Anti-hero “It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem it’s me”: When an employee disagrees with your organisation’s social stance

Increasingly, companies and organisations are expected to take a stance on broader societal issues that are not necessarily directly related to their core business such as #marriageequality #blacklivesmatter #climatechange #lgbtiqrights.

With a referendum on “The Voice” – whether an Indigenous voice should be enshrined in the Constitution - coming this year in Australia, there will be increasing pressure on companies and organisations to take a stance on the “yes” or “no” camp for the referendum. This also builds on the increasing pressure on whether 26 January should be a public holiday or not.

No organisation will be immune to this. The question of whether companies and organisations should or could take a stance on societal issues is not the purpose of this blog. It is a decision that has to take into account a myriad of factors. However, increasingly employees and other key stakeholders will be asking whether an organisation will take a stand and if not, why not?

The question in this blog is, if an organisation does take a stance, e.g. to support #blacklivesmatter by including that hashtag in their e-mail signatures, what happens if an employee disagrees with this and puts, for example, #alllivesmatter or #bluelivesmatter?

Perhaps Taylor Swift can assist.

It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem it’s me.

At tea time, everybody agrees.

I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror

It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.

Does everyone have to agree with an organisation’s stance on social issues?

No. And nor is that likely. Just have people have different political beliefs, different religious and cultural beliefs, and different values, it is not likely that all staff will agree with an organisation’s stance on a societal issue.

That’s ok.

Check, however - Has your organisation created a psychologically safe environment to educate people on societal issues and have a healthy debate, even disagreement about them? This will be the real test – can people have a respectful debate and listen to each other’s views on this? Do people feel empowered to educate themselves on these issues and express those views?

If so, and an employee overtly disagrees with the organisation’s stance, an organisation should consider (as a last resort) whether an employee taking a stand contrary to the organisation’s views is an education issue, a conversation issue or whether their actions potentially breach, for example, your contract of employment not to bring the company into disrepute or a breach of your code of conduct in relation to respectful behaviour. This is likely to arise only in extreme and generally public behaviour that strays into disrespectful behaviour. An organisation will need to consider what is contained in their employment contracts, and what is contained in their relevant policies e.g. code of conduct, bullying, harassment and discrimination policies, or values statements. Is it a breach? Or just enthusiastic debate? It is another tricky area to navigate.

One thing an organisation won’t want is for employees to say:

 I should not be left to my own devices

They come with prices and vices

I end up in crisis

Organisations should be clear about the stance they are taking and the reasons for it and if there are going to be discussions about it, remind people that they can disagree, but are expected to uphold the organisation’s values such as diversity, inclusion, anti-discrimination and respectful behaviour. If someone does become an anti-hero, take steps to address this immediately.

Remotely Legal can assist employers and boards on all aspects of employment law, including advising on difficult people issues, reviewing policies and assisting with enterprise bargaining.  Remotely Legal can train your boards and management teams on how to deal with incidents and investigations.  Remotely Legal can also be your fully outsourced HR and people legal team.

RL Investigations, part of Remotely Legal, are a team of highly experienced and qualified lawyers and investigators, who can function as your independent, external investigation team providing fast, comprehensive and reliable investigation reports, workplace culture reviews and suggestions for organisational improvement. RL Investigations can also help your internal HR or investigation team to improve their investigations and assist decision makers in considering the right factors when making key decisions.

This blog is general advice only.  Please obtain legal advice in relation to your specific circumstances.  This blog was written by a human so please seek permission if you wish to copy any of it.