‘Gloom and doom’ co-worker badmouths everything: How do I make her stop?

I would tell her that her behavior will cause bad employee moral and she WILL lose her employees respect if she even has any because people want to come to work in a positive environment and do actually want to like where they work and the people around them. She is really bring all that down and with a downsize she should be working to improve moral. I know you are friends but is it more important to keep this to yourself? The company would probably love to be enlightened about this situation, but she may lose her job. To keep your friendship ask her manager to be discrete about where the information came from, because if she is blabbing to many it really could have come from anyone. Good luck, here that type of person is walked right out the front door.

We have established a “Nondisparagement Policy” and required every employee to read the policy. At a staff meeting, everyone had an opportunity to discuss the policy and have any questions answered. Then each person signed a copy of the policy and were given a copy for their records. The policy states that this “bashing” of the organization or of the administration is grounds for termination. It has worked for us.

You’ve already warned her: sometimes one needs to let things play themselves out. Don’t report her to anyone, for she may lose her job and we don’t know what type of situation the lady is in, but sit back and see that behavior like that does not go unnoticed. Boss’s sometimes let you hang yourself. If she is a good friend, then pull her to the side again, maybe during lunch and tell her people are talking about her attitude and you just wanted to let her know, because you wouldn’t want her to lose her job. If she still doesn’t understands then just sit back. YOU CAN TAKE A HORSE TO WATER BUT……

I meant to say, ask her to wear the rubber band on her wrist. The comment should make more sense now.

As to “M” you made some good points but because some companies have a “policy” about how something is addressed or said does not mean someone cannot come up with solutions if there is a problem what it does mean is if someone has a problem don’t go around saying how terrible the company is and how terrible that particular problem is, how terrible that person is. i think its more of the old adage if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all.

I’m concerned about the couple of comments I’ve seen that say companies have adopted policies making negative discussion grounds for termination. I would advise those of you who have that in your employee handbooks to run that by an employment law attorney as soon as possible. Polices limiting discussion of workplace conditions have been found to violate the National Labor Relations Act even in nonunion environments. I know this is an admin forum, but this is something you should be taking up with your HR department if you have one. If you do not, please be sure your policies are enforceable by having an attorney look them over. You could find yourself in an expensive legal situation if you fire someone for complaining about work conditions. Proceed with caution!

Ooops! Ditto HR Director!