Do not report anything to HR or Ethics without understanding the consequences.
21 replies (most recent on top)
If everything is as bad as this all seems you should file an EEOC claim. You may not win but it’ll be a lot of work for your HR department. All employees have to be treated the same.
Every reply to this post is 100% spot on. I reported with substantial evidence and case got closed and I'm now on the sh__t list for sure getting harrassed, gaslighted and bullied by my manager who rules by fear and intimidation. It's been pure HE-L! Letting the clock run out now! Shame on USAA! Signing off my fellow boots on the ground! Be wel and kind to yourselves
Avoid HR and Ethics. 99% of the time they turn it around and make it the employees fault. They only care if a lawsuit is ready to be filed. Even then they will blame the employee.
Going to HR nearly always backfires on the employee who reports the issue. If you do report something, best to have your ducks in a row with evidence to support your claim. As many have said, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere and avoid the toxic mess of USAA.
You’re better off just starting to look elsewhere. The moment you go to HR, a bullseye is on your back, and if your in the call center, the manager will pick apart your call trying to find just 1 small thing to ding you on. If you’re not on any verbal or final warning, start applying internally, because your manager isn’t going anywhere. Thankfully her husband did us a solid and got her pregnant, lol. The only thing that saved me was her going on maternity leave and using her PTO, so she was gone for almost 6 months. During that time my verbal fell off, i applied for a back office role, her 1st day back was my 1st day in my new role.
Better to spend the same energy looking, elsewhere where you can be treated better and even paid better. I'm not sure what's with this place attracting leaders with power trips. It's all going down hill .
I totally believe the nightmare from poster @1fka+1r58YUA2. Really sorry that that happened to you
He-l YEAH…
Your manager will get PROMOTED!!!
And Wayne will get 300% pay INCREASE!!!
It’s hard to know what you should do with no details. If it’s something illegal, unethical, s-xual harassment, etc., you should report it. Having proof makes your case stronger. As a former employee in management I have send ER take things very seriously. I didn’t always understand /agree with the outcome but they did investigate.
What I recommend you don’t do is complain to people who can’t do any about it. That could get back your boss.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Sadly, HR is not for the employee and will side with the manager. I worked for USAA from 2008-2013, my last 18 months were a living nightmare! All because I reported my manager for his catcall comments he would make to me, he even asked to have our 1-1 over dinner. I went to HR, few days later I’m called into the office and I’m literally threatened with a lawsuit for making false s-xual harassment claim then told “you should be terminated for trying to ruin a man’s life and career with this false claim, he’s married and is respected around the entire company.” Shortly after, I was being dinged for every little mishap, if I missed a meeting, I was dinged, if I showed up 1-2mins late for a meeting, I was dinged. When I was sick with mono, I made sure I had coverage for all my work that had deadlines during that time. When I returned to work a month later (Jan 2013), I was placed on a PIP for “failure to meet goals and deadlines, and tardiness to meetings.” Then in April, he moved me to a verbal, this time for “failure to properly document and store evidence.” When I went back to HR, because this was retaliation, she said “USAA has a zero tolerance policy on retaliation, this is about you not meeting your day to day goals, you should be upset with yourself, not the manager.” Then in July, he moved it to a final, then in a meeting, he had to present, and when he had plugged his laptop in, he purposely had it on my final, and didn’t do anything for about 2-3 minutes, he just kept talking, while everyone in the room was looking at it. Once again, I went to HR, I was then told “it was an honest mistake, things happen, especially if you present in a meeting.” Before I went home that day, I cleared things off my desk, took my personal items home. The next on I went to lunch, walked to the bank lobby, had the girl notarize my resignation letter, walked back to my desk, finished an email, then emailed my team goodbye, got up and dropped my laptop and work phone at his desk along with my letter. Walked out the building and left my badge on the floor by the turnstile. But in 2015, he was called out on his bullshh, a girl recorded her 1-1’s with him, and he unexpectedly retired.
I was in a large company, working in IT. I received the highest bonus the year before I filed a complaint with HR. The complaint was concerning a blatant lie that a person, not my manager, told during a performance review evaluation session. I had witnesses who would refute the allegation, including my prior manager (a 20+ year veteran of the company). I only found out about this lie when my current manager approached me about it. He was shocked, genuinely perplexed, and wanted me to explain to him off the record. I explained, gave him the names of witnesses who would squarely be on my side, and asked my ex-manager to approach HR after I filed the complaint.
Let me add that in the current performance period, I had salvaged many projects and most of my colleagues thought I would be promoted. But what happened?
Not only was I laid off, but the current manager was, too!
I had already found my next position with a 40% increase (yes, I was seriously underpaid). I got my layoff package which I sorely needed for a kitchen remodel, and got a 1/2 day on my last day with that company. In the afternoon of that day, I went over to my new company to get my badge and information about my start day that following Monday.
HR is a joke. Do not trust them or management. Just hone your skills and sell them to the highest bidder who can increase your technical knowledge for the next gig.
You will be “performanced out.” this or " managed out "
I was told by ER that while they would provide a conduit for making a report it paints a very bad picture and there is nothing they can do to direct what happens after it is filed.
Just know that most of the time your director is going to find out about it, and not unlikely also be named, so you better have goods and witnesses for an ethical or legal breach. If you do, go for it. If you’re just complaining about questionable behavior then you’re better off laying low and quietly working to get out of the situation,
Thank you all for the input! It helped a lot. Much appreciated.
HR is "teeth and hair". They have zero control over anything. Their sole job is to.protect the company. And to look attractive as they try to convince you that th economy and the opportunity are great.
Bottom line: it is all B.S.
If it is something illegal, document it! And not on USAA systems (because they will erase all evidence to protect themselves). And if the situation is bad, try to transfer out.
One manager I knew at a large company transferred regularly and rose up the ladder. Unfortunately, he was caught in a bad situation at a high level, started to live his job to rectify the situation, and had a debilitating stroke. He now cannot talk or walk, and he had many years left in his work career (not to mention, in his life). He is now on LTD and I doubt that fully covers his bills.
So, the moral of the story is "choose your battles well". And be careful about what you wish for!
Everything is a game.
The biggest mistake you can ever make when playing a game is to misunderstand the rules. The real rules.
In any game, the people who make the rules have a strong incentive to convince others that the rules are different from what they actually are. Don't believe your lying eyes and all that.
Complaints to HR go no where. They are there to protect management no matter how bad they are. They start off as if they want to help. Do not believe them. It is how they are trained to get you to tell them everything so they can twist it around. You will always be the bad guy. You might get fired or they will look for any reason to make life miserable that you quit. However, if it is something illegal, you can go to government agencies to file a complaint. Do that rather than going to HR.
Got to be very serious and evidence - example member harm then you should
I do agree with previous statement
9 times out of 10 they either fire the employee at USAA or any company
Or it will prevent promotion and hinder your prospects of being hired.
If it’s because your complaining because your hurt or you think they are not doing something the right way - maybe it’s you !! And you need to learn to process your an employee and you need to focus on doing your job really well.
If your not happy then Your best bet is to apply elsewhere and move forward
If it's absolutely something serious, blow the lid off it. Do not allow fear of retaliation stop you from stopping bad things from happening or continuing.
I don't work for your company, but in my company, they do an investigation and they end up keeping the manager and letting to the employee, or if upper management hears about it (especially international management), then they get rid of the entire group including the manager. Remember, when anyone complains to HR, the goal of HR is to look out for the company and "only" the company. HR doesn't give a rats back who complained about who, but how not to get entangled in a lawsuit. So instead of complaining (as long as it's not s-xual harassment), I would just look for another job if it's something related to work or promotion or bullying, or try and move into another organization. Also, do not talk about your manager with others in the group, team, organization, or company. It will just backfire and make you look like a complainer. Just do your job the best you can, learn as many skills as you can, show lots of interest, and put all those skills down on your resume and look for another job internally or externally. If the complaint is related to s-xual harassment, then do report it to HR, but without any concrete proof, like text messaging, emails, chats, video, audio recordings, it may not hold up. Only if multiple people complain about the same thing, then HR will take action, else it's your word against your managers. It's all based on how someone interprets the harassment. Same stuff happening in my company and majority of the time, they end up just changing groups so they don't bump into each other. Remember, HR is only there to look out for the company and not the employee. It's sad, but it's true majority of the time.
You will be “performanced out.” This means you will suddenly start to negative get performance evaluations that say things like you aren’t “friendly enough” or you aren’t showing enough enthusiasm, or some other vague, broad, subjective and unprovable problem. The performance evaluations will get worse and worse, never with ANY specifics, and then you’ll be put on a PIP, all along with nothing concrete being pointed to as why your performance isn’t;’t what it should be, or what you can do to make it better.