August 12, 2025 • 16 mins
"If it has nothing to do with the workplace, it’s not your place to address it as an employer."
Notable Moments
00:03:05 – How to handle allegations unrelated to the workplace
00:04:54 – Using proper legal channels for non-work issues
00:07:59 – When a code of conduct changes your responsibility
00:10:46 – Offering EAP support without enforcing consequences
00:13:44 – Why uniforms and name tags come off after hours
Tim Dyck discusses how employers should handle allegations about an employee’s behavior outside of work. He explains when such concerns warrant action, how a code of conduct can change the rules, and why offering support without enforcement can make a difference. From legal considerations to protecting workplace trust, Tim outlines a thoughtful, practical approach.
Read the blog for more from this episode.
Connect with Tim and his team:
Website: https://bestculturesolutions.ca/
LinkedIn: Best Culture Solutions, Inc
Instagram: @best.culture.solutions
Email: tim@bestculturesolutions.ca
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign.
Welcome to the World at Work podcast, where business leaders and
job seekers come together to create winning cultures and fulfilling
careers. I'm your host, Jody Mayberry, and I'm here with
Tim Dick, the founder of Best Culture Solutions.
(00:22):
And when I say I'm here with Tim Dick, I am
literally here with Tim Dick. We are in Washington
state, my home state, on Bainbridge island, enjoying
a couple of cold beverages and talking about business. That's
right. And not only are we on Bainbridge island in Washington state,
but this is a new place for me to be
(00:45):
at in Washington State because I always just go to Seattle and that's my
bubble when I come here. And I never leave it. And I've left it. I
mean, a 40 minute ferry ride from Seattle, but I've left the bubble. And here
we are. It's nice. Yeah. He took the ferry over to my side
of the water. Yeah. And we came down and had dinner
and thought, we can't not be together and record.
(01:06):
That's right. Unlike the time we recorded in Alberta where Tim nearly
killed us in a vehicle accident. Exaggeration. We're
just sitting here enjoying a couple of beverages. I'm having
an organic prebiotic root beer. You are?
I'm having a green tea, an Arizona green tea, but also
with some sort of a peach ginger
(01:29):
calming drink with magnesium in it. Sparkling
water. So I'm having the caffeine in the tea
and the calming in the water. They're going to counteract. Well, yeah,
it'll even itself out. And we just heard a fairy
horn blow in the background. It's a nice cool day.
And Tim and I were talking about something that comes up
(01:52):
probably more often than you would think. Unless it's happened to you, then you probably.
It comes up more than you think it would. I mean, more
than you think it should. That's what to say. Yeah. All right,
let me set the stage for you, Tim, because I've seen this happen
lately. Someone will make an inappropriate social media
post which then gets. Point it out to the employer,
(02:16):
which leads to disciplinary action, sometimes even
termination. And that may be an extreme
example, but it also makes me think of
when you see a semi truck or a semi truck go by, depending on
where you are. Yeah. Depending on where you are. Go by on the highway and
it'll say, don't like my driving? Call this number. Yeah.
(02:37):
And I don't know how often those actually get used to, but those are two
examples of. Well, the. The semi truck that's in the
workplace. Cut and dry. Yeah. Social Media that's out of the
work. That's right. Other behaviors out of the workplace. What do
you do if someone from outside your organization
reaches out to you and said, this person that is
(03:01):
in your employee is misbehaving out of the workplace?
Yeah, good question. And it happens. And so, first of
all, on the social media, one. Now, one thing that I would encourage listeners
to do, if you're concerned about your employees misbehaving on social media
and how that may or may not represent your organization, I would encourage you
to speak with a legal expert in that area to find out what
(03:24):
the trends are in your jurisdiction around social media and what you can and
cannot expect from your employees. Because there are some jurisdictions there
where there is precedent around this that allows you to be
more restrictive, and there's other places that will not allow. And it's
varying because it's kind of a new world in a wild west with social media.
And it got amplified during the pandemic when more people were sharing
(03:46):
opinions. But to answer Jodi's question, you know, what do you do when
somebody from outside your organization lobs an
allegation that has nothing to do with your organization attitude? And let me give you
some examples of that. I have been in situations before where you will
get an anonymous email that says, this person works
for you. And I saw them do this, or I saw
(04:08):
them doing drugs, or I saw them being inappropriate
outside of the workplace or using substances. Another
one that I've had before is I've had an anonymous email saying, this person that
works for you owes money to people in all these different cities, and
they're scam artists and you should know that, and they shouldn't be working there and.
And stuff like that. And the reality is that an allegation of conduct
(04:29):
that has no bearing on your business whatsoever, unfortunately,
there's nothing that you should do about it. I mean, don't get me wrong, if
it's an allegation maybe of substance use, well, then maybe
keep an eye on it to see if it comes within your walls. But until
that thing comes within your walls, it would not be appropriate for
you to act on it. Now, if this person has a genuine concern,
(04:51):
there are appropriate avenues for that. In the case of the person that
we got the allegation about owing people money in different places, well, there
is a legal system for that. You should probably pursue that with the authorities or
a lawsuit or something, not with the employer. Right now.
There's nothing that we can do about it. Now. Hey, if there's A lawsuit
of some sort that is successful and the courts deem it necessary,
(05:14):
then they might let that employer know that their wages need to be garnished to
pay for it. That's different. That is the appropriate
form of remediating that incident. If you have an allegation
maybe of some other behavior that is not related to the workplace, it might be
criminal or substance use. If that person is genuinely concerned
about it, then there are other avenues as well, like the authorities, the
(05:35):
police, that could be called. But as an employer, you need to be very
careful to properly vet those allegations and not
overact on them. Unless you have evidence of wrongdoing in the workplace, not only
because it's not the right thing to do, it's. But secondly, it's not the most
effective way to deal with the situation if it is serious. And thirdly, you have
to question the motive of that person. Why would they do that? Why would they
(05:56):
want to affect that person's livelihood? What's motivating them to do that, as opposed
to taking the right course of action and going up the right avenues to deal
with it? Right. So if you get an allegation
about someone doing something outside of the workplace
that does not impact their work, do you talk to the employee?
I would tell you that that's entirely situational. Generally, it
(06:18):
depends on what it is. I have not always done that because again,
one of the things you have to be really careful about is that if it
has nothing to do with the workplace, then it's not your place to address it
with them. Right. And you could be opening yourself up to,
should something go south in that relationship, bringing stuff that has nothing
to do with the workplace into. It could get something that gets piled on you
as an employer used against you in some way down the road. If you have
(06:41):
that type of a trusting relationship, you might just have an informal conversation about
it, but nothing necessarily like formal that would insinuate discipline
or any sort of ramifications around it.
But you have to be very careful with that because if it does not impact
your workplace in any way, shape or form, you could be overstepping your
boundaries as an employer as well. What if it's not
(07:03):
an allegation? If it's just. To use an
example, when I was a park ranger and
I would say pull someone over for speeding, and it
turned out they were in the Air Force, I knew they would tell
me that they had to report that, that they got pulled over.
And so what I'm getting at is they had a
(07:25):
code of conduct or if they got a ticket, they had to report it. I
mean, maybe that's what where the line was. But they had a code of conduct
that said if you. Which I've not been in
the armed services, so I don't know, I could be wrong on
where the line is. But I imagine it's something like if you
have broken the law, you have to let us know.
(07:47):
So if you do have a code of conduct at your
place of employment and there's an allegation that someone
broke something that you know is in the code of conduct, do you handle that
differently? Absolutely. Because that, at that point, you know, that is a code of
conduct that that person has agreed to abide by when they sign their employment agreement
with you or because I mean, it depends on jurisdictions and employers,
(08:09):
how you structure it, stuff like that. But in a lot of places you'll sign
an employment agreement that says you agree to abide by the policies of the organization.
If that includes a code of conduct that addresses that directly, then they agree to
that. A lot of times too, I see code of conducts that are not only
like they're signed separately from their offer of employment, they're signed separately from their offer
letter where the person actually deliberately signs the code of conduct.
(08:32):
Yeah, you've signed that at that point and you've opened yourself up to that. And
so if it's things that are included in company policies or codes of conduct, then
yes, that now becomes within the realm of those four walls.
Now depending on which jurisdiction you're in and what people would look at,
there might be limits to what companies can put in their codes of conduct and
how far they can overreach into somebody's personal
(08:54):
lives or non work life. That's why earlier
on I suggested that when it comes to
social media, you should take a look at what the trends are legally in your
jurisdiction. Because that is a, you know, an
evolving, how do I put this? That is an issue that is
evolving as it becomes more of a thing as more we use it. There's a
(09:15):
lot of places that don't have direct regulations on what employers can and cannot
expect from an individual. Social media. And so you should look into that.
But what I guess I'm trying to say is yeah, if it's in your code
of conduct and it's tied to it, then that now is an in work issue.
And I guess I'm encouraging employers, you know, to look at that, but
then to also say, but if you are going to include something like that that
overreaches like that in your code of conduct, just make sure that you can't
(09:39):
be challenged on that legally later down the road. In the case of the forces
like that, they get a little bit more license to overreach than
probably some other employers and organizations do, and for good
reason. But just validate, right? Just validate. So, yeah, if it's
within the parameters of employment, 100%, you have to investigate it.
You need to be upfront about it. You need to follow the rules, but then
(10:02):
also validate those rules and parameters are allowed to be
rules and parameters. Does that make sense? It does. And what
if your organization offers an
employee assistance program to help? If we're having any sort
of struggle and you get an outside
allegation that somebody has a gambling issue,
(10:24):
they keep betting on Winnipeg jets game as an. Example,
and they're probably rich because they keep winning. And you hear about that.
And that's something, you know, the employee assistance program
can help with. Do you, since it's outside, doesn't
impact. Do you leave it alone or do you look
into that and refer to the program?
(10:46):
You know, I have had that before and
where I could tell you that I had an opportunity intervene was this.
When people are addicted to things like that, they can't
stop regardless of what environment they're in. And they. They will likely
bring that within those four walls at some point. And that will give you your
opportunity to intervene. And I would tell you, I mean, you know,
(11:08):
we've often heard before that everybody is different. You have to treat people as individuals.
There are. There are individuals out there that you can put your arm around them
as individuals and say, hey, look, you know, is this an issue for you outside
of here? Because if it is, don't forget you have this support. Can you enforce
anything? No. Right. Like, you know, I think we
started this conversation talking about enforcing something or
(11:28):
creating consequences for some behavior that didn't happen in the workplace.
When you're encouraging somebody to use an employee assistance program, you're not
enforcing anything, you're offering assistance. And that's a different type of
conversation where you take the person aside and you say, hey, look, I think
I see this. Whether or not it's true or not to you, here's
the information to get help. Because I care about you as a person and I
(11:50):
want you to be well and I want good things to happen for you if
this is happening for you. Here's our EAP program. Right, but you're
not enforcing them to do anything. You're not. Now,
if that thing gambling Any other sort of
addictions comes within those four walls of the
workplace, then. Then you can enforce that.
(12:11):
And, you know, I mean, it's funny you use that example. I have worked with
some before that was under my watch that did have a
gambling issue, and they did bring it to work.
And people who are addicted to that, it's because they're addicted to the
adrenaline they get from that and they can't get off of it. And so they
will. My opinion, not being an expert in the realm of addictions,
(12:33):
but a lot of times addictions means that you're addicted, you cannot stop. That means
you bring it with you. And so it wouldn't surprise me in that
type of a situation either. I guess I'm trying to say, even if you're worried
about having some sort of a standing to bring it up, that
they would give you one sooner or later. Now, to go back to your original
question, if they're not bringing it to work, you know, and it's an EAP program
(12:54):
thing, you know, it's. You're not trying to enforce anything, could you put your arm
around them and offer them that help? I think you can. Absolutely you can.
But then when they do bring it to work, it now becomes something that's enforceable.
Right. And that changes the game. Yeah, I can see where this.
It just becomes a delicate situation. You've heard Tim
talk about how there is a. Is a line and if it's
(13:16):
an allegation that doesn't involve the workplace,
it's really hard to deal with. I'm sure
there are even, even times where you will. You'll get them. We
mentioned the. The semis earlier has. If you
don't like my driving. Well, maybe someone after work has left
their shirt on that has a name tag and they cut someone off
(13:38):
or we're rude in the grocery store. Employers even hear
about small things like that, don't they? Oh, for sure they do. And I mean,
you know, you talk about the outside of work conduct where, like the forgetfulness,
the minor stuff like that, like that's not super important, but it happens
and you hear about it. You know, there's also a reason why employers will take
your uniform off. Right. Or take the name tag off when you're not on duty.
(13:59):
So you're not representing us. It's not only just to protect the employer, but it's
also to save the employee, like, and live a life outside of here.
Right. And on both ends. Right. You're not on duty, get
off duty and go do things that you do off duty, right? So,
yeah, 100%. Well, it is definitely an interesting
world we live in where everything is filmed. You
(14:21):
could end up having an employee that gets. Thinks no one's watching, and
they get filmed doing something, they end up on a big screen at a concert.
You just go to a Coldplay concert. Yeah, that's right. You just never know.
And so this is something employers need to be up on, because
your CEO showing up on a big screen
one night at a concert changes the course of the company. You
(14:45):
just never know. So you have to be aware of this stuff. And there's a
certain irony to you bringing this up right now, because where Jody and I are
sitting, the listeners might be able to hear this, but we're sitting outside a grocery
store on Bainbridge island, and outside the grocery store, there is a piano
that people can just walk up and play. And Jody, I don't know if you
noticed this, but the person playing behind us right now, and I don't know if
(15:06):
listeners heard this, just as Jody was talking about the Coldplay concert, they were
tinkling away the melody to the Scientists by Coldplay.
I didn't notice, but maybe that's what put the idea in my head. Maybe
subliminally. Yes. Yeah. All right, Tim, I think this
is something that any organization needs to be
aware of. You're going to get outside allegations, some
(15:29):
true, some not true, some because of grudges, some because
they drove too fast in my neighborhood, who knows? But if
we want to put together a plan on how to deal with this,
maybe talk to all of our leaders. This is how we handle it. Who can
we talk to? Well, they can listen to this podcast. No,
we often help with these things, allegations, investigate them afterwards, how
(15:51):
to handle them, how to communicate them. And we were more than happy to help
and make sure we get it right. Because it's not just there's legal liability at
stake, there's reputation at stake, and you got to get it right. But they can
reach us at our website at www.bestculturesolutions.ca
because we are Canadian or Tim. Estculturesolutions.ca.
Yes. That is great. And being Canadian, I actually
(16:13):
saw Tim earlier. He went to this gift shop and bought a decal,
which. A decal. A decal is what he bought. But
this is a good conversation, Tim. This is something that's relev.
You have a topic you would like us to talk about on a future episode.
Just reach out. Let us know you know how to find Tim. Just let him
know what you want to hear us talk about make it happen. Thank you so
(16:35):
much, Tim, and thank you for listening to World at Work.
Foreign.
Welcome to the World at Work podcast, where business leaders and
job seekers come together to create winning cultures and fulfilling
careers. I'm your host, Jody Mayberry, and I'm here with
Tim Dick, the founder of Best Culture Solutions.
(00:22):
And when I say I'm here with Tim Dick, I am
literally here with Tim Dick. We are in Washington
state, my home state, on Bainbridge island, enjoying
a couple of cold beverages and talking about business. That's
right. And not only are we on Bainbridge island in Washington state,
but this is a new place for me to be
(00:45):
at in Washington State because I always just go to Seattle and that's my
bubble when I come here. And I never leave it. And I've left it. I
mean, a 40 minute ferry ride from Seattle, but I've left the bubble. And here
we are. It's nice. Yeah. He took the ferry over to my side
of the water. Yeah. And we came down and had dinner
and thought, we can't not be together and record.
(01:06):
That's right. Unlike the time we recorded in Alberta where Tim nearly
killed us in a vehicle accident. Exaggeration. We're
just sitting here enjoying a couple of beverages. I'm having
an organic prebiotic root beer. You are?
I'm having a green tea, an Arizona green tea, but also
with some sort of a peach ginger
(01:29):
calming drink with magnesium in it. Sparkling
water. So I'm having the caffeine in the tea
and the calming in the water. They're going to counteract. Well, yeah,
it'll even itself out. And we just heard a fairy
horn blow in the background. It's a nice cool day.
And Tim and I were talking about something that comes up
(01:52):
probably more often than you would think. Unless it's happened to you, then you probably.
It comes up more than you think it would. I mean, more
than you think it should. That's what to say. Yeah. All right,
let me set the stage for you, Tim, because I've seen this happen
lately. Someone will make an inappropriate social media
post which then gets. Point it out to the employer,
(02:16):
which leads to disciplinary action, sometimes even
termination. And that may be an extreme
example, but it also makes me think of
when you see a semi truck or a semi truck go by, depending on
where you are. Yeah. Depending on where you are. Go by on the highway and
it'll say, don't like my driving? Call this number. Yeah.
(02:37):
And I don't know how often those actually get used to, but those are two
examples of. Well, the. The semi truck that's in the
workplace. Cut and dry. Yeah. Social Media that's out of the
work. That's right. Other behaviors out of the workplace. What do
you do if someone from outside your organization
reaches out to you and said, this person that is
(03:01):
in your employee is misbehaving out of the workplace?
Yeah, good question. And it happens. And so, first of
all, on the social media, one. Now, one thing that I would encourage listeners
to do, if you're concerned about your employees misbehaving on social media
and how that may or may not represent your organization, I would encourage you
to speak with a legal expert in that area to find out what
(03:24):
the trends are in your jurisdiction around social media and what you can and
cannot expect from your employees. Because there are some jurisdictions there
where there is precedent around this that allows you to be
more restrictive, and there's other places that will not allow. And it's
varying because it's kind of a new world in a wild west with social media.
And it got amplified during the pandemic when more people were sharing
(03:46):
opinions. But to answer Jodi's question, you know, what do you do when
somebody from outside your organization lobs an
allegation that has nothing to do with your organization attitude? And let me give you
some examples of that. I have been in situations before where you will
get an anonymous email that says, this person works
for you. And I saw them do this, or I saw
(04:08):
them doing drugs, or I saw them being inappropriate
outside of the workplace or using substances. Another
one that I've had before is I've had an anonymous email saying, this person that
works for you owes money to people in all these different cities, and
they're scam artists and you should know that, and they shouldn't be working there and.
And stuff like that. And the reality is that an allegation of conduct
(04:29):
that has no bearing on your business whatsoever, unfortunately,
there's nothing that you should do about it. I mean, don't get me wrong, if
it's an allegation maybe of substance use, well, then maybe
keep an eye on it to see if it comes within your walls. But until
that thing comes within your walls, it would not be appropriate for
you to act on it. Now, if this person has a genuine concern,
(04:51):
there are appropriate avenues for that. In the case of the person that
we got the allegation about owing people money in different places, well, there
is a legal system for that. You should probably pursue that with the authorities or
a lawsuit or something, not with the employer. Right now.
There's nothing that we can do about it. Now. Hey, if there's A lawsuit
of some sort that is successful and the courts deem it necessary,
(05:14):
then they might let that employer know that their wages need to be garnished to
pay for it. That's different. That is the appropriate
form of remediating that incident. If you have an allegation
maybe of some other behavior that is not related to the workplace, it might be
criminal or substance use. If that person is genuinely concerned
about it, then there are other avenues as well, like the authorities, the
(05:35):
police, that could be called. But as an employer, you need to be very
careful to properly vet those allegations and not
overact on them. Unless you have evidence of wrongdoing in the workplace, not only
because it's not the right thing to do, it's. But secondly, it's not the most
effective way to deal with the situation if it is serious. And thirdly, you have
to question the motive of that person. Why would they do that? Why would they
(05:56):
want to affect that person's livelihood? What's motivating them to do that, as opposed
to taking the right course of action and going up the right avenues to deal
with it? Right. So if you get an allegation
about someone doing something outside of the workplace
that does not impact their work, do you talk to the employee?
I would tell you that that's entirely situational. Generally, it
(06:18):
depends on what it is. I have not always done that because again,
one of the things you have to be really careful about is that if it
has nothing to do with the workplace, then it's not your place to address it
with them. Right. And you could be opening yourself up to,
should something go south in that relationship, bringing stuff that has nothing
to do with the workplace into. It could get something that gets piled on you
as an employer used against you in some way down the road. If you have
(06:41):
that type of a trusting relationship, you might just have an informal conversation about
it, but nothing necessarily like formal that would insinuate discipline
or any sort of ramifications around it.
But you have to be very careful with that because if it does not impact
your workplace in any way, shape or form, you could be overstepping your
boundaries as an employer as well. What if it's not
(07:03):
an allegation? If it's just. To use an
example, when I was a park ranger and
I would say pull someone over for speeding, and it
turned out they were in the Air Force, I knew they would tell
me that they had to report that, that they got pulled over.
And so what I'm getting at is they had a
(07:25):
code of conduct or if they got a ticket, they had to report it. I
mean, maybe that's what where the line was. But they had a code of conduct
that said if you. Which I've not been in
the armed services, so I don't know, I could be wrong on
where the line is. But I imagine it's something like if you
have broken the law, you have to let us know.
(07:47):
So if you do have a code of conduct at your
place of employment and there's an allegation that someone
broke something that you know is in the code of conduct, do you handle that
differently? Absolutely. Because that, at that point, you know, that is a code of
conduct that that person has agreed to abide by when they sign their employment agreement
with you or because I mean, it depends on jurisdictions and employers,
(08:09):
how you structure it, stuff like that. But in a lot of places you'll sign
an employment agreement that says you agree to abide by the policies of the organization.
If that includes a code of conduct that addresses that directly, then they agree to
that. A lot of times too, I see code of conducts that are not only
like they're signed separately from their offer of employment, they're signed separately from their offer
letter where the person actually deliberately signs the code of conduct.
(08:32):
Yeah, you've signed that at that point and you've opened yourself up to that. And
so if it's things that are included in company policies or codes of conduct, then
yes, that now becomes within the realm of those four walls.
Now depending on which jurisdiction you're in and what people would look at,
there might be limits to what companies can put in their codes of conduct and
how far they can overreach into somebody's personal
(08:54):
lives or non work life. That's why earlier
on I suggested that when it comes to
social media, you should take a look at what the trends are legally in your
jurisdiction. Because that is a, you know, an
evolving, how do I put this? That is an issue that is
evolving as it becomes more of a thing as more we use it. There's a
(09:15):
lot of places that don't have direct regulations on what employers can and cannot
expect from an individual. Social media. And so you should look into that.
But what I guess I'm trying to say is yeah, if it's in your code
of conduct and it's tied to it, then that now is an in work issue.
And I guess I'm encouraging employers, you know, to look at that, but
then to also say, but if you are going to include something like that that
overreaches like that in your code of conduct, just make sure that you can't
(09:39):
be challenged on that legally later down the road. In the case of the forces
like that, they get a little bit more license to overreach than
probably some other employers and organizations do, and for good
reason. But just validate, right? Just validate. So, yeah, if it's
within the parameters of employment, 100%, you have to investigate it.
You need to be upfront about it. You need to follow the rules, but then
(10:02):
also validate those rules and parameters are allowed to be
rules and parameters. Does that make sense? It does. And what
if your organization offers an
employee assistance program to help? If we're having any sort
of struggle and you get an outside
allegation that somebody has a gambling issue,
(10:24):
they keep betting on Winnipeg jets game as an. Example,
and they're probably rich because they keep winning. And you hear about that.
And that's something, you know, the employee assistance program
can help with. Do you, since it's outside, doesn't
impact. Do you leave it alone or do you look
into that and refer to the program?
(10:46):
You know, I have had that before and
where I could tell you that I had an opportunity intervene was this.
When people are addicted to things like that, they can't
stop regardless of what environment they're in. And they. They will likely
bring that within those four walls at some point. And that will give you your
opportunity to intervene. And I would tell you, I mean, you know,
(11:08):
we've often heard before that everybody is different. You have to treat people as individuals.
There are. There are individuals out there that you can put your arm around them
as individuals and say, hey, look, you know, is this an issue for you outside
of here? Because if it is, don't forget you have this support. Can you enforce
anything? No. Right. Like, you know, I think we
started this conversation talking about enforcing something or
(11:28):
creating consequences for some behavior that didn't happen in the workplace.
When you're encouraging somebody to use an employee assistance program, you're not
enforcing anything, you're offering assistance. And that's a different type of
conversation where you take the person aside and you say, hey, look, I think
I see this. Whether or not it's true or not to you, here's
the information to get help. Because I care about you as a person and I
(11:50):
want you to be well and I want good things to happen for you if
this is happening for you. Here's our EAP program. Right, but you're
not enforcing them to do anything. You're not. Now,
if that thing gambling Any other sort of
addictions comes within those four walls of the
workplace, then. Then you can enforce that.
(12:11):
And, you know, I mean, it's funny you use that example. I have worked with
some before that was under my watch that did have a
gambling issue, and they did bring it to work.
And people who are addicted to that, it's because they're addicted to the
adrenaline they get from that and they can't get off of it. And so they
will. My opinion, not being an expert in the realm of addictions,
(12:33):
but a lot of times addictions means that you're addicted, you cannot stop. That means
you bring it with you. And so it wouldn't surprise me in that
type of a situation either. I guess I'm trying to say, even if you're worried
about having some sort of a standing to bring it up, that
they would give you one sooner or later. Now, to go back to your original
question, if they're not bringing it to work, you know, and it's an EAP program
(12:54):
thing, you know, it's. You're not trying to enforce anything, could you put your arm
around them and offer them that help? I think you can. Absolutely you can.
But then when they do bring it to work, it now becomes something that's enforceable.
Right. And that changes the game. Yeah, I can see where this.
It just becomes a delicate situation. You've heard Tim
talk about how there is a. Is a line and if it's
(13:16):
an allegation that doesn't involve the workplace,
it's really hard to deal with. I'm sure
there are even, even times where you will. You'll get them. We
mentioned the. The semis earlier has. If you
don't like my driving. Well, maybe someone after work has left
their shirt on that has a name tag and they cut someone off
(13:38):
or we're rude in the grocery store. Employers even hear
about small things like that, don't they? Oh, for sure they do. And I mean,
you know, you talk about the outside of work conduct where, like the forgetfulness,
the minor stuff like that, like that's not super important, but it happens
and you hear about it. You know, there's also a reason why employers will take
your uniform off. Right. Or take the name tag off when you're not on duty.
(13:59):
So you're not representing us. It's not only just to protect the employer, but it's
also to save the employee, like, and live a life outside of here.
Right. And on both ends. Right. You're not on duty, get
off duty and go do things that you do off duty, right? So,
yeah, 100%. Well, it is definitely an interesting
world we live in where everything is filmed. You
(14:21):
could end up having an employee that gets. Thinks no one's watching, and
they get filmed doing something, they end up on a big screen at a concert.
You just go to a Coldplay concert. Yeah, that's right. You just never know.
And so this is something employers need to be up on, because
your CEO showing up on a big screen
one night at a concert changes the course of the company. You
(14:45):
just never know. So you have to be aware of this stuff. And there's a
certain irony to you bringing this up right now, because where Jody and I are
sitting, the listeners might be able to hear this, but we're sitting outside a grocery
store on Bainbridge island, and outside the grocery store, there is a piano
that people can just walk up and play. And Jody, I don't know if you
noticed this, but the person playing behind us right now, and I don't know if
(15:06):
listeners heard this, just as Jody was talking about the Coldplay concert, they were
tinkling away the melody to the Scientists by Coldplay.
I didn't notice, but maybe that's what put the idea in my head. Maybe
subliminally. Yes. Yeah. All right, Tim, I think this
is something that any organization needs to be
aware of. You're going to get outside allegations, some
(15:29):
true, some not true, some because of grudges, some because
they drove too fast in my neighborhood, who knows? But if
we want to put together a plan on how to deal with this,
maybe talk to all of our leaders. This is how we handle it. Who can
we talk to? Well, they can listen to this podcast. No,
we often help with these things, allegations, investigate them afterwards, how
(15:51):
to handle them, how to communicate them. And we were more than happy to help
and make sure we get it right. Because it's not just there's legal liability at
stake, there's reputation at stake, and you got to get it right. But they can
reach us at our website at www.bestculturesolutions.ca
because we are Canadian or Tim. Estculturesolutions.ca.
Yes. That is great. And being Canadian, I actually
(16:13):
saw Tim earlier. He went to this gift shop and bought a decal,
which. A decal. A decal is what he bought. But
this is a good conversation, Tim. This is something that's relev.
You have a topic you would like us to talk about on a future episode.
Just reach out. Let us know you know how to find Tim. Just let him
know what you want to hear us talk about make it happen. Thank you so
(16:35):
much, Tim, and thank you for listening to World at Work.
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