Among the things he did wrong was to invite people to a karaoke party, to look at employees’ public Instagram profiles and to message workers (men and women) saying “hi how was your weekend?” I don’t want my boss checking in on me and it might be a bit ‘much’ but it feels like he’s being handled like he committed a crime. Am I missing something here?
After a bit of reading it, it seems there’s a more interesting timeline to this story than is presented in this article; according to [the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/06/cbi-boss-tony-danker-steps-aside-amid-allegations-of-misconduct), the formal complaint against Danker of sexual harassment was investigated by CBI and wasn’t deemed worthy of disciplinary action. It was only after the Guardian began poking around that the complaint was subjected to independent investigation.
The complaint in question came from a ‘female employee who it is understood claimed (Danker) made unwanted contact with her and considered this contact to be sexual harassment.’
That complaint – as reported – is dystopian as all hell in and of itself; the idea that unsolicited contact could be deemed, at will, as sexual harassment and lead to eventual dismissal is horrifying. Danker’s dismissal seems completely disproportionate to the official reasons given… viewing instagram accounts? Organising a karaoke party? Inviting junior staff to lunch? *Really*?
It sounds to me like CBI is acting less upon Danker’s actions and more out of self-preservation as company after company ceases business with them concerning other, much more serious allegations regarding different employees; given that said allegations are likely to take much longer to investigate, a performative sacking of a senior member was likely just the thing they deemed necessary to assuage concerns.
Alternatively, Danker really *is* an awful human being who needed taking down for the good of the employees. If that were the case, I’d expect his abuse to be flaunted for all the world to see, whereas everything reported so far has been… incredibly tame. If you’re making an example of someone to appease the businesses you represent, you’re not exactly going to hold back.
> “I have never used sexually suggestive language with people at the CBI,” he said. “You know, there was an incident somebody raised a complaint about unwanted contact, which was verbal contact.
What the hell is verbal contact? That’s feels a weird use of the word in this context no?
Maybe he’s not neuro-typical and he just made a social faux-pa?
Am I out of touch? Nothing he did seems bad. If my boss invited me out for lunch I would be grateful for the free food and time with him. There’s no suggestion he did anything sexual either
>He said these messages said things such as: ”Hi, how are you? How was your weekend? Show me pictures of your dogs or your babies”.
But he believed some people had thought the messages inappropriate, and they had not realised Mr Danker had “been doing this to everyone to try and build rapport.”
Why would this be any business of the employer? I can see why people saw this as inappropriate. “Rapport” is typically about manipulating the worker so they feel “bond” to the company in a hope that they’ll be more productive or more likely to do overtime without asking for payment etc. When there is a bond, the worker may also be less likely to quit if they get a better offer, because they won’t want to leave their “friends”.
This shit should be illegal in the workplace.
I wonder whose fault that is?
“We’re all trying to find the guy who did this”, says guy who did it.
7 comments
Among the things he did wrong was to invite people to a karaoke party, to look at employees’ public Instagram profiles and to message workers (men and women) saying “hi how was your weekend?” I don’t want my boss checking in on me and it might be a bit ‘much’ but it feels like he’s being handled like he committed a crime. Am I missing something here?
After a bit of reading it, it seems there’s a more interesting timeline to this story than is presented in this article; according to [the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/06/cbi-boss-tony-danker-steps-aside-amid-allegations-of-misconduct), the formal complaint against Danker of sexual harassment was investigated by CBI and wasn’t deemed worthy of disciplinary action. It was only after the Guardian began poking around that the complaint was subjected to independent investigation.
The complaint in question came from a ‘female employee who it is understood claimed (Danker) made unwanted contact with her and considered this contact to be sexual harassment.’
That complaint – as reported – is dystopian as all hell in and of itself; the idea that unsolicited contact could be deemed, at will, as sexual harassment and lead to eventual dismissal is horrifying. Danker’s dismissal seems completely disproportionate to the official reasons given… viewing instagram accounts? Organising a karaoke party? Inviting junior staff to lunch? *Really*?
It sounds to me like CBI is acting less upon Danker’s actions and more out of self-preservation as company after company ceases business with them concerning other, much more serious allegations regarding different employees; given that said allegations are likely to take much longer to investigate, a performative sacking of a senior member was likely just the thing they deemed necessary to assuage concerns.
Alternatively, Danker really *is* an awful human being who needed taking down for the good of the employees. If that were the case, I’d expect his abuse to be flaunted for all the world to see, whereas everything reported so far has been… incredibly tame. If you’re making an example of someone to appease the businesses you represent, you’re not exactly going to hold back.
> “I have never used sexually suggestive language with people at the CBI,” he said. “You know, there was an incident somebody raised a complaint about unwanted contact, which was verbal contact.
What the hell is verbal contact? That’s feels a weird use of the word in this context no?
Maybe he’s not neuro-typical and he just made a social faux-pa?
Am I out of touch? Nothing he did seems bad. If my boss invited me out for lunch I would be grateful for the free food and time with him. There’s no suggestion he did anything sexual either
>He said these messages said things such as: ”Hi, how are you? How was your weekend? Show me pictures of your dogs or your babies”.
But he believed some people had thought the messages inappropriate, and they had not realised Mr Danker had “been doing this to everyone to try and build rapport.”
Why would this be any business of the employer? I can see why people saw this as inappropriate. “Rapport” is typically about manipulating the worker so they feel “bond” to the company in a hope that they’ll be more productive or more likely to do overtime without asking for payment etc. When there is a bond, the worker may also be less likely to quit if they get a better offer, because they won’t want to leave their “friends”.
This shit should be illegal in the workplace.
I wonder whose fault that is?
“We’re all trying to find the guy who did this”, says guy who did it.