If you’ve ever witnessed or been on the receiving end of workplace misconduct, you know firsthand just how difficult it is to put your experience into words and share with others. You may have felt embarrassment and fear of retaliation, or maybe you didn’t know which issues require attention and which to brush off.
Many employees go through this and feel uneasy addressing any misconduct they experience — and while HR and employee relations (ER) professionals are the ones who typically handle complaints, the majority of workers direct their initial complaints to their manager. Which makes sense given that most employees do not have the same regular contact with their HR colleagues as they do with their managers.