Does anonymity have a place atwork?
Q: Why do people tell others to not take ownership and say what they think about situations and people at work? If you work with someone who is not good at what he or she does, you should talk to the proper people in charge and report it. If you complain to a department head or higher up, that leader knows the person who is reporting it and is going to take it seriously. On the other hand, the boss may ignore the complaint if the person is ashamed of signing their name to it.
Anyone can say whatever they want if they make it anonymous, and no one will know if it’s a legitimate or fictitious complaint. People need to take responsibility for what they say if they want action. An anonymous complaint may wrongly accuse innocent employees or may be due to vindictive feelings made up to retaliate against someone they dislike at work. If employees have real problems to report, they should not withhold their names on the complaints. I think it disqualifies the person from making a complaint that will be taken seriously.
A: There’s a place and a situation for anonymity when reporting any issue or complaint. In a perfect world, employees could trust everyone at work and feel comfortable talking about any issue that is upsetting or disruptive to the work environment. But the world is not perfect. Humans are not perfect, and neither is management.
Work is often thought of as a place where employees can befriend others. Some limit workplace relationships to friendly acquaintances, while others invest more of their trust to form close friendships. But sometimes, those friendships turn out to be a disaster in the end.
It seems natural to form a friendship with a person you see and work with daily. What can happen, though, is that workplace friendships take on less importance when situations become competitive. How does a person then file a complaint against a person they have formed a friendship with? They can warn management about a potential situation if they require anonymity.
Another situation can arise in companies where HR professes to value an open-door policy but violates the trust when an employee uses that open-door policy to voice an opinion that management may not want to hear. People have suffered the consequences in such situations — sometimes immediately and sometimes soon after in a sly and often indirect manner, blaming the employee for a made-up situation, firing the employee under the guise of another issue, and more. After discovering HR was not their friend, many employees have learned to silence their opinions and either tolerate the repercussions or start a serious job search.
Once an employee has been burned in that manner, it’s unlikely that type of situation will ever be repeated. There is only one way to protect oneself, though for many, it may seem unacceptable. Maintain a friendly demeanor with all at work, and limit the closeness of any workplace friendship. No harm comes from going to lunch with a co-worker or boss, but it’s wise to guard one’s personal conversations. Of course, it feels better to be able to trust a person wholeheartedly, but it’s best to hold back on inner personal thoughts and past experiences.
The best example is from a group of co-workers who went out for drinks after work. One of the employees who partied a little too hard became too open and free with her actions. After drunkenly stripping at the table with co-workers and then recovering her clothes, she discovered the next day that one of the co-workers reported it at work. That person could have withheld judgment of her drunken behavior and remained silent but instead chose not to. The young women who overdrank lost her job, her confidence in herself and her trust in co-workers.
A lack of trust of co-workers partners well with anonymity for the future. While employees may want to tell all and do all with co-worker friends, a co-worker is a co-worker first and a friend last.
Q: I worked in a high-paying position for many years. I was good at troubleshooting, meeting deadlines and biting my tongue, so I didn’t complain. I carried out every assignment I was asked to until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had received compliments for decorating and renovating buildings and individual rooms, and I was good at math and formulating calculations. It made sense to me to go back to school to become an interior designer.
I routinely complete every goal I set for myself, so completing school was no different. After graduating, I got a job as an assistant to an owner of a design company. I liked the work, but the owner was difficult to deal with daily. After a year, I left to start my own business designing and renovating properties. I solicited clients and got them right away. The jobs got larger, but as they grew, the clients became fussier. I decided to focus only on decorating, but I offered to include renovation plans for any rooms they wanted. I had clear and precise contracts so there would be no misunderstandings. They had to find their own contractors and manage their own rehab jobs.
What I learned in being a business owner was that clients don’t listen, regardless of what they sign. Though I put money, time and effort into a career change, I discovered things about starting your own business that no one tells you. I felt like I had to have the strength of a bull in dealing with clients, but I had to smile with every communication. I discovered I didn’t have the patience for it and didn’t like who I had to be to get things done. I was blessed to be able to return to my previous job.
I hear young graduates talk about running their own businesses. I want them to know there’s a side to running a business no one will warn them of. I never thought I was impatient, but pursuing my own business gave me a greater understanding of every aspect involved in being a business owner. Please warn people. Being a business owner is not for everyone. They need to learn about themselves before making such decisions.
A: You learned an important lesson, not just for running a business but for all life situations. A formal high school education doesn’t offer classes in getting to know oneself outside of psychology classes, where students learn about childhood development and psychology.
Taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or the MBTI, could solve that dilemma. The assessment test measures information on sixteen personality types, eight preferences and other tools to help a person with a basic understanding of their personality type. The MBTI is an extremely helpful guide, but this assessment is not required in high school classes, where it could benefit many.
Private assessment companies and consultants sometimes offer the test to clients, including the interpretation, but the fees are high. Some community or city colleges may offer it, but it is only given to students who seek to take it.
MBTI results offer an important understanding of all that makes you who you are — “the interactions of your preferences and how different preferences emerge as you mature.”
There is no A to F grading, so perhaps schools feel it’s of no value for the school. It does, though, offer great value to students who go through school and their work life confused or making poor life choices.
Parents also often buy into the approach of telling their children they can be anything they want in life, which can later lead to extreme disappointment. Students could avoid choosing careers they are not good at or suited to just by learning about themselves and their personality, innate abilities, interests and the best career fit. Some children know it in childhood; most don’t.
But everything worked out for you. You changed to a career you thought you would love and didn’t, so it doesn’t get better than to return to an employer that appreciated your hard work and achievements.