The previous boss walked into the office where I was team leader over three engineers. I was out at the time, but heard this from the victim… Boss was angry about a mistake one of my guys made on an architectural plot (not a ‘mistake,’ but a ‘failure to use telepathy’).
Boss got so angry that while standing behind the seated engineer he punched the guy in the side of the head.
As if immediately realizing what he did was wrong, he said; “Fix it” then left for the day.
I got back to the office soon after and they told me what happened.
We made a pact that has he ever put hands on one of us we’d all stand up and put him down hard and back each other up.
Well, it never came to that. After approaching upper management and HR, I got the runaround on reporting the incident. They all basically said; “If it’s was that bad then report it to the police, but he’s too high in the political structure to fire for this.”
Unhappy with that answer, and with my guy unwilling to involve the police, was set a plan into action.
We invited HIS boss, the district manager to see the progress we had made on a day when the boss wasn’t around. During this, I asked the DM to have “Skip-level 1-on-1s” with my guys saying that it would be good for morale.“ He agreed.
Each one of my guys opened with; “The biggest concern I have is that boss-man punched Tony a couple of months ago and HR told us they couldn’t do anything about it. How can you ensure my safety?”
I got called in and gave my story but had to say I wasn’t there. I had tried to report it up through the proper channels and failed. I was told it was political suicide for my entire team if I was to push it.
District Manager didn’t buy into the political b*****it. He made things happen. We agreed that my guys should not be in fear of physical attack. I also had DM’s backing in case of political fallout, and he was a personal friend of the CEO, so that was good enough protection.
Boss-man was walked and trespassed. Boom, headshot.
Don’t hit my guys!
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