My boss makes non-stop personal calls with the door open. What can I do?

My director takes endless personal calls in the office with their door open. And they talk about EVERYTHING.

It makes me feel uncomfortable, but also doesn’t seem appropriate at all.

Is there any point in trying to report them?

Sincerely,

—a grossed out public servant

First, in terms of basic office behaviours and professional standards for any public servant, using significant amounts of time for personal business is a problem in itself. Doing it in ways that disrupt others who are trying to do their work is even worse.

When it extends to turning others into involuntary participants in subject matters that are inappropriate for the workplace, possibly to the point of constituting harassment, another important threshold may have been crossed.

The second category of problems with the situation you describe is that it’s an executive doing these things — someone responsible for setting an example of the public service’s standards for stewardship, professionalism, collegiality, values and ethics. Beyond a failure of basic professionalism and office etiquette, you are describing an important and highly visible (or audible) leadership failure.

You have asked if there is any point in trying to report them. My reply: a resounding “Yes.”

There are several routes you can take. I’ll start with the most direct one, even though I recognize that it may be uncomfortable and that its risks probably rise and fall in inverse relation to the level of professionalism demonstrated by your director.

The most direct approach is for you to raise it explicitly with your director or their boss. While that approach to conflict is uncomfortable for most people, it can have powerful results if you’re prepared to try it. If you have colleagues who share your concerns, you might want to talk to them and ask if they’re prepared to talk or write as a group to your director or their boss.

Regardless of where you land on using that approach, there are several other options that don’t need you to identify yourself as a complainant.

Your union representative can help you in this type of environment. You can have a conversation with them and ask if they would raise the matter directly with your director without identifying those complaining. You could ask if they will raise it with your director’s boss as well.

Another option is to speak to the ombuds or informal conflict management office in your department. Especially in informal conflict situations, those offices might agree to raise the matter with the person displaying inappropriate behaviours without identifying you.

Your human resources group should also be of assistance in a situation like this. Their interest should be in supporting a healthy and productive workplace (which should also be true for your director), and they should be able to discuss options in which they bring your concerns forward without identifying you.

If these options don’t work, there are still others, but they generally require identifying yourself because of the more formal and serious steps they involve. Depending on the nature of the disruption and the content of what is being said, you may have grounds for a grievance.

Not all exposure to all personal conversations constitutes harassment or other grievable behaviours, but there are some topics that, if shared in a way that is inappropriate, could constitute harassment or something else contrary to your collective agreement.

Beyond grievances, your union representative, ombuds office, informal conflict management service or Human Resources office may have experience and advice on your right to a safe workplace, which covers a broad definition going well beyond narrow physical safety.

There are instances where subjecting others to inappropriate communications, especially if the individual doing so occupies a position of authority over another, contravenes the legislative requirements for maintaining a safe workplace.

Somewhere in all of this, hopefully you’ll find an option that matches your desire and need to address your director’s unprofessional and unacceptable behaviour while also reflecting your degree of comfort in putting your name forward or remaining anonymous.

If all of those options fail, I suppose that you could always cut out this article and have it find its way to them.

I offer you my best wishes in dealing with this situation.

— Daniel Quan-Watson, Public Service Confidential