You are the head of HR in a retail bank currently recruiting for a risk manager. During the interview process for a new role the preferred candidate (Sahil) asks detailed questions about the organisational culture and the person he’ll be reporting to. As the head of HR you’re aware of a bullying and harassment claim against the person who will be Sahil’s manager but the claim was not upheld by Fair Work and the issue was marked confidential in that person’s file.
You assure Sahil that while there could be challenges, he will be joining a positive and supportive culture.
Sahil accepted the role and has come to you one-month into his employment. Asking for a confidential conversation, he flags his conversation with you during the interview process, making clear that a positive team culture is extremely important to him at work and was the reason he accepted the role. He tells you that he is seeing behaviours from the manager and signs of toxicity within the team and asks you to be honest about whether this is a ‘toxic team culture’.
What would you do?
We challenge you to create a healthy discussion with your colleagues and post a comment below. You could even encourage them to consider taking The Banking and Financial Services Oath!
Please share your ethical dilemmas with us - we can post them anonymously. You can email your dilemmas to dilemma@bfso.org
Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash