Recently, I was given a special assignment at work with some others in my workplace.  The company is about to downsize although they've thought of a more friendly term for it as not to cause unrest within the company.  My assignment is to fill in a key group of supervisors as to what fellow employees questions, concerns are. Employees are aware of this program and can choose to contribute or not to. It's also their choice as to whether they want their name sent forward with their thoughts or prefer to remain anonymous.

Yesterday, I received a very courageous question which came as a result of a company wide email which talked about how short on funds the company is.  The company receives countless outside contributions and my fellow employee is questioning where the money went.  I sent this question on without my coworkers name connected with it. I just put that it was an employee question.  I then received a reply asking me if there was a name associated with it.  My first reaction was to feel the supervisor was fishing for the person's identity.  After all, my email didn't include a name but it did say employee question.  I took a breath.  I remembered that sometimes I hear people's names associated with their questions when we gather for nationwide audio visual conferencing.  The truth is I had forgotten to ask the person if they would like to be identified.  I told the supervisor of the program that at this point I didn't have an answer to her question but would get back to her and "thanks for asking!"  My coworker had sent her question through email.  I responded the same way when asking if they wanted to be identified.  I have an auto reply that they are not returning to work until the day of the audio visual conference. 

I have choices here but none of them are too great.  Well one is!   I can wait and see what happens next. The person who asked the question, may actually want to be identified. If not, and I am pressed to identify the individual,  if this DOES get ugly, maybe, I can gather those on my team and ask them to present a unified front so no one of us is presumed the person who asked the question. After all, everyone showed a real interest in knowing the answer. I hate to say this but I feel I have to do this to protect myself.  My teams' body of work is important and I am the one who is the most easily replaced.  I don't want to be conveniently tagged with being the person who asked the hot question in order that someone else more important's job can be saved instead.  I innocently volunteered to help during this transition to deliver employee questions but I don't deserve to be put in an uncomfortable position.  If asked, I am not going to identify this person without their permission nor drop breadcrumbs as to who they are. Right now, I'm just going to try to keep an open mind that the supervisor's inquiry about the identity of the person has no hidden motive. I need to return my focus to the work and keep hp close and my serenity.  If the request for the person's name wasn't innocent, they may decide I'm not one of them because I won't play the game, I'm not fearful enough to buckle under and give them the person's name but you know what.... I'm one of you and I will be for the rest of my life.  Personally, if coming here on my knees in tears has led to these ethics and principles I'm glad to be running with a better crowd these days with hp as the ring leader. Thanks for letting me share with you.  TT