We are a small company. We have no HR department, but we do have a jerk. A jerk who is a director and has decided that he is the voice of HR. Nobody appointed him to this role.
He frequently dips snuff at his desk, which is a shared table with eight coworkers. He throws temper tantrums exactly like a three-year-old, ranting and cursing at employees and vendors alike. He’s a serious liability to the team.
His behavior needs to be curtailed ASAP. He does not report to me, so my hands are tied. He is wise enough to change his tune when senior management is in the office. Do you have any helpful suggestions? If only we could hire an HR person!
To read the answer, click here: My Coworker Thinks He’s the Voice of HR
So many options: put pepper in his snuff tin when he’s not looking, use your phone to record his tantrums surreptitiously (or not so surreptitiously): this is sport!
Putting pepper in his snuff is the sort of thing you read about on Fark – usually after an arrest.
And be very, very careful about recording without his knowing consent. Quite a few states require consent from all parties. In most of them, it’s a civil offense if you don’t – you can get sued. In a few, it’s a misdemeanor. In California, it’s a felony (and they do prosecute).
There is, however, no law saying you can’t write it all down, word for word, in a diary. And if everyone else does the same, upper management won’t be able to ignore it.
So refer him to senior management, as noted he seems to behave better in their presence. But do your research, as he might be a social hire for company.
What’s a “social hire”?
Yikes.
He sounds like the bratty kid who only acts up when the teacher is out of the room.
Sounds like your whole team needs to reevaluate how they hire! Avoid toxic workers like the plague: http://bit.ly/2fcO4c5
I know it’s hard to deal with once they are already hired, however. The only other thing I can think of is to start a type of horizontal communication within the office, allowing people to anonymously leave some tips in a suggestion box? That way you could report his antics to someone. Really, the whole team can collaborate with HR, but it helps to have a department (as long as they aren’t assigned ALL of the HR grunt work!). Best of luck with this guy…