34

My company had a little team party about a month ago that was boring and horrible and I tweeted something bad about it. Later I was frustrated with a project and tweeted more bad stuff about the company. My mistake was that I included the company name in the one of the tweets.

Today I got a message from my team lead who is also the CTO. He had seen my tweets and was asking what the issue was and that I should have discussed it in person with him or HR. I told him that my tweets might have been sent in frustration and I meant no harm towards the company. I immediately took the comments down and have made my profile private for now.

I feel I am in trouble now, how to get around this situation?

David K
  • 30,066
  • 21
  • 108
  • 140
user1502
  • 695
  • 1
  • 10
  • 14
  • 46
    This was a serious error of judgement, the only positive you can take from this is that hopefully you have learnt to never do that again. If you haven't already been sacked then its unlikely you will, but your reputation has been damaged, and that takes time to regain. – DavidB Aug 26 '15 at 08:21
  • 5
    A little update, I was called by the HR and she asked what made you tweet this. Apparently the CTO has copied the tweets and sent to her and two of my supervisors. I told her it was miscommunication among my supervisors and how I am the scapegoat when things go wrong for them. She called both of them, and asked them what is the potential solution. They both started keeping their points and were like trying to corner me. I told them it was on spur of the moment and I have already apologized to CTO. What should be the next logical step from me? – user1502 Aug 26 '15 at 11:15
  • 32
    I think it's out of your hands now, good luck! If things do go badly and you do end up being fired then don't tweet about it. – DavidB Aug 26 '15 at 11:31
  • 3
    This is related - http://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/11663/2322 - though your attitude is a lot better than that OP. I think it's very wise to keep work/personal stuff 100% separate, we recently were recommended to like our company facebook page and repost and I was shocked because this is something I will NEVER do as I want a 0% chance of issues like this in my life. – enderland Aug 26 '15 at 13:15
  • 2
    If there is something truly bothering you, bring it up to them. It also depends on where you work. In the USA, legal precedent has made firing someone for making personal remarks illegal. It would only be legal to fire you if you acted on behalf of the company, e.g., saying Company A sucks under your company's social media profiles. But if you're willing to apologize, it sounds like you still enjoy the job enough to keep it. If not, find another job where you'll be happy. – ps2goat Aug 26 '15 at 15:35
  • 9
    @ps2goat What "legal precedent" is this? I doubt it doesn't at least vary by state, if it even exists at all. – Random832 Aug 26 '15 at 16:07
  • 11
    @user1502 "I told her it was miscommunication among my supervisors and how I am the scapegoat when things go wrong for them." This is the wrong way to act to a superior who asks you a question, especially when you're already in a volatile situation. Telling them that you're being unfairly singled out sounds very petty and immature when you got caught making negative remarks about the company. It's not about them at that point, it's about you. You don't want to do any more damage to your reputation or show an unwillingness to take responsibility. Own up to it and don't point fingers. – zfrisch Aug 26 '15 at 17:02
  • @zfrisch No, please dont get me wrong here, they explicitly asked what made you comment this, and this is the truth. The tweets were around 45 days old and at that time the project was led by these two poeple. I used to get instructions from Alice, and meanwhile Bob would come and tell me to fix bugs. On telling them what I was working on, Bob used to be furious with me, which I later got to know was let out on the CTO portraying me badly. But I know this only because Alice told me that. I seriously dont know how much to believe of these people. – user1502 Aug 26 '15 at 17:36
  • Also, just to add more, I never pointed a finger at the company calling them names. I wrote those tweets from my perspective. E.g what I thought of it when I joined but what it came out to be etc. Those tweets might damage the company name but still its the truth through my perspective. – user1502 Aug 26 '15 at 17:39
  • 1
    @Random832: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/companies-cant-punish-employees-for-critical-views-on-social-media/, http://www.inc.com/associated-press/why-bosses-cant-do-much-when-employees-complain-on-social-media.html, http://www.employmentlawfirms.com/resources/employment/employee-rights/can-i-be-fired-for-something-i-posted-my-facebook-page Basically, you can complain about things as long as the post isn't libelous and does not reveal company secrets. If you say the restaurant you work at uses rat meat in their hamburgers (I hope that's false), for example, you'd be in trouble. – ps2goat Aug 26 '15 at 21:14
  • 8
    Apparently this needs to be reiterated to you because you haven't learned yet: DO NOT POST STUFF ABOUT YOUR COMPANY ON THE INTERNET. You are on a website that a lot of HR professionals frequent. You have given detailed enough descriptions of the scenarios and events that have happened that your HR person would almost immediately recognize the situation. Come on! – Zach Mierzejewski Aug 26 '15 at 22:42
  • Never mind posting about your company on the internet, don't let your company be able to recognise your internet profile. If you're openly stating where you work or making it obvious to your company that you own a particular profile, you are giving the company too much access to your private life. Use a pseudonym and make sure your company can't trace you. – Pharap Aug 26 '15 at 23:05
  • Or maintain an internet profile that you're completely comfortable with them seeing. And don't assume you can maintain two profiles that will never be connected to each other. – keshlam Aug 27 '15 at 04:31
  • 3
    Uhm, "My mistake was that I included the company name in the one of the tweets.": I think your mistake was tweeting at all. Either they can track you down by knowing your profile, or by seeing your tweets. I.e., even if I hide the company name, ppl may still put them into relation with the company as they may know I work for them. So, if tweeting, then anonymous and anonymous, and that's harder to achieve than you prolly think right now. – phresnel Aug 27 '15 at 11:07

4 Answers4

65

You apologize, you assure your lead that it won't happen again, and then you make sure it doesn't happen again.

  • And, as suggested by MattP, your apology should make it clear that you have removed the negative tweets

If there were going to be any direct and immediate consequences (e.g. if you were going to be fired for these negative tweets), it probably would have happened already. So you're probably safe on that front.

You may well have damaged your lead's perception of you. That's unfortunate, and if it is the case, all you can do is try to improve that perception over time by doing quality work.

And going forward, never forget, don't post stuff on the internet that you wouldn't be happy saying directly to someone's face.

Carson63000
  • 7,497
  • 35
  • 50
  • The conversation had happened on chat as he is out of country now. I told him I will be very careful next time as my last line. But I guess the HR will call me now. What should I tell them? – user1502 Aug 26 '15 at 05:53
  • Should I send them an apology email now? – user1502 Aug 26 '15 at 05:59
  • 8
    You should accept you were in the wrong, confirm any material about the company has been removed and apologise. It's already happened so you don't need to make too much of it just try to close the issue and move on. – MattP Aug 26 '15 at 06:45
  • 2
    Just sent a sincere apology email to them cc'ing the HR. I am ready to move on but I don't know about them. – user1502 Aug 26 '15 at 06:55
  • @MattP yep good advice, will add it to the answer – Carson63000 Aug 26 '15 at 07:18
  • 8
    +1 "don't post stuff on the internet that you wouldn't be happy saying directly to someone's face" – Babika Babaka Aug 26 '15 at 07:26
  • @user1502 Carson's advice is spot-on. They key points are to be sincerely apologetic and make it explicit that you realise why you were in the wrong and that your lapse in judgement won't repeat itself. – Lilienthal Aug 26 '15 at 09:34
  • 28
    @user1502 I'm not sure if you realise why you were wrong if you believe that "My mistake was I included the name in the one of the tweets.". You should never be venting about your company on public social media and it's frankly also a bad idea even if your profile is private. – Lilienthal Aug 26 '15 at 09:41
  • 4
    and even if you were saying something to someone's face, that does not mean you should share that with the rest of the world – njzk2 Aug 26 '15 at 14:34
  • 1
    Adding "on national television" at the end would make the metaphor even more accurate imo. – Ixrec Aug 27 '15 at 00:21
  • 2
    @user1502 curious as to why you accepted this answer, and then went and did completely the opposite, trying to wriggle off the hook with HR and blame your bosses for miscommunication then trying to make you a scapegoat? – Carson63000 Aug 27 '15 at 03:38
  • @Carson63000 completely the opposite? I apologized the CTO that a few of my tweets had crossed the line. I felt that genuinely. But when HR asked what made you do it, what should I have replied? I just told her the truth. But I guess when the CTO returns he'd also like to have a face to face conversation, what do you think I should say then? The reply from CTO came - This is not acceptable in the company. Please be careful next time. He cc'd his wife (a project manager) and another manager guy. – user1502 Aug 27 '15 at 04:34
  • @lxrec, exactly. "don't post stuff on the internet that you wouldn't be happy saying directly to someone's face" is not strong enough - you may have been comfortable saying this to their face but still not a good idea to tweet about it – Nacht Aug 27 '15 at 05:55
  • @user1502 my advice for what you should have said to HR is pretty much in the answer: you apologize profusely, tell them it was a foolish mistake committed in a moment of thoughtlessness, and assure them it won't happen again. – Carson63000 Aug 27 '15 at 06:45
  • It's not just that you "shouldn't say anything on that internet you wouldn't say to their face/on television/etc," it's also that most companies have explicit policies surrounding acceptable social media behavior. I'd also volunteer to take a refresher course in the company's Code of Business Ethics or equivalent to show you recognize it's not just a suggestion, it's a written rule. – thanby Aug 27 '15 at 07:17
  • @user1502, the CTO is saying that you made a mistake and do not do it again, that is the most critical thing you need to learn out of this, your job is at risk if you ever mention anything about this company again on the Internet You are lucky they seem to have given you more of a chance than many companies who would have fired you on the spot.. – HLGEM Aug 27 '15 at 14:08
  • 3
    @user1502: I'll be surprised if you still have a job in a week. When HR asked you that question your answer should have been "I was dumb. I assure you that I've learned my lesson and it won't happen again." Then later (at least a few days) you approach your manager about any current issues you might have and ask for guidance on how to resolve them. – NotMe Aug 27 '15 at 14:19
  • @NotMe OK sir, noted. If the CTO comes back and haves this conversation with me, I will tell them exactly that. Meanwhile I have started finding another place to work. – user1502 Aug 27 '15 at 16:15
  • OP's job is definitely still at risk. The CTO talked to him (or her), didn't think the groveling was contrite enough, and referred it to HR. HR called a meeting and all OP did was attempt to deflect the blame onto others. It might help to contact everyone who was in that meeting apologizing not only for the original tweets (others have posted wording), but furthermore for the behavior in the meeting. Or, it might already be too late, and the OP will be fired in an amount of time correlated with the size of his soon-to-be-former employer. – stannius Aug 27 '15 at 16:43
  • @stannius No, If I were to be fired, it would have been much before contacting me, as they chose to contact my supervisors first. Secondly the timeline of events were, HR discussion and then that reply of email. So I guess the job is safe, nonetheless I am looking for another job anyway. – user1502 Aug 27 '15 at 17:33
24

I feel I am in trouble now, how to get around this situation?

You apologize (in person), indicate that you have learned a lesson, indicate that the offending tweets have already been taken down, and that you won't do it again.

In the future, you talk to the CTO or HR when you have an issue, rather than commenting publicly.

Everyone makes mistakes. If this is the first one, and if you don't have a habit of repeating your mistakes it will likely blow over.

Joe Strazzere
  • 382,456
  • 185
  • 1,077
  • 1,492
  • 1
    As @Lilienthal added above: Always assume that anything which happens on a machine which you don't have control over -- directly or thru a contract making them liable for any security failures -- may be seen by the wrong people. Always assume that anything you post to a social media system you don't have that kind of control over will be seen by the wrong people. Using your real name increases the risk, but an alias may not be sufficient. – keshlam Aug 26 '15 at 12:28
4

As far as how to deal with the negative exposure you gave to the company and whether that was warranted or not, I guess everything has already been said in other comments/answers.

What I read between your lines, though, is that you might have also gone a bit too far into a defensive stance. You write:

I was called by the HR and she asked what made you tweet this. (1) Apparently the CTO has copied the tweets and sent to her and two of my supervisors. I told her it was miscommunication among my supervisors and how I am the scapegoat when things go wrong for them. (2)

As to (1): The way you put it, your HR department made an effort to understand what the issue was that made you tweet what you did. This is (was?) a chance for you to confront your company with what you felt would need improvement and for your company to act on it (you mentioned HR seeking "solutions").

As to (2): This sounds like a total retreat on your part with blame going in all other directions but yourself in reaction to any confrontation. I agree with the other posters that you might have done something that you maybe should not have done and that the blame clearly lies with you. Now you could argue that that was a very reasonable reaction to any circumstance that made you act the way you did, but if you refuse to explain what that circumstance is, then there is no way of settling this except for everyone walking away and realizing there is an unresolved dispute, is there?

Now in all of the above, I have no understanding of how different parts of your organization have communicated with you and what they gave you to understand. Depending on what type of blame they have put on you, that might of course change the picture slghtly.

Still, I personally believe, as with any other problem, if a boat is filling up with water, you should not resort to discussing who stole the buckets, but rather find and patch the hole.

matt_jay
  • 141
  • 1
  • When the HR called me I first told them that I have apologized to the CTO and it was my mistake.They later started discussing how it also affects new hires who constantly search on social media etc. On later asking what made you so frustrated,I told them the truth. Just imagine two of your seniors having a dispute and putting the blame on you when the things go wrong.There I may have retreated and blamed others. Its in that meeting I got to know that the CTO had first emailed my tweets to both of them, and later confronted me in the morning.Also I wont take this stance when I meet him in perso – user1502 Aug 27 '15 at 16:30
1

The best way to get around the situation is to find another job you might enjoy, because you don't seem to like this one, and you made sure everyone knows it. Long term, you have likely destroyed your prospects at this company, so it's probably not a bad idea to move on.

On the other hand, if you clean up your mess, apologize, accept full responsibility for it (all blame is yours and yours alone), start acting in a more professional manner, and demonstrate that you have learned from this experience, you may be able to survive. A lot depends on how valuable you are to the company. The company must value you in some way, because you still have a job.

For now, just do your job and do it well. Be professional in everything you do. Don't do anything controversial. And keep your opinions to yourself. If you feel compelled to share an opinion, make sure you do it to the right person in the right forum.

Mohair
  • 7,515
  • 1
  • 26
  • 29
  • 1
    "Long term, you have likely destroyed your prospects at this company". I'd disagree with this - it's a bad company that would hold back a talented employee long term because of one screw up unrelated to their core job function. You either fire them immediately, or you forgive and move on. (Although forgive is not forget. Don't expect lenient treatment the second time you screw up). – Philip Kendall Aug 26 '15 at 20:47