Overheard executives mocking staff should be reported, says workplace expert
Report executives you catch mocking staff's accents, weight, or mental health leave, advises a workplace expert.
If you overhear senior executives ridiculing several employees, report it. The mockery may target someone's accent, another's weight, or a third person's mental health leave.
The mockery shows contempt for people they lead and breaks personal privacy. Your silence when you first heard it was normal.
What matters now is to act. Keep a clear record of what was said, when and by whom.
Use a speak-up line if your workplace has one. If not, report to someone in power outside these executives' reporting line, perhaps a board member or HR leader.
Keep what you heard private. Do not let it become office talk.
Those who said it bear the blame, not you.
- Three employees with different targets
- Targets of mockery
- Dr Kirstin Ferguson
- Advice source
Why it mattersMocking staff breaks trust. Reporting such behaviour protects workers.
AustraliaAustralian workplaces governed by fair work laws and company codes of conduct have protection mechanisms for this type of conduct; employees have a right to report it safely.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 11 h ago
