when an employee doesn’t want to make a formal complaint, can I act anyway?

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I’ve got an employee who had a weird encounter with another employee. It wasn’t harassment but it’s made her feel uncomfortable whenever he’s around. She doesn’t want to make a complaint though. Is there anything we can do if there’s no complaint made?

I answer this question — and three others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

Other questions I’m answering there today include:

• Telling employees to stop taking guidance from coworkers with bad advice
• How to test job candidates on their ability to recall info
• My boss was abruptly fired — should I reach out?

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