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Step one is accept that either your standing with the company or your relationship with that friend will change hard in the near future.
Step two is decide which is more important between those two.
If it is the friendship, Im not going to go down that rabbit hole because there are too many social and legal implications.
If it is the job, talk to HR. Tell them what you’ve been informed of, what you’ve witnessed, and that you need help mitigating the impact. They can help you through it. You may or may not get some type of reprimand in the process, but owning any perceived faults will limit the backlash from all sides. See if your peers have any advice as the situation unfolds, and keep your boss and HR in the loop. They will be the make or break for you.
The alternative is to attempt a slow roll of the impact, digging into it yourself before going to HR. There are a lot of risks with this approach, including that because you knew about it and chose to handle yourself either you or someone else will most likely get either a PIP or term based on the outcome. Either way, trying to keep it from HR and your boss entirely will not work if people are to the point of discussing a strike. They’ll approach you eventually.
A thing to stress though, on the team development piece. One that is very frequently forgotten. When I say give transparent feedback on what they need to fix. That doesn’t mean be degrading or rude. You have to be honest with them, because you owe that to them. Then HELP them. They rely on you. You are their leader.
It's good that you are exploring the possibility of you having done something that bothered them; that being said, you can't just assume that you must be the cause of the issue. First you have to figure out what that issue even IS. There are laws and regulations covering worker strikes because if they weren't protected, you could just fire strikers for job abandonment. Reach out to your friend and ask if they know what the problem is purported to be, and if it is you, then talk to everyone on the team one on one. Also a good idea to have someone from HR sit in on these talks just to take notes. A lot of strikes can be prevented through simple open communication
If your friend informed you, there's a very good chance that it does have something to do with you. Otherwise why would he even be mentioning it? It's pretty likely that people have made their point of view pretty clear but you aren't aware of the "buzz" because you don't work with all of the employees in person every day. Tell your friend that you need a little more information, and explain that you want to fix whatever is wrong without having your hand forced by a strike. Showing initiative to fix the issue will go a long way towards earning more credibility
This might sound like a dumb question but have you asked him directly whether it's you or someone/something else? You can't get anywhere without acknowledging that there's a problem, and your workers want to be heard, so give them what they are asking for.
Seems like there is more information needed to know what you can do. Who are their grievances directed towards? Is it general mistreatment of workers in terms of wages, or perhaps working conditions? Or have there been individual instances of worker abuse? It's a complex situation that can't necessarily be explored entirely in one thread
If your workers have grievances against you or the company, there's a pretty decent chance that they are valid concerns that should be addressed seriously. You might have to get involved in some negotiation if you want to prevent this situation from escalating