Hi all,

This week I've had a complaint that an employee has been driving dangerously on their way into work.

Employee A was challenged by Employee B when they arrived to the site (less than a mile from where the supposed dangerous driving incident occurred) because they were 'speeding, swerving and on their phone'.

Employee A dismissed the challenge and carried on into work.

Employee B then used the work incident reporting system to officially complain about the dangerous driving.

This was investigated by an informal discussion with Employee A who denied driving dangerously.

There was no evidence either way, just a complaint made and a complaint refuted.

Later Employee A, the accused driver, then accused ME of not doing my job correctly, CC'ing HR into a hostile email and attaching my job description! (cheeky git!)

Management said because the incident occurred on the way into work, not actually on our site, that it had nothing to do with us and that it should be reported to the police not work.

I would have thought that an altercation between two employees on the way into work, less than a mile away from work, where the subsequent confrontation took place on the work property, would be our responsibility as an employer. Certainly not to be ignored at least.

Am I wrong?

Does our responsibility for our employees start and end at the gate?

How can I improve the management position, to move from the bare minimum of effort and interest?!

Thanks

Unless the "errant" driver was in a readily identifiable company vehicle (and witnessed) I am afraid you have been suckered in to dealing with an incident where your official response should have been - "this is not strictly a work related matter, if you feel so strongly might I suggest you raise the issue with the Police", mark the report as such and file it.

We cannot be responsible for everything employees do beyond the gate - 168 hours in a week of which we are responsible for @ 40 hours (contract dependent) - get in to mission creep trying to manipulate beyond the gate and you have lost the management and the work force.

That said there are the exceptions - travelling sales persons, technicians, delivery drivers - here involvement must be commensurate to the employed role and activity.

Fair enough, I would have thought we would have some responsibility, but both drivers were in their own cars and not at work so I'll not get involved next time.

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Self and Hasty

Lots of employers would think they should do something about this as lots of them are into the mission creep that Roundtuit refers to.

So, it fits with the vogue for Wellbeing where the employers start to try and interfere with what their workers do outside work, usually with very poor reasons to do so.

P

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-68441335

Prime example of mission creep

I don’t think what Roundtuit is describing is mission creep-it’s just stage one fascism.    

Unless they are driving a company vehicle or driving for work, I'd suggest this has nothing to do with the employer.  Where would you draw the line?  Two employees get in a scrap after having a couple of pints after work, are you going to discipline them? Look at it another way, if the employee was on his phone and got an FPN from the local constabulary, are you going to discipline them? What if its 5 miles, 1 mile or 5 metres from the gate? What's your policy going to be?

Unless there is a breach of company policy, the incident damaged the company's reputation or damaged the trust between the employer and employee, I can see no reason why you would have got involved.  Indeed ACAS even state in their Code of Practice that being charged with, or convicted of, a criminal offence is not in itself grounds for disciplinary action.

I would suggest Employee A has every right to feel aggrieved, and that you've potentially opened the company up to a grievance as there is no connection between the incident or their conduct, and work. 

I would also suggest that rather than challenging people at work, if Employee B had an issue with the manner of driving, then they should report it to the Police, since its their job to deal with breaches of the RTA, and not the employers...