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My colleague si master liar and also gathers evidence on others (screenshots of conversations etc.) the current situation is as follows:

  • multiple managers tried firing her but they were always persuaded by the CEO it’s not a good idea
  • this is probably because she has some dirt on him (allegedly he made indecent proposal to other male coworkers and also several people from the industry which she knows about and apparently has evidence of)
  • she spreads lies across the company - has different circles where always makes a little note which then spreads. But ultimately she’s the good one
  • this doesn’t work with me because a) I try to be impartial ( or at least maintain some balance between being pro-company or pro-employees) and b) she noticed I don’t fall for her games so only shares what she has to with me but also acts like we’re bffs - yet now there’s also a rumor I’m a snitch for the top management. The other one is that I only managed to become head of HR thanks to her. Both obviously far from truth.

Any Ideas how to deal with this? As I see it my options are:

  • leave and basically let her win
  • consult openly with the CEO (which I’m honestly trying to avoid since he’s not good with confrontations and there would be probably lot of yelling)
  • try to get her better job elsewhere
  • figure out some master plan to uncover her (which makes me go to her level)
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    Are you able to detail some of the negative consequences you are suffering from their actions? You mention that you are head of HR, is the issue the fact you don't feel empowered in your role? – Gregory Currie Jul 29 at 22:21
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    @JoeStrazzere Happens in small companies. You do make a good point: As the head of HR this person can take pretty much whatever action they feel is justified up to firing employees. – Underverse Jul 29 at 23:11
  • Do you have any evidence that she is doing this? Collecting screen shots of conversations may break some sort of data protection or company policy (what country is this?) - where are the screenshots kept? – Smock Jul 30 at 13:38
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If you are the head of HR, it's your responsibility to follow the policies that exist for this purpose. If no policies exist, it is within your power to create them.

If the worker is conducting themselves in a manner that you don't think is appropriate, you need to make sure there are workplace policies in place that ban such behaviour.

If she comes in breach of such policies, you need to enact whatever policies in place to deal with that misconduct. These policies need to be reasonable, and should be communicated to all workers.

If the CEO overrules your decisions, you can then decide if you wish to continue working in such an environment.

You need to forget whatever previous issues that employee may have had, or previous issues previous management has had. In addition, you should avoid speculating about whatever motivates the CEO and instead deal with known facts on the issues at hand.

You have a responsibility as a HR manager to raise above petty concerns such as "BFFs" and "snitches". In fact, those words should not be uttered by you in a professional context.

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  • If you don't know the field you are playing on then you won't win - so you have to work out or find out the motivations of others... Like what drives the CEO... – Solar Mike Jul 30 at 9:35

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