Anonymous Letter

ritaanz

The past president of our company is now a member of our Board of Directors. He has received a letter from a "Concerned Employee". The letter states that the current Pres and VPs are doctoring the books to look good, shipping poor quality goods and constantly fighting among themselves. The letter goes on to say that one of the Department Managers allows 3 employees (and they are named)to come to work drunk.

Needless to say, NONE of this is true.

We have a company newsletter that publishes every month. When we receive letters and notes from our customers, we share these with our employees via the newsletter. The Pres and the VPs want to print this letter. When the suggestion was made to me, I was stunned. However, the more I thought of it, how else can the company preserve its reputation?

I am throwing this out to my HR pros to help me decide the best route to take. All thoughts are welcome.

Whatever

My quick reaction is not to publish. I am assuming that publishing letters from customers is both for morale and education (if there is a valid complaint). An anonymous letter with false information can serve no purpose and should not be given any validity.

MrCreosote

If I were one of the three employees falsely accused of coming to work drunk and you published the accusation in the company newsletter, you would see me in your office very angry and very quick. Then you would hear from my lawyer.

ritaanz

Whoooops! We have no intension of publishing the names. Forgot to add that.

Rockie

Since this was from a "concerned employee" and not a customer, I would simply ignore it since it is not true. The owner of the letter obviously wants to start something and the more you sensationalize it, the more thrill they will get out of it. Just let it die quietly.

Don D

I'd fall back on this quick test question: If I do this, what is the worst possible outcome it could have? Evaluate that and I don't think you'll publish it. I see no good outcome.

If your company is listed on any stock exchange, this is a serious Sarbanes-Oxley flag and requires more than a wink.

Betty I_O

I also would not publish the letter. Take it for what it is: an ANONYMOUS person--probably with an axe to grind--who sees no other way to get back at the company. If you think by publishing it, employees will think better of their management for being "up front" with them, don't hold your breath. There will be those who will wonder, "Can it be true?" Others will ignore it as a crank letter, but still others will think there really IS something that's being hidden. The more aggressive malcontents will have something newer to latch onto; still other employees will be "fence sitters,just waiting to see what will happen. But you can be sure of one thing: everybody will be talking about THE letter. Why get the staff stirred up, gossiping and surmising and even fretting about a letter from someone who doesn't have the guts to sign his/her name?

ray a

Any time I have received anonymous letters, I have investigated very discretely and tend to ignore. If the person can't sign their name, I'm not going to put much stock in it. I agree with the rest, don't publish. Even if you don't print names, you will just invite speculation as to who the writer is referring to. Then the gossip starts.

deniseE

I agree with all of the prior posts...do not publish this letter....but you may be able to turn this into a positive. Maybe most of the letter is bunk....but since you publish a newsletter anyway, consider addressing some of the issues raised in the letter...without attributing it to the letter, of course.

We just finished a workforce survey last year and each month the newsletter addresses another issue from the survey and what management has been doing to improve that area...or explaining why it is the way it is.

Maybe the first step would be a highlight of the internal and external audit procedures so that all employees will know that their retirements are safe or that the company is solvent.

hrbanker

As Don said, you need to make sure the allegations are false. Since our stock is sold to the general public, we are required to give the employees an address or phone number where they can submit annonymous complaints about our accounting practices.

If you have an audit department or outside company that audits your company records, make sure they are aware of the complaint so they can check it out. As for publishing the letter? I vote NO.

Carey

We have a similar practice, with an Ethics Hotline (now required of us by Sarbanes Oxley) that is handled by an independent third party. Callers can remain anonymous if they want to. I usually end up with the complaints about unfair managers, discrimination, harassment, etc. but complaints about financial issues would go to our internal audit department and would be investigated no matter how frivolous they seemed at first. Even an anonymous caller is given a number and told they can call back on a certain date to receive an update on the status of the issue.

Also vote no on publishing the letter.

JM in ATL

On top of all the great responses that you have already received saying why you shouldn't, here is another.

What kind of message are you sending to your employees by publishing an annon letter?

I would have serious trust and confidentiality issues with an HR department who published a letter I wrote to management in confidence. Regardless if it was bogus or not.

This would send a message to me that you do not take employee concerns seriously and that if I had a problem, I could go to HR, but it might get published all over the employee newsletter.

I agree, investigate internally if you feel there is a need, but do not publish an employees private concerns.

cebudragonlady

Take that annonymous letter- fold it very carefully, into the shape of an airplane ~ and let it fly where it belongs...in the ash can !

Chari

mwild31

Hi ritaanz!

Let me guess, the Pres & VP want the letter to go out - as a sort of vindication - since they are the main topic of the letter to board. Maybe they are embarrassed or maybe they feel indignation that someone would do something like this and attempt to "tarnish" their reputations. Tell them to take a deep breath.

No, I wouldn't publish the letter. Why give credibility to a letter that's false & publish it in your company's important newsletter? Instead, I would use what's brought up in the letter to address other issues in the newsletter. For instance, the letter claims that these two individuals are doctoring the books; maybe in your newsletter you start a section where you talk about accounting safeguards at the company? Start the article out benignly, like: "It's in the news, companies throughout the nation are finding themselves in increasing trouble over their accounting practices & investors and employees are feeling the pinch. Fortunately, you can rest assure, it's not the practice at (your company). Here's what we do to safeguard our practices." Next article, talk about quality & include letters or emails of testimony from existing customers that all is well at your company. Finally, in the next newsletter, throw something in on the proper way to lodge a complaint, again in a benign - easy, breezy fashion. In a more serious section address the company's policy on alcohol in the workplace. It's taking the high road, it's proactive, it's educational & in a very nice way, it's still a 'mud on your face' strategy to the anonymous letter writer to put up or shut up.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Ritaanz - Don't give the person who wrote this letter the satisfaction of seeing it in print and distributed to the entire company. No matter what you say in the newsletter, this disgruntled coward will think he has won and there will be a few people who may always wonder.

Were the Prez and VP drunk at the time they decided to publish the letter?

HS

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-05-04 AT 09:54AM (CST)[/font][br][br]mwild has offered a lot of great advice here. Even if you know the letter is bogus, address the issues in your newsletter as she suggests. It's a great way to address any concerns any employee may have and keep them up to date. If you find the concerns to be true, then you can update people on the news that's "fit to print" as they say.

I agree with everyone, not a good idea to give any credence to this letter; however real or imagined it may be. Good luck Rita, I know that you have the chutzpah to do this, from one Jersey gal to another! x:D

Don D

OK Ritaanz. Time to tabulate the answers and look behind door number 1. It's time for the drumroll now. Does the gutsy Jersey gal have the hudspa, chutzpa, whatever to stand up to the Arizona boys club? Stay tuned.

ritaanz

I have emailed the replies to my boss. I will be out until Monday. That's the day I will have a discussion with him on the topic. He is one of the VPs and I report to him with a dotted line to the Pres.

Hell, I've got enough chutzpa for all of us. Will give you the info after the deed is done.

Crout

But real Jersey girls live in Jersey.

HS

Crout, I'm trying to decide if that's a compliment or not. So, being the eternal optimist I am, I will take it as a compliment!

ritaanz

True. But since I was born and raised in NJ, there is no way that you can remove the Jersey from this gal. Thems called roots.

Don D

Like an Ex-Marine. Ain't no such thing, huh? Identical boots too!.