally) is great and also I need the income. I'm very interested to hear how other people have dealt w this type of thing and if I should actually think about legal action or if that would truly ruin my reputation in a sort of small community. Should I tell hr I have contacted a lawyer?

You're saying this company is "great." The company you slammed in writing for being homophobic, racist and sexist? You aren't making sense.

Maybe OP is too so it's a perfect match!

[Anonymous]

OP here--I am actively looking for a new job right now, and I say the company is great in the sense that my clients and projects are excellent, and my direct team members are lovely. When I am in my office as opposed to on site or traveling, there are several people who have nicknames for all the non-white people in the office, and in the past week alone have referred to someone as an "ugly bitch" a "ho" and recently said that Ray Rice is justified because sometimes women get mouthy. Don't even get me started on the political comments about slutty baby killers that came out of the midterm elections.

Perhaps this is career suicide, like some people have suggested. I have in fact gotten my finances in order and have meeting with headhunters next week in case I need to hit the "eject" button ASAP. I consulted with a lawyer and he said that basically, they sought out opinions on a questionnaire and now they are following up. Since I have no need to sue, I just want this to stop, I will just tell them what's going on. I am quite ready for this to blow up in my face, but at this point I can only imagine that the next person in my job might be the one who DOES sue, so I might as well give them the heads up as I get my affairs in order to call it a day here.

[Anonymous]

Do not, under any circumstances, give a hint that you have consulted a lawyer. What they will try to gauge in the meeting is whether you are a loose cannon that needs to be neutralized or just a fool that put her name on the employee survey. You need to tell them how much you enjoy the work, the clients, your team and that you know the company promotes the right culture and will try to do the right thing.

No company, especially the HR peeps, want an environment where employees are saying out loud the things you mention. Huge risk for them, so yes they will do something about it. But they are also afraid of the whistleblowers that may sue them. Make sure that you do not come accross as a risk to them.