CAREER COACH
GO TO GREG
I am a fire warden for my office and we regularly supervise drills. Now, the company wants to train us to be first responders in the case of an active shooter. I don’t want that responsibility, but they say it is now part of the job description for fire warden. I don’t want to appear to be a coward or not a team player but I also don’t want to take that on. Any advice?
Can we all just acknowledge how crazy and sad it is that we even have to have this conversation? Unfortunately, it is the new reality. Unless I misunderstand you and that your full-time job is security and safety, the office fire warden role is usually a volunteer one, so you signed up for a role to make sure people leave their workstations and get to the nearest fire exit where they would then listen to a real firefighter. You didn’t sign up to be Rambo as a side hustle. (God bless everyone who does — thank you!) But, for the average volunteer fire warden, if the role now requires you to do anything more than call 911 and know what to do to protect yourself in such an awful circumstance, feel free to resign from the role.
I write a blog on the side and my employer is not happy with my views. Does the company have any say over what I do and write in my own time?
Yes and no. How’s that for a straight answer? Social-media activity is a murky grey area under the law and the National Labor Relations Board has been very active writing opinions about social-media policies. Generally, if what you have to say is prohibited speech at work, it stands a good chance of being banned outside of work by your employer. For example, most employers prohibit hate speech and bullying at work, so if you promote that outside of work and it is discovered by your employer, they have a right to say they don’t want to employ someone like you. Also, whether you are on the job or off-duty, you have a duty of loyalty to your employer. Generally you can discuss terms and conditions of employment but not confidential information or try to harm the company’s reputation — unless you are exposing malfeasance which may offer you “whistleblower” protection. So, be careful and prudent out there.