CBI in trouble

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Discussion

Vanden Saab

Original Poster:

14,702 posts

80 months

Wednesday 5th April 2023
quotequote all
Rather overlooked due to other events but WTAF.

ITV said:
Ministers have called off meetings with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) over allegations of sexual misconduct at the business group. The Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade are understood to have suspended engagement with the organisation while it investigates the claims. The CBI, one of the UK’s largest business organisations, has already postponed all its public events following the allegations.
Sources at Jeremy Hunt’s Treasury and Kemi Badenoch’s Business Department confirmed they are “pausing engagement with ministers”, which means scheduled meetings have been postponed.
https://www.itv.com/news/2023-04-05/ministers-call...


turbobloke

106,966 posts

266 months

Wednesday 5th April 2023
quotequote all
Interesting. Even more popcorn needed.

bitchstewie

54,559 posts

216 months

Thursday 6th April 2023
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Heard this mentioned on the news and must admit I caught it in passing but it didn't say much about the allegations.

"One woman alleged to the newspaper that she had been raped during a staff party in 2019 and was later told by a manager to get counselling rather than pursue the issue further."

That is not what I expected yikes

Biker 1

7,859 posts

125 months

Thursday 6th April 2023
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I think I'll get popcorn poisoning at this rate!
Pretty good week for the Leadership to bury some other bad news - I wonder what they'll concentrate on?

ScotHill

3,439 posts

115 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
Front page of the BBC all morning, wonder if he's got some mates in the newsroom - based on the four specifics, was he hard done by or deserved it?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65313822

  • Organising a secret and private karaoke party for 15 people after a Christmas work event
  • Viewing the Instagram accounts of CBI staff
  • Sending non-work related messages to staff on work messaging platforms
  • Inviting junior staff to breakfasts, lunches or one-on-one meetings
Although that was from the horse's mouth, the CBI President states that those are a 'selective' description of what he was terminated for.

JagLover

43,596 posts

241 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
You have to be very careful these days.

Sending personal messages these days could be an issue, as could arranging one to one chats with employees in a social environment, regardless of if it is for both male and female employees.

Many American male bosses are far more careful and would only be alone with a female employee where they have taken precautions such as leaving the door open if they are in their own personal office for example.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/60percent-of-male-...

Hopefully this is a useful lesson for any other male senior managers out there. Assume whatever you do might be misconstrued as a sexual invitation and adjust your messaging and behaviour accordingly.


crankedup5

10,704 posts

41 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
JagLover said:
You have to be very careful these days.

Sending personal messages these days could be an issue, as could arranging one to one chats with employees in a social environment, regardless of if it is for both male and female employees.

Many American male bosses are far more careful and would only be alone with a female employee where they have taken precautions such as leaving the door open if they are in their own personal office for example.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/60percent-of-male-...

Hopefully this is a useful lesson for any other male senior managers out there. Assume whatever you do might be misconstrued as a sexual invitation and adjust your messaging and behaviour accordingly.
At the rate accusations are spreading regarding historical behaviours, best to wear a body camera at work. And, as you mention, adjust messaging / behaviour accordingly.

bitchstewie

54,559 posts

216 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
crankedup5 said:
At the rate accusations are spreading regarding historical behaviours, best to wear a body camera at work. And, as you mention, adjust messaging / behaviour accordingly.
Sorry but this is utter bks.

You don't need to wear a body camera at work.

Just behave professionally.

Gareth79

7,978 posts

252 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
ScotHill said:
Front page of the BBC all morning, wonder if he's got some mates in the newsroom - based on the four specifics, was he hard done by or deserved it?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65313822

  • Organising a secret and private karaoke party for 15 people after a Christmas work event
  • Viewing the Instagram accounts of CBI staff
  • Sending non-work related messages to staff on work messaging platforms
  • Inviting junior staff to breakfasts, lunches or one-on-one meetings
Although that was from the horse's mouth, the CBI President states that those are a 'selective' description of what he was terminated for.
Possibly they may have used those as the minimum easily provable work-related reasons to fire him, rather than having to involve allegations made by others, to save them from being dragged in? It also works if they were all looking to keep the more serious stuff out of the press, which obviously didn't happen.

PeteinSQ

2,333 posts

216 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
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If he's innocent won't he be taking them to court over unfair dismissal then?

Ridgemont

7,022 posts

137 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
crankedup5 said:
At the rate accusations are spreading regarding historical behaviours, best to wear a body camera at work. And, as you mention, adjust messaging / behaviour accordingly.
Sorry but this is utter bks.

You don't need to wear a body camera at work.

Just behave professionally.
I assume cranked was being tongue in cheek re body cams.

I hope so anyways.

crankedup5

10,704 posts

41 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
crankedup5 said:
At the rate accusations are spreading regarding historical behaviours, best to wear a body camera at work. And, as you mention, adjust messaging / behaviour accordingly.
Sorry but this is utter bks.

You don't need to wear a body camera at work.

Just behave professionally.
I was coming from the other angle, the angle where the accuser is lying. Surprised you didn’t consider that!

crankedup5

10,704 posts

41 months

Wednesday 19th April 2023
quotequote all
Ridgemont said:
bhstewie said:
crankedup5 said:
At the rate accusations are spreading regarding historical behaviours, best to wear a body camera at work. And, as you mention, adjust messaging / behaviour accordingly.
Sorry but this is utter bks.

You don't need to wear a body camera at work.

Just behave professionally.
I assume cranked was being tongue in cheek re body cams.

I hope so anyways.
Nope I was being serious, see my reply to BS. It’s not unknown for people to tell lies and try to ruin other persons lives. As the U.K. follows the US path of litigation anything and everything is possible.

rodericb

7,086 posts

132 months

Thursday 20th April 2023
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
crankedup5 said:
At the rate accusations are spreading regarding historical behaviours, best to wear a body camera at work. And, as you mention, adjust messaging / behaviour accordingly.
Sorry but this is utter bks.

You don't need to wear a body camera at work.

Just behave professionally.
You might behave professionally - the other person might not.

JagLover

43,596 posts

241 months

Thursday 20th April 2023
quotequote all
crankedup5 said:
I was coming from the other angle, the angle where the accuser is lying. Surprised you didn’t consider that!
It doesn't need the other party to be "lying" only misconstruing what the Manager's intentions are. There may will be missing parts of the story here but the CBI are being careful in what they say and talking of being "selective", so it appears that the four things cited were indeed included in the reasons for dismissing him.

Perhaps he has done something genuinely wrong, perhaps these were attempts to get to know female employees with sexual intent, only those closer or perhaps the man himself knows. All we can conclude from the case as it stands though is that in the modern environment it is not only sufficient to not do anything wrong when it comes to sexual harassment but also you need to avoid any behaviour that could be misconstrued as such.

As mentioned previously this has been an issue for a while in the USA and Male Managers have adjusted their behaviour accordingly.

Edited by JagLover on Thursday 20th April 08:58

NRS

22,826 posts

207 months

Thursday 20th April 2023
quotequote all
JagLover said:
crankedup5 said:
I was coming from the other angle, the angle where the accuser is lying. Surprised you didn’t consider that!
It doesn't need the other party to be "lying" only misconstruing what the Manager's intentions are. There may will be missing parts of the story here but the CBI are being careful in what they say and talking of being "selective", so it appears that the four things cited were indeed included in the reasons for dismissing him.

Perhaps he has done something genuinely wrong, perhaps these were attempts to get to know female employers with sexual intent, only those closer or perhaps the man himself knows. All we can conclude from the case as it stands though is that in the modern environment it is not only sufficient to not do anything wrong when it comes to sexual harassment but also you need to avoid any behaviour that could be misconstrued as such.

As mentioned previously this has been an issue for a while in the USA and Male Managers have adjusted their behaviour accordingly.
It's also been an issue for many years of dodgy old men misusing their power, to do "unprofessional" stuff...

crankedup5

10,704 posts

41 months

Thursday 20th April 2023
quotequote all
NRS said:
JagLover said:
crankedup5 said:
I was coming from the other angle, the angle where the accuser is lying. Surprised you didn’t consider that!
It doesn't need the other party to be "lying" only misconstruing what the Manager's intentions are. There may will be missing parts of the story here but the CBI are being careful in what they say and talking of being "selective", so it appears that the four things cited were indeed included in the reasons for dismissing him.

Perhaps he has done something genuinely wrong, perhaps these were attempts to get to know female employers with sexual intent, only those closer or perhaps the man himself knows. All we can conclude from the case as it stands though is that in the modern environment it is not only sufficient to not do anything wrong when it comes to sexual harassment but also you need to avoid any behaviour that could be misconstrued as such.

As mentioned previously this has been an issue for a while in the USA and Male Managers have adjusted their behaviour accordingly.
It's also been an issue for many years of dodgy old men misusing their power, to do "unprofessional" stuff...
Lots seem to be within the entertainment industry misusing power.

Dynion Araf Uchaf

4,638 posts

229 months

Thursday 20th April 2023
quotequote all
C4ME said:
The thing is those are the 4 reasons for dismissing him and therefore anything else is conjecture. They cannot say afterwards "well there was other stuff" because if so they should have been included in the list.

Or are they disputing his spin on the 4 points?

Edited by C4ME on Wednesday 19th April 20:00
I think it is most likely that those are the things that the CBI could hang him with. It's much more likely that there has been a 'misfit' of values between his 'leadership' and the CBI and that they wanted him out, for far longer than is apparent.

Timothy Bucktu

15,594 posts

206 months

Thursday 20th April 2023
quotequote all
It's a sad state of affairs (not the ideal word here, granted) when the suggestion to use body cameras in work seems like it might be a good idea.

768

14,867 posts

102 months

Thursday 20th April 2023
quotequote all
ScotHill said:
Front page of the BBC all morning, wonder if he's got some mates in the newsroom - based on the four specifics, was he hard done by or deserved it?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65313822

  • Organising a secret and private karaoke party for 15 people after a Christmas work event
  • Viewing the Instagram accounts of CBI staff
  • Sending non-work related messages to staff on work messaging platforms
  • Inviting junior staff to breakfasts, lunches or one-on-one meetings
Although that was from the horse's mouth, the CBI President states that those are a 'selective' description of what he was terminated for.
Those four bullet points, on the face of it, seem absolutely pathetic. I know the CBI have said there's more to it, you'd think there must be.

One of the best bosses I ever had would arrange breakfasts and one-on-ones for the most junior staff, similar sized organisation to the CBI.