KEITH T. DENNETT | New South | CONTACT
A serious HR discussion is taking place this morning as a middle manager is disciplined for inappropriate language in the workplace.
Seated in a cafe around the corner from his office on Chobani Street, The Advocate understands the middle marketing manager of Kangaroo Valley Dairy Company, Simon McKinsey (34) has been pulled aside for “a casual chat” with his direct report and a senior HR figure.
The conversation, which was overheard in the cafe by The Advocate, centred on a recent LinkedIn post where Simon gloated about the launch of a new range of fruit flavoured goat-milk yoghurts, a project that he’s been leading since 2021.
Despite writing four lengthy paragraphs which described how the new range of yoghurts were a groundbreaking innovation in the non-dairy category, it’s believed Simon forgot to refer to his team members as “Superstars” despite tagging all 35 of them in the post.
“Simon, it’s 2023, what you write on LinkedIn is a reflection of our company, and you really have to be more careful with your language,” stated Janine Carthew, the HR lead at Kanga Valley Dairy Co.
“But I did say I was really proud of them, isn’t that enough?” Simon responded.
“No Simon, any junior under you needs to be referred to on LinkedIn as a ‘Superstar’ and anyone above you is an ‘Industry leader’, it’s clearly outlined in your onboarding documents!” replied Janine firmly.
“So Simon whilst this chat is informal, we’ll be following it up with an email so we can have your apology in writing and we’ll also need you to log in and update that status by the close of business today.”
“Do you understand?!”
